Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Taking a Moment to Reflect

Looking back at my blog that I participated in, the feature that was helpful the most was the website itself. Blogger.com offered easy service in set up and for publishing posts. Once an account was created, the blog was easy to understand and edit my postings. Comments were also easy to use and create. Overall, the design of the website was simple yet filled with many features, such as font styles and different templates, that added personality to each blog.

Viewing the different blogs in my group, I did not find any part that should have been changed or revised. Like I mentioned above, each person, although joined in the same group, had a chance to "decorate" their own blog. How much they wrote, the colors they added, and the pictures they added resembled each person. I also think that the idea behind the 3 different posts should be kept the same as well. I also liked how the groups were paired depending on the grade level they wish to taught.

As stated, I did not find anything wrong with the blogs. I think as college students, Blogger.com was a good website to use, however, for younger children, and even high school, I do not think a website like Blogger.com should be used in the classroom. The reason being that it is a public website and people can create any type of blog they wish. This causes the problem of students reading about things that would be inappropiate.

The best of the whole blogging experience, was being able to explore my classmates blogs and see how they set up their blog site. I think that all 3 of my group blog memebers had used different templates to showcase their postings. The majority of the students that I had viewed also had written an average amount in regards to their classroom activity. Going to my dashboard, it was easy to see how many posts were made in each blog and it provided easy interaction and exchanges between the students. With the teacher mentors it was confusing in the beginning because I did not understand where I was supposed to make my comments to them. It was not rocket science, so I did eventually understand how to interact with my student and teacher mentors.

Once I did learn how to communicate with all my team and group members, I found the whole experience valuable. The one thing that does stand out from this experience would be my communication with my teacher mentor and student mentor. Both my teacher and student mentor really dug deep throughout my whole classroom activity. I was amazed at the amount of time and genuine feedback they gave me. The best part was when I was questioned about my thoughts or opinions regarding things that I had posted about real life and just reading the positive comments about teaching and growing as a person in general.

Initially I knew I would function perfectly fine in this context. I only hesitated about the other people that I was going to be communicating with. I was able to read about other people's thoughts and way of life, which in turn, led me to share my personal stories and how I related to something. After realizing that everybody was looking for feedback and suggestions, I was able to function very well in the setting. As the experience progressed, I looked forward to communicating with my mentors and classmates each week.

In this experience, I continued my role as a student, yet somewhat played a role of a teacher. From this experience, I think that teachers should have the exact role of what my teacher mentor played. She analyzed my ideas and then sought further detail. Her major role was encouragement and open ended questions. As a student, I loved the challenge and thought process I went through. Inching a little bit further, I also believe that students should have the role of a teacher as well. Throughout the experience, reading the other student's comments, also made me think, but sometimes they also asked questions.

From this assignment, I have realized that there is an educational value inside and outside of the classroom. Inside the classroom, blogs help students open up to each other by providing a place to discuss feelings and share stories about themselves. It also assists the student in higher level thinking when questions are provided about a certain subject or topic related to learning. Inside the classroom, blogs can also help teachers in getting to know their students and communicate with their parents (if a parent blog is set up). Outside the classroom, blogs continue to provide students a form of communication. This helps students develop the necessary skills to talk with other people and share their thoughts about life in general.

No matter what grade level is taught, blogs can be integrated in the classrooms. The question of course, is how much integration in each grade. In my opinion, I believe that blogs can be used by parents and teachers in grades k-3, and then 4th - 12th graders are able to be involved with the blogging experience. At the lower level elementary, the students are just learning how to read, write and know how to operate computers. I think blogs would make learning more difficult for them at that age. As for the upper level elementary and middle school grades, I think blogs can be helpful in small classroom discussions of language arts classes. Once a student gets into high school, blogs can be used to have group discussions about selected readings or poems and even discuess every day issues, such as politics.

With that said, as a future teacher, the only concern I have is the content that some kids may write in their blogs. The instructions and expectations will have to be very explicit and enforced so that ideas or comments that are said do not involve inappropiate language or gestures. Another issue may be the parents approval of their child using the internet. A private, educational blog will definitely have to be used. The blog site that is currently being used is not appropiate, or safe for students not graduated.

In response to the concerns of teachers and parents about blogs, I think the school administrators should have a right to access the blogs periodically and check on what is being posted. I also think that parents should be encouraged to look over their child's work from time to time and read over the class discussions. I also think that parents should have the option of joining the discussion, or at least make comments on what the students write in the blog.

Reflecting on my blogging experience and mentoring experience, I was surprised at the quality of communication in the blogs and comments. Before this blog, I did not have the knowledge or understanding of blogging. I learned quickly and I was also able to communicate well with my mentors and fellow classmates. From the start, the posts that I read contained a lot of reflection and individuality. I also noticed that people were open to suggestions about their activity which made writing comments, a lot easier.

In conclusion, this blog taught me the benefits of reflecting on anything and everything that happens in my life. I learned that I have what it takes to be a teacher and the determination and creativity to teach students using a variety of tools. Although my goal is to teach math, I have learned that blogs would be more benefitial in writing classes, like english or history. By learning how to operate a blog, I have learned that I learn quickly and can communicate well with others. My mentors really helped me in developing my classroom activity and encouraging me to think more thoroughly.

Teaching with Technology

I did not think this time would ever come! This blog has been an awesome experience, I thank my mentors and my classmates for all of their comments in regards to my classroom activity. Adding the last minute touch ups and writing it up as a whole was a good feeling. Looking back at the beginning, I feel I have come a long way in my attitude towards technology in the classroom. After developing my Polynomial Bingo Review, I have realized that technology really can be used as a learning tool. As I said from the beginning, math is a difficult concept for most students to grasp, let alone enjoy, but this activity has shown me that even those "difficult" or "boring" classes can use technology to help students understand and learn. By doing this acitivity, I am more confident in myself that I will be able to teach my future students.

Developing the activity itself was not very difficult. It was fun revising my ideas and it seemed like each week I always had something new to add, or more details to add to an already existing idea. My three pieces of technology include, Power Point, Microsoft Word, and E-mail. The hardest part was coming up with the actual math problems since I do not own my desired grade level curriculum. But once I stopped putting off the research, the internet had a lot of material to use. With that, my classroom activity is complete. The activity is written out as a whole. The supporting learning tools, such as the powerpoint, test, and follow up assignment are not there to view but are definitely explained! Enjoy!

Friday, April 07, 2006

Blogging Experience

After blogging for about seven weeks, what stands out the most is the interaction between my teacher mentor and myself. Of course I had many comments coming and going from my student mentor and from other students, but my teacher mentor really helped me think on a deeper, more personal level of things I wrote about. It was like reflecting on my reflections! Which is actually something that I learned from this course-reflecting is a core element in life, whether I am a teacher, student, or significant other. This blogging experience was relaxing as well.

Initially, I knew I could function in this context because writing comes natural to me. I guess you could say the only obstacle was communicating with other people that I did not know on a personal level. It is very different from communicating with people from a chat room because in a chatroom, you get to know their interests, their age, and just some information that you do not know right away, whereas before reading their posts in the blogs, you really do not know anything about them except what they write about. Needless to say, I definitely overcame that "obstacle" because after reading other people's posts, you develope an understanding of some of their feelings and ideas. I enjoyed reading about people's lives growing up, and their feelings towards issues such as global warming.

Looking back, I see that the educational value in blogging comes down to the fundamental principle of communicating. No matter what topic a teacher decides to pick, students will let down their guard and share their feelings about that subject. Not posting everything at once, also allows a time for critical thinking to set in. Inside the classroom, students will be focused on school related material, and outside the classroom, students will be focused on things that apply to their everyday lives.

I believe that teachers should be the ones to monitor and set up those deeper level questions that the student will reflect on and think about. I believe that teachers should also communicate with parents through the blogs. Students should have the role of questioning and reflecting in the blogs. Thinking about my experience as a student, I have gained more knowledge in the education field and a little bit more about myself. I have really enjoyed this blogging experience. My thanks to everyone!

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

The Earth is Round

"So early the next morning, Jeremy set out. He packed a tuna fish sandwich, water, and sunscreen. When he got to the beach, he sat in front of the lifeguard tower. It was made with two different shapes."

The above is an excerpt from a story I created using powerpoint. The assignment was pretty simple, it just required a good chunk of time. Compared to the Flat Stanley project that I created using Microsoft Word, this assignment was a lot more interesting. Power Point was a lot easier to navigate and create the story. It allowed me to add transitions and I was also able to create a multiple choice test at the end of the story. This was the focus of the project.

After the story finished, I created a power point slide that contained three different hyperlinks. One hyperlink leads the user to the beginning of the test, while the other two are separate word documents that are supposed to be downloaded in order to complete. The concept of creating a story using power point is a useful educational tool. The students are able to read the story on their own or the teacher is able to show the entire class the story and do the multiple choice questions as a group.

To give you an overview, my story is about a cat named Jeremy who loves to travel to different places each season. During his travels, he takes pictures and records how many different types of shapes he can find. The story was supposed to be reflective of the subject area that I wanted to teach in the future. Using my own pictures, this was the best idea I could come up with. It teaches the students about different shapes and how to math can be viewed in our everyday lives, wherever we go. If you have time, take a look at The Earth is Round!

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

1st Classroom Activity Turning Point

On February 22, my student mentor, Catherine, made a comment that read, "I really like this BINGO idea. I think it sounds a lot easier and actually possible for you to make. This activity also seems more helpful to your students, as they would be forced to solve the problems individually." That is when I really experienced a shift of ideas for my classroom activity. The first week I did not like my ideas at all so when I had posted my Bingo idea the second week, I was really hoping I would get a positive outcome with this idea.

After that week, the idea of creating a simple Bingo review game really started to grow on me. I was constantly thinking about how I was going to do it and what other activities I could put with the review in order to complete Dr. Baylen's assignment. As you can see from my past posts, the idea exploded into a cool little project that I had to continuously revise and make better. From that point, I knew I could help my students learn while having fun, as my teacher mentor corrected me! I am really glad that both my mentors gave me a thumbs up for my Bingo idea!

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Good Morning Sunshine

As the sun peeks through the curtains, the girl rolls over and squints her eyes. The seagulls squack and the waves roll up onto the shore. The girl throws back her satin sheets and sits up. She sets her feet on the warmed wood floors and stretches her arms over her head. Summer has arrived. Smiling, she makes her way to the window seat. Sitting on her knees, she unlatches the window. A warm breeze whirls up and around her body. She closes her eyes to take in the smell of the salt water and the white sandy beaches. An older man jogs through her field of vision. He is wearing red shorts and a yellow t-shirt. She wonders what music he is playing in his yellow head set.Coming the opposite way, a woman walks by in a black one piece swimsuit. Her cover up skirt dances in the wind. She bends down to collect a seashell. After turning it over a few times, she places it in her yellow bucket. As the woman walks out of the way, Kara decides not to waste any more time.

Leaving the window open, she gets off the bench and makes her way to her oversized, white dresser. Opening the top draw, she picks through a collage of bikinis. Satisfied, she pulls out a turquiose and brown stripped tube top and a solid brown bottom with a turquiose belt attached to both sides. The silver buckle gleams as the sun hits it in Kara's hand. Stepping behind her four folded changing board, she undresses, only to reappear in her swim suit. On her way out, she slips into a pair of brown sandals that are set by the door frame and places a straw hat ontop of her blonde curls. It is 7AM on a beautiful Saturday in June.

As a child, my favorite past time was waking up early Sunday morning and driving to the marina with my family. Sure I was tired, but I always loved to walk down the ramp and find our boat. The smell of the salt water and WaterBaby sunscreen surrounded me. I loved the boat! I loved the ocean! What a beautiful site it was, sitting in the front and gazing at all the pretty houses, wishing that I, too, could some day live there.

Life is amazing and unpredictable;
scary and overwhelming;
sweet and satisfying;
temporary and short.
Life is a precious gift that is too many times taken for granted.
Life is living with the people you love.
Where ever life takes me, I will always be running along the shoreline, splashing under the sun.

EME 2040 Introduction to Computers in Education

"Before entering EME 2040, I had no idea what I was in for. I thought the class would be easy going and be one of those "break" classes that you take to balance out the harder courses. Well to my surprise, this course was one of those "harder" courses. All through the first half of this course, I struggled to complete assignments to my greatest effort while submitting them on time. Time was the greatest challenge."

EME 2040 is definitely one of those classes I will always remember. I understood the value to the assignments, there were just so many of them to complete and deadlines that had to be met via the internet that made me freak out every once in awhile. To my knowledge though I am doing very well in this class. It did take me awhile...well a long while, before I actually opened up and enjoyed what I was learning. Some of the assigments I did not enjoy, while others were fun. My favorite assignment the first half of the semester was my Education Milestones project. That was the very first assignment I posted too. In spite of everything though, EME 2040 has really taught me the value of reflection and thinking things through. My midterm feedback contains more personal thoughts on the first half of this course and my reasons for them. What was everyone else's first reaction?

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Evaluation, Feedback and Follow up.

This section of my classroom activity is supposed to be in a table, however, I am not able to compose a table in here so I will simply describe in as much detail and use bullets for main ideas and subpoints. Before I begin, these are my objectives:

  1. define what a polynominal is
  2. distinguish between the three types of polynomials
  3. know how to simplify polynomials
  4. know how to add, subtract, and multiple polynomials
In order for me to know whether the above objectives have been reached, I will be giving a test the next day after the Bingo game. The test will be a combination of short answer and multiple choice. The test will be a total of 14 questions. Some of the short answer problems I had in mind resemble the following:
  1. A polynomial is made up of ______ and ______. (2 points)
  2. Simplify the following polynomials (List about 4 that the students will have to do). (1 point for each problem)
  3. Decide if the polynomial is a monomial, binomial, or trinomial (List 4 different examples and the students will write beside each one their answer). (1 point for each problem)

The multiple choice questions will be a variety of easy to intermidiate level polynomial problems. The students will solve the problems by adding, subtracting, or multiplying the polynomials. I will give the students a choice of four answers and they will need to show how the got to the answer in order to receive full credit for the answer they chose. There will be about 5 of these questions worth 2 points each.

The test will be worth a total of 20 points. Students will be able to receive half credit on the problems that are worth 2 points. I may add an extra credit problem worth 2 points so that I can challenge the students that know the material well. The students will only be able to receive half credit if they start out the extra credit correct, but get it wrong because of a minor error.

Jumping back a step, my Bingo review game will consist of easier level problems for the students that may not be at higher level, and will consist of more difficult problmes for the more advanced students to challenge them. At the end of the game, I will collect all the work and look over each individual problem and see what the students were able to do or where they struggled. I will not grade their work by means of right or wrong. The work will help me determine how much each student participated and it will count towards their participation grade for the grading period.

To give a quick summary, the students will do the game, turn in their work, take the test the next day, and for a follow up, complete a short questionaire, or "reflection", for homework. I will hand the students a sheet of paper with a few guidelines to follow and then the outcome will be at least half a page and a max of one page, double spaced, Word document with their response to the game and the test.

The student will write the paper along the lines of the following questions:

  1. What did you like most about the Bingo game and why?
  2. What did you like least about the Bingo game and why?
  3. What could I have done differently to make the game better if you did not like it?
  4. Was the game helpful in reviewing for the test? Why or why not?
  5. Was the material on polynomials covered well? Why or why not?
  6. Describe one or two things that you did not know about polynomials that you learned.

This is not meant to be a hard assignment or a long assignment. The objective is for the students to be able to think about what they learned and how they learned, or why they were not able to learn the material. Another reason why I am doing this sort of follow up is for the students to let me know, as a new teacher, how well I am doing and what I need to revise for next year to teach better. I am not exactly sure how much this should be worth. I am thinking only about 5 or 10 points.

There is a lot of information here so I am going to stop. I hope everyone who reads this understands my goals and expectations for the students!

Friday, March 24, 2006

Learning Something New Everyday

After about 4 weeks of doing these posts, I finally know how to add color to my posts! I did not understand how everyone had all the colors and bulleted lists because I never saw the buttons. Well at least not until I clicked "compose". Duh! This post is color but I think I still like it in the original style. Who knows, maybe in the future I will use color again.

I am so ready for this month to be over with! There is a lady at work that is training to be an assistant manager. She is super nice and always on the go! I think I met my match at work- haha. I thought I was the only person running around trying to do things fast to get people out and on their way but she was actually making me tired. Quite interesting.

Well I am also done with my game for this group project. What a relief! I am not so sure about this whole singing thing though. I usually get nervous/comfortable and start laughing. I can not wait until I start some new classes. You know how you get so far into the course and then you are just looking forward to a change? It happens every semester for me. Only this time I have summer term to look forward too. I took my orientation for the college of education so the whole "college" thing is really starting to hit me. I am shocked that I will already be done with 2 years this summer. Amazing. But that is life. I just look forward to life after college!

One week and I will be here again...

Thursday, March 23, 2006

E-book Review

"When Janice began to watch them, I could tell she was listening and understanding everything that the narrators were saying. She has a more positive reaction to 50 Below Zero because of the animation in the book. The narrator changed his voice many times which expressed surprise and anticipation for what was going to happen next."

Janice is my 11 year old sister. After I did my e-book reviews, I had her listen to two that were my favorite; IT, It's Time by Mary Ann Fraser, and 50 Below Zero by Robert Munsch. For those of you who are not fimilar with these e-books, they are called Tumble books and can be found at the Lee County Library website (www.lee-county.com/library). You have to click on the link "programs", "fun kid links" and then I believe the Tumble Book shows up in the upper left hand corner. You cannot miss him! He is a blue book that has hands and feet and is doing cart wheels!

Writing this assignment on my experience with a younger child was interesting. There were two surpises. The first surprise were her reactions to the books. I thought she would enjoy It, It's Time more than the second book. When I read over it, it was very creative and contained more in depth pictures. She said that the book I liked was "boring, expect when the mouse fell in the garbage can". "Okay" I thought. But now I definitely understand why she enjoyed the 50 Below Zero book better. It is all about the animation! Go figure. I should have known. I cannot really put into words how the animations are used because it is so original and creative. For one of the pages, the father is snoring and the soap falls into the bathtub! Repeating throughout the story, the boy wakes up and yells at his dad to "WAAAAKEEEE UUPP!" The story is crazy! Janice had began to read along with it just because it was so catchy.

The second surprise was when I asked Janice what she thought the main difference was between regular books and the e-books she listened too. Her immediate respone, without hesitation, was "they are more alive". Needless to say, this activity definitely taught me that young kids think a lot and tell you how it is. I also learned that e-books are a good way of sharing new information. When I asked Janice what she learned, she said "Time and not to sleep walk". All in all, to my surprise, I enjoyed viewing the e-books. My e-book review discusses the reactions of myself and my sister after viewing the e-books. As a teacher, I think that e-books are a good form of technology to integrate into the classroom, especially pre-k and elementary levels.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Process and Instructions

Following Dr. Baylen's instructions, I have written out a step by step proceedure for my class activity. I tried to be detailed!

1. Class will begin promptly when the bell rings. I will call role and the students will answer “here”.

2. I will ask the students to take out their BINGO card and then ask students to raise their hand if they forgot theirs. I will pass out extras, if necessary. I will have already explained the directions from the last class so our time is longer to play, but, I will briefly ask if there are any questions and briefly answer them while I am passing out pieces of shredded paper to use as markers.

3. I will already have the power point loaded so once the materials are set, I will begin the power point slide. Each slide will have one question.

4. The students will need to have a sheet of paper and write out how the got the answer. For each problem, I will wait about 2 minutes, depending on the amount of work required to do it. Calculators will be allowed.

5. When a student has an answer on their BINGO card, they will write the problem number on the piece of shredded paper and cover that answer.

6. I will ask the class to keep talking to a minimum and they will not be allowed to ask each other for help.

7. When a student has BINGO, they will call out “BINGO” and then I will check his or her loose leaf paper to make sure he or she showed how they got the answer and check off the marks. If the student did not get BINGO then we will continue playing. If a student does receive BINGO, I will hand out some sort of prize, like a piece of candy or pencil and we will start a new game.

8. The game will last until the last 10 minutes of class. I will collect their BINGO cards and ask one student to go around the desks with the trash to throw away the shredded pieces of paper. I will also ask the students stay in their seats while I tell them about what they need to bring for the next class for the test (outcome) I will also tell them their homework and they will be writing this down in their agendas (feedback and evaluation). If there is extra time, I will ask for questions otherwise, they will be asked to remain in their seats until the bell rings and they may talk quietly.

Well that is the revision for this week. I have started to look up some websites that can help me with some math problems. So far, I have one and it is really giving me an idea of what to start with and include for the math problems. I guess I should have about 30 questions. The cards will hole 25 answers but I want some extra problems so every card does not have all the same answers. I will be glad when I get to see the final product though! Until next time...

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Dreaming

Thinking back on the last 2 weeks, it feels as if a whole month should have passed by and it should be the first of April tomorrow. This week has gone by in sort of a blur. A lot of things said and done, and yet I do not recall a whole lot. Today definitely feels like the end of the week. I tried to get on here earlier this evening but something was messing up. This site seems to be having some "technical difficulties". Technology can be such a blessing and a breeze, and yet when things go wrong, it just seems to be the worst thing in the world. The idea of computers has completely gone overboard in my world. I cannot wait until summer when I get to walk away from them all and not worry about whether my internet will be working so I can get my work done for class. This summer I am going to create scrapbooks by hand and not do any research on the internet.

On a more positive note, I am very glad to announce that my spring break was great and I wish I could be back in that time frame. I had a wonderful time and I now am able to begin planning for a wedding. Yes, I have heard a lot of people around campus talk about engagements and marriage, but it is definitely exciting and not old news in my world.

I really did not have anything to say this week, just filling up space. Tomorrow is a new day and the start of a new week. I cannot wait to be back here writing my third post for the coming week. I hope everyone else had a good spring break. Do not forget about your storybook on Wednesday and the 30 questions that are based on it! Good luck.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Intergenerational Technology Biography

"As a child growing up, my grandfather, John Van Der Ploeg, remembers his earliest piece of technology as the movie projectors that used 16 millimeter film. Other popular gadgets in his home were the alarm clock, portable radio, box cameras, and four party line phones. Unlike today’s telephones, a four party line phone was connected to four different homes. If the line was busy, he could listen on the other person’s conversation and you had to wait until one party was finished before you could use it. If there was an emergency, you simply asked the party to get off the line for a moment."

Interviewing my grandfather about his experiences with technology while growing up was quite interesting. My first reaction to a four party line phone, was "Wow!" I cannot imangine having only one phone line, needless to say sharing it with three other families. Hearing my grandfather and watching his expressions was like one of those "priceless" moments. As I had to think back to my childhood and compare my technology experiences with my grandfather's, they were different in the sense that my technologies were advancements of most of his and I grew up with some different items. Similarly, we share common characteristics in how we learn technology.

Writing up this assignment also let me hear a different perspective of how technology impacts our living today. For my grandfather, technology has been nothing but a positive learning tool in his life. With that, he only mentioned positive social consequences, whereas I tend to lean more towards the negative social consequences first. In all, writing this technology biography about my grandfather has opened my eyes to what life was back in the early 1900's and I was able to learn more about his life.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Classroom Activity

Bingo Review

Reviewing the comments that were made, the main objective for my students will be to help the class learn and practice for a test, while having a little fun.

This classroom activity is to help students further understand the previous material covered in class. In order to participate, the students need to have been turning in their homework and in class assignments and just have passed the previous math courses.

I have decided that for this game, the students only need to be responsible for bringing in thier own game card. I will give the class a list of answers via e-mail and show them how to create their own card in class. If they do forget their card, I will have extras to pass out. The pieces of technology that I will be integrating are e-mail, powerpoint, microsoft word, and their calculators.

The grade level is 10th grade math which will be based on Algebra. The game will take about an hour to play. I will take the first 20 minutes of class time to explain how the game will work and then the remaining time we will play the game. The activity will be in the classroom.

The students will all have one card and about 20 pieces of ripped paper to cover their spots. Each powerpoint slide will consist of one math problem and each student will do the math on a separate sheet of paper. If they have the answer on thier BINGO card, the student will write the number of the problem on one of the pieces of ripped paper and cover the spot. After a student has achieved "BINGO" then the student will show me his or her work. If the student does not have "BINGO" the game will continue. At the end of the time, each student will turn in their papers to recieve a completion grade.

The next class period, the students will take the test. The test will show me how well the students learned the material. After the test, the students will write up a short Word document telling me what helped them the most to learn the material, and if they had any problems understanding. This will help me teach in the future.

I am still thinking about how I will deal with the students that are left behind or more knowledgeable. I am also still researching what kind of math problems I should include in my game.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Am I There Yet?

That is what I have been asking myself since the beginning of the semester! 2006 has been crazy and I know it is only to get more and more busy. At first I did not mind college, now I wish I could start the next phase of my life! Speaking of that, this week has been a little better since my last post. I tried hard to keep my goal and am going to try again this coming week. But anyways, I really hate to write about negative feelings and things so with a positive note, I would like to share a book I am reading with you all.

It is called The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. Great book! Although I am not married, it has been interesting to read stories of married couples that have learned to speak each other's language. In case you are wondering, they are;

1. Words of Affirmation
2. Quality Time
3. Acts of Service
4. Receiving Gifts
5. Physical Touch

I actually used the topic of love and relationships as an informative speech for my public speaking class. I give it the Wednesday we get back. I have learned that love, whether you are in a friendship, marriage, dating, or other relationship, it is so important to understand the other person's feelings. The book has really helped me to slow down my mouth and think before I speak. Relationships are important. Of course you cannot please everyone or become best friends with every person you meet, but just knowing how to talk to someone on the street can make a situation or day less stressful. I always favored the phrase, "a smile goes a long way," because really, passing someone on the street, giving a smile, could cheer them up and then in return, they smile at someone else and it continues. I know I always feel good when people are smiling and not rushing me. This book just gives good advice on how to love and like I said, it is benefitial for anyone. He also has a book about the love languages of singles and children. I enjoy reading, especially self-improvement books. So with that note...smile (besides that, it is spring break!).

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Creating a Family Tree

In addition to my previous assignments I had posted for you all to see, I also completed a small family tree through Microsoft Word. It was a very short assignment and fairly easy to do. The project could be used to create idea webs for English class, or for creating an organizational chart of people, family, etc. Using the drawing tool bar, I began by inserting a shape. From there, I used "subordinate, coworker, and assistant" to create a family tree. After the outline was done, I used other shapes to build my legend. After that, I colored in the shapes with a variety of colors that matched my legend. It was fun and quick, but I actually prefer to draw out my own.

In high school for a final project I had to make, I created my own family tree by drawing a picture of a tree and then filling in my family in the branches and leaves. My tree for that project was definitely smaller though. The good thing about using Microsoft is that the program resizes the shapes so that as you continue to build the tree, or diagram, it fits all on one page. The frustrating part was trying to keep my tree the size I wanted. Because all the shapes are connected, I was not able to move them individually around so it was difficult trying to add the legend and my name to my document. The best of the whole project though, was grouping my family memebers. Although I was just adding in the names, certain memories were triggered for each person.

My family tree is just shown from my dad's side. If you would like to see how I created it, feel free to check it out!

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Bingo Reveiw

My math bingo game will consist of a chapter review for my math students. The objective is to get the class to have a little fun while learning and practicing for a test. In order to participate in the game, the students must first go through the lesson plans and homework assignments for each section of the chapter weeks before to grasp the concepts for the test. Depending on how long each chapter is and the content of the information, I may include two chapters for the bingo review. At the end of this week, I plan on e-mailing an old math teacher of mine to see if she can help me get some information about what a 10th grade, average level, math course teaches for the first three chapters (just to make sure I have enough information).

For my technology, I was thinking of e-mailing each student a different Bingo card and have them print them out at their home before class so they are familiar with how to open an attachment in an e-mail. Or, depending on time, I may show the students the way to create a Bingo card on Word or Excel and have them create their own card. If they happen to forget their card, I will be able to hand out extras. I will already have the questions and answers so I will give them each a list of x many answers and have them only pick y amount to create a card. The next part of technology is of course the power point for the game itself and the class using their calculators. When a student has “BINGO” then the student will go back to each problem and will have to come to the board and solve each problem to prove that they have bingo, or show me their work on a separate sheet of paper so that I know they did not just copy answers.

In order for me to know if they have learned the material well enough for the test, I will then have about 10 review problems that will consist of definition and showing all work that the kids will receive through e-mail and bring back into class.

I am not sure if I am supposed to write my post in bullet form like the rubric, or paragraph form like the rubric. Next week if you all would like, I can write it with subheadings and write a sentence or two for each one. It may be easier to read that way.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Rock, Paper, Scissors

When I looked in the Webster's New World Pocket Dictionary, I found the defintion for overwhelmed:

1. Cover over completely and 2. Crushed

As most of us are familiar with the game, Rock Paper Scissors, we know that the paper covers the rock and the rock crushes the scissors. What a great example of overwhelmed! Okay maybe not the best, but it got the point across!

I have noticed in a few posts students talking about the amount of work to be done and the little time they have. Since school started I have been under under that rock and piece of paper that feels more like a brick! However, I have started an end of the month resolution! For the last half of school, I am going to try and complain less! If my mom saw this she would be shocked and probably laugh! Haha. I have a lot of things I look forward to after Spring Break and a lot of goals that I am working on this summer. I am a hard worker and love life. I need not let school get in the way of having fun, whether I am learning or not. I think it is a good practice as well for when I start teaching. People are frustrating at times, older and younger.

I have realized, with the help of others, that I need to enjoy life, no matter what the "game" brings. Rock, Paper, or Scissors? The game would not be fun without the three and so life would not be life without feeling a little overwhelemed. Under pressure, I usually get motivated faster, although I hate feeling rushed! Working in retail, I have learned to deal with people and my own feelings a lot better. The managers there say you have to be able to laugh and not take things personal. Of course it is easier said than done, but being able to focus on what I need to get done and where I hope to be by the end of the year, I know I can work on this "stressing out" concept. Philipians 2:14 reads "Do all things without complaining and disputing..." And so a new week will begin. Until next time...

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Technology in My Life

"The most “technologically literate” person in my life would probably be my dad. One of my dad’s friends, Paul, built computers and he would show my dad how to install games and things of that sort to work a computer. My dad grew very knowledgeable in that area. Watching my dad show me, I learned a lot about how to get on the computer and play. As the years went by, my dad started his own business, and thus had his accounting system on the computer. My dad taught himself how to operate his own business on the computer which he in turn, showed me how to operate a whole new program."

Not only did that begin my expansion of computer knowledge, but introduced me to the computer world, which I will never be able to get away from.

Writing about my technology in my life was like having a glass of water poured over my head! Or to put it in another perspective, the intial shock of your first year in college. Thinking back on my life as a child and the influences technology had on me, I really was amazed at how much technology I really learned to use. Instead of regular dolls and stuffed animals, I had toy dogs that walked and barked, a glow worm for night time, and a musical Care Bear! As a child I loved my technologies!

But after I got past the emotions and the past "fun times", I really began to reflect (here's that word again!) on how far I have come today in technology. Before this assignment, I would have listed all the technologies I grew up with and what I use today. To be honest, I never really cared what the social consequences were or what the impacts were in my life. At the end of this assignment and even to this day, I take time to think about why technology impacts my life and is such a big deal to the world. My Technology Autobiography has given me a different perspective of my life to think about and strongly appreciate!

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Jeopardy or Bingo?

At first I was not too sure if I liked my idea. I had no idea how I was going to make a Jepardy board or Who Wants to be a Millionaire game. I appreciate everyone's comments and I had actually forgot we needed to include three technology pieces, so thanks for the reminder Catherine! So I thought for a couple of days, read everyone's post, and then I had a different idea. What about Bingo? I remember in class we had played Bingo before and I could use power point to display the selected math problem, which would allow the groups to do the problem and check if their gameboard had the solution.

I ruled out the Who Wants to be a Millionaire because I am just not into that show in the first place. I have decided that if I stick to the Jepardy style than I will use power point as well. Dr. Baylen had shown an example today in class and I think it would work. I know I want to teach Algebra at a 10th grade level so I was thinking about e-mailing a previous teacher from high school to see if she could help me out on the topics at that level for maybe the first two chapters.

I am not going to go too far in my revision because I need to think about and find out which game would be a better idea!

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Word of the Week...

Reflection.

Another week has come and gone which makes me really glad! This semester has demanded a lot of time and it has been tough. At least once a day this week I have heard this word or thought about it. Dr. Baylen uses it a lot in our activities and I found myself thinking back on a lot more things because reflection has been a part of my studies for awhile! I am almost positive that it will become an involuntary reaction in my life soon! It is not a bad thing. I actually enjoy thinking about the word and it has helped me take a few minutes out of my busy schedule to just relax.

The word itself is beautiful. Being that I love the outdoors, I always think about a lake with the mirror image of trees and mountains. Then I think back to when I would walk around the pool before a swimming competition and just think back to my practices and my last race. Once I jump in, my focus is on that day and what I want to accomplish for myself. The last image that crosses my mind is keeping a daily journal. I used to write about events that happened because I would rather write than think. Now I find it the opposite way. I enjoy reading and then reflecting in a journal about what I read and how I can apply it to my life. It is amazing how a three syllable word can create a multitude of responses and differ for each individual.

Friday, February 17, 2006

Education Milestones

"I loved second grade and I loved my teacher! Mrs. Bergman was very nice. The two things that stand out to me were Mr. Bear and our Writing Workshop. Sitting quietly in the circle, I waited anxiously for my name to be called. I wished this everyday as Mrs. Bergman pulled names from a wire basket. The prize was a weekend with Mr. Bear! I loved taking him home. It was so much fun writing in the small journal explaining what Mr. Bear and I did over the weekend. It really made me excited and I always tried my best to write neatly and spell correctly. The Writing Workshop also did those things for me, but more so fulfilled my creative piece of mind."

The above is an excerpt from my concept map I created a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoyed this assignment because I was able to use my organizational skills and write in detail! The concept map using inspiration was created as a web in which I designed with my own shapes, sizes and colors from my experiences. I had to think about what sort of details I could use to explain to my readers what it was that made this event important in my life. It came out a lot better when I could write it in paragraph form using a lot more detail. Although I am not in second grade, I realized I still enjoy to write.

The one lesson that I gained out of this project was that it is good to take time and just reflect back on life's events. When I first started to sit down and write, I had a hard time deciding what were the key experiences that I encountered that made an impact in my education. What I realized, is that all of life is a lesson and we do not stop learning. EVER! It is a life long process, whether we are in school or out. I guess why I really enjoyed that assignment was because I took a moment to scan through my life. It is important to do that from time to time and even share with others your experiences. My Concept Map contains a few other milestones if you would like to read them.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Math Competition

Since I am studying to become a secondary mathematics teacher and math is not always a “fun” subject for students, I think it would be nice to start getting ideas to create a math activity. As a student in the past, I remember having math races on the chalk board and then as I reached high school, doing white board activities. From the ideas of past experiences, I would like to create a math review for whatever chapter the class has completed. Sort of like Trivia and Who Wants to be a Millionaire, the teacher will have a variety of questions that the groups of students will have a chance to answer. The class can be split up into 3 groups and each student must take a turn answering a question and can ask for assistance from their group or a hint from the teacher. As an incentive, whichever group has the highest points at the end of the game will receive 2 points extra on their test.