Online virtual schools are very controversial with many pros as well as cons.

The pros of online virtual schools:

Online virtual schools would be very beneficial for high school students who are unable to finish high school in the classroom. There are many situations where a student would drop out of high school and virtual schools would give them the opportunity to receive their diploma without returning to the classroom. Online virtual schools would also benefit any student who has a severe illness or injury that would prevent them from attending school in the classroom. The virtual classroom would give these students the opportunity to participate in the curriculum at home without falling behind. Another instance where virtual schools would be beneficial is for students who move around a lot. Students might move to different parts of the state or country often because of their parent’s job and have difficulties changing schools so frequently. It would be difficult for a student to keep up with the curriculum if they do not stay at the same school for a decent period of time but the virtual schools give them the opportunity to move without losing their place in the curriculum.
Online virtual schools not only benefit students but teachers as well. A teacher who moves around a lot and is a teacher for a virtual school would not have to worry about finding a new job and leaving his or her students. A teacher who is a mother of young children would also benefit from being a teacher for a virtual school. A mother would benefit because they would be able to raise their children on their own without having to pay for child care.

The cons of online virtual schools:

Online virtual schools have many downfalls for students. Students would be unable to meet and interact with students on a regular basis. Students would also lose the opportunity to work with other students in a collaborative manner. Students need to be able to work with and learn from other students in the classroom. Another reason online virtual school’s are a downfall is the fact that students are unable to get immediate help and feedback in a face to face interaction with an educator. This is important because students should be surrounded by someone who is a professional in all school related areas. In addition, students could also face problems with staying on task and learning the required material. Online virtual schools could also be problematic to teachers because it might be more difficult to teach a student without being face to face.

I actually do not believe that online virtual schools will impact my future teaching a great deal. However, if the growth of online schools keeps growing at the same pace, more students might be making the transition from the classroom to the internet. The transition to the online schools would bring less jobs to the teachers who want to teach in the classroom.

Emerging Technologies

SMART Board

The Smart Board is a new technology that combines the simplicity of a white board with the power of a computer. The Smart Board is a touch-sensitive display that connects to your computer and digital projector to show your computer images, videos, and lesson plans. You are able to control computer applications directly from the display, write notes in digital ink and save your work to share later. The Smart Board brings everything to one area with this fun and easy to use technolog

The Smart Board would bring a lot of simplicity to the classroom and cut down on wasted time preparing for lessons and transitioning between lessons because with the Smart Board everything is in one place. Smart Boards can be used by the teacher as well as by the students. The Smart Board gives students the opportunity to interact with many activities, videos, and other educational sources. I would use the Smart Board in the classroom to help me stay organized and gain more control over the learning environment. I would also love to use the Smart Board to engage the students in what is being taught by giving them the opportunity to solve problems on the Smart Board for everyone to see. With the size of the board it also makes it easier for everyone to see what is going on without difficulties.

http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Boards/default.htm


SMART Table

The Smart Table is a table that brings work and play together in hands-on, collaborative activities. The SMART Table is the first multitouch, multiuser interactive learning center that allows groups of primary students to work simultaneously on its surface. The table's interface is so intuitive that even the youngest of students can get started without instructions. The Smart Table can help enhance whole class, small group, and individual learning.

I would use the Smart Table to help engage students in collaborating with their peer with a variety of subjects. I would like to use the table for math so students can interact to solve problems together. There is also a feature where students can identify parts of a diagram by dragging labels to the correct spot. I think this feature would be useful to see how much a student has learned in a certain subject such as science or social studies. Another feature that I find useful is the multiple choice feature. I would use this as a sort of informal exam for students. They are able to click and drag answers to a central image to complete the test.

http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Table/default.htm


SMART Document Camera

”Imagine the convenience of viewing a science experiment in real time with your class, or displaying a book on your SMART Board interactive whiteboard as you highlight key sections. With the new SMART Document Camera, you can do all that and more. Instantly display real-time images of any static or moving object onto an interactive whiteboard for your entire class to see. You can also capture images with Notebook collaborative learning software and use them to create interactive lessons.The SMART Document Camera is an amazing, yet simple, teaching tool that can help you turn your classroom into a spontaneous and dynamic learning environment” (www2.smarttech.com).

I would love to use the Smart Document Camera in my class to share images, from anywhere in the classroom, with students. The Smart Document Camera can even line up to a microscope to enlarge objects such as science projects. The Smart Document Camera can also be connected to the Smart Board in order to display images and videos larger so the whole class can see.

http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Document+Camera/default.htm

Blogs and Wikis In Education

I searched Google, Ask Jeeves, and Yahoo for “educational blogs” and received pretty different results. The first sites were the same sites but other than that they were very different. The websites that were similar with all three search engines were the websites that seemed more popular and reliable. I searched “educational wikis” with the same search engines and made the same observations. I feel that the websites from Google are almost all reliable. With the other search engines, it was hard to find websites that I really liked and would consider useful. I think that there is a difference with the search engines because Google is far more developed and many more people use Google as an everyday search engine.

There are many great ways that blogs and wikis are being used in K-12 classrooms. I love the idea of an entire school blog. The Meriwether Lewis Elementary School has a fantastic website! I am glad to see that schools want to become more efficient and use technology in this way. Everything you want to know about this school is in the website. You can even navigate to a certain teacher’s page and different notes that any teacher from the school has posted. I am sure it is very convenient and useful for parents as well as students to visit the website if they have any questions relating to events involving their school. Wikis and Blogs are also used a lot by teachers to display everything regarding their classroom and curriculum. I have found many blogs as well as wikis used by teachers to communicate with their students. These websites offer the information that is very similar to our own class teacher web. Wikis are also used in a great way to guide students in collaboration projects. I believe that wiki collaboration projects are a great way of learning for every grade level. Blogs and wikis can also be used by teacher to provide students with extra activities outside of the classroom. Teacher can use the websites to show students other interesting and helpful ways to expand their learning.

RSS readers, also known as really simple syndications, are the most popular file format for web feeds. Web feeds are a way for websites large and small to distribute their content well beyond just visitors using browsers. People who wish to receive information from various sites without the hassle of navigating through each website are able to receive the same information through feeds that take all of the desired material and put it in one place. Subscribing to feeds is useful for consumers because it makes it possible for them to review a large amount of online content in a short amount of time. An aggregator is a software program or website that allows content from multiple RSS sources to be collected and displayed on a computer. Typically, an aggregator will provide relatively clean, fast, advertisement-free access to RSS content. I would use these technologies in the classroom to keep up to date with information from my websites of interest without having to spend a lot of extra time. I could also give students the opportunity to become involved with these devices. I could have students use the devices to obtain information I want them to receive about something that we are leaning in the classroom.


Blogs and Wikis can be a positive aspect in education for many reasons, many of which I have already mentioned. Blogs and Wikis are a great way for student to collaborate with other students from their classroom as well as with students from other classrooms and other schools. Blogs and Wikis are also a great way to introduce students to technology. As great as Blogs and Wikis can be, they also have some negative aspects. Blogs and Wikis can be a bad idea to use in education because not all students and parents have access to computers, which also relates to the fact that not all parents are able to help their children on the computer or take the time to take their child to a computer. I feel that it could be very controversial whether or not to require students in the younger grade levels to participate in education outside of the classroom online. This brings up a whole new responsibility for the child as well as their parent because maybe that child is not allowed or able to use the computer alone but their parent has other important things to do. The child should not be penalized because of something their parent did or did not do.

All in all Blogs and Wikis can be a fantastic part of education if they are used appropriately in regards to the needs and situation of each and every student.

Engaging Students with Concept Mapping Activities

I found many great ideas, from kidspiration, of how to use concept mapping within my future classroom. I really like the idea of guiding students thinking with a student journal. The center of the map explains that the map will be about the student’s feelings about any given topic. The map then goes out to four areas separate areas of the students like including friends, school, home, reading, and the weather. The student then explains their feelings for each topic and has an opportunity to explain their feelings. I think this is a good idea because a teacher can easily change this map to any topic but still receive important information while allowing student's to express themselves.

I also found some really great ways to use concept mapping in the classroom for mathematics. I think it would be fun for students to have the opportunity to use concept mapping when solving math problems especially story problems. I found a story problem that incorporated a venn-diagram to help demonstrate what the story problem was asking.

Concept mapping can also be used in the classroom to aid in learning science concepts. I found many great ways that the maps can be used so show all sorts of different cycles. One map that I particularly like is the map of the moon cycle. I think that this map makes it easy to understand the concept

I believe that concept mapping would benefit student learning in many ways. Engaging children in technology at an early age will benefit them because technology has such a huge role in society. Student’s need to understand how technology works because it they will need it a great deal in their future. Concept mapping also gives student the opportunity to be creative and learn in a new and fun way. When using concept mapping, students are also able to collaborate with other students and work more efficiently.

There are many considerations that need to be reviewed before a teacher decides to use concept mapping activities with students. First off, the lesson needs to prove that it has a true purpose and that it will benefit students. The lesson needs to relate closely to what is happening in the class and engage students on another level. Some other obvious criteria for concept mapping is that the lesson is age appropriate and classroom appropriate.

Teacher Web Reflections.

Class web sites can have many impacts on student learning, on student engagement, and communication with students and parents. Class websites allow students to experience a new way of learning. Students can benefit a great deal from having the opportunity to communicate with others on the internet and use technology to learn. Students also are probably much more willing to participate and engage in activities that are web based.

First off, there are many positive impacts. Class web sites give students a chance to learn through a different source other than with the use of paper and pencils in the classroom setting. Students are able to expand their learning a great deal with the introduction and use of the internet. Class websites also provide students with the opportunity to stay in touch with their teacher and peers especially when they miss school. If students have the chance to catch up with the class by simply looking online they are more likely to stay on track. Class websites also provide an opportunity for students, parents, and teachers to keep in touch in a simple and easy way.

Class web sites could also have negative effects on students learning because there is less supervision of student’s actions and participation when they are using the internet as appose to doing all school work at their desk in the classroom. Another negative effect of class websites is the fact that not every child and parent has access to a computer or the internet.

Multiple Intelligences.

After completing the multiple intelligence activities, I learned that most of my strengths are in the intrapersonal intelligence category. A person with intrapersonal intelligence is described on the surf aquarium website as a person who exhibits characteristics of the following:

Core Characteristics:

·         Affective Awareness – the knowledge of one's feelings, attitudes and outlook

·         Ethical Awareness – the setting of one's principles and moral priorities

·         Self-Regulation – monitoring one's thoughts, actions and behavior

·         Metacognition – the awareness of one's thought processes

I feel that the definitions of an intrapersonal learner describes who I am very well. I definitely see myself as someone who has affective awareness, ethical awareness, self-regulation, and metacognition. My ethics are very important to me in all aspects of my life. I know what I believe and how I feel about certain situations and I place a big emphasis on that. My ethical awareness helps me with my self-regulation because I am able to monitor my own thoughts, actions, and behaviors without following others. I believe it is important to stay true to yourself your beliefs no matter what the other people around you feel or are doing. I feel that having ethical awareness and self-regulation I am able to be in touch with my feelings and thoughts on a regular basis.

 

Because I am an intrapersonal person, it is easy for me to explain how a student with a strong intrapersonal intelligence might enjoy, are like, and tend to do within classroom settings. These students are very expressive in what they like and dislike about a particular activity. These students are not afraid to let others know how they feel and find it easy to communicate about feelings. I believe that the forwardness of these students is easy for them because they are so comfortable with themselves and where they come from. This since of being comfortable in ones one skin makes it easy for these students to show confidence in their abilities. These students also like to set goals in which they know they are capable of reaching and do their best to do so. Intrapersonal students are also known to express a sense of justice and fairness. These students want everyone to be treated equally and relate to others. In addition these examples, there are many more aspects to a student with a strong intrapersonal intelligence that show how strong these students feel in regards to themselves and others.

 

There are many ways a teacher can support this type of intelligence within the classroom. First of all, it is important to realize that each and every student is different and has different strengths and weaknesses in various situations. Because intrapersonal students are so opinionated in what they like and dislike, it might be helpful to provide activities which offer the student choices. This opportunity to make choices can help maintain the student’s confidence in them self. I will also have students set goals for themselves and record their progress in reaching their set goals. I feel that goal setting would benefit not only the intrapersonal intelligence, but children of all intelligence. Aside from recording the progress of reaching their goals, I will have students keep a daily journal. Personally, I enjoy using a journal and find it very helpful in expressing my feelings. In the classroom I will also allow students to express their feelings aloud if they feel it is necessary. I will also offer the students the opportunity for reflections on their own learning.

After learning more about the intrapersonal intelligence I found out that there are many technologies that stimulate this intelligence. I have already mentioned how intrapersonal students enjoy journals and diaries, which I find one of the main ideas I would like to focus on as a teacher. Intrapersonal students also enjoy having learning centers in the classroom. A teacher can use learning centers by giving students a choice at what center they want to take part in during a certain day. The students can utilize the learning centers in addition to making choices on their own but in a productive way. It is also important to have class discussions on a regular basis so these students can express themselves. Online services such as surveys and forms also support the personalities of intrapersonal students. 

It is important for me as a teacher to understand the multiple intelligences in order to have a functional classroom. Teachers need to be aware that every student is different and that every student learns and acts in a different manner. I need to make sure that I am not always teaching in the same manner, but instead creating lessons that are very different and can bring out the strengths in each student. Teachers need to give all students the opportunity to shine.

 

Day One.

Welcome to my blog. I am Tiffany.