Wiki page

It has been interesting working with the wiki pages, especially working with a group. My group has been really good to do the work and to do a good job on it. I have appreciated their hard work and cooperation. The wiki page was an interesting concept that I had never heard of before. I think that it is a tool that could help us communicate better online because it does require so much cooperation. This assignment was also good to remind me that technology is a huge part of education today and how important it is for me to search out ways to implement it in my teaching.

Getting better all the time.

Well, I guess I'm getting used to all this technology stuff. I'm better at it than I realized. I'm glad that I'm becoming more familiar with everything right now, because I know it will be even more important when I'm a teacher. It's been interesting to find out how much is out there and how easy it really is to access it. I love it!

I just read on the instructor's blog that I should post my best URL. I thought the www.lifesmarts.com was the best one. It looked really interesting and I think it would be a really fun way for high-school students to learn a lot. I would have liked it when I was in high-school. So take a look and see what you think.

Rules of Thumb

After completely reading the Roscelle article and scanning the Jonassen article, I came up with these two rules of thumb.

1. Research and understand what technology is available in your teaching subject area.
2. Understand and be able to use the technology thoroughly yourself in order to benefit your students and their learning.

Intro Technology Integration Assignment

The extent of technology integration that I remember in my elementary school career was very small. We attended a "computers" period at least once a week in which we learned the proper typing skills and used some software that involved literary skills, such as spelling. These experiences were somewhat helpful in some aspects of my learning, but did not seem to be much more beneficial than the classroom experiences I had.

In high school, several of my more advanced science classes employed computer programs and higher technological tools, such as advanced microscopes and such. We often used computers in my AP Physics class and we were required to have advanced graphing calculators for my AP Calculus class. Students in those classes and others were required to have a good grasp of several technological tools. These experiences were very helpful inmy learning and understanding of these subjects, and helped me to be much more comfortable with other technological tools.

I would advise most of my past teachers to learn about helpful technological advancements in their subject areas and acquire a firm grasp on them in order to best use them in their classrooms. Often, the students were better able to use the classroom tools than the teachers were. Teachers must be able to teach their students and help them through any problems they might come across.

First day of class!

This is going to be a great class!