Reflection

As I have a feeling I combined two posts, I'm going to add another Reflection post of this wonderful class!
I have learned so much about technology and how technology can be integrated within the classroom! Last night, while I (like so many other people) was watching lifetime Army Wives/Coming Home, my phone was going crazy with texts and tweets and GChat messages... "Osama is dead" was the first notice I received. My feelings were mixed as many peoples might have been, but I turned on the TV and listening the news reports, I heard "Twitter", "e-mail" other forms of communication via technology mentioned. That truly triggered my CEP thoughts that- Look how technology is helping everyone get aware of the news.

Technology is an important part of our daily life, our society and the best part it is now becoming part of our classrooms and making a big stand!

Thank You for this wonderful class!!

CEP 416 Final Post/Reflection

CEP 416 has been a wonderful addition to my coursework this year! I have learned so much about technology and working collaboratively online. For my final, I created a VoiceThread showing my progression of this class! I looked and listened to my House's reflections as well, and I noticed some trends in our commentary. Andy, Rachel and I all had the same reaction to Twitter, Andy mentioned how he was able to use what people tweeted about for his blog posts!  Rachel commented on how twitter was very interactive! I agree with all of these statements! Andy also mentioned how Google Docs is an extremely wonderful tool in collaborating! I feel the exact same way, and how much I have used Google Docs everyday in my other classes and showing everyone the great things that you can do with Google Docs. As I looked at my colleagues interactive lesson plans, it is amazing how everyone used some type of different technology and in different ways! I think this shows the vast variety of technology and how important and easy it can be to integrate it into anything that you do in the classroom! I think it is very important to remember how technology can change the way a student can and will learn based on that student's learning abilities!

This class has really helped me see the importance of technology and the ease of technology! The best part about education is that it is ever changing and so is technology! Having classes like this class to show what is available is a wonderful and important thing for every teacher to have in their toolbox!

Technology will be seen more and more in the classroom every year!
Thank You to my CEP instructor for helping me learn as much as I could in a short amount of time about integrating technology into the classroom!!!

GO GREEN!

Voicethread

Here is my Voice Thread that I created to showcase my learning in my CEP 416 class! Enjoy!!

Ending of an era

I CANNOT believe that my senior year is coming to an end here at Michigan State!! I cannot believe how fast these past 4 years have gone! I have learned more than I thought I could and am really excited about my journey next year in my internship year! I cannot wait for my experiences  and how much I will learn working in a High School and in a first grade classroom! Having two classes on technology and having another class that  incorporates technology daily  is  really showing me how important and useful technology is in today's culture and how it will only grow!

I want to  congratulate everyone who is graduating and good luck next year in what ever you endeavor! :)

Integrated Lesson Plan

I just finished my Integrated Lesson Plan. I did a lesson plan about poetry and using technology for poetry! I decided to do a lesson on poetry because of how much I loved my TE458 poetry class. How important poetry is in the classroom, and helping students find themseleves, yet it's always on back burner! I hope this lesson will be a way to push poetry back to the spot light for some teachers!

How many people used poetry as a form of expression in classes and not a "what does this poem mean?"

MTTC

As I am getting ready for my 3rd MTTC test. It made me realize HOW MUCH I HATE TESTS! Besides the fact that they want me to spend an additional $40+ on a study guide, the test is just annoying. As I'm reading the test questions I just think about my students and how when they take their MEAP tests how they might feel. I have been going to an accredited college for 4 years, shouldn't my grades/classes I'm taking qualify me to become a teacher? Why is it that an engineer doesn't have to take a test but once he/she graduates is considered an engineer yet- we teachers have to take multiple tests after we have been learning in our classes that tests aren't always the best way of measuring a students ability? Maybe I'm just cranky about taking a test on a Saturday- but why are we learning one method and then practicing a different one?

 What would be a better way for us to be tested on what we know as teachers?

What would you do if..

What would you do as a teacher if your student handed in something like this....

Or something like this...

Would you grade them down?

Wiki

Currently in two of my classes we are using Wiki's and we have just been asked to create our own. How great! Another website for me to work on and work on my technology skills! Right now I have a working, Weebly, Google Page and now a Wiki. What's the difference? If you would have asked me that a year ago I would have looked at you like a deer in headlights... luckily my out of state tuition is about to pay off! I personally think they are all great websites and great things to have but if I had to pick one to use in my classroom I would use a wiki. The ease of a wiki and the ability to change it and edit it and have multiple pages is a great tool for a classroom! The Google site is a great page for a personal page which I have been using it for my personal online database of things and projects I have done in school. I have been trying to update my lesson plans which I have written to show future employers what I have been working on in my classes and what lessons I have taught. It's really important to be able to show people and especially future employers how versatile you are and how valuable you will be to the school. A weebly is a great website for individual projects, I personally thing because that is what I have used it for. It took me a while to get the page up and and to figure it out, mind you I started my page almost 2 years ago and used it for a school project. However, there are many sites and many pages that you can use and use in the classroom it really depends on what you feel is the best host site for your use. What do you think? What is the better for the classroom?

Google Docs

In light of the baseball season, I decided to do a poll using Google Forum to what is the favorite team in baseball. Why is did I chose to use Google Forum? Besides that it was required, Google Docs and everything Google has really changed my education in the past year. For the past couple of classes I have had a group project where we had to all meet and do a power point, but none of us could meet.. so what did we do? We created a Google presentation and WALLAH!  the project was done! We were all able to edit it and work on it when we were able to do it and we all worked together. It is a great tool and asset as a teacher and student! This Google forum is a good way to get to know your students, see how students are liking the class and really anything you want. You could even do a test on Google! Pretty Snazzy if you ask me! Thank You Google, for making my education and my future education easier! :)

Hot Topic in Education- Should we kick out students for disabilities?

The title is crazy right? Who would kick out a student because of a students disability? Many parents in Florida want to kick out a first grader because of her peanut allergy. The parents say because the school is requiring their students to go to extreme measures, such as "Lunches must be left outside of the room, Students must wash their hands before entering the room and after lunch." Shouldn't the students be washing their hands anyways? Why is that harming the students that don't have allergies? I used to teach in a pre-school (that was part of my high school) with students that had severe allergies and some religious dietary issues. Did we kick out the 3 and 4 year old children because of their religion or their allergies? NO. One of the news reports I heard made a great comment, "replace the word allergy with Autism, HIV, or anything, would we still be picketing to kick out a first grader because of her allergies?" This school is lucky that they are still allowed to bring peanuts to school, many schools have banned peanut butter all together just for safety. I think it's important for everyone to realize that every child has the right to an education. Why should we take away a child's right to education because she cannot eat a peanut.