technology of the week

So far I have definitely found the technology of the week projects really helpful and interesting. I was immediately intrigued by the podcasts. I have never really used or listened to podcasts before, and doing my smartboard project I found that I could use a podcast of a reading of the novel I am teaching to make the exercises more engaging. Instead of just reading from the board or from their books, the students can hear the text. Without the technology of the week presentations, I don't think I would have even considered using podcasts in my project. I also like the idea of Flickr because it allows for more creativity in an English classroom. I think any time you can incorporate images and students can actually see something other than text in front of them, they are going to immediately be more interested and pay more attention. Flickr is a great resource to find writing prompts, share photos, create image projects, and much more. I am using both of these technologies in my smartboard project and am sure I will be able to use them in a future classroom.

Thoughts on Google Earth, Podcast, and Flicker

Thus far I have found all of the technologies of the week to be very cool and interesting.  I see great potential for each one in a math classroom.  Google Earth seems especially interesting for uses in mathematics.  All of the websites which are posted on our wikispace show great examples which explain how Google Earth can be used as a tool in the math classroom.  I really like the example about calculating population changes and the one about calculating angles of buildings and roads.  Podcast also seems to be a good fit for the math classroom.  With podcasts from NASA and other science agencies there are bound to be daily podcasts, which deal with math and could be used to show students the practical daily uses of math.  Flicker, the final tech of the week, seems to offer an infinite amount of possible uses in the math classroom.  Several pictures have to deal with geometry and thus would make a great fit in the geometry class.

            All in all I can’t wait to see what technology is presented next in tech of the week.  The three technologies which have been presented so far have been very interesting which only makes me impatient for the next technology we learn about.  

Technology of the Week Reflection

As a future elementary school teacher, I found the Google Earth program to be the most useful technology out of the three we have discussed so far. I feel as though it would be a very beneficial tool in the elementary classroom because it enables students to learn about the Earth, moon and solar system in depth. Students can zoom in to various countries and cities around the world as well as specific stars in the sky to study them. I can see myself using Google Earth for science to teach my students about aquatic diversity, as Professor Nillas demonstrated in class. I could also use this program for social studies to allow my students to explore various countries around the world.

I also thought the Podcasts were interesting because I never knew much about them before this class. They seem like they would be fun for students to use and a good way to maintain diversity in the types of lessons and activities used in class, which will hold the students' interest. I especially enjoyed the Great Books Audio podcast, because it seems like a good way to inspire students to read and enjoy the process.

As Jenna said, I enjoyed learning about Flickr, but I do not believe it will be as useful in the classroom as the other two technologies we learned about. However, the websites Katie included seem to be interesting and fun for students to use.

Overall, I have enjoyed the Technology of the Week presentations because I had never learned about any of these programs in depth before. I especially appreciate the websites that each person has included in their presentations because they are good resources and will likely be useful to me as a future educator.

Tech of the Week

I have really enjoyed learning about new technologies this past week in class. The technologies that we have learned about will serve as excellent learning tools for students in my future classroom. The three technologies, Podcasts, Flicker, and Google Earth seem like they would supplement the curriculum at any grade level extremely well. Since I have never used Podcasts, I was not aware that they were used often in an educational setting. I thought it was very useful to learn about different websites we could use to find educational podcasts. I am going to begin searching for podcasts which would be relevant to classroom material and subscribe to them. I was also not familiar with Flicker. I have never used Flicker and was unaware of all of its capabilities. I could not believe the projects that could be created using a photo sharing site. I am excited to be able to create photo books. Since some students are visual learners, this would serve as a wonderful teaching tool for those students. I can see myself using Flicker often when I am teaching about other cultures. Although I have used Google Earth before, I enjoyed learning about the update tools. I never know that you could look at pictures of animals and places when you clicked on certain areas of the world. I will use this tool when I teach students about different parts of the world and different animals. It would help students better understand these topics if they were able to see them within the world context. I have really enjoyed learning about these technologies so far. I am excited to see the presentations in the future so that I can learn more tools to use in my future classroom.

Tech of the week

Though I was really stressed out trying to get my tech of the week project done, I think the idea of it is really cool, and I am learning a lot. It has been interesting to see how each piece of technology can be used it not only the obvious courses but in each course we will be teaching. Before taking the time to do research on Flickr, the only thing I thought pictures could be used for is to add an image to a power point but when I spent some time searching the web and just sitting down and thinking what pictures could be used for I was amazed by all the things I could think of! One of my favorite projects I have had to do to this day was in my 3rd grade class where the teacher handed out random pictures and told us to write a 1 page story on it... it was soooo much fun! And it was so interesting to hear what everyone's stories. Thinking back on it now, that was a great way to let us students use our imaginations to have fun with writing. The things I loved most about Flickr and think I will use in my classroom are Flickr map, photo story, and locating shapes in the outside world (math).

I really liked learning about Google Earth and Podcasts as well. I have Google Earth and have played around with it before, but did not know it could do more than just locating pictures of people's homes. I really liked that it can also be used to look at images in the oceans and in space! How cool! With Podcasts, I really never thought about using them in the classroom, but they can be very useful. After class I was listening to a few of them that Kari posted and they were really neat! I think all 3 of these can be used when teaching, not only as teachers when lecturing but the students can also use these applications to learn.

I did not realize until Professor Nillas mentioned it on Thursday, but because they are posted online, in a few years when we are all teaching we can go back to this site and look at the examples to help as we make lesson plans. Overall I think this has been really neat and I am excited to learn more as the weeks progress.

Tech of the Week Thoughts

I have definitely enjoyed the tech of the week spots each week. I have at least heard of the ones we have covered thus far. It is really cool to see how one can use these technologies in the classroom because I would have never thought about it. These websites and activities force you to be really creative in the way you teach. I liked Google Earth because it could be so useful in the elementary setting. I would definitely use it when teaching social studies because you can virtually take your class almost anywhere in the world to explore different cultures or even land forms. I also liked Podcasts because there are SO many different activities you could come up with to tie one into. It was really neat to see that there are podcasts out there for literally almost everything and anything. I also did not know you could subscribe to them on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. Definitely worth a try in the future. Finally, I enjoyed Flickr, but I am not sure if I would use is as much as the other two in the classroom. It is hard for me to imagine creating a lesson based on a picture or series of pictures. Although I did like the idea of creating a picture book for a lesson. (Hopefully someone else would pay for it!) Overall, I think technology is a great thing to bring into the classroom because it helps all the different types of learners. They all can take something away and put it to good use, which is the key to it all. I am excited to see the rest of the technologies that are in store for the rest of the semester.

Podcasts and Flickr

I thought both of the technologies that were introduced this week were excellent resources for teachers. I liked the podcasts because it allows students who are audio/visual learners to learn in a way that will meet their needs. They are great for teaching things like different languages, social studies, and reading and they provide students with an opportunity to improve upon their listening skills as well as comprehension skills. Podcasts are also useful in the sense that you can subscribe to certain podcasts that you feel will supplement your teaching.

I really liked Flickr because it is a resource that teachers can use when they want their students to be creative. I liked the idea of having students find pictures to tell a story. Using pictures will help supplement students' stories and will benefit those students who always say they never know what to write about. This is because if you help these students find 3-5 pictures to get them started, it will give them a basic idea of what they want their story to be about and will help them get some ideas down on paper.