Reflective Blog

Of the Primary Source websites we reviewed – Ad Access, Emergence of Advertising in America, Our Documents, and American Memory Collection which was your favorite and why ?
Describe one ad or document and explain why you liked it.
Describe 3 assignments for students to use Primary Sources in class. Include the grade level and what the assignment would include.

Of the websites we viewed my favorite was Ad Access because you got to view the different ads and search for the ones that you wanted. It showed you how ads looked before we were born and how they have changed over time. One ad that I liked was a TV ad from the 1950's. It showed how after the war TV's were in high demand, also I think it was to help the economy after the war. Three assigments you would do with these websites are research. One could be for history, looking up documents and treaties that were passed. That could be done after any grade level above 2nd. Another assigment could be ad comparison. Comparing different ads like from back to one now. That could be done in any grade above 3. The final assigment you could do would be make an modern day ad based on the information in an old ad. That could be done with any grade above 2nd grade.

Reflective Blog

What was the most difficult part about designing your Rubric?Which category did you find hardest to describe and why? How much time would you allow yourself to design a rubric to accompany an assignment for your students?

The most difficult part about designing the rubric today was defining the differences in the different amount of points a student could earn. The hardest category to describe was creativity, because everyone has different ideas of how to be creativity and some kids don't have art skills to make it creativity like everyone elses. I would allow myself enough time to make a good rubric and made sure it including everything I wanted to be on the students projects.

reflective blog

Of the programs that we viewed today which one did you like the best and why? What are three reasons you could give a princpial to entice them to buy a subscription to that program?

Of the programs that we viewed today, I liked Star Fall the best. I liked it because it is directed toward kids and it is easy to use. Also it dealt with things that kids need to know and it doesn't feel like you are learning it feels like you are playing a game. The three reasons I could give a princpial to buy a subscription would be its a new type of learning experience, its something that kids will enjoy to do and it appeals to different learning styles.

Reflective Blog # 6

Answer the following questions about the Dream Car excel example
How did a spreadsheet project like this offer relative advantage in comparison with other ways of teaching students about money management? What might be some of the benefits of having students work in groups, rather than individually on this project?

By doing the Dream Car example showed how money works. It showed what loans are and how much they cost in the long run. You can also use a spreadsheet to manage money and keep a budget. In Excel the formulas are easy to do and the numbers are already part of the data. Also you can just click the cells and not retype the numbers so there is less room for error. Also the different examples are things that a student will have to do with when they grow up and have a job and they need to buy things. Some of the benefits of having students work in groups is they can communicate with each other about they knowledge. Also if a student does not know how to use excel they can help each other. Also with the different formulas some stuff is not in terms that we might understand so the students can help each other.

Reflective Blog # 4

In repsonse to the critics, I would say that I agree with them. When you use a word processor software it fixes your spelling and grammar there fore it takes away from a student's knowledge. Also a student can no longer practice there handwriting. Word processor software are more convient if you make alot of mistakes since you can just delete the word and not go throw erasing or starting over if you are handwriting your paper. I think that students write more if they can type it since it is faster, while handwriting takes longer. Also you can edit your paper in seconds while if you handwrite it you need to write a whole new paper.

Small Group Web Project

Got to page 265 and choose one of the web projects. In your blog -- creat a post that briefly describes the project. Give examples of how you think the project could be used in a classroom. What grade levels and what subject area?

In the weather scope project, students are required to look and record local and world weather. Students learn how about different weather instruments and how to find weather on the internet. Students will be given a scenario to form there own forecasts and climate about there scenario. Students will also track weather. There are 5 activites that the students must complete. The first activity is to make a weather station. There weather station will consist of using weather instruments and recording the data they recieve from the instruments. The second part of the first activity is to makea class weather station. The second activity is to make a weather log. The information for the log will come from the student's weather stations, their local weather from the internet and from there a city in AK. The log will contain temperatures, sky conditions, wind and precipitation. The third activity is to track weather for a period of 2 weeks based on the classroom weather instruments and the interet. The fourth activity is to understand how weather changes by analzying data. The fifth activity is predict the weather for your area based on your weather data.
This project could be used in the classroom in many different ways. It can be used for both science and math, since you have to interpet data, make graphs and understand how to read weather instruments. The project can also be done as a class, small groups or an individual. This project can show how weather is recorded and how weather is forecasted. It will also give students a new outlook on the weather and how it is caused. The grade levels for this project would be 6th grade through 12th. At the 6th grade level students have developed the skills for this project and would be successful. This project could be done in either science or math since you need both of those skills to complete the project successfully.

Reflection 3

In many schools, Wikipedia is blocked from student use. Do you think students should use Wikipedia? At what age level do you think Wikipedia would be appropriate? For what situations would you encourage students to use Wikipedia? Do you think that an encyclopedia "written by the masses" can be quality source of information? Why or why not?

I think students should use Wikipedia. It has honest information about subjects. Also it is written in an opinion of an average person so it would be easier for students to understand. I think Wikipedia would be appropriate for high school students and middle schools students if someone is monitoring the information on the website. I think that Wikipedia should only be used as a second resource for certain situations. Wikipedia should be used when you want to find information quick and on stuff you already know some information about. I think that an encyclopedia written by the masses is a good source because people are allowed to edit the information. If you see something wrong with the information you can go in and correct the information. Also more people can put more information about the certain subject so people can understand the subject better and gain a better knowledge of the subject.

Teaching Zach to think

What skills did Zack need to learn about web evaluation? How could a teacher prevent this same scenario from happening with other students? Give 3 strategies the teacher could use.

Zack needs to learn many skills about how to evaluate a website. The first skill Zack needs to know is whether the author is creditably and knows what they’re talking about. That can be determined by if the author’s name is sited and that type of website it is, such as .com, .gov, .org, etc. The second skill Zack needs to know what is the reason for the website and what information is provides you with. The third skill Zack needs to know if the website is usefully and provides answers to questions that he has and the answers are credible. Another skill Zack needs to know is how to determine whether information is biased. Since he is young that could be hard for him. A teacher could prevent this from happening but educating their students about websites and provide them with the skills needed to determine if a website credible. Three strategies a teacher could use is teach the students the skills for assessing a website. The second strategy a teacher could use is to give the students a list of website they could use if everyone was researching the same topic. The final strategy a teacher could use is to monitor the websites the students are on and have other students check the credible of each other’s websites.

Reflective Blog #1

I am pretty comfortable with using technology. I use it everyday and I am pretty comfortable using it for school work and fun. I currently use technology everyday. The computer is a big part of my life. I use to look up information, to do homework and do projects. I mostly use technology for the internet. In this class I want to learn how technology can be intergated into a classroom and how children can benefit from technology. Also all the information out there that can help one become a better teacher. Students in school should use technology as a different way of learning. They can see things from all over the world and make there own projects.

my edu class at neumann

This blog is for my Edu 248 class at Neumann College