Week 2 Blog

This week’s lesson was very informative which seems to be a trend with the material from this class. I guess that my eyes have never truly been opened to all of the technological resources out there and to how they can benefit in the realm of education. I think that it is common for many of us to take technology for granted as we go through our cozy lives without realizing how much technology we use on a daily basis. We have so many things that we use to make our lives easier that we sometimes fail to recognize them. I think it is much the same with educational technology we have a seemingly endless reservoir of resources to use in our classrooms to make learning more successful if we do not fail to look for and implement them in our classrooms.

With that being said this week’s assignment gave me several new resources that I was not aware of that I will use in my classroom. First, the discussion and material on Wikis illustrated how, even in the most rural area, students can have a truly global learning experience. Vicki Davis is an inspiration for any teacher looking to enhance student learning by implementing technology in the classroom. She made a statement about “turning the classroom upside down” referencing the importance of letting students be more involved in the learning experience which I thought was a very good point. Students that have more input in the learning experience become empowered and our more successful in the classroom. I like the idea of a more student centered classroom.

Another part of this week’s assignment that stood out to me was the Monty Python clip. I used to be quite a fan of Monty Python earlier in my life and it was fun to revisit those days if only briefly while watching the clip. Sadly, the piece spoke volumes about the state of our modern society. I think that we become far too focused on things putting them before people in the order of importance.

The information on spreadsheets and data bases form this week’s assignment was beneficial. I use spreadsheets frequently in my work and also use data bases. However, I have never really considered how they could be used in the classroom other than as organizational tools for teachers. It was good to see that educators are using these tools as part of student assignments as well as it helps them to develop some higher order thinking skills. During my web search of databases and spreadsheets in the classroom I found that there are numerous ideas for creating lesson plans that implement the use of these tools. One website that I found really informative was http://www.alicechristie.org/edtech/ss/. This website has many ideas for using spreadsheets and databases in the K-12 classroom. I found this website very helpful as I plan on teaching special education in the elementary or middle school areas.

The entire lesson for this week was helpful and I will implement many of the ideas and resources in my classroom when I begin teaching.