Thing 5a

One of the interesting things I discovered looking through my feeds today was a website called Creative Teaching, http://www.fascinate-educate.com/2009/01/30/circle-shape-book-teaching-geometry/ , this website had some pretty neat ideas and great resources to use in teaching geometry. I know the 4th and 5th grade students I work with work on geometry so I thought this would be a great resource for me to be able to use with my students. The website had great resources to use for creating an Black History Month book with a ton of resources for the students to use. There is a lot of great information that I didn't know was there.

Thing 3

I subscribed to the blogs listed and at first was overwhelmed by all the information. I looked through many of the titles and the one that caught my interest was http://www.infinitethinking.org/2009/01/pondering-new-years-resolutions-digital.html
The blog talked about as technology seems to be increasing in educational settings, during the economic times, many families are doing away with the technology in the home first. Which is leaving students without ways to interact with technology or each other outside the classroom that much more difficult. I know that many of the students at SES do not have the financial means to have technology in their home. I wonder how many others are seeing a similar effect in your classrooms? The blog went on to say that when we do a technology survey at the beginning of the year we need to see not only what is available in the home but what is available outside the home such as friend's house, library, and other locations that may be within distance to the students home. I run the after school program and I know that I value technology and see its benefits, we added a computer lab segment to our afterschool program and we have a teacher that runs it and allows the students to do a variety of activities with the students throughout the week.

Thing 2

I have read several of the blogs listed under thing 2 but I was interested in #19 on the list. http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-it-okay-to-be-technologically.html

I was taken back a bit by the blog. When I read Terry Freedman's list of things that should happen in regards to educators not being technology literate. I was somewhat offended at first. I understand the need and the purpose of technology in the classroom and I have seen its effectiveness as well. With that said, some of the points seemed rather harsh as I read on. Terry claimed that schools and prinicpals should be held accountable for their teachers not being technology literate. To what extent then is one considered "technology literate" and are all schools having the same amount of access to technology?
I did however like the point that B. Davis made later regarding what "literate" meant. We need to define what we are looking for and we need to make sure that all schools, and classrooms are given a chance at the same resources.

Thing 1B

I am not completely sure I still understand the idea of Web 2.0. However, the general concept that I am understanding is that Web 2.0 is an interactive type of learning where students/users are communicating with each other rather than merely "hunt and find" type activities. I think, looking at this from a Special Education perspective, that this is a great idea for students. In addition to adding to their skills with technology it is enhancing their ability to communicate as well as the way they communicate their ideas to others. Especially with students who may have less self confidence, it allows them to "hide" behind the idea of no one seeing them, so they can speak freely. I am very interested to see how others are going to use this in their classrooms.

I have thought about my students using mine to create ongoing stories where they can edit one another's stories without knowing the original author. I have also thought about this activity working in other areas such as Social Studies and Science when I work with regular education 4th graders. The students being able to create their own videos as a summative project to present to a class.

Thing 1A

My name is Frances and I teach at Statham (SES) . I currently work at SES as a paraprofessional in a Special Education classroom. I am taking this class to continue my own personal knowledge regarding technology as well as to increase the amount of tools I can use to help reach my students in my classroom. I look forward to working with all of you.

Thing 1 A

This is my first initial post for the class. I just want to make sure I have it up and working. Be patient with me! :)