The Finale!!

I have finally finished all my assignments. It has been a long and hard semester. I definitely feel I had trouble keeping up with the all the assignments! However, after everything was finally done I was excited!! I look forward to going back and really looking into the tools we used in the class and start to use them in my own classroom! I really liked learning how to make a digital story with Voice Thread and Photo Story3. I am also going to start blogging with my class and now that I know how to use gtalk I will be taking advantage of it. I was very excited to learn how to take a snapshot (or copy) of my work and put it on my blog. Technology is so important and I am always looking for ways to integrate it into my everyday teaching. I am walking away from this class with so many resources and I am so motivated to use all of them. Listening to everyone's final projects was really great as well. I was able to take a lot away from thier lessons. The resources and websites provided were great. I feel a class is successful when you are able to walk away with useful information for the classroom and it is safe to say this class was very successful. Thanks for all the great and informative resources!! I hope everyone has an excellent summer:-)

The Final Project.....Almost there!

I did my internet curriculum project on using technology as a remedial resource to improve student literacy skills. I was happy with this topic because I am a big believer in using technology!! I think it is a great remedial resource. It is an excellent resource because it is so motivating and offers a variety of tools to reach all the different learning styles! It presents information in multiple formats and multiple medias. Technology offers an enormous amount of possibilities and is a great tool to use for learning.
For example, this is my first year with a Smartboard and I have been able to offer so much more to my students. I am able to use technology to enhance my lessons and even use it as a reinforcement to what I am doing. I often play a game as a follow up to a lesson and the kids love it. They are so motivated and eager to play, they don't even realize they are learning!! I have found many websites with activites to reinforce skills that we are working on and I will put individual students who are having touble on the computer. I also use it with my advanced students. When they finish their work early I will try to challenge them with an activity on the computer.
I also feel it is an awesome way to communicate with parents and students. Parents can email and go on our websites to see what is going on. I have not blogged with my class yet but that is something I would like to start next year.
The possibilites are endless with technology and it is a great resource to incorporate into your everyday teaching!! It can really enhance students literacy skills and engage them in learning.

Here is the link to my PowerPoint Presentation:
http://www.slideshare.net/LindsayM/final-project-1380689

NETS Chart

This is a snapshot of my groups NETS chart. Our group worked very well together to make the project go smoothly. We looked at each standard and matched our class assignments to the standard it correlated with. We found that with all of our assignments we have met every standard in the class. It was interesting to see how the assignments match the standards. It is a great thing to do even in our own classrooms. It makes you aware of what you may be missing and what needs to be done. I know some schools have the teacher write the standard on the board for each lesson they are teaching. It is not a bad idea because it allows the teacher and the student to be aware of the objectives of the lesson. An administrator once said write an objective and standard for each lesson to know you are not teaching a lesson that is unnecessary!! I always follow that advice when I teach.

Trying to keep up!!

We are in the last couple weeks of class and I am trying to keep up!! I can't believe how fast this semester has gone. I have not blogged as much as I would have liked to but I felt very overwhelmed. Aside from this class I have had a challenging year at work!! With all the assignments in this class I feel like I am missing something. I hope I can get it all done!

Authentic Assessment

Reading the authentic assessment toolkit and watching the video of authentic assessment in action provided me with great information and a better understanding of how to implement authentic assessment. Authentic assessment is having students perform real world tasks. The work they do should be related to thier real life. It is a shift from the traditional paper and pencil task to performance based assessments. The shift is so important because handing out a test to a student only tests thier academic ability and we need to start testing thier ability to apply the knowledge they learn. It is essential for them to be able to use the knowledge they have learned in the real world. I love the example they use in the article. If you were to teach someone how to play golf you woudn't test thier skill by giving them a paper and pencil test, instead you would have them play golf. I also enjoyed the video where the students actually built the object from history that they were learning about. Some examples of authentic assessment are portfolios, blogs, rubrics, e-folios, etc. Authentic Assessment is grading several real world tasks performed by students and not just one product.
The articles and videos on authentic assessmemt have provided me with examples and information to help me use this in my classroom. I need to start using authentic assessment in my classroom. Sometimes I find this hard to do with all subjects but I am going to do my best to make it work.

Digital Storytelling!

This was my first digital story and it went better then I thought. I used Photo Story to make the story. It was user friendly and easy to navigate through. The only problem I had was recording my voice. It sounded low and I tried it several times but it didn't come out as well as I would have liked.
I did my digital story on parts of speech. I choose that topic so I could use it in my classroom. It is a different way to get the information across and it really captures the studens attention. I plan on making several more digital stories for my classroom!!

Engrade

I created my first online gradebook using engrade software. This online website is free. I actually was unsure of using an online gradebook because I am so used to my gradebook I write in and my method of grading. Also, I teach third grade so I do not have to be as concered with a number grade as middle school and high school teachers are. We don't have to put number grades on the report card. We have a scale that has to do with how the students are completing their work. For example, they get a 1 if they need constant assistance to complete their work and they receive a 4 if they exceed expectations. However, I found the online gradebook to be a useful tool. I liked how you were able to put in the grade scale and the computer figures out the scores for you. Honestly I liked all the features on the website. There was nothing that I didn't like or would change. I thought it was a great idea to include a place to post a comment. It is always nice for students and parents to see how they are doing.
I found this to a useful tool that I would use in the classroom. I think parents would love this. They would be able to check their childrens grades, attendance and even what is going on in the classroom! Most parents in my district love to be involved so this would be great for them. This is also a great way to communicate with the parents throughout the semester about the studens grades. When the time comes for the report card to go home the parents will not be shocked if the students aren't doing well because they would have been able to check on the website.
One more thing I liked about the website was that it had a calender where teachers could list events or tests coming up! This is great for communicating and keeping parents in touch with what is going on in the classroom.