OETS

I have learned so much this semester about technology and it's uses in the classroom. I feel like I have good ground to build from now. Before I took the educ tech course I almost nothing about the tools that are there. Now, I find I am excited to try things out and see what I can accomplish with my own students. I know I will be using podcasts in my classroom. They are so easy and I can hand out ipods and let the kids work in small groups or individually. I also know that I will be creating a classroom website and helping my students create their own websites as well. I have been dragging my feet when it comes to technology, mostly because I was afraid of it. Now I feel confident and excited about what I can bring to the classroom. I want to be the one that the other teachers come to when they have a tech question.

Being technologically literate, also means being able to meet and implement specific standards in our school district. One standard that we need to meet is the use of technology to aid in research projects. We need to teach our students how to use this new technology to find information they need and then know how to implement it into their work and home life. Another standard is teaching kids to find their inner creativity with the use of technology. I love the idea of using ipods and digital cameras to make presentations. It takes the same old animal report and turns it into something exciting and visual.
The challenges of this is that technology is advancing so quickly that what I teach this year to my students may not be valid next year. It is my duty as a teacher to keep up with the changes and be able to present any new information I find. I am worried that I will have a hard time staying current as I am a creature of routine.

I chose Movie Maker as my tech project. It is super easy to use. I can see this coming in very handy in the classroom. For one it is almost self explanatory and would require very little supervision on my part. I could let the kids go and have fun with it and see what they come up with. I also like that I can use different types of media to make a movie. You can also add music and audio to your projects. I also see this useful for my personal website. I am a visual person and I would use this tool as way to communicate with my students and colleagues.

Capture your screen in seconds

The data below shows test scores for the second half of the term.

The chart shows the students average test scores. Most students made steady progress over the course of the testing. However you can see that Katherine is the only one who did not improve, but actually did worse.