Blog 9

Overall, the midterms was a mixture of the material learned. It was very interesting taking the test because it was unexpected what exactly would be on the test, and after taking it, i was able to determine how much information i know. It was satisfying to know that i grasp the material, especially since i will be using it as a teacher. I think all the material on the test was fair game, given the fact that we were told all that we learned would be on the test. I struggled with minor details, but all in all i felt confident and proud that i knew so much given the fact that it was such a wide range of information tested. The way the test was formatted was different than normal tests and was a mixture. It was a good example for us to take in consideration on how to test our students. It gives the students the ability to use technology and to respond without their own answers, rather than a multiple choice test.

Blog 8

After reading the article ‘Creating Valuable Class Web Sites’, Elizabeth Baker discusses three methods that benefit teachers who want to make class websites. If teachers are tentative about the internet and struggle with computers, method one ( Website Providers) is recommended. It gives two ways one can build a website either through a free websites or ones to be a member. This technique makes it easy to make a website quickly. The second method is called Blog, Groups, and Wikis is recommended for users who are comfortable with technology yet have little time to learn. It gives you flexibility, online discussions, and literacy abilities. In addition, it lets you sign up for RSS, a system that notifies of changes on your site through an email notification. In method three, Be Your Own Developer, a variety of software options are available to make it easier to learn how to make a website and generates a site with a simple appearance. Overall, developing your own website requires you to learn, especially since technology is important in the classroom. Giving students the opportunity to use the internet based on a website you produce seems very interesting and beneficial. It is a great opportunity to involve technology and variation in teaching techniques.

Blog 7

World Wide Web: After reading each individual article, the inspiration of using technology and the internet is highly evident how necessary these tools are in the education process. In the first article, the various forms of web databases are discussed. This concept is highly useful for it benefits both students and educators. Educators can organize what topic is to be researched and using databases, plan out how students will investigate information. For example, if given the students the topics of the different biomes, students can use database to find comparisons between the subjects on how related or opposite they are. This facilitates the learning process because students are able to investigate research based on their own findings that are guided by the educator. This process is much more organized form of handling class assignments. Technology can reduce the difficulties of assignments. The second article discussed is the constant changes of technology in the world and the skills needed in daily life. It is important to incorporate both the skills of technology and the everyday skills that are needed. It is a challenge to apply both, but students need to learn at an early age the ability to manage technology and skill such as compute, communicate, conclude, confirm, etc.Technology used such as database is highly needed in order to teach students valuable lessons of organization and interdependency of searching information. It is applicable for all ages since database is an easy concept to understand. There are two parts if database: the records are the topics or names in the research and the fields are the information about that topic and/or name. The third part of the article is about the program called Clarisworks.It is a program that after creating database, you can search specific topics. After using InspireData, this program sounds to resemble to Clarisworks where it is easy and explanations to use the program. Basically, all three articles are about the importance of database and incorporating the use in classrooms. It benefits both students and teachers, making the learning process easier and organized. It allows students to research and investigate in detail, and teachers are able to control the topic and fields for students to find. I will definitely use the idea of database in the classroom in the future.

Blog 6

After reading the information about Bloom's taxonomy, i found taxonomy to be very useful for future teachers.Bloom developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior that is essential for learning. Bloom concluded the 95% of test questions that students encountered required them to recall information. The information included the recognition or recall of patterns, facts, and concepts that contribute in the development of intellectual abilities and skills. Bloom made six categories that are Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. These six categories are learning objectives that educators set up for students. By mastering these categories, i found it very useful information to know. This will make the teaching process much meaningful because i will able to know what to expect when requiring students to learn and recall information. It is useful teaching tool, especially with determining which student is struggling with learning. It gives different techniques to approach the student in the level he or she grasps information. By helping students retain information by identifying their strengths and weakness, it will motivate students to find information interesting and useful, and overall, understand the material, not just memorize and forget.

Blog 5

The article of Mapping Student Minds introduced the importance of science and technology. In the classroom, students were using the mapping tool called Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE). This program was used in the sixth grade classroom at Foothill Middle School, where students were given the opportunity to do research and gain a learning experience through the use of database tools. Students were in groups and would gather data from a nearby creek. With the information, they would give it to a "data master", where the information was then put into excel and organized into a Palm Pilot Data form. Then, that information was put into WISE, where the online data base that gave results that they could not do in person. This gave students to continue their field trip and science experiment without halting their project or coming to a conclusion. WISE was a wonderful opportunity to teach students the ability to use technology at the same time, learning important subject matter of science.The program also gave students the ability to create useful maps to organize their data,creating the knowledge of looking for cause and effect relationships through material found and observed. I really enjoyed this article because i thought it was great how the teacher was able to incorporate both important factors, science and technology, in the classroom. It was able to make the experiement fun, easy, organized, and meaningful. I think this would be a great opportunity for schools who have low funding, and cannot have field trips, etc. Students should be able to learn information through various forms, and if not given the opportunity to step outside the classroom, the option of simulating the experience through technology makes up for the loss to a certain extent.

Blog 4

After reading the article "Teaching Students to Use the Internet as a Research Tool", I was left in a pensive mood. I thought about how much of an impact technology has on students to help guide them on learning the foundation of skills that will later benefit them their educational career. For example, in my private high school, it was a requirement that for each class when given a research assignment or essay, the teacher had to take the class to the computer lab and show us the proper web sites and tools for our papers. After the computer presentation, we were then taken to the library to be shown how to do the same research but with documents, articles, and books. When given the time to work individually on the assignment, many of the students, myself included, went to the computers to do our research. Looking back, you would think it would have been easier to just walk over and find a book to research, but no. It is and was much easier to simply search though reliable links to find information. In addition, it was much easier to write the paper and do the proper citing, that to this day, has benefited me as a college student. From this memory, the article proved to me as with my experience, that technology research is imperative for students to know. It is highly important for students to know which websites are reliable and which are not. It is a necessity to educate students the basic foundation of researching, since in the article, many students are not properly educated how to search properly on the web. As a future teacher, it must be a priority to give students the information on how to go to basic search engines or to even check the ending suffix to see if its a credible source. This article opened my eyes as to realizing that it is important for me to explain to students every detail of looking at authors, addresses, dates, origin, source,etc. so it may give students the basic foundation of proper scholarly writing. By doing so, it will save me and future teachers the problem of originality and plagiarisms, and give students the lifelong tools to being excellent writers and online researchers.



After doing and learning the Excel program, i was completely pumped to use it as a teacher. The benefit of learning how to be organized and on top of all the students' individual scores. It made everything seem so much easier, quicker, and professional. I was so amazed by this program, that i even went home and showed my dad, who is a principal in L.A. I told him how he could teach his teachers how to use it so it could benefit them as a school. He too loved the idea! Thanks professor!

Blog 3

After reading the article, i was very impressed on how much effect technology has on students. Before, i thought the computer was a way to give the students something to do, an easy activity for both the teacher and students. After reading, my perspective changed. Last year, i worked in a Kindergarten classroom, where as part of a 'center' was to be on the computer and chose a program to do. Many of the students who used it were ones who had Spanish as a second language. The program they did helped them learn basic words and concepts by having them choose the appropriate picture. This experience was further enforced by this article, because it is a prime example of the many benefits technology has on students. The student was able to teach him/herself through problem solving and being independant." Problem solving required students to do more than memorizing facts...[it] manipulates geometric constructions and test conjectures,then revise their strategy and refine their own understanding (pg. 9)." This new way of problem solving is much more efficient because it keeps the student active and engaged. My experience and the article further reassured the idea that technology is a huge contributor to the learning process. It gives the student and teacher opportunities to both benefit.