Last Day of Class

Today is the last day of class!  I am sitting in class right now waiting for the presentations to begin.  I am really excited to see what everyone else has done.  I love the teaching profession because it is all about sharing.  There is no such thing as "Stealing an idea" because we all want to help each other to better the learning community!  I hope you all have enjoyed my blog, sorry I haven't posted as much as I would like to. I'll try to keep you all updated with my Educational endeavors!

Using Technology to Teach Spanish

This semseter for my Spanish class we had to do service learning.  I became friends with one of the girls that was having trouble learning English, so I made her this video.  Check it out =)

Finally!

Hello everyone!  I am here to share some good news with you!  I have finally finished my technology project that I have been working so hard on this entire semester!!  Please check it out!!!! =)

www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=72984



Enjoy!

Where I'm At

Hi everyone... sorry I have not been writing.  Well, I have exciting news... not too exciting (so don't get your hopes up) but somewhat exciting.  In my other education class (Elementary School math) we are devloping lesson plans as our final project and I am using Thinkfinity.com (a website we learned about in my Technology for Educators class) to help me with the lesson plans.  We are going to do something down the line of these lesson plans:

Subject Area: Mathematics




Grade Level: 8th grade



Unit Title: Intro to Discrete Mathematics



Lesson Title:



Performance Objectives: Upon completion of this lesson, the student will be able to identify the difference between a path and a circuit, identify the edges, vertices and order of the vertices as well as acquiring general knowledge of how discrete math is used in real world situations.



Materials: Student participation, desks, construction paper props



References:



Preparation: Since this is an introduction to a new topic we will not be reviewing any information before starting. Before class begins we will arrange the desks into pathways that will serve as streets in our city. We will explain to the students that first we will do a hands on activity that will require their participation and then move on to a more in depth explanation.



Application: We will begin by presenting the students with our city and explain how the desks are arranged into streets. We will then pose the question, “It is your day off but unfortunately you have a lot of errands to run. You want to finish your errands and get home as quickly as possible. This means that you will want to stop at each of these buildings (two teachers will point out the construction paper buildings within the streets of our city) but only go down each road once. You do not want to back-track. Is it possible to start at your house, run your errands without backtracking and end back at your house again? We will then invite students to take a walk through the city to try to find a way to make a complete Euler circuit. (Identify activities to be used to engage students in the use of the presented material. Why is the content relevant to the students and how will they use it?)



Evaluation: (Explain how students will be checked for their understanding of the presented material and mastery of skills. How will you monitor students’ progress?)



Closure: (What method of review will be used to complete the lesson?)



Student Work: (homework, seatwork, small group activities; students should be able to complete this independently so that you know whether they achieved mastery or need remediation.)



What is the next topic?



(Keeler, 2006) modified

What do you think?????

Getting Aggrivated

I am getting very aggrivated because technology's greatest downfall is that it never works how you want it to!!! Why does it always have to be so complicated?  I am trying to put all of my projects together on Zunal.com but it looks like I won't be able to have my projects based online... they will have to stay in files uploaded to the site... (If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry, I don't either haha!)  Trying to put my voki on a website too, I think I'll create another blog here just for that Voki because when I send it to my e mail it will not open.. I just get a blank page that says "done"... so I don't really know!  Having a hard time over here!

Stressed

This semester is getting really stressful.  I need to fix my Voki beacuse for some reason she doesn't speak anymore.  I don't know why.  I finished my movie maker, I'll try to upload it to youtube so you can see it.  Also finished powerpoint and... pretty much everything for my final portfolio.  Now I need to put it all together on Zunal (a website to create webquests).  Zunal is not very user friendly... it's hard to understand but I will keep working on it....

For Some Reason

The link in that last post didn't work.  Try this one instead.

http://www.wordlibs.com/genre/libs/?name=Halloween+Surprise&story=10308

And one more note:  While doing this with the class, make sure you fill in all the blanks yourself.  Don't click on "Mad verb" or "Mad noun" because sometimes it fills in inappropriate words.....

I will have to look for a more teacher friendly site because now the more I am looking at this one, the less I like it!!!  But the mad lib is a fun idea!

MadLibs

Hi everybody.  Sorry I am falling behind =( Haven't been able to write in a while.  I've been doing service learning for a local middle school in an ESL (English as a Second Language) classroom.  The teacher let me come up with the lesson plans last week.  I taught them about action verbs, helping verbs, prepositions, and adverbs.  I made up my own mad libs for a fun activity after the lesson.  Check it out, here's the link:

http://www.wordlibs.com/genre/libs/index.phpstory=10308&name=Halloween+Surprise



If you go to the website http://www.wordlibs.com/  you can create your own mad libs with whatever type of grammar you are learning, you just have to come up with a story!  Write the story out however you want it to sound, for example:
"Once upon a time there was a Princess named Danielle.  She lived in a castle in a majestic land called Pomona.  She ate magic cinnamon apples for breakfast every morning..."  Then on the next page you can click on words and assign them labels, for example I could click on "majestic" and have it show up as a blank labeled "adjective" for somebody to fill in.  Sorry if this isn't making sense, just try it and you'll see what I mean! 

WARNING FOR TEACHERS:  Do not use the pre-made madlibs because ANYBODY can create the mad libs and some of them are very inappropriate.  ONLY create your own to share with your class =)

Actually the link might be easier to see

http://www.mywebspiration.com/publish.php?i=594492a34efd#

Webspiration

Here's my updated Webspiration web for my project:

Making Movies

Hey everyone.  So I have spent the last hour making a movie using Windows Live Movie Maker.  I finally got the hang of it.  It is really confusing when you start off but eventually it gets easier.  I still don't understand why you can't insert a blank slide and put text on it... that sort of annoys me.  I would post my video on here for everyone to see... but I used clip art from google and I don't want to claim it as my own and infringe on copyright or anything haha.  My video is about Mexican and Spanish desserts.  I am starving!

Voki

Get a Voki now!


Check this out!!!  This (above) is a Voki.  You can make one at http://www.voki.com/  it's free and soo fun =] I plan on using voki as my Web 2.0 tool for the project.  I will have the kids use the voki to create themselves (or create a made up person/animal) and record themselves speaking about a vacation they took to Spain or Mexico.  They must speak in Spanish for a minimum of 30 seconds.  I think this will be lots of fun for the kids!

Online Class

My Voki

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://vhss-d.oddcast.com/voki_embed_functions.php%22%3E%3C/script%3E%3Cscript language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">AC_Voki_Embed(200,267,"7a528070ee11f32b57122e1aa8467c19",2889663, 1, "", 0);</script><BR><a href="http://www.voki.com/%22%3E%3Cb%3EGet a Voki now!</b></a><BR><BR>

Webspiration

I just made an account with Webspiration... webspiration is a tool to do online concept mapping.  I just mapped out what I plan to do for my project.  Here's what it looks like:
http://mywebspiration.com/view/594492a34efd

My Lesson Plans

Hello everybody!  I am writing to you in high spirits because I just finished my Spanish midterm.  It wasn't as hard as I expected it to be so I am very relieved.  In preparing for the midterm my teacher broke the class up into groups.  In the groups we assigned each other chunks of material to write reviews on, making less work for everyone... a sort of collaborative study.  I had a lot of fun writing up my review section because I used a Web 2.0 tool!  For the vocabualary portion I created a cross-word-puzzle that my classmates could use for practice!  Did you know they have online cross-word-puzzle generators for free???
Check this site out:

http://www.puzzle-maker.com/CW/

All you have to do is type in the words and the clues and it will generate a puzzle for you.  You can print out a copy of the puzzle as well as an answer key! 

-Danielle

NJAET Technology Convention

Yesterday I attended the NJAET technology convention at the Georgian Court College.  I didn't know what to expect when I signed up for the event but it was definitely worth the long drive.  I talked to a few other teachers while I was there... and being at the convention made me feel like I was a teacher too!  I can't wait to be a teacher.  I could only attend two of the seminars because I had to get back to Stockton for a class.  I chose to attend one seminar explaining how to integrate the iPod Touch into the classroom (I chose this because I own an iPod touch) and another seminar about Web 2.0 tools since we've been discussing them in my technology class.  I enjoyed both seminars.... I especially liked the one about the web 2.0 tools because it really got me thinking about teaching my future classes.  Here are some of the cool Web 2.0 tools they showed us:

Voki (http://www.voki.com/) Here you can create avatars (cartoon people).  You can make them look like whoever you want and give them different voices too.  This would be cool for doing biographies for History class (or intros in the beginning of the school year).

TweenTribune (http://tweentribune.com/) These are online news articles that you can have your students read in accounts attached to your name.  You can have them reply to articles to make sure that they understood the material.  When they reply to an article the response is submitted to you (the teacher) to approve.

Wallwisher (http://www.wallwisher.com/) This is like a huge sticky note message board!  It's really cool for getting feedback on something.  Maybe could use this with parents or students for feedback about their vacations.... or feedback about something in the classroom... who knows!

There was so much discussed!!!  I will definitely be thinking about ways of incorporating these into my classes.  =)

-Danielle

Publisher

For my publisher project I think I will use the Web 2.0 tool as an intro (the one about Dia de los Muertos) and then have the kids pretend they are a news reporter attending a Dia de los Muertos celebration.  In publisher they will write a newspaper article all about their experiences in Mexico on Day of the Dead.

Visit to the Katzenbach School for the Deaf

Today was very exciting for me because I went to visit the Katzenbach School for the Deaf.  I am very interested in American Sign Language and I am considering getting a certification to be a teacher of the Deaf as well as Spanish K-12 and ESL (English as a Second Language).  The school was very welcoming.  I observed in various classrooms throughout the day starting in Kindergarden and making my way up to 5th grade.  You're probably wondering how this ties into my technology for educator's class... they had Smart Boards!!!  I have never seen a smart board before so it was really cool!!  I couldn't believe my eyes.  The white board had a touch screen... it was so interactive!  One of the teachers used a smart board during her science lesson today.  The teacher used a Web 2.0 tool in order to teach the children about the life cycles of different animals.  The smart board displayed a flow chart that were labled with different periods of the animal's life.  The teacher chose students to come up to the smart board and drag the picture to the corresponding time period.  Once the student matched the picture to its correct time period there was an animation of that life period.  We also watched a video that showed the different life cycles of animals.  I was really impressed.

Sign Language Alphabet

Hey everyone!  I'm just stopping in to tell you about my teaching experience on Friday.  As you all know I work at the preschool on campus.  Friday I was given the opportunity to teach a lesson.  The lesson was supposed to be geared around something I am interested in, so I taught the kids how to do the alphabet in ASL (American Sign Language).  I integratd technology into the lesson by bringing up a catchy alphabet tune on youtube!

Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMQHd1UBkeI
!!!Warning!!!--- this song will be stuck in your head for the rest of the week!  haha.

Anyway, the lesson went very smoothly and the technology aspect was the kids favorite part!  They asked me to play the song at least 10 times!  We all sang and signed and I really had a great time teaching.

Web 2.0 Tool

I've began researching Web 2.0 tools to use in my lesson plans for my project.  Using Thinkfinity (A really awesome website that helps you find online activities for appropriate grade levels and subjects) I found a website hosted by the Smithsonian.  Part of my lesson plans will require students to look into Mexican/Spanish culture.  A very important part of the Mexican culture is Día de Los Muertos (which translates to Day of the Dead).  This website does an excellent job in shortly explaining the holiday as well as providing a hands on activity for the kids (creating their own ofrenda-- offering table).  Check it out!
http://latino.si.edu/DayoftheDead/

Microsoft Excel

For the Technology for Educators class I am taking we are required to create a project using various technological programs.  The project is supposed to be geared toward whatever grade level we would like to teach.  We must create the project and then do it as if we were a student.  The first program I am working with is Microsoft Excel.  Let me tell you, it is a hard program to use!  I am working my way through it... but it's taking me a while.  I figured out how to do some formulas including averages and sums without using a calculator because excel does it for you!  I can't figure out how to make it find the difference for me, I will have to ask my teacher about that. 
My excel spreadsheet demonstrates the temperature differences between Spain and Mexico for the week.  I am asking the children to calculate the weekly average for each place as well as the difference in temperature for every day. 
That's all for now,

-Danielle

Teaching the Preschoolers

Hey everybody, sorry I haven't written in a while!  I just wanted to write to share an awesome experience with you all.  I am a teachers aide at the preschool on my college campus.  I love the job because it is a taste of my future as a teacher.  On Monday I got a very close taste to my future career because one of the lead teachers was absent and I was chosen to instruct the kids during circle time.  It was such a great feeling to have the children listening attentively and eager to participate in the activity I was instructing.  It made me realize that these kids truly look up to their teachers and made me realize that I always need to be a positive role model even when I do not realize I am being watched.

Testing This Out

Here's my first post!  I don't know much about blogging but I'll try to make it interesting and fun!!!