Placement Reflection

Now that the semester has come to an end, so has my placement in my sixth grade class. Looking back to my first day in the class, I remember being timid. Although I had been in other classrooms previously, I had never been in a classroom with students older than seven. It was a challenge adjusting to teaching students subjects that were much more complex, however I found that I enjoyed it. Prior to working in this classroom I had sworn that I would never teach middle school students, but I may have just found the right place for me. I loved that my sixth graders were old enough to understand complex subjects, but still eager to learn. I have found that in the older grades students often lose their excitement to learn. I have enjoyed seeing the smiles on my students faces when they see what we're going to learn about. It makes me job more enjoyable.

End of Semester Reflection

I have enjoyed looking into new technologies this past semester. I would admit that without the requirement I probably would not have looked into most of them. Now having had the opportunity to try out such a variety, I feel better equipped to teach. With the advancement of technology happening so quickly, it can be difficult to keep up, however it is more important than ever. I can see how well children would respond to incorporating some of these technologies in the classroom. I can only hope that the district I end up working in is fortunate enough to be able to afford some of the more expensive things. Of course, there are many that are simply available to those that are looking for them. For example, the Wonderwall is free and an incredible way to get children involved in their learning. Something like a Smartboard of course would taking funding, but also an interactive tool. Overall, this class has been a great benefit to my teacher education.

USB Drive

Working in Lansing Schools made me realize just how many students do not have access to a computer at home. Growing up with several computers in my home, I had foolishly assumed most people had that same access. Thinking about ways in which to level the playing field for those that do nt have computers at home, I remembered that most libraries give the public free access to the internet for research purposes. These students may use them, however they cannot save their work on a public computer. If these students were simply given USB drives they may use any computer and still be able to save their work and turn it in. Such a simple piece of technology gives these children the same opportunities ass those with computers at home. Now even cameras are built with USB's within them for easy file sharing. It really is a fast and easy way of transfering files. With their cost lost, and their value high, it seems that more students could be investing in these things.

Pre-written Lessons

In my placement this week I taught a science lesson. I was given the basic lesson by my CT, and was told not to modify it if possible. At first, I wasn't sure if I liked the idea of having lessons handed to me. I felt it was almost lazy to simply present a lesson created for me. After looking over it however, I realized that many of the supplies that the school purchases to go along with these lessons are supplies that I might have difficulty getting a hold of myself. By only slightly modifying the lesson, the standards that needed to met, were reached. The students seemed to love the activity, and I was stress free. I do wonder however who chooses the lessons that will be purchased my the school district. It worries me that perhaps the wrong people will be responsible for this, and may choose something that does not meet the needs to the students.

Wiki

I have had the opportunity to use a wiki for school prior to making my own for this recent assignment. Until I was able to create my own however, I never understood their complete use. Watching the Wikis in Plain English made it easy to see why this tool is so useful. With our ever increasing reliability on technology, much of our communication is done through emails. Of course, when communicating to many people at a time, email is often a complicated way of spreading information. With a wiki, all the information is accessible to everyone at any given time. This information can then be edited by the members of that wiki. I absolutely love the idea of information being so readily available, and communication lines being so free. I can definitely see myself using this for my work as a teacher.

Digital Cameras

Having just celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday, stores are now full of merchandise for Christmas. Many  of the items you may see out are the latest of their kind. I had the opportunity to take a look at some of the newly released digital cameras at a few stores. As I was looking through the various kinds, I remembered a story a classmate of mine had told me. She explained that there were several ESL students in her classroom all of which had very low language levels. Her CT began using digital cameras in her classroom, allowing those students to take pictures of the items in the classroom, around the school, and outside of school. The pictures they took were to document the things they wished to know the English words for. They then brought the cameras back to school, where the teacher printed off their pictures along with the name of each item in the picture. I thought this would be a great classroom tool for special education students as well. As a Deaf education major, I am always searching for ways in which to make my classroom and my students learning more visual. Cameras are a wonderful way to give students access to such visual learning.

TED.com

Over this past summer I was enrolled in a creative design course which explored the idea of sustainability and other environmental issues. My instructor used a variety of resources in which to present a great deal of information to us. One of the resources she chose to use was TED.com. This technology can be used to find information on a wide range of subjects. It's purpose is to explain various concepts, and ideas to an audience that may be located anywhere in the world. With countless lectures and interviews of experts on different subjects available to teachers and students, the limit to learning is endless. I have found this resource to a helpful in several subjects and recommend that others take advantage of it's uses as well.

Flip Video

This past week I had the opportunity to teach a "microlesson" to my TE 401 class. This lesson was a group project where five of us TE 401 students worked together to develop a lesson to teach to our peers as though they were fifth graders. This assignment gave us the chance to design a lesson and receive immediate feedback from our instructor and classmates. Fortunately the college of education allows students to check out various technologies in order to complete assignments. We used a Flip video camera to film our lesson. I had never used a Flip cameras before and was surprised at how easy it was to use. By recording this lesson we were able to watch ourselves later and see where we may have room for improvement. The camera had a USB drive built into it which made downloading the video to my computer fast and simple. With only a few buttons, the Flip camera is something I would recommend teachers and schools invest in. Students love working with technology. It gets them excited and involved in lessons. I can imagine that there are many uses for the Flip video camera in all classrooms.

Powerpoint

In my sixth grade placement my CT often uses powerpoint for her lessons. She says that the visual helps students to learn how to take notes.  have fund that the special needs students are especially dependent on this technology. I would like to suggest to her the use of Google Docs now that I have been introduced to them. I feel that she may benefit from putting all of her powerpoints into a Google Doc so that the various student volunteers in her classroom would  have access to her presentations prior to teaching their lessons. I know that this would have been helpful to me when I was preparing to teach in her classroom a few weeks ago.

Google Docs

I like the idea of using Google Docs instead of emailing copies of my work out to other people. I myself have had a lot of trouble with sending the wrong version of something that had been updated in the past. Having a "one-stop-shop" for documents and presentations seems like the perfect solution. Recently I had a problem with emailing a presentation to my CT for the lesson I was to teach in her classroom. The files did not match the program she had and we didn't realize it until the day of the lesson. Had we used Google Docs, the problem may have been caught early on. I hope to use this technology in my classroom in the future.

https://docs.google.com/a/msu.edu/?AuthEventSource=SSO#documents

Internship Placement

I have decided that I will be moving back home to Royal Oak next fall to complete my internship. Financially, it was my only option. I did however meet with my professor about my Deaf Education portion of my internship. She met with me to sign using American Sign Language. She wanted to see where my skills were in terms of ASL. She then explained that all students within Deaf Education interested in pursuing a Bilingual Degree may have the opportunity to go out of state for the second semester of our internship to work in a Deaf Residential School. I am ecstatic. I've always wanted to live outside of Michigan, even just for a short while to experience something new. This opportunity is something I've been looking forward to  for quite some time. The department has yet to decide which states they will be sending us to, so I could end up just about anywhere.

UNICEF

Last week I had the opportunity to teach my very first lesson. I am placed in a sixth grade classroom, and was assigned a social studies topic to teach. My CT decided that I could teach the students about Globalization. I was terribly nervous, but ended up doing very well. My Ct's feedback made me a lot more confident about my teaching abilities, and eager to teach again. At the end of my lesson I gave the students the opportunity to collect money for UNICEF at Halloween. I passed out the UNICEF boxes to each student, and collected them the following week. To my surprise, the class raised almost $100! I am of course very excited to share with them how well they did.

Wonderwall

While on a field trip to the MSU Children's 4-H Gardens, I was introduced to the use of Wonderwalls in the classroom. This technology is becoming more popular with all grade levels. It allows students to post their questions about various topics. The teacher then has the ability to entertain their questions at his/her convenience. Even the youngest of students can take part in using the wonderwall, due to the fact that if the student doesn't not know how to write his/her question or comment, they may choose to draw it. This feature makes it possible for children of all ages to ask questions from home, school, etc.

Unicef

View more presentations from chelc1113.

Teaching My 1st Lesson

I will be teaching my very first lesson in a 6th grade classroom in less than two weeks. I am nervous, and excited about it. I hope that I am able to balance classroom management and the actual content of the lesson. My class consists of over 30 students, 3 of which are special needs students. I must then come up with various accommodations for these students and make sure that I have the time to work specifically with those students. I am relieved however that my first lesson will be covering a social studies topic, and not mathematics. I am still not confident in my mathematical skills, and dread the day I will be asked to lead a math lesson. I suppose I will feel more comfortable over time.

Lesson + Technology

I am currently working on writing a lesson about globalization for the 6th grade class I am working in. The lesson includes the use of the computer lab, where students will be asked to use an internet search engine to find names of various international charities, and what they do to provide support to countries around the world. The idea is to get the students to think about social issues on a global scale. With the use of technology, students have access to an abundance of information through the internet. The skill of internet searching is something every 6th grader should acquire. Such skills are assumed further on in education.

Greece Slideshow

http://www.imageloop.com/slideshow/8bc660da-38f7-130a-8f65-12313b0301a1/

The slide show I created could be used to introduce the topic of ancient societies and cultures, specifically Greece. I had the opportunity to travel there two years ago for study abroad and tried to implement my experience into the slide show as well.
When teaching something such as social studies, it was helpful to have something such as a story board due to the fact that it can be hard to imagine places you've never seen. Bringing a digital story board into the lesson enhances the student's learning and understanding of people, places and things teachers are unable to physically bring into the classroom.

Chicago...?

I am attending a meeting tonight about the possibility of completing my internship in Chicago. I have lived in Michigan my entire life. I've actually lived in the same home my entire life (except for living away at college). I am looking into this possibility because I feel the need to experience more than just Michigan teaching. Also, I would like the opportunity to work in an urban setting where my students will come from very diverse backgrounds. Growing up in Royal Oak, Michigan I was given opportunities that many children only dream of, however I was deprived of much diversity within the student body of my schools. I feel that working with students from various backgrounds will ultimately make me a better teacher, and possibly a better person in general.

LD Diagnosis

This week in my placement I had the opportunity to work with one student individually on her reading assignment. The students have been reading mystery books for several weeks now. My CT asked me to read aloud with this particular student in a seperate classroom. We took turns reading aloud to each other. I noticed that she consistantly struggled with with reading many of the words. She also "read" words that were not on the page, but had a similar meaning or spelling. After we were finished reading together I spoke with the class intern about what I had noticed. We both agreed that our student may be dislexic, but has yet to be diagnosed as such. At the 6th grade level, I would hope that most students are diagnosed early on, however the more time I spend in the classroom, the more I have come to learn that this is not true.

Smart Board

My first exposure to the Smart Board was in my High School German class. The teacher used it for most, if not all of our lessons. I remember understanding more of the lessons after we began using the Smart Board due to the fact that the visuals helped me learn the vocabulary of the new language (German). Over the years, I've noticed that the Smart Board has become more popular in today's classrooms. The technology has helped many teachers implement different on-line activities into their lessons because they now have a way to interact with the computer while it is projected for the entire class to see. Being a Deaf Education Major, visuals in the classroom are crucial to student learning. Without the help of technology such as the Smart Board, I would have a difficult time making lessons accessible to all of my Deaf and Hard of Hearing students.

Internship Orientation

This week we'll be attending the orientation for our internship next year. I am anxious to learn more about it, due to the fact that we've been kept in the dark about it for quite some time. I have been told by other interns that you receive very little information about your placement until April, or later. I am hoping that the orientation gives me some peace of mind about the internship. I plan on teaching in the Detroit area and know few schools that offer programs for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. I really have no idea where I will be placed for next year.

Difficult Days

This week in my placement I had a fairly overwhelming day. At first, I worked one-on-one with a student who needed practice reading out loud. The class was working on reading mystery books, and met in small groups to predict and discuss the books they were reading. After reading was over the students broke off into groups for social studies. I worked with several groups, but when I came to one group in particular, I realized that they needed a great deal of help. There are three special-needs students in the class and the teacher places all three in the same group. It was extremely difficult to get all six students to cooperate. By the end of the day I felt very worn out. I hope I learn to deal with behavior issues without feeling spent by the end of the day. As a special education teacher, I know I need to be ready for days just like this one.

Visual Learning

As a Deaf Education Major, I find this weeks technology to be very helpful. Knowing that I will be working with students that rely heavily on visual learning, have the resources to present pictures to them is extremely important. I like the idea of being able to manipulate pictures to point out exactly what I want the students to pay attention to. Also, putting the pictures into a slide show makes it easy for me to present on a topic with "hands-free" technology. If teaching in a Deaf/Hard of Hearing classroom, I may need my hands free to instruct in American Sign Language (ASL).

Image: 'Bikes over here Cars in the Water'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48889063674@N01/30879229

This picture could be used to introduce the idea of alternative transportation. More and more we see that schools are teaching students about being more sustainable and socially responsible.

TE 401

This past week I had the opportunity to work in a 6th grade classroom for most of the day. This is where I will be observing for the remainder of the semester for my TE 401 class. The first day I was able  to observe the students working on a government project. They were creating "branches of government trees." The subject is still fairly new to the students, so it was interesting to see how their knowledge of the subject grew during that class period. It is my task to specifically observe social studies and science lessons. After several weeks, I am to teach my own lesson in the classroom. I have never had the opportunity to do that before. As usual when trying something new, I am a little nervous. I trust that I will end up learning a lot from the experience however.

New Technologies

In just the second week of the course I feel I've been introduced to a number of useful tools. This week we were introduced to delicious.com; a website that allows you to "bookmark" various sites for quick access later on. Not only does this site allow you to have access to useful websites quickly, but it also lets you "tag" the sites. This tagging helps organize the sites by their content. Already I have been able to view the sites of my classmates and have come across some great resources I would not have know about.

Hello World

Hi, my name is Chelsea. I am a Deaf Education major at Michigan State University. I have created this blog for one of my classes. It's focus is to help future teachers understand how to use technology in their classrooms. I am just beginning to realize how powerful  a tool it can be. Currently I am a user of Facebook, and Twitter. I have little experience working with other sites.  I am looking forward to expanding my knowledge of classroom technology.