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.