PowerPoint Lesson Plans

I thought that everyone did a fantastic job with the lesson plans this past week. They all were fun and inter-active. I was a little concerned at first on how I would use PowerPoint in the classroom without lecturing; that is all I have ever seen it used for. I especially liked how several people used it when specifically teaching how to write a letter and the points involved.

Copyright

While we were covering copyright last week, I learned so much. I would like to actually download the PowerPoint from Blackboard when it is posted.

I think that the earlier we educate students on copyright: what it is, how it works, etc. the easier it will be in the future, whether that would be on a paper, downloading music, etc.

I thought that the video we watched was fantastic and could easily be integrated into the classroom and for copyright. It got the point across and was interesting. The fact that it used Disney characters was something that elementary students would be interested in.
http://dotsub.com/view/4918f3c8-8f04-4aa1-b300-39048dca6822

PSA Video's

I really liked doing the PSA video project. At first I was a little hesitant about using Audacity and Moviemaker since I have never used either and thought it was going to have disastrous results. Oddly enough, I think Consuelo and I did a great job on the project. The only issue we had was that there was something wrong with the tape and the first day of filming was lost on the tape and could not be recovered. Other than that it was fun and took a lot less time than I had expected. I definitely think that this would be a great project to use in the classroom. It was good to see the other videos too, I think everyone did great!

Social Bookmarking

I'm not going to lie, I was quite skeptic about Diigo when I first learned about the social bookmarking project. I was confused at first with the tool bar when I downloaded it but it really has been helpful. I am still learning the naviagtions of it. I am currently working on my N-6 Science Unit and it has made my life so much easier! I wish I had had it sooner for other past projects. I am currently in the process of pulling everything I had bookmarked and converting it to Diigo. This is definitely something I will continue to use and keep updated for the classroom!

Teacher websites

I used webnode for my teacher website and the only problem that I faced was when I went to upload pictures. I thought that webnode was fairly easy to use and navigate. Overall, I thought it was a great project to prepare us for when we are in the classroom. I know when I was in school, teachers did not utilize websites for a communication link between school and home. I think its great for parents who may not have the time to sort through the backpacks at night and could access it in the morning before work or even during work to keep up with their children's classroom.

Languages earlier in education

I've been flowing the local papers in my hometown and the debate on starting a foreign language a year earlier; starting it in 8th grade instead of 9th.

When talking about it to my mom, who works for a neighboring school district, she posed two questions, what difference does a year make and in this economy are districts really going to foot for extra teachers? Granted, a year is not that big of a difference, but if you can peak a students interest in an area earlier, why not? The bigger issue should be starting a foreign language in elementary school. I babysit for some children who attend a private school. The nine year old is fluent in French and can hold a conversation in that language-all learning done at school. Neither of her parents speak French. And to argue the second point, being bilingual would make a student stand out in job interviews over another candidate. I understand that the economy is difficult at this time but if starting languages earlier in students education is for their benefit in their future, why wouldn't find ways to make that happen?

My ending comparison was, we teach students to be computer and technology literate at very young ages, which is crucial whether a student pursues their education or goes directly into the workforce. How is integrating language into cirriculum at an earlier age any different?

Online lesson plan resources

Despite being an elementary education major, I was unaware of how many websites are out there. Normally, I just Google the topic and any sites that come up, I just click and review. United Streaming was useful because I was able to pull some lesson plans to adapt and modify for my N-6 Science unit. I was also unaware that Albright had access to an education section under the library website- that was so useful! I am definitely adding those websites to my social bookmarking project.