Another excellent Edublogs.org weblog
July 20, 2008 at 10:19 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Well…lets see where do I begin? I really don’t want this to be a rant or sound like a sermon, so I’ll stay away from a couple of topics. A great example would be NCLB. We’ve discussed it in our classes until we were blue in the face and still really haven’t accomplished anything. As teachers, really all we can do is teach the way we are mandated until something changes, hopefully soon! Alright, I said I wouldn’t discuss it, so lets change the subject. Teachers today are different from the ones 10 years ago. One of my high school teachers was in Hays this weekend and we had discussions covering everything from salaries to technology. He’s been teaching 6 years so he was in college not too long ago, and even he had no idea on some of the things that you can do with computers now. I showed him the voicethread tool and he’s thinking about implementing it into his classroom. Fort Hays State and I’m sure other university are giving us great practice learning about classroom technology. You’d be hard pressed to find a Fort Hays teacher who doesn’t know how to use a elmo or a smartboard. Depending on where I wind up, I may or may not use these aides but it’s better to know how to use them then being completely clueless.
Students are so diverse today that teachers really need to be a jack of all trades. I’ve seen so many teachers from the “old school” who are stuck in their ways and refuse to change. I think some of these educators need to swallow their pride, pull their head out of the sand, and look around. There are far better alternatives to lectures everyday and assigning boring homework every night. If I ever get a monotone voice and look like I’m falling asleep while I’m teaching, please somebody slap me!
One final thought on education. I’m sure you’ve heard the term, “Those who can’t, teach.” This infuriates me to no end. Anybody that has a brain can realize how vital teaching is. In fact, if they are so smart and successful, I’m guessing a teacher at some point helped them in the right direction. After all, teaching is the profession that starts all others. Have you ever noticed that most parents complain more about bad teachers then compliment good ones? Hopefully as teachers, we are focusing more on the positive instead of the negative. I’m really exciting to get out in the classroom and become a teacher. I love kids and I’ve seen the impact that teachers can make on young peoples lives. I can’t really see myself doing anything else, which is just fine with me.
July 20, 2008 at 9:56 am · Filed under Uncategorized
I have to admit, creating a website is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Well, let me rephrase, creating a website is more time consuming that I thought it would be. In order to produce a quality product you need to invest adequate time. I feel that I have invested time in my website and tried to make it a quality site. The direction that I wanted to go with my website was all about me. I wanted people to view my website and be like ” O ya, this is Hunter.” One of my friends commented, ” Well, it’s definitely you” and that’s exactly what I was going for. The site probably could have been a little more “teacher like” but I’m happy with the result. Possibly in the future, I’ll change the site and make it more of a site for my students to use. The assignments page I really like on my website. It just made sense to post all of our assignments on the same page. Another thing that I would change is create a photo gallery like some of my classmates did. The only trouble is all of my pictures on the computer and my camera are from Europe, and theres really none of me in the classroom. Trust me I will change that this semester! The google page creator was very easy to use and for the most part I had no problem performing any actions. They could maybe have a few more design ideas but who knows, maybe they’re working on the that right now. I’m proud of my site and now I can tell people, I’ve created a website.
http://hward21.googlepages.com/home
July 20, 2008 at 9:40 am · Filed under Uncategorized
All of the websites created in the class are really cool and very well put together. The first one that really jumped out at my was Amy’s. You can tell how much time she put into developing her website and how serious she takes it. I specifically liked the contact me section. I had never thought about that before and its good to see that she makes herself available to both parents and students. Amy’s website really gives you an understanding of the kind of person that she is.
Another website that I liked was Emily’s colorful website. Emily made her website pop out at you and that’s a great way to grab students attention. I liked how her use of color made each page very attractive. She made sure that her website didn’t look like a word document. Really cool site and I hope she continues to update her site.
The third website that I really enjoyed was Kevin’s. The thing that I liked the most about Kevin’s website was his photo gallery page. The pictures of him interacting with students and children showed how much of a people person he is. The photos gave you a better understanding of who he is and what kind of teacher he will become. Great job Kevin!
July 20, 2008 at 9:08 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Throughout the semester we have been introduced to a number of tools that can be beneficial in the classroom. Most of these tools were simple to use and served a specific purpose. Having said that, I think there are a select few which I will continue to use. The first one is of course voicethread. I know it sounds like they are paying me to advertise for them, but I really love what you can do with a voicethread. The possibilities are truly endless. In fact, I’m going to have the kids that I babysit for the summer create a voicethread over there trip to Washington D.C. Another tool that I will continue to use is social bookmarking. I have a del.icio.us account and I plan to continually add to it. At first I thought it would be pointless and something that I wouldn’t use, but I’ve found myself consistently tagging websites and accessing sites from del.icio.us. Finally, another tool that I know for a fact I will use in the classroom is Skype. Before TECS 390 even started, I had used Skype, so I feel I have a pretty good understanding of the program. I plan to conduct a few Skype calls as a class to some of my teacher friends in different countries. think the students would have a great time talking to other students and learning about a different culture at the same time.
July 19, 2008 at 4:54 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Wow! How do you narrow down such a comprehensive course into only 5 things? I”m not sure that it’s possible but one can sure try! The first and probably most important piece of information that I learned from this course is there is no “one” correct way to perform a task. In many of the assignments that we had, there were usually 4 or 5 different ways of completing the task. This made me realize just how vast technology is today and how computers have completely changed the way we live. Whether it be staying in touch with family or creating online photos albums, I’m confident there is a resource that will fit your liking. As the internet continues to grow so will technology and I can’t wait!
Prior to enrolling in this course, I’d never heard of social bookmarking before and after learning a little more about it, I was amazed. Bookmarks are a handy way of quickly reaching your desired location on the internet, but are only saved on your computer. With social booking sites like del.icio.us, it is now possible to bookmark sites and access them from any computer. I really found myself enjoying tagging del.icio.us and found myself using it more than I expected.
Another tool that I found intriguing was voicethreads. I really enjoyed making my particular threads and I realized how versatile they really are. They can be used for projects, virtual field trips, presentations, and pretty much anything you could come up with. I found myself showing people outside of education voicethreads and even shared them with a teacher of mine. I guess my wow moment in dealing with voicethreads came when I realized how many things they can be applied to. This is really a tool which can enhance learning, what more could you ask for?
Something that was completely new to me was Web 2.0. I had never heard of it before learning about it in this course. Being in the fourth year of Elementary Education, you think I would of heard of it but no. It took a while for me to grasp the entire concept and understand exactly what it was but when I did, it blew me away. Web 2.0 changes the way a “traditional” class is taught and introduces the students to something completely new. When I begin teaching and a colleague mentions Web 2.0, I will now know what they are talking about and be able to share my knowledge.
Finally, the most important thing that I learned in this class is to think outside the box. There is so much out there to use in your classroom and most of it is free. There is absolutely no excuse for your classroom not being creative. The tools and means are available, you just have to use them. This course opened my eyes to a world that was completely foreign to me. I feel that I have learned a great deal in this course and I will become a better teacher because of it. 
July 19, 2008 at 2:52 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
My favorite podcast presenter was by far Eric Langhorst, an 8th grade teacher from Liberty, Missouri. His podcasts from “Speaking of History” were both entertaining and highly informative. I enjoyed listening to the projects that he was doing in his classroom, especially the episode dealing with the Declaration of Independence. Just from listening to the podcasts, you can tell how much Mr. Langhorst enjoys being a teacher and how much he cares about his profession. I also like the fact that some of his podcasts addressed emails that he had received from other teachers. This goes to show how helpful he really is. I would like to thank Mr. Langhorst for his podcasts and for sharing his ideas with other educators. Keep up the good work! You can find his blog at http://speakingofhistory.blogspot.com/
