UEN part 1

What:

This week we learned about a few things that we could do on the UEN web. site. We created our own web.page and played around with it for awhile.

So What:

I did my six tabs, added my photo to the about me tab and changed the colors and icons several times. I also wrote a research paper using Google doc. for the paper and UEN for some of the research. After that I made a slide presentation to go with my paper, again using Google doc.

Now What:

With the new things that we learned this week I'm not sure yet how I will use them. I still have more to learn about the UEN page. I'm thinking that I might use it with future students. If I assign a paper I can direct them to UEN for research and parents can know that their child is safe. I can also post links that might be helpful to my students and class notes from the things that they learned. This week will be fun. I can't wait to see what we are going to do with our new web pages.

Video:

Whether or not you agree with President Obamas politics or not his message to Americas students is sound. We don't talk enough about are own responsibilities for our education and our circumstances. I have friends that are Professors at UVU that have told me that they have had the parents of some of their students come in and argue a grade with them. I can't even imagine have the parent of an adult try to bail them out of a bad grade. I liked had Pres. Obama said that we need to fail, we aren't going to be good at everything the first time around, but we learn and grow from are mistakes. I think some times as teachers and parents we try to make things easier for our kids. It's not easy to watch them suffer through something. But that may be exactly what they need to make them a better person. I also liked what Pres. Obama said about us each being good at something. It's easy to get down on our selves when things aren't as easy as we think they should be, but we are all blessed with different gifts and talents. I like a cartoon that says " God don't make no junk"

Power point

This has been a really hard week. On Monday my nephew killed himself, so all week we had family coming in, we were trying to get answers to why this happened and plan a funeral. When I was at school I tried to stay focused on school and when I was at home I turned all my attention to my family.

What?
This week we had fun learning about power points and spread sheets. I'm not a very fast typist and I also try to write down the direction as we go in case I can't remember when I get home, so I tend to get behind, but it all works out in the end.

So What?
Usually after class I go home and start playing around with all the new tools we have learned, even the ones that we don't have a homework assignment for. But because of the events of the week, I only had time to do my part of the power point assignment for class rules. Since Jeremy took the lead on our last project we decided that Brie would take the lead this week and I would take the lead next time. On Wednesday night I had just a few minutes to serf the net so I looked for pictures that I might want to use in my slides. I found some great clip art but didn't save the sites so when I went back the next day to actually do my project I couldn't find them. There was one picture in particular that I wanted to use for my "respect others and respect yourself" I looked for it for over an hour. Since I couldn't find it I settled on the only other picture that I even kind of liked. It was a cute picture but blurry. On the slide it was even more blurry. That picture cost us a point. I will be more careful next time.

As I was putting my slides together I noticed that behind my pictures and also all the pictures of the rest of my team it said Write text or place text or something like that. After playing around with it I learned that we were placing our pictures in the slide but not in the box so they were just overlaying each other. To fix this I clicked on the image and dragged it to the side so it would be out of the way, then I clicked on the text box and hit delete then drug the image back in place. It worked like a charm.

Now What?
I want more time to play with the spreed sheet. I need to do some kind of spreed sheet for church so this will give me the perfect opportunity to practise. I also need to ask Jeremy about that math thing he does with his kids that he talked about in class. I know this will be a must to really get under my belt and as a teacher I will use it all the time.

Next week I need to do a five minute oral presentation on a five page research paper for my astronomy class. I can't wait to blow my teacher and classmates away with my power point. My own children have always preferred the teachers that used power point when they did lectures and then had them accessible on the Internet. I will use this for certain teaching elements in the classroom. Everyone learns in a different way and as teachers we need to use every tool we can.

Video:

I love this video so much that I shared it with my kids. I have a fifteen year old, a twelve year old and a nine year old. I have tried to always instill the importance of an education and good grades but kids, teenagers especially, tend to listen to their piers more than there parents. When they see some one their own age doing something they want to do they tend to make a stronger connection to "hay I can do that". I loved seeing how this young man knows who he is and what he wants to do with his life. There is nothing better than following your dreams and turning them into a reality.

It doesn't matter if you are six, sixteen or sixty, you should never stop dreaming, never stop learning and never stop reaching for the stars.

GOOGLE

I'm really enjoying my computer class. This week we learned about some applications within GMail. I have had a GMail account for almost three years but the only thing I ever did with it was e-mail. I've always had a fear of just playing around with the computer and exploring and learning how things work because I was afraid that I might accidentally download a virus or change my husbands settings or completely crash the thing. Any time I would ask my husband to help me learn something new on the computer he would start to show me, get frustrated and tell me to just move and let him do it. I am no longer afraid. I have caught, what Doc Waters would say " the spirit of discovery". It is so much fun to sit down and play around, and familiarize my self with the new tools I've been given.

This week we learned Google calenders, Google docs and iGoogle. I love Google calenders. I have created a few different ones such as one just for my school assignments, one for the family to use for family events, and another for extended family with every ones birthdays and anniversary's. I'm still playing around with it I want to see if there is away that everyone that is invited to view the family birthday calender can add their own info if it's not already there.

Google calender will be a great asses when I start teaching. I can create a calender for my students listing all of the home work assignments for the year, up coming events such as parent teacher conferences and when money is due for book orders. I can also list field trips and school functions. If a student is absent the child and their parents can just look at the calender and be able to see what they missed. If I need parent helpers on a specific date and time, parents can see that and let me know if they are available to help. I also love the way the program will e-mail me reminders of what I have going on that day. Some times I forget to look at my paper planner but I check my e-mail any time the computer shows me that I've got mail.

Another feature I really like is Google docs. As soon as my husband got home on Wednesday night I showed him how we could upload all of our files from Word Perfect into Google docs. He was really excited and called his dad to let him know about it. It really made me feel good to show my husband something on the computer that he didn't already know about. Our first assignment was to work with our team to create a welcome letter. Right off the bat I saw how valuable this was going to be. We tried to meet together in person but not every one could but through sharing our document we could all add our own personal touches with out trying to coordinate on the phone or in person. One day I was working on my groups document and Jeremy was also working on it at the same time we could see what the other person was typing as they did it. It was so cool. I can't wait to use this with my students.

One day I was substitute teaching a fifth grade class. We went to the computer lab so they could work on publishing their story's from writers work shop. There were two boys that were working on a story together. They were both on the same computer trying to take turns typing their ideas for the story or one would dictate to the other what to write. I wish I had had this knowledge then. I would have shown them how they could both be on separate computers and still work together. This tool will also be very valuable as I work with other teachers on my team as we work together on lesson plans, parent letters and other projects. Which reminds me, with a push of a button I will be able to translate parent letters and if need be, some class work into other languages. As a substitute teacher I have seen schools with students that speak English, Spanish, French, Korean, Japanese and Chines. It will be nice to be able to communicate with the parents. A parent could send me an e-mail in their native language and then I could copy and paste it into Google docs then translate it and know what the parent is saying.

This knowledge of just a few of the applications in GMail is just the beginning, I cant wait to learn more.

This week we watched a video entitled I Am What I Learn. I love the young woman's passion to become not only any thing she wants to be but the very best at what every she wants to be. Are students are going to come from many different types of back ground. Some may be dealing with things that we can't even imagine. It is our job as teachers to reach out to everyone of our students and help them to see the beautiful, talented, intelligent person that they are and show them what they have to offer this world. We need to show them that they have the power to control and shape their future. We need to give them a voice and show them how to use it. As I watched last weeks video with the boy from Texas and this weeks video and also watch my own children develop in the things that interest them I am very thankful for wonderful, caring talented and knowledgeable teachers.

Last night I had the strangest dream. I dreamed I was the teacher of the worlds most perfect classroom. Not just the classroom but the students, their parents, and the rest of the faculty and staff were perfect.

The class room was huge, with lots of windows for natural light but they had special screens on them that could be used for blacking out the room when need be. One entire wall was it's own library with every book imaginable for fifth graders. Next to the classroom library was several different reading nooks for the students to use. One was a padded bench seat in the window, with throw pillows and blankets. Another nook was full of been bag chairs. There were also areas with rocking chairs, banana chairs, a couch and even a tree house. The class room was full of colors on the walls, ceiling and floor but not in a distracting way. The walls were also coverd in posters with motivational sayings on them.

On another wall was enough computers for each student to use. They were the newest computers with the latest software and new updates were automatically downloaded. The room was equipped with all of the latest technology.

Each student had their own desk and books. This gave them a sense of owner ship, allowed them some personal space and a sence of pride in takeing care of their own belongings. Because of the size of the room the desks could be arranged any way feasible for what needed to be taught and special projects.

The classroom had a pet turtle. This helped teach the students about responsibility as they took care of the class pet throughout the year. Just outside the classroom door was a garden that we used for every thing from teaching work ethiscs and responsibility, to observations and experiments in the sciences and health.

The teacher, me, was very knowledgeable in all areas of core content and enjoyed continuing to learn about new topics. She was always friendly and had a true passion for teaching and adored all of her students. She used theory and practicum when she taught. She took the students on a lot of field trips and gave them plenty of opportunities to practise what they learned.

All of the teachers, faculty and staff worked together sharing ideas and resources so that the students could have the best education experience possible and the teachers could have the best teaching experience possible. The school had unlimited funds so the teachers were never in need or want. As new teaching tools came out or if an idea for a new class project popped into my head I immediately had all the supplies I needed.

The school not only had strong math, science and language departments but it also had strong arts, and physical education programs, thus supporting Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences.

The students were absolutely amazing. Everyone was always on time, courteous, respectful and eager to learn. They all got along well with their pierce and authority figures. The parents all came to parent teacher conferences, helped out in the classroom, on field trips and with class parties and if by some strange chance their child was out of line ,they supported the teacher.

It was hard to wake up from this dream. But I know as a teacher in the real world, I may not be able to have most of these things but the one thing I can have is I can be the best possible teacher I can. I can continue to learn and grow as a person, take continuing education class, seek higher degrees of learning and share my love of learning and life with my students.