Reflection

Some of my favorite things that I learned in this class are the designing and visualizing with technology. I am a visual learner so I can relate to this technology. I have enjoyed setting up and designing the ePortfolio page. Ok, not so much the setup, but the designing was fun. I enjoyed making my first interactive power point. I hope to create more. The sky is the limit with technology. Like I've said before, we must keep learning in order to keep up with the kids.  Thanks to my professor for making us learn and be aware of all of these neat tools that are at our fingertips to help students be successful learners. Before this class I was afraid of technology. Look how far I've come.  :)

Assessment tools

There are several way of assessing a student. One way is to use rubrics. There are many rubrics out there that are already created. You can find them for subject or grade level. They are quick and easy to use. Some of them you can add your own fields in there for more personalization. I think using a rubric for assessment has many advantages. It lets the student know up front what the expectations are. It allows them to take responsibility for their own actions or non-actions. They are aware of the grading up fornt so it's up to them to decide what kind of grade they want to earn.
I really liked the website inspiration.com is a cool website. With this software, students can build and use graphic organizers to help them to brainstorm, plan, organize, think, and outline (Admin, 2008). These are visual aides that help children visualize what they are learning, and when they create the graphic organizer critical thinking is involved.

Admin. (2008, August 07). Inspiration - Comprehend. Create. Communicate. Achieve More. Retrieved May 05, 2010, from http://www.inspiration.com/print/2

Visualizing with Technology

This is another cool website with thousand of possibilities. http://www.safarimontage.com/ It has intergrated lesson to use with the promethean board. The possibilities are endless for using technology in the classroom. There is so much out there I still need to tap into. I am a visual learner myself. I like to see things in print. I know there are students who are visual learners as well. This will be a great help in the classroom to those students. I learn a little more each day. The virtual world of visual technology is so amazing. I can't wait to use it in my future classroom.

Visualizing with Technology

I really like this new website http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm . This site has lesson plans with animation and video. You can search by grade level or subject area. It also has the Read Write capability in which you can click the sound button and it will read it to you. This is good for special education students who have trouble reading. It makes it possible for them to listen and still be able to gain the material. I did several searches. I did a search under science for elementary. I found the virtual lab. This was so cool. The students can try experiments and change variables one at a time. This is good to teach trial and error. This is good for analysis which brings about deeper thinking. There are lesson plans listed. In the lesson plan it lists the objectives, materials, procedures, website reources that go with the lesson plan, evaluation, and vocabulary words with definitions listed, and it lists the standards. It is all there in one little package that is put together for you. The students can use this site at home as well for practice. It has useful information for the parents too. I have shared this website with several teachers at my school. Please give it a look. You might find it useful.

Beautiful weather this weekend

The weather was so beautiful. It is time for Spring planting. Time to get the vegetable garden ready. I love fresh tomatoes. I can almost taste them now :0)

Designing with Technologies

The First Lego League is a unique program. It allows the creativity of the kids. It is a international competition for elementary students. They are to design a robot that will complete a task. There is a different theme each time. The students learn to work together and meet with other groups to share their ideas and designs. This is a competition which the use of technology, engineering, and math skills are needed. The students also learn how to respect each others work. This league also teaches the student about a sense of community. The community gets involved as well for support and volunteers.

Lego Universe Creation Lab is another way in which students can be creative. Students can design Lego creations. The designs that kids create are often used by the creaters of Lego for future inspiration in the future design of pieces. They can play games on this site as well.

CreatingMusic.com helps kids get an interest for music, beat, pitch, and rhythm. It allows the kids the freedom to design and create their own music. It has games for comparing pitch and rhythm. This could help students who have an ear for music.

All of these site allow for students to be creative and allow for independence. The music one would be great for a music teacher to use. The First Lego League reminded me of a science fair project in which students compete with each other. This takes thought and determination from the students to enter a competition like this. This allows for more indepth thinking on the students part which usually means more learning.

Another Beautiful Weekend

Well another weekend gone by. I pulled up some things that were still in my vegetable garden. I'm ready to plant tomatoes and squash now. My bluebonnets are blooming. They are so beautiful. We did some grilling on the porch tonight. I love to cook out and sit on my porch and watch my dog (Sparky) run around in the yard.

Web 2.0 applications

Wow! Where do I start? According to our book, Web 2.0 is a set of principles and practices intended to connect the collective intelligence of its users. (Jonassen,et al., 2008). So basically it is a collection of the thoughts and knowledge of many people from all over the world through many forms of technology. Wikis are a form of technology in which a people can join together and communicate easily by adding, editing, or removing information. The simplicity of wikis makes it a user-friendly, effective, collaboative tool for constructing knowledge with others. (Jonassen, et al., 2008). I think this would be good to use in a classroom so students would not have to worry about making mistakes. They could be easily corrected. There is a concern of wikis in that the content might not always be true.  Social bookmarking was another form of technology that allows a person to share information that others can see. I like this in that teachers can post website sources and information. People can see each others posts and vice versa. This is great for teachers in that they can share informaion among each other. We can alway have fresh and updated information and resources for lesson plans. This is a neat way to organize them. Voice thread is another way to use technology. This is so neat to use multimedia as a way to share and show information. People can communicate in many different ways. This can by done by typing, talking, video, or webcam. I like that you can draw or write while talking at the same time. I guess this is what the sports comentators use when they draw a play with the yellow pen in the replays. Many people can be involved in the conversation at the same time. This could be very useful to communicate with people from all over the world. With this there is not racial, cultural, religious, or language barriers. This will allow communication among all people of the world. In the sample of voice thread, I like the map where people are talking to each other from all over the world. They would point to where they were in the world while they were talking so you could have a visual of where they were and what country they were from. It would be good to use as a teacher if there was a certain holiday or celebration in a country in which the students could share and visit with those students about the events and learn more about others. I also like the idea of the blog which is basically to share and discuss information. At the school where I work, the second graders have a blog. I think this would be good for the students to communicate with people and share their learnings and ideas. This gives some students the opportunity who might be quite in class have a way to share with others even if they are shy. This might help them open up. This is a good way for parents and other teachers to comment on what the students are doing. Hope you have enjoyed reading about what I have learned this week in class


Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Rose, M., & Crismond, D. (2008). Meaningful learning with technology. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education.

Closing Ceremonies of the Olympics

Well, I'm watching the closing ceremony of the winter Olympics. I have really enjoyed watching the Olympics. I like watching the opening and closing ceremonies. I enjoy hearing all the background about all the participitants and the countries represented. They work and train so hard for many years for 16 days of fun and fame. It is all just exciting to me watching the olympians to see if they reach their goal. I will now be waiting for the summer Olympics of 2012.

Copyright and Fair Use

After reading the sites, there is so much to be aware of about copyright and fair use. Fair use can be just and appropriate. It is important to think of your intended purpose and intended use when planning a lesson and using items with copyright. When using things in the classroom, we must think of how we are incorporating them for a one time use or a copy for each student. It makes a difference as to who gets the copy and how many and of course the purpose again is important. One thing I did not realize is that there were technology application TEKS which address the copyright issues. This was a new thing for me. This will be how we can incorporate cybersafety and netiquette into the lesson. I do want the students to be safe when on the internet. It is our job as teachers to make them aware of "strangers" on the internet. We need to share with them the importance of not giving out personal information on the internet. Nettiquette is simply "manners online". Everyone needs to follow the Golden Rule. And remember, people can not interpret our voice and tone through typing like they can if we are in person. I would hope that children do not have to face bullying online, but I can't be that naive. There is too much bullying still going on in schools today and to think it could be much worse online because they are not face to face so they might be willing to feel braver and say worse things feeling that there is no consequence. We just need to teach children to be aware of these issues. No matter where the kids go, they need to feel safe. When taking something off the internet or lining up at the copy machine always give it a second thought and look at the cheat sheet our professor gave us to copy for a reference.

My First Blog Post

My name is Whitney Rozell. I am married to my wonderful and supportive husband, Darren. We have been married for 16 years. I have a spoiled dog named Sparky. He is the one in my profile picture. We live in Forney, TX. I enjoy the outdoors. Gardening is my hobby when I'm not studying. I am attending Texas A&M Commerce. I am getting my bachelors degree and certification in education in EC-6. I hope to teach 2nd or 3rd grade. I hope to graduate in Dec. 2010.

My vision for technology in the classroom is that students these days seem to be very savvy in the technology world. Technology is here to stay wether we like it or not, so we might as well use it to our advantage when teaching. I feel that with technology, the students are more attentive with the interaction. Technology can be a great asset in the classroom as long as the teachers have good training on the material. As teachers we must stay up to date on learning the latest technology that our school has received.

My goal for this class is to learn more about technology. I am not great with technology, but I am learning. I have learned so many new things so far. I know this will help me be more productive in the long run. This will help me learn more and be able to communicate and show my students the importance of technology.