Copyright

What surprised me most about copyright laws was that even if you purchase a song or news paper article (or anything song, book etc.) you may not copy it. You can use the one copy as you please but once you copy it you are breaking copyright laws. When I did observations one time the teacher had only one workbook for the whole class, she would copy each page 30 times so each student had a homework page. According to what I learned about copyright she was breaking the copyright rules. As a teacher you should definitly teach your students about copyright, you should also show a good example by following copyright rules as well. Teachers should be cautious of copy right, you never know who is watching and it could cost you your job.

Interactive whiteboards

Teachers have been using boring power point presentations for too long. Don't they know there is a much more efficiant tool to aid in presenting a lesson? Interactive white boards do so much to enhance a students education. Instead of just sitting in their seats nodding off while the teacher lectures they are able to engage in and be part of the lesson. Students increase their ability to learn when they are able to interact with the lesson and actually participate in lessons. For me learning to use the smart board software was realativly easy. There is just so much you can do with a smart board that it was impossible to learn everything in one week. Having one in a classroom is benificial because it gives the teacher so many more fun and student centered options when teaching a lesson. I don't believe there are any cons to having a smart board. They can enhance any lesson. I have written a few lesson plans dealing with homophones, synonyms and antonyms and I wish I had known how to use the smart board before hand. It is so much more engaging to have students come to the board and move words around to match or draw on the board than to sit quietly in their seats doing a worksheet.

VIdeo Project for The Classroom

A digital video project can be a very engaging project to have students do. They can touch many different subjects at once. If I were to incorporate one into my classroom I would use it in a social studies class. The project will be incorporated in the end of the year/ semester after learning about different events in U.S. history. Before the project there will also be a few things I would need to do to prepare for it.

-Introduce the students to simple movie software (windows movie maker or imovie)

-Short Lesson on how to use a video camera (recording, playback, uploading)

- Make sure to enough cameras so that each group has one

The project itself will be a 5-7 minute reenactment of any major event in U.S. History that we discussed in class. The movies can be funny, or serious as long as the events portrayed are accurate. The students will need to choose their topics and hand in a story board ahead of time and have them approved by me (the teacher) so that no two groups do the same project. Students will have one week of class time (and hour each day) to work on uploading and editing their project. The week before we will be learning how to use the movie making software and the students will be taping outside of class. The students will have to hand in a dvd copy as well as post their movie on the web. When the project is over we will spend a class period watching the classes videos.

Software Intelligence

There is a variety of different software that no computer should be with out. Microsoft office publishes most of these. Microsoft word is an amazing piece of software that can be used to do so much more than write a paper. You can use tables to make quizzes and tests or you could use it to make templates. Word can also be used to make flyers. This is very helpful for any one who is pursuing a degree in education. Microsoft Publisher is a great tool for making newsletters. Any elementary teacher can find use for a newsletter in their class room. I am very glad that I am able to use these programs. The knowledge I have gained from just a few different programs has already become useful for me in other areas of my life!

Inspiration

Inspiration software can be an incredibly handy tool to use in any classroom. I would definitly want to invest in this for my classes in the future. It really helps organize ideas and topics. It could be used in any content area. One I find it most handy in is science. This is because in science there are a lot of classifications that would be easier uinderstood if they were broken down into a concept map or outline.
one web resource i especially enjoyed from class is ISTE. I think I would use it a lot because it really helps incorporate technology into everyday lessons. I feel students now need technology more than ever and as a teacher I should make it my goal to use technology as much as possible in my classroom. I feel that ISTE will be a great resource to help me accomplish this!

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking can be used in the classroom. One way it can be implemented is by creating a list of websites that your students may need to go to on a daily basis during class and out of class. By bookmarking these sites it makes it much easier to find the site. It also helps when there is a specific page on a site that is more important than the others, you can just bookmark that specific page so others do not have to search through an entire site for it. As an Albright student social bookmarking is very helpful for me. As an education major there are many resources on the web that I need to use on a daily basis for lesson plans, student activities, worksheets and so much more. By being able to bookmark pages that are helpful I save time by not having to search for them again. It also helps organize sites. If i wanted I could separate sites by lesson plans, activities, teacher resources etc. Social bookmarking is going to help me a great deal, as I find helpful resources now and save them they will be there for me when I am ready to have a real job and be working.

Websites in the Classroom

Just as blogs can be useful in the classroom, websites can be very great resources for teachers to use to help reinforce a lesson. Although as a teacher you may want to jump right in to the technology pool there are some things you need to consider before using a website as a resourceful tool in your class. It is very important to evaluate a website before using it. it would be better in the long run if you check the website out before you use it to make sure it is authentic, up to date, reliable etc. I do not think most people take this into consideration which is not good because as a teacher you must make sure the information you are giving your students is in fact true! In the classroom it is important to show your students that you have evaluated the websites you are using so they feel more inclined to do so when they need to use a online resource. By doing small exercises such as, having students fill out a handout about a website they have visited will help show them how to evaluate websites. After making sure all the websites you want to use are reliable sources there are many fun ways to use the internet to spice up your class.