Class Reflection

The final blog will focus on a reflection of the class and what I have learned. This class has taught me several very valuable things. Overall, I enjoyed the distance learning format. I believe it was set up very well by Professor Luongo and had a good blend of online learning, as well as classroom meetings. The class helped me to become familiar with Blackboard and the St. Peter's email system (both of which can be confusing to operate). One of the most valuable things this class taught me was how to work in a distance learning format. At first it seemed like it may be difficult to keep up with the format, but Professor Luongo helped to make it less overwhelming and much easier to work with.

I also felt that class meetings were beneficial. I enjoyed hearing from my classmates and sharing ideas with them. It was interesting to work on an assignment over a period of time on my own and then see all the work that my classmates had been doing as well. Another thing that was great about this class was the exposure to all of the educational software. There is so much information and software out there that can be a great help to teachers that I was never aware of. After taking this class I am excited about using several of these great programs in my own classroom someday.

I enjoyed being in class with Professor Luongo and all my classmates. Good luck and have a great holiday.

Kidsknowit.com

I wanted to post the site that I presented last night on my blog that way all of you can get a chance to take a look at it if you would like. I'm sorry the page didn't work but when I got home it worked on my computer so maybe it will work on yours. It would be most useful for teachers that are working with younger students. I think that students could really benefit from the site. I think it's great that it's free and yet it isn't overwhelmed by a lot of advertising. The link can be found at the bottom of this post. I hope it works for you and enjoy.

www.kidsknowit.com

Thanksgiving Break

I believe that the four day Thanksgiving break comes at a very opportune time for students and teachers alike. The semester (or marking periods) can become very long from the beginning of September to the end of December. Students get a few short breaks in between the beginning of school in September and Thanksgiving break, however, I believe that Thanksgiving break goes a long way to help students and teachers rest for the end of the semester. The period of time in between Thanksgiving and winter break is typically pretty intense. This is usually when term papers are due and final exams are given. The Thanksgiving break comes at a great time for students and teachers to "recharge their batteries" and get ready for the final run of the semester.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and enjoy your weekend.

Webpage Rubrics

I thought that all of the web page rubrics that were presented last class were really good. Everyone did a really nice job and gave me some great ideas to work with when looking critically at the web site I will be critiquing. I enjoyed learning about different web pages and what makes some better than others. It was also good to see the differences in web pages that contain their own information and others that are simply portals to other sources of information. It is not necessarily a bad thing that a site does not contain any of its own information. A web page that has the ability to quickly and effectively send you to other web pages that you are looking for can be just as important as the informational pages themselves.

I really enjoyed seeing all of the web page rubrics presented in class, and they will help me to prepare my own web page rubric to be presented next class.

Curriki

I was just checking out the Curriki website, and I am very impressed by it. It is a great idea to have a place where educators can come together in order to share ideas. I really like the fact that you can collect lesson plans, worksheets, and teaching activities. It is also great that you can not only find items that would help you as a teacher, but you can also contribute to the site by uploading your own information.

The best thing about Curriki is that the ability to quickly and effectively share ideas and information. This will enable teachers to have access to great lesson plans and worksheets that have already been effectively used by other teachers. This can save educators a lot of time and enable them to really fine tune the activities to fit their classroom and their students. Curriki is a great site that will bring educators together to help each other and to share ideas. Ultimately, this will make us more productive and effective educators.

Election Fun for Students

After Professor Lungo posted the election site on her blog I decided to look for other resources that were out there for students to use regarding the election. One site I found was created by Pocantico Hills High School. It was a very simple site, but I also found it to be very effective. I enjoyed the site because the information was not lost by including a lot of confusing and distracting images and words. The list of activities was very straight-forward and plain for students of all ages to be able to see and understand easily.

I also liked the diversity in activities available to the students. Riddles, word searches, mazes, and puzzles were just a few of the different activities that students could find in the "Fun Things to Do" section. Another important section was "Reading All About Electing a President", in which students could get a better understanding of the process of electing a president. Overall, the site was very relevant to this time of year with the election taking place yesterday. I feel like this would be a great "change of pace" lesson to incorporate into the ordinary lessons of the classroom.

http://www.pocanticohills.org/election/election.htm

Computer Lab Favorites

When looking at the Computer Lab Favorites I decided to focus on one of the lessons that were provided. I chose the Social Studies section for grades 3-5. I liked how the lessons were divided up by subject and also by age group. The lesson I ended up looking at was one that took the students on an interactive tour of Ellis Island. The site starts with a slide that introduces the student to Ellis Island. I thought it was great how the students could experience the slide through audio, video, and photo. It also contained a map of Ellis Island that allowed the students to get an idea of what Ellis Island looked like.
The site continues to take the students on a stop by stop tour of Ellis Island. I think that a great way to use this program would be to have the students take the virtual tour then plan a trip to Ellis Island. It would be great for the students to be able to experience Ellis Island online and then in person. A good follow up assignment may be to compare and contrast what they saw online with what they experienced on the trip.
The Computer Lab Favorites site seemed like a good online learning tool for teachers to utilize in the classroom. The tutorial that I looked at was simple and easily understood and could be very beneficial.

Web-Based Educational Resources - Kids Know It Network

Today I wanted to blog about a website I came across while I was looking for a website for my web page rubric assignment. I plan on using this site for my assignment and so far I have been very impressed by it. The first thing that caught my eye about the website was how user friendly it was, especially for younger aged students. It is brightly colored and has pictures to direct you around the site. The next thing I noticed was the diversity of subjects included on the site. Animals, astronomy, biology, chemistry, dinosaurs, geography, geology, history, human bio, math, memory and spelling were the listed subjects.

	Animals		Geology
	Astronomy		History
	Biology		Human Bio
	Chemistry		Math
	Dinosaurs		Memory
	Geography		Spelling

I thought it was great that the site intermixed subjects that might not be as exciting to students (such as math and spelling) with subjects that they would probably enjoy more (such as animal and dinosaurs). I felt like this was a great way to get the students excited about the site while also making it an educational resource.

Also included were some educational games that the students could play. If I were to use the site I in a classroom setting I would probably reward the students by allowing them to use the game feature once they had completed other activities within the site.

How NOT to Use Powerpoint

I just viewed the "How NOT to Use Powerpoint" video, and I found it both entertaining and informative. The video is done in a kind of comedic way, but there is a great deal of truth to what the video is saying. As I was watching the video, I noticed several things that I have seen in other peoples' powerpoints as well as my own. It is very easy to get wrapped up in all that the powerpoint program has to offer. It becomes a matter of figuring out what features are productive for a presentation and which ones are going to take away from your presentation. Just because powerpoint can do something doesn't necessarily mean that you should use it.

I feel like this video is something that I will keep in mind for the next time I make a powerpoint presentation. I believe a good general rule for using powerpoint is to keep the powerpoint as simply as possible. Confusing graphs and too many bullet points only serve to distract the viewers from the point of the presentation. Overall, the video was entertaining and a good source of information with regard to pitfalls of powerpoint presentations.

MY Access!

Upon logging into MY Access! the first thing that really struck me was all of the different resources that were available to students. Included in the website was everything from essay writing to math and also multilingual learning. As I looked deeper into the website I was able to examine the different sections more thoroughly. The instructional writing solutions for grades 4-12 helps to improve student scores on high stakes testing. This is important because any advantage that students can get with regard to high stakes testing is a good thing within the classroom. If students can get a better handle on high stakes testing, it leaves more time for teachers to engage students in learning that is not taught in direct relation to the material in high stakes tests. This may encourage teachers to teach outside for the structure that high stakes tests create and can be a very good thing for both students and teachers.

I felt that the automated essay scoring was also a great feature on the website because it allows students to get direct and prompt feedback regarding their writing. I can remember as a student it was slightly discouraging to receive feedback on your writing days and even weeks after it had been handed in. Usually this was no fault of the teachers, as they had many papers to grade. The MY Access! program makes things easy for the teachers while at the same time giving students prompt feedback.

In general, the MY Access! program is something that would be extremely beneficial to be utilized in the classroom. It is a great tool for teachers and is a great thing for teachers to use in their classrooms. I look forward to utilizing the program when I have a classroom of my own.

Computer Lab Favorites

I just got finished sampling the Computer Lab Favorites site that Professor Luongo posted on her blog, and I was really impressed with it. I feel like it could be a really great tool to apply to the classroom. I found it particularly great how well the web site was organized. You can organize the wheel by subject as well as by grade level. The site is bright and eye-catching to young children, and it seems like a program that students can learn a lot front while also being entertained.

It is extremely important, especially with the younger grades, to supply students with activities that are going to keep their attention, and they are going to enjoy. I believe that a student would get much more out of a program like this than they would a simple pencil and paper worksheet.

I also thought it was great that you could randomize the lesson that the students were to complete. This is a great way to assign problems to different groups or even to different group members. In general, this site really impressed me, and it is something that if used correctly can be a vital tool to learning in the classroom.

Teachers' Myspace Article

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=4791295

I thought that this article was very interesting and relevant to education today. With information being as available as you want it to be on the internet there if very little privacy anymore. Teachers need to be extremely careful with they way in which the depict themselves online.
I thought that it was interesting that in this particular case the woman was denied her credentials by the university she was attending. When I had seem on another student's post that the teacher had been denied a job because of a photo online I had assumed that it was a school that she was applying to for a job that had rejected her. Is it for the university awarding the credentials to decide that because of these photos that this person is unfit to teach anyway? I guess in this case it is. I am curious though to know if the university had awarded her the credentials if the picture would have resurfaced when the woman began applying for specific jobs.
Overall this was a "eye opening" article that shows that aspiring teachers need to be very consciencious of the way that they are representing themselves on the internet.

Internet Safety Videos

I thought that both Internet Safety Videos had value in their own way. The first video was more of an informational video about why internet safety is important and what to do in order to ensure interent safety. In the beginning, the video seemed to be more for teachers and parents to get an understanding of why internet safety is such a concern today. At the end it provides some information for children on what to do if they are being harassed on the internet.
Although the first video provides some information regarding internet safety, I believe that the second video is a more powerful tool in understanding the dangers the internet can present. The second video shows instead of tells the audience exactly how easy it may be for a predator to trick a child into releasing information such as their address and when their parents are typically home. Overall, I felt like the first video provided some good information, but the second video is a much more effective tool in alerting parents, teachers, and children to the dangers of internet.

NJCCCS

I found the NJCCCS website to be extremely informative and insightful. It also made me happy to see that these guidelines and standards have been set for all to see (administrators, teachers, students, parents, etc.). I believe that it is equally important for students to be efficient in computers and technology as it its for them to be efficient in math, reading, and writing. The world that these students are growing up in is one dominated by technological advances such as computers and cell phones. It is the responsibility of the school systems to ensure that students are adequate in the basic features of technology especially with regards to the computer. It is a great thing to see so much attention being paid to technology in the classroom.

When I find myself in the classroom I will be sure to incorporate as much technology as I can. I believe it works in two positive ways. For one, it is speaking in a language that many of the students can easily understand. These students have been brought up in a time dominated by technology, and that is what they have learned. The other positive thing is that technology in the classroom can further the students knowledge of things like computers. Overall, the NJCCCS website was informative, and it is extremely encouraging to see this kind of attention being paid to technology in the classroom.

http://www.nj.gov/education/cccs/s8_tech.pdf

First Blog - Introduction

Hi, my name is John Lucas, and I am currently employed in the social services industry as a youth worker in a group home. I am in the process of making the switch over from social services to education, and this will be my first class on the road to certification in secondary education social studies. I hope to be completed with the program by Fall of 2009. I have a general background in technology, and I am excited to learn more from this class. I am also looking forward to my first class in the hybrid format. My Saint Peter's College email address is jlucas@spc.edu. I look forward to working with everyone.