tech savvy teacher reflection

I thought that the tech savvy teacher was a big help in better understanding how we, as teachers, can use technology to improve and enhance student learning in our classrooms. I am not the greatest at coming up with meaningful science experiments for students to do, but through my own lesson plan for this activity and by reading others, I can see that technology can be very helpful in giving the children opportunities to explore the world through hands-on and through technology. I hope that the resources will be available where I teach.

Tech savvy teacher

4th grade Standard 2
Objective 1 Observe, measure, and record the basic elements of weather.
Identify basic cloud types (i.e., cumulus, cirrus, stratus clouds).
The Tech Savvy Teacher
By Kimberly Crowther and Caitlin Hauser
Throughout our endeavors in education we find that teachers are not adapting the needs of the students. In our modern age, students know more than the teachers do about technology. Teachers would rather use what they know than try and develop new forms of teaching that may enhance students learning and engagement. They do not recognize the resources available to them through technology. In our lesson plan about clouds we use technology and contemporary methods while including regularly used procedures such as journal writing. Our lesson plan is for 4th graders. It follows objective 1 of standard two which requires students to “observe, measure, and record the basic elements of weather.” To complete this objective we decided to focus on identifying the basic cloud types.
In order to learn about and distinguish between the different cloud types, we first used the cloud guide website, recommended by the state core. This website is http://www.uen.org/weather/clouds/index.shtml and talks about all of the different kinds of clouds. The class would go to a computer lab so they could each complete the assignment individually and the teacher could monitor their progress to ensure that everyone is learning. Next, the class will use the kidspiration program to reinforce their knowledge about clouds in a fun and interactive way, which uses technology in the classroom. Finally, the students will take a field trip (outside) to look at the clouds.






The children will need to bring their journals with them for the outdoor activity. (The teacher should try to plan ahead by looking up the weather forecast and try to get a day that would hopefully have some observable clouds.) The children will be asked to look at and identify the different clouds in the sky and then draw and label those in their journals. The students can share their journal entries with one another or they can take them home to show their parents what they have learned about clouds.







Here is how we used technology in our lesson plan. Like we said before, the website http://www.uen.org/weather/clouds/index.shtml helps students learn all about clouds. Kidspiration also allows students to use computers and enhance their knowledge.

copyright use

I have learned some things about copyright before, because of my job working in the library. However, I didn't know about only being able to use 3 minutes of video and 30 seconds of music as part of the fair use copyright law. I thought that was interesting. It was also a good reminder about other things, such as using copyrighted items for rewards doesn't fall under fair use, but educational use (combined with common sense) is generally covered.

September 18 class

Today we set up our "delicious" links for different subjects and different grades, which I think will be a very helpful tool and save a lot of time in finding appropriate and useful ideas and resources. We also talked about and looked at some different programs that can be downloaded (or installed) that use technology to improve student learning. I had a chance to look at these programs and I was really impressed with the kidspiration one, especially for social studies. There were a lot of fun and educational activities on there, for different ages, that I could use in my classroom for students to do on their own to become more familiar with the computer and to better understand a concept if they're struggling with it or if they need a challenge because they're ahead of the rest of the class.

September 7

Today's class was mostly just set-up. We learned about the basic differences between blogs and wikis and I decided to get a blog. So I set that up and learned how to send it to my PLE, also. I'd never done either of these things before and I didn't really know that much about them either. So I think this class is going to teach me quite a bit.

September 12 class

Today we learned about how to use an "RSS", which I actually already heard of, but I'd never actually used. They seem to be very helpful to keep people updated on what they really want to know about. I especially liked the Good Reads link that is now on my blog. Setting up my account on that site and looking around and adding books and everything got me excited to use the good reads site as I think it will be a very helpful tool, both in my professional and in my personal life because I really like to read. I am looking forward to learning more and making more improvements to my blog.