Monday, October 29, 2007

Post 8

SKIPPED WEEK 9 BY PERMISSION

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Post 7

One thing I learned about in the text was the ASSURE Model. The ASSURE model is an Instructional Systems Design process that was made to be used by teachers in the regular classroom. The ISD process is one that teachers and trainers can use to design and develop the most appropriate learning environment for their students. The ASSURE model incorporates Robert Gagne's events of instruction to assure effective use of media in instruction. As a teacher, you can use this process in writing your lesson plans and in improving teaching and learning. ASSURE stands for Analyze learners; State objectives; Select instructional methods, media, and materials; Utilize media and materials; Require learner participation; Evaluate and revise.

I really have not learned much since my last posting. In class this week, we went over things that we already learned, and I already finished outside of class, so it was a pretty unproductive week in this class for me. I also made a powerpoint for the weekly assignment, but I am very familiar with powerpoint from other classes and did not learn anything pertaining to making better powerpoints. I did, however, figure out a shortcut to making my powerpoint design without having to do it myself. I just selected a layout I like, fonts and colors included, and applied it to all my slides.

I think powerpoints can be great and very effective in teaching. Some of my teachers, when I was in high school, just lectured or wrote a few things on the board. I think that powerpoints offer so much, that can bring your lesson to life. One advantage to powerpoints is that they appeal to different learning styles, so they can help to engage more of your class. They also let you add video clips, maps, and images to your powerpoint that you couldn't use otherwise. I am excited to use powerpoints in my classroom and see how they work with my students.

Post 6

After reading a little about digital media applications in the book, I decided to looks some up specifically that would effect me personally. One digital media application I learned about was specific to Apple Computers, and I only use my Mac so I decided this would be more informative than the general information the book offered. One great thing about my Mac is the digital media package that comes with it. iLife has a lot of different applications that can help in your personal life and in your professional life. iLife lets you save music on iTunes, make a video on iMovie or save all your pictures to iPhoto. By learning about all the digital media applications, I can better use my computer and be more effective as a teacher.

Since last class, I have learned how to create a wiki. I have always wondered how wikis work, well more specifically how "wikipedia" works, and this week I got to experience it first hand. I ended up creating three wikis, by accident. The first one I made was on education and student teaching. Then I made one on Fred Thompson on my own page. After rereading the directions, I then made a New Page on the make wiki, and redid my Fred Thompson page, so the rest of the group could edit it. It was really cool to add pictures and links to my wiki, because it was done in a sort of code; like **word** would bold a word or ===word=== would bold a word and make it bigger. I can use this in my educational career as something students can use to demonstrate what they have learned. It can give my students a chance to create their own class encyclopedia.

This week I did my first wiki on student teaching. I searched the internet for any tips or helpful hints with student teacher. I figured this would be important because it is the first big step to becoming a teacher. I found a really cool list of tips for student teachers at http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/pages/1812.shtml. I found the list to be really helpful and bring up things that I hadnt really thought of. Like, letting your host teacher know your expectations up front and not being afraid to teach with your own style.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Post 5

SKIPPED WEEK 7 BY PERMISSION