Student Teaching

As I wrap up my last few day here in Marquette, MI, I cannot help but reflect on my education experiences at NMU. I have learned a great deal from both my history classes and my education classes. I would say overall, my time here has been a positive step for me. However, I student teach next semester and I am not sure where I will be in a few weeks. I have yet to receive my placement because NMU has somehow messed up my Munising placement. Only recently did I get a notice saying that another application was sent to Munising and that person was picked over me. I am not sure how such a detramental mistake was made, and even though I received an apology, I still do not know why this happended. So as I leave NMU, my future is uncertain and I can only hope that everything will turn out for the better.

FMMS teaching reflection

This week I taught twice at Father Marquette Middle School in a 6th grade social studies class. I was concerned about the fact that the school did not have a wide spread use of technology within the school (so no power point or overhead projectors). But, I adapted and created two lesson plans that worked well (at least I think it went well!) The students seemed engaged in the activities and they learned something. What I learned from this experience is how difficult classroom management is. NMU does not require ed major to take a classroom management class and I think that we should have a better understanding of it before we are pushed out into the real world of teaching. Student teaching will obviously give me some more insight about classroom management, but at the moment, I am worried on how to get certain students engaged and focused. It will come with experience.....

Virtual Worlds

There are many types of virtual worlds out there. World of warcraft is a game and everything built by the company. Second life is not a game, the only thing that was built by the company was the ground. Everything else is created by users. It is also free, unless you want to buy a premium. Second life even has its own universities. I have never used second life or any other type of virtual worlds. So this is my first look into it. After today's class, I am not interested in virtual worlds. I feel that people get so wraped up in this. Yes, you can go see Van Gough's paintings. But why would I want to play on a virtual world, when the real world is outside my door! I think that virtual worlds can provide some beneficial learning experiences for kids. However, the outside world can show even more learning experiences for students. Go on a field trip to a local museum, read Walt Whitman outside on the lawn, or go to a nearby river or lake to learn about ecosystems. We do not have to travel far to have an engaging learning experience, you just have to go outside your door!

Responsible use of technology

A copyright is used on books, music, plays, art, ect, but ideas cannot be copyrighted. Its all about money. The artist needs to be recognized and receive money for their work. If you are generating money from their works, that is when trouble happens. Fair use allows teachers to use copyrighted materials in their classrooms for educational purposes. Through the fair use, teachers have access to materials beyond classrooms or textbooks and thus may expand and enrich learning opportunities for students. There are restrictions on fair use such as the amount you can borrow and the purpose of the materials. Under fair use, you cannot make a profit and it is only a one time deal. It is for instructional use only and not for entertainment. The TEACH act stands for technology, education, and copyright harmonization. The TEACH act was created after the fair use act and pertains to the internet. It focuses on digitalized works and technological resrictions because fair use does not discuss those issues.

New technology for teachers

Multimedia presentation software includes technology such as Power Point to make interactive games or to present information. However, there are new ideas constantly emerging, such as Prezi. There is one big canvas of information instead of have many slides, like in a Power Point. It allows for more creativity which allows for both teachers and students to make more meaningful lessons and presentaions. An excellent feature is the ability to zoom in and out. Prezi shows conceptual relationships.

tech thought

In college, we use technology in the classroom a lot. Every student here at NMU has a laptop. We have opportunities to make Power Points, Word documents, excel spreadsheets, make videos, and serf the web. For HS 350, (Logan's class) we use overhead projectors to teach our lesson plans in front of the class. However, I realized that the technology that is going on in the schools here in the Upper Peninsula is much different. We have to create a lesson plan to teach at Father Marquette Middle School. I was exctited to use use the techniques we learned in HS 350 and apply them to my FMMS lesson plan. However, Father Marquette has no overhead projectors to display Power Points. So I can't even show a picture and do spiraling questions or show video clips. As teachers, we need to be aware of the environment we teach in. We must be flexable and adapt.

A vision of K-12 students

This is a video with student who are "digital natives." These kids are born in 1995 and after. One fact was that half of the population do not graduate. This number is staggering. Where do these people go? What do they do? The students in the video also say that their teachers do not use technology in the classroom, so how are they suppose to learn it? Teachers may not know about new technology, they may not want to change, or they do not have the money or resources to get new technology in their classroom. Teachers need to be aware of the current technology so they can enhance learning. These students are asking for engagement, they want to create something, they want learning to be fun.