Project 15

C4K #10

Mrs. Yollis' and her blog are both such an inspiration for future educators. After exploring Mrs. Yollis' blog and web sight I have an overwhelming feeling of inspiration. It is amazing how much information she is able to bring to her students from all around the world with the technology that is easily available to all educators. I really like how encouraging Mrs. Yollis' is for her parents to also participate in the use of the students blog as well as the website that also has video and games that students can aces as well. Something that I found interesting about Mrs. Yollis' is all of the places she has been able to travel to. I hope to some day be as lucky as her to be able to experience as many cultures as she has. I enjoyed going to the different links that she had posted on her blog of the places she has been. I believe continuing to learn and experience new things helps make you a better educator in many ways. Mrs. Yollis' is a great example of an educator who goes above and beyond in many ways then one but has absolutely done an amazing job at incorporating technology into her classroom. Mrs. Yollis' students will be some of the lucky students who will have a leg up in the world of technology in the future.

Progress Report on Final Project

For project 16 my group and I have been in great communication. We have not made any final decisions on what exactly we are going to be doing but have had many great ideas. We have kept in touch by email and text messaging. We plan to meet in person at the beginning of this week and get the ball rolling.

Blog Post #12

Introducing iPods into Special Education




For my assignment I really wanted to find away to focus on the special education department. Throughout the semester we have talked about many different ways to incorporate technology into the classroom, but not about specifically a special needs classroom. After watching a few videos I found one that talks about the use of iPods in a special needs class. My assignment would be to watch the video Introducing iPods into Special Education and then wright one or two paragraphs about this video.

Before watching this video I would have had no idea how an iPod could be used in a regular classroom more less a special needs class. I think it is amazing how far this class has come since first getting the iPods for there classroom. They have really put there minds together to go above and beyond for the students. I think it is a great idea to make videos of books, vocabulary words, and other resources that the students can bring home. This not only allows for the students to continue to keep learning the materials at home but also allows for the parents to participate in the same materials there child is going over in the classroom at home. I also think that it was a great idea to use the iPod to help the student gain a better understanding of the procedure he was going to be having on his eye. This semester I have learned so many different ways technology can be used in a classroom but this video goes to show that the limits are endless technology can be used in any class.

Project 14

Blog Post #11

Little Kids...Big Potential

In Ms. Cassidy's video Little Kids Big Potential I was absolutely impressed with her students. I was amazed to see how well the students could navigate on the computer. I know throughout this semester we have been concentrating on the use of technology in the classroom, but I still find it shocking that students are now so comfortable with technology at such a young age. I do however think that it is great that students in only the first grade are being introduced to the world of technology. Students in Ms. Cassidy's class are going to have an upper hand to students who are unfortunately not be encourager to dive in to technology.

Ms. Cassidy's uses many forms of technology in her class room. Before EDM310 I had not put much thought into what forms of technology I planed on using in my classroom. Now there is not doubt in my mind that I will have a class blog. Through the class blog there are so many more deferent forms of technology that can be used. The students in Ms. Cassidy's class seemed to really love the class blog, I believe it is a great way to help the students with writing and spelling not to mention they are also starting to building typing skills. I think that Ms. Cassidy's is concerned with her students safety and has specific guide lines that she conforms to. She has been very lucky in the fact that she has not had any issues with parents not fully supporting her use of technology in the classroom. I could see how some parents might find this a little scary because the use of technology is so new to so many people.

Before watching this video I would have thought the idea of using a DS in the classroom would possibly be distracting to the students. Now I see that it is another great way to get the students excited and interested in learning. Twitter is also another tool that I would have in the past not understood why it is an important tool for teachers to have. Though a first grade student may not use it in the classroom, it is a great way for teachers to connect and share ideas. Technology is rapidly growing and being used more and more each day if we do not start educating students today they are going to be left behind.Things have changed so much since I was in grade school, and they are only going to keep changing.