Useful Tidbits I've Learned From Class

I find that all of the projects that we have done in class are highly useful for our future classrooms. I think that the KWL chart is a great thing to have no matter what grade level. It's great for the beginning of each section in a class because it allows the students to monitor their progress. Before you start a section you can fill in the K portion by asking students what information they know prior to beginning the work. In order to ensure their continued interest/involvement in the work the W (what you want to know/learn) can be filled with things that they are interested in learning. The L sector can be filled after they are done with the lesson section and is useful for preparing for tests. Another project that we did in class was the portaportal. This is a fantastic instrument for parents, teachers, and students! A teacher can easily create different sections that go with each of the classes or subjects. You can include different activities that will build strength and confidence in the students. It also allows the teacher to include different ways for students and their parents to learn to work through the different areas that they are working in at school. The class website is a valuable asset for many many different reasons. The main reason is it allows for the parents to have an insight on the classroom. The teacher can post weekly updates and include links to homework and extra credit.
All of these things help to improve a students learning. The KWL chart will help to build confidence in the student and begin to harbor an interest in the subject. The portaportal will help them to explore the topics either by themselves or with a parent. They also will benefit greatly from the website. No more excuses about lacking information on homework or wanting to know if they can get extra credit. These problems and more can be solved by keeping an up to date website. I feel that using technological strategies such as these far improve the classroom experience when compared to the old school methods of a paper syllabus and agenda. Not only do they constantly have all the needed information at hand no matter the time of day.  They also have access to this information on a medium that they are familiar and comfortable with using and is constantly updated. Technology appears to allow for a better classroom experience all around.

Technology in the Classroom: Blackboard and Gaming in Action

Director Ken Ellis created a wonderful film segment over how children in Elementary School are using technology in their daily class life. In the segment "Technology Provides Parents a Window on the Classroom by Linking Home to School" we get an inside look at how technology is integrated into the classroom. A young student is shown creating a game to help recreate revolutionary war scenarios. He must research details such as the people who were involved, resources needed, allies, etc in order to make the game work. Along with the gaming software the students also use an online account known as Blackboard. On the Blackboard site they keep a blog, are able to check up on homework, find extra credit, and more. There is also a link to a system known as ParentPortal that allows parents to check in on their child, keep tabs on grades, etc. The site is also set up to automatically email the parents once a new grade is revealed. The use of technology in this fashion allows parents, teachers, and students to keep in constant communication and always be aware of what is going on.


One of the reasons the I really enjoy this segment is that it shows quite the evolution of the classroom. When I went to Elementary School (many moons ago) while we did have computers for bonus material (i.e. math games for extra credit, typing, mini papers, etc) for the most part our class revolved around note taking from the bored. This was boring, it led to day dreaming and doodling on paper. Our group projects were also the paper pencil type and if our parents wanted to know what was going on in our school world they would need to talk to the teacher or hope that we would tell them before our report cards did. Students and their families are experiencing a radically different classroom than the ones their teachers (both future and past) had. With the interactive technology and classroom advancements that all parties have access to, the sky is the limit. With the way that technology is ever changing and highly interactive it stands a high chance of keeping the student's attention in a way that the old school white board and markers never could. The same could be said with the information that is constantly at the fingertips of parents. Multiple online sites that have been set up through schools allow the parents to keep track of their child's progress and keep in touch with the teachers. This is fantastic because there are many student's who will not tell their parents everything and now the parent's have a chance to be highly involved in their child's school life. All in all, with this technology available both in and outside of the classroom a student's class experience is 100% different than anything that we, as future teachers, had experience in.

Smart Boards

Something that is hot on the education scene and in classrooms is the smartboard. This piece of technology (along with it's accompanying counterparts) has become popular in classrooms of all ages not just those in the college. For those unfamiliar with a smartboard it is very similar to a tablet but designed to look like a white board. It comes with digital markers and a digital eraser so that you can interact with it the way you would a normal white board. The smartboard is connected to computer allowing the teacher to pull up information and class lessons on the board. You can also sync the smartboard with tablets, other computers, etc. Article writer Taylor Kinkade wrote a piece on the purpose of Smart Boards and how those in the education world (teachers, students, etc) felt about them in the news article Be There: Smart Boards in the Classroom. The teachers he interviewed explained that one of the many reasons that they enjoyed the smartboards was that it allowed them to cut back on copies being made, time being wasted by writing things on the board, and allowed a much more interactive lesson. The students enjoy it because of the interactive features. They now want to participate more in class and volunteer more.
After reading this article and looking into the smartboards online I am more for them then ever before. It does relieve some of the pressure on teachers to try and get out the information before the bell rings. This is especially true since they do not have to waste all that type writing and erasing, allowing more time to be spent on the lesson and not so much the preparation.  I agree that having a smartboard in the classroom will allow the students to want to participate more. The fact that the students can manipulate the screen and items on it as they would their tablet or phone is a big step in the right direction to keeping their attention in the classroom and not to what's happening out in the hall. Students of all ages are much more keen to thrive if they are learning on what they consider to be "their playing field". In this day and age the more technological it is the "cooler" it is. In short-technology is in and old school is out. The smartboard is a way for the classroom to continue to appeal to the students of this modern day and try to draw them into the lesson. Once the student is in high school and college the information from the smartboard can be emailed to them and they are able to keep with their lessons more and then (hopefully) better understand the lesson at hand. For those younger the smartboard lessons can be sent to the parents and allow them to keep up with their child's lessons. In short, with the upkeep of technology in the classroom everyone benefits in the end.
http://www.wtvm.com/story/16995356/be-there-smart-board-in-the-classroom