Two weeks down!

Two weeks down and many more to come. At first things were a little overwhelming. I know this class is going to be a challenge for me. I am excited to take away lot's of new teaching tools that I can use someday in my future classrooms. I have found it fascinating watching these videos in class and seeing all these young children that can do more with technology than I can. Wes is a great instructor. I really feel like he is here to not only teach but to help in any way that he can. I have enjoyed reading several of our classroom posts. I left two comments on both Rachel's blog and Witney's blogs. I look forward to having fun in this class this semester and learning more with you all.

Links to Learning

New Zealand teacher Kiwi shares her learning techniques of classroom 9. In this video six year old children are being taught reading, spelling, physical education, music, and even math using tools such as learning hubs, blogging, and white boards. The teacher has found things like emails and YouTube to be useful in teaching many lessons. The video discusses the objectives the teacher has for each child. The children will become more independent and also active learners. Many of the children become motivated to find new easy ways to learn. One benefit I find is that as a teacher you can introduce a topic but in many different ways. Another benefit the video discusses is the fact that it makes things go much faster and they are very organized. An example of this is when the teachers showed us the learning hub. This is where the children have all the links they will ever need for that class. It's fast and simple to find what they are looking for. Because the classroom only had three computers this encouraged students to work mainly in groups. Often times the classroom would interact with other classrooms. Laying out all the different possibilities teachers have with using technology is becoming more and more of a hot topic among professional teachers, schools, parents, and everyone involved in the education classroom.

To Blog Or Not To Blog

Some might say bringing blogging into the classroom may have both it's benefits and draw backs. In the video Blogging Buddies, children express both their likes and dislikes of the use of blogging in their classroom. The system is set up similar to a pin pal relationship only there is a younger child who acts as the blogger and a pre service teacher who acts as the blogger mentor. The objective of the teachers was to increase the children's ability to write, spell, punctuate, and form proper sentences using technology such as a blogging website. Most of the students interviewed in the video had nothing bad to say about the blogging program. The teachers found that it was not only helpful for the children but for the teachers as well. The teachers were learning how to give positive constructivism. The teachers were also focusing in on the good in the children's writing which gave the children the motivation to write more and better. Both teachers agreed that if anything could be changed it would be to have the teachers make shorter comments. Overall this program was found to be very affective in the progression of the students learning, reading, and writing.

Taking on the Virtual World

The video Digital Youth Portrait: Nafiza is an excellent take on introducing new technologies to children through the use of things such as virtual world video games. Nafiza, a New York student, is a member of the Global Kids organization. This organization has not only taught her new leadership skills but it has allowed her and other students a way of exploring tools they need to understand new findings in computer programs, cell phones, film making and much more. Year after year things are changing. Our society is becoming more advanced. Teachers are having to find new ways to teach and students are finding new ways to learn.

Cameron Video

This video was very interesting to me. Cameron the young boy takes the use of technology to another level for me. The important message I took from this was that technology is being utilized more and more by teachers, parents, and even students. Cameron found something to make learning fun for himself and that was technology. This can work on many different levels if you think about it. This also showed that Cameron was an active learner, he was very hands on. Another important thing I picked up on in this video was when the child knew more than the adults but the adults allowed Cameron to show them the way. As teachers and as parents we can't always be right and sometimes we even have to be shown the right way. This world is changing day after day and technology is becoming a more popular tool and way of teaching our youth.

About me!

I am a female student attending the University of Central Oklahoma seeking a degree in elementary education. I have a love for children and am so excited about becoming a teacher and making a difference in our youths life. I have a beautiful daughter who is my life. She is right now at the age where she is soaking every bit of information she can in. I have always been the one kid in class that helped the rest of the class. I have done lots of tutoring and I love finding fun and different ways to help people learn.