Skype

Skype is a free online communication tool where you can place calls to other people's computers in order to connect with them. While talking, both people are able to view each other. Skype demonstates all three E's. Skype can make communication more efficient because you are able to talk and see each other at the same time. This allows for both visual and verbal communication. Skype is effective because it can allow students to connect with other students who are learning the same course content. They will be able to discuss their common problems and solutions for assignments. Skype can also enhance student’s learning because it will allow them to see the person’s environment in which they are communicating from. For example, if they are skyping with someone outside of the country they will be able to view their culture and surroundings.
There are some disadvantages to using Skype. By allowing the other person to see you, each person loses a sense of privacy that normal telephone calls include.
Also if your computer does not have a webcam or speakers, then you are not able to communicate with Skype. Another disadvantage is that it is bothersome to the people who are around you. They can both see and hear your conversation which can become irritating.
Even though there are some disadvantages, there are many more advantages of using Skype. Overall Skype is a great communication tool and can be very helpful when communicating with people from other parts of the world.

Assistive Technology-Narrator

One assistive technology that may be used in my future classroom on a Windows Vista computer would be Narrator. Narrator would be used for students with visual disabilities. Narrator is a text-to-speech program that will read texts on the screen and describe some events (such as error messages) by navigating using the keyboard. To use narrator you need to turn on the sound and you can listen to it aloud or you may use headphones. You would need to use headphones if it was being used in a class setting so you would not disturb the other students.

To open Narrator you go to Control Panel, Ease of Acces, Ease of Access Center. Once you are there you will see a screen like the one below.

Once you have opened that you will then click Start Narrator. You then will see the box titled Microsoft Narrator.

You may edit settings from this box. You can have it Echo User's keystokes, Announce System Messages, Announce Scroll Notifications, and Start Narrator Minimized. You may also change the Voice settings. You could choose different people's voices. You can also edit the speed, volume, and pitch of the sound.

Narrator would be effective to use for students with visual disabilities. If you wanted them to read something on the computer then you could have them use narrator and it could read it to them. Also if they were typing something on the computer they could use narrator in order to hear certain error messages that may occur while using the computer.

PLN-Twitter for Teachers

I created my own PLN. I created a twitter4teachers account and I susbscibed to other Elementary teachers pages. I am able to follow other teachers and they are able to follow me as well. This will be a great way to learn about new resources and information involving teaching. To stay informed when people make new posts I signed up to receive emails.

You can view my twitter account here:
http://twitter.com/britneylg08

By being a member of Twitter I can keep track of certain "tweets" teachers post about resources, activities, and news that is valuable for me to use as a teacher.

Classroom Communication

For classroom communication I plan to use blogger. At the beginning of the year I will send home a paper that explains my blog site and what it is for so that parents and students will be able to access it. I think that it is an effective tool because I will be able to post information about things such as field trips. If there is a field trip coming up I will post information about it and also I will talk about the field trip permission slip that parents need to sign. It is my responsibility to communicate this information to parents, therefore if students do not get the information passed out at school home to their parents they will still be able to access it. Also I will be able to post information about certain assignments that students need to complete. If a student is at home and they are having problems they will be able to get on my blog site and view information about it. Also the parents will be able to view the information so they can help their child. If there is an upcoming test, I will post information about it so that parents are aware and they can help their child with studying for the test. If parents have questions or concerns, they can reply to my blog posts and I will be able to respond back to them. This is efficient because if other parents have the same questions or concerns, they will be able to view it too. I won't have to respond to multiple parents because it can all be viewed by everyone.

Station One- KidPix Pictograph (Elementary/Early Childhood/TAL)

Intro: Everyday in Ms. Martins kindergarten class, they complete a different graphing activity. Ms. Martin thinks its important for her students to experience different types of data visualization. For this activity students will learn about tally sheets.

The above activity was the activity that we were working with for our station. The first thing we had to do was create a tally sheet with Microsoft word using pictures instead of words. On the tally sheet we had to create a 2x5 table with Basketball, Baseball, Football, Soccer, and Volleyball included on it. This is the sheet that students will use to collect their data.

After we created the tally sheet we had to do was to make up data to use with it. We then had to make a pictograph to present the data. You can see it below.The next thing we did was create a snowman glyph on KidPix. There was a paper that told you instructions on how to make your snowman. The snowman was created based on your answers to the questions. An example question was "Do you like pizza?" If yes, then you drew a red hat on your snowman. If no, then you drew a blue hat on your snowman.

The final thing we had to do was create a microsoft word document with questions to ask our students. An example question on the document was "What sport was liked the most and what sport was liked the least?" Then we had to create discussion questions also to ask in a whole class discussion.

Reflection of Online Meeting

At first I thought that this wasn't a good idea. We were having alot of technical problems at first, but once we got going with the groups things got alot better. Overall I thought the online meeting was neat, because it was something I have never experience before.

I do not feel very comfortable using this in the future because you have to have the right resources to use it. For example if you didn't have a headphone it was hard for people to hear you because you echoed. If you have all of the right resources it is a great tool to use. Also it is kind of confusing to use with a lot of people because they all are trying to talk and type things at once. There were alot of troubles with sound and being able to hear people, so it was sort of irritating.

This would be a neat tool to use in Elementary if you needed to meet with a parent and they were unable to meet with you. Once again they would have to have the right resources. It would also be neat to use if teachers wanted to meet one night, they could just meet from their home if they had the right resources.

Content Exploration

I reviewed LeapPad for Elementary Education. I plan to teach second or third grade someday and I think this tool will be helpful for my students. LeapPad will be a very fun easy way for students to read books. It will help the students ability to read. After you choose a book to read, you just out the pen on the words you want it to say. If you would rather, you can press a button on the page to have it read the whole page. This tool helps bring the books to life for students.

This is a efficient tool for me as a teacher because I won't have to read with them individually all the time. They can use this tool and it will help them become a better reader. It will save alot of time. Also while trying to do other things, such as grade or work with other students, I will be able to keep other students busy by letting them work with LeapPad.

Other teachers are using LeapPad in their classrooms and are discovering what it can do for students and the classroom.

Even though I feel this is mostly to help students read, it is also fun because they can play games and it is more entertaining to them than just reading a normal book.

Virtual Field Trips

You can't always take your students everywhere you want to take them in order to teach them something. You are sometimes just limited to your classroom. But that doesn't mean you can't take them places! With virtual field trips you can take your class on a trip right from your computer! The website http://www.uen.org/tours/fieldtrips2.shtml has many choices on where you would like to take a trip to.

You can choose any subject you want and it will tell you certain things in that subject that you can take a visit to. For example if you choose Social Studies, you can then choose civil war. It then shows you photos of the civil war and shares with you alot of information on it. It is very easy to learn about it if you take a virtual field trip to it. This tool enhances learning because it gives students an opportunity to see how things were right from the computer.

Multiplication

A great website for math is http://www.multiplication.com/. It has many fun and interactive games for students to practice their math skills. It is very effective for students because they are very fun games and the kids will really want to get the correct answers in order to win. For example one game is a boxing game and it shows you a multiplication problem. In order to win you have to punch the correct answer on the punching bag. This game will really get the students interested.

FunBrain

A website that I think is very effective for students is http://www.funbrain.com/. This is an educational website that provides games for students to play.

The games range from math games to reading games. This is a very effective site for students because it is still teaching them material, but yet they want to learn it in order to win the game. When students want to play games at school, you could allow them to get on this website and play the games because they are all educational, but yet they are still fun for them to play! The website also has books that you can view and read online. This is effective because students enjoy getting on computers, and if you have them get on this website they are able to read and be on the computer at the same time!

Sparklebox

Around the classroom, I think it is always nice to have some decoration and signs. I know that I will be very busy as a teacher and I may not be able to create my own signs or shop around for signs that I want. But with Sparklebox, I can print off hundreds of signs to hang up in my own classroom for free! Signs found at http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/ will help you decorate your room in no time!

Any sign you want, you name it and Sparklebox probably has it! They have many signs from reading corner signs to nametags for student's desk...they have it all! This is a very efficient tool because you can just download the sign to your computer and print it directly from your computer for free! No need running around stores looking for what you need, just look at this website and you will find it!

Easy Test Maker

A website that I find very efficient to me as a future educator is Easy Test Maker. As a teacher I know you are going to be very busy. You not only have to prepare test questions, but you have to create them. With easy test maker (found at http://easytestmaker.com/), you can just enter the questions and it will format and create the test for you.

It gives you the option of choosing a multiple choice test, a true and false test, a matching test, and much more. You can also create multiple versions of the test and also you can have it create you an answer sheet. This is a very efficient tool as a teacher because it will save you a lot of time when creating tests.

Great Lesson Plans for Elementary Teachers

While searching for websites that contained lesson plans for elementary teachers, I found one website that was very helpful. The website I found was http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Lesson_Plans/. This website contains links to many different lesson plans for all kinds of different subjects. You can not only choose what subject you want, but you can then choose what grade level you are looking for also. For example if you were a third grade teacher looking for an activity to use for your lesson on math, you could choose grades 3-5 under the mathematics tab and then it will come up with different categories in math to choose from. You then choose what category you want. For example I chose money and it came up with three different activities to do. I chose the activity titled Let Us Go Shopping and it came up with an activity for me to print off and use. The link to this activity is http://eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/Mathematics/Arithmetic/ATH0010.html. This website is a great website to find lesson plans as a teacher and it will save you alot of time.