Week 13

Q)When and how do teachers act as designers?
A)Teachers act as designers ona daily basis. Everyday teachers have to come up with ways to present material to students. And each presentation has to have a design to fit all various types of learners. The material presented will be basically the same yet they will have to alter and taylor design the curriculum to fit the students.

Q)Sketch up? Explain and how can it be used in a classroom.
A)Sketch up is a 3D creation software tool. The program allows students to draw freely in a paper and pencil type of format. The software is very user friendly so its easy for all students to use. The program can be used in a variety of different ways and with a variety of subjects. It can be used in writing, math and science especially.

Q)Explain "Digital Storytelling by Kate Kemker"
A)Digital storytelling is exactly what it sounds like. Students can create digital images to go along with their classwork. For example, a student can write a story and then create the digital images to along with the story, so its custome to each students writing ideas. The students can plan, write, organize, edit all of their ideas into a video type storyboard.

Q)Math. What methods in the textbook will make math more real to students?
A)I believe if you can tie math into real life scenarios it makes the learning easier. Students are much more interseted in figuring out math problems if they can relate it to something that interests them. So how much are the 8.25 % taxes going to be on the concert tickets going on sale this Saturday for the Riahanna concert. As oppossed to simply doing percent math problems.

Q)Is it possible to learn from the TV alone?
A)Most definatley!! I participated in bilingual education classes and some of the top recommendations from those classes were to let English language learners watch TV as a way to learn the English language. For example, children can learn from childrens television shows because its ina format they are interested inand on their level. So I firmly believe a person can learn from TV alone.

Voice Thread

The Voice Thread page was a very creative tool. I especially liked the "picture writing" tab. It would be useful for students to create a book format of poetry either as a class or individually. The tab allows you to add text and sound to the artwork created by the student. It gives a complete individuality to a students work.

The Voice thread also allows for a math format. I think it would be espcially helpful for a student to use for figuring out the steps to difficult math problems. Your students could add voice insturction in their own words to the various steps of math. They coud then use it as a guide or refernce to help them with math assignments.

They also used the voice thread to engage students in the writing process. Students again can again write essays and then add voice to help them keep there thoughts organized. They can verbally add sound to help organize the points they were trying to make in the essay.

Week 2 Assignment

What are some ways technology ideas from Chapter6 can be used in the classroom to support curriculum?

I think it would be a great idea to create blogs, lets say for a reading assignment. If you are doing a book study on a novel, you could create a classroom blog for the student. The students could communicate outside school hours to discuss the book. It would give students a forum to present their own opinions about the literature being studied. I also think it could be a good teaching tool for students to assist other students, maybe they could interpret parts of the literature for each other in a way you as the teacher could not. I think a blog would also be a good way for students to evaluate what they are reading, and realize you have to research your information thourghly because you may be getting false information.

Week 2 Assignment

Are they a waste of students time? and how would I respond to that?
I don't think they are a waste of time. I believe if used prroperly they can be a valuable tool in education.

Week 2 Assignment

How are blogs useful in education? I think blogs could be useful in education to open doors for students to communicate with other students from around the world and beyond their classrooms.

Week 2 Assignment

What do I think about blogs?
I think they can be very useful as long as you understand what your reading. For example, blogs are a good way to spread information, if the information is correct. You must always consider the sources that are blogging.