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.