Wednesday's Weekly Windup

We started out discussing the TED video. It was one of the most innovative and amazing thing I have ever seen with technology. How did this guy figure out how to use a WII controller and use it effectively with a smartboard? I love that this gives opportunities to low income schools to incorporate this effective form of technology. I just have to wonder that the WII people can not be too pleased with TED. Who knows, maybe the prices of smartboards will decrease and more schools will start incorporating them into their classrooms.

Groups presented their chapters last night as well. My group presented our chapter 5 topic on digital and multimedia. Chapter 4 was next. I liked how some areas addressed was the fact that students use texting and more faster forms of communicating now rather than e-mail, because e-mail can be a bit slow. The WWW, search engines were talked about and how to do a successful search on a computer. For instance, the different kinds of searches like basic and advanced, depending on how narrow you want your search to be were addressed. I also enjoyed when the group talked about how teachers need to figure out who the learners are and how they learn. It all starts with understanding the students, which ultimately starts the learning process. What is the best learning environment? The group discussed that it needs to be learning centered where students are actively involved and engaged in the learning process where they learn with different sources of technology. An inquiry-based learning environment is a wonderful place to learn and educate!

The chapter 6 group presentations were also excellent. It started off with talking about all of the advancements in technology and later moved into the discussion about all different standards being addressed by using technology. Technology needs to be addressed in classrooms, not ignored. Many different types of technology that aid in the learning process of students with special needs were also discussed. I really liked the enthusiasm one of the presenters had about assistive technology devices that are out there. One source was called uptoten.com where there are games geared to students with disabilities with different learning levels. The plethora of technology geared tools that are out there today is amazing and exciting. I really can not wait to start my teaching career and start using all of these devices to help my students learning abilities flourish!

I learn a tremendous amount of information from our whole class meetings. Bouncing ideas off each other and listening to group presentations, is a wonderful way to learn material. Next Wednesday is our last whole class meeting, and I am quite sad about that. However, even though class is ending soon, I will not stop educating myself about technology because I know that the more know, the more my students will as well!