VoiceThread is a website that allows you to upload photos or videos, and then people can comment on them by webcam, text, phone, or voice. Yes, if I wanted to use a video for my classroom, I would use VoiceThread. I would use it because I think it's a great interactive way for all students to connect and leave their opinions and comments. If I posted a video explaining a concept, students could leave comments saying whether they understand it or not. I think it's a fun creative way to learn.

Publisher

The assignments I did this week went really well. I enjoyed making my teacher brochure and resume and felt it was really beneficial to know how to do.

I thought the brochure was really fun to create, and I think it is something I will use when I begin teaching. It allows students and parents to get to know you, the class, and your teaching philosophy.

There are no muddy points that I need to review.

I really like Publisher and felt pretty comfortable with using it. I think Publisher would be great to create graphic organizers to hand out to the class and students can fill them in for notes throughout the class. I would definitely use it for graphic organizers.

Week 7 Blog Posting

I think educators should try to go as far as possible to match technology in the classroom and instruction to the technology students use.  Students will already be knowledgeable and comfortable with the technology so they will know how to use it, and they might enjoy it more if it something they are familiar with.

The only purpose I see for online chats in the classroom is if it is supposed to be quiet in the classroom, library, or computer lab, and there is a group project some students on working on.  Then they can collaborate their ideas and opinions using online chat.  But it might be easier to just talk in person.  I guess it can add to student learning because they may use online chats later on in life so they'll already know how to use them.  It can also help student learning because peers can easily talk to one another if they have questions on a particular assignment or something.

The benefit to text-based communication is that you do not have to give an immediate response.  You have to time to think about what you're going to say before you actually do so.  In face-to-face communication, you don't have that time to think about what you're going to say.

I think podcasts can help with student learning because students will be able to hear the lecture again on their own time.  We don't remember everything the first time we hear so it's good to hear it again.  Podcasts could be beneficial for absent students.  Podcasts might be difficult with math.

I think it's great for students to play games that help them learn, but I can't see students playing educational video games when they have the chance to play the games they really want to play like sports games or action games.  But I do think video games can possibly help with critical thinking skills, depending on the game.  I agree with parts of the article.  But I think it'd be difficult to develop video games.  I don't have children, but when I do, I wouldn't want them playing video games every day.  The American lifestyle has become too sedentary.

Week 6 Blog Posting

I think the delicious site is pretty interesting.  I like how you can load all of your favorite sites on the delicious and have it no matter what computer you are using.  It's also useful when you search for a particular kind of site.  For example, I clicked on education and found a link to a really neat site having great math lesson plans.  I think I will register for a delicious account because I think it is convenient and will help me with getting great teaching resources from the internet.

Excel Spreadsheets

After using Microsoft Excel for a gradebook and a material aid, I found it very beneficial and very useful. I would definitely use it in my classroom as a gradebook and also to make charts, graphs, and making math worksheets. It's very useful when you have a lot of data you need to calculate.

As teachers we use spreadsheets as visual representations to further explain our content's topic. We also will use it frequently for a gradebook. It has many advantages over a calculator because you can attach a name with the grades and do averages very quickly. You can also give a title to each grade to show your students what they made on which assignment.

Week 3 Assignment

I found a lot of interesting things on this website and the informational video about the software Inspiration. I looked at many examples and lesson plans the software creates. It uses many charts, graphs, and other visual representations to explain and demonstrate academic concepts; they can be used for a variety of subjects – English, math, science, social studies, etc. I am a math major, and there were several charts explaining how to do certain mathematical procedures. Many students are visual learners so this software would be very beneficial for teachers. I think all the diagrams and pictures students and teachers can choose from is really cool. This software would be very beneficial in the classroom; it would be great to use to explain topics and good for students to develop their research and ideas.

According to the website, technology can be very beneficial for writing. Technology would benefit writing such as research papers and essays. For example, the Inspiration software would help to outline research and the essay format, and from watching the video, it seems like an easy software to use but very functional. There is not a whole lot of writing in math, besides numbers, but I do think writing in math could be beneficial; I think students could make more connections and understand the material more if they write out what certain procedures or topics mean. And technology could be used for that. To use class time efficiently, I think having partner peer editing would be the best way. Students can give each other new insights and might find mistakes the writer missed. I think blogs would be advantageous to support peer feedback or using spell check and grammar check on word processors would also help.

Hi! I am Lacy Gaines. I am 19 years old and a sophomore here at A&M Commerce. My major is math/secondary education. I graduated from S&S CISD, a small school west of Sherman. My mom and dad live in Sherman, and they have been married for 28 years; I have a sister, who is 25, and she is a p.e. teacher in Dallas. I love sports and hanging out with friends!