Paper- blogs

Blogging through paper

As a prospective teacher who wants to use Blog for assessment, I found Paper-Blogging step very useful before students start real blogging. The concept of blog is not easy to comprehend. The distribution of rule paper in the class will be very useful for them because as they are 7^th graders, they tend to naughtiness and misbehaviors. I am going to warn them about that if they do not obey the rules, they won’t be allowed to write real blogs and use the Internet. Another thing I liked, the way the students comment on the other people blogs is interesting: Post-it comments. Blogging through paper is the exactly the same way of online blogging. Before students write it online, the idea of classroom environment paper- blogging gives them the sense of achieving something. They can see and touch what they blog on a paper.

Technology infused unit plan

Technology infused unit plan

To prepare a technology infused unit plan is still so challenging that technology and technological devices are not sufficient in the classroom environment yet. If a teacher wants to teach the whole lesson or unit technologically, s/he should be expert not only in technology but also in the content. Moreover, the integration of technology with content is not always possible. For example, Smart Board is one of the most innovative devices of education, nobody denies it. However, using it while you are teaching the students how to read and write, Smart Board is not logical. Students should realize the feeling of using pencil, eraser, notebook and book. Before I took Digital Environment course, all I did was to use Powerpoint for presentation and Youtube for videos while I was preparing lesson and unit plan. That is, I am learning two or more new software in each week and I am getting used to prepare a plan with technology in this semester.

In the case of discovering new aspects of technology, I find it interesting and useful for my prospective students. For example, we are writing blogs for this course and to express yourself about one of your course in a digital environment is an exciting experience. I will assign my students to write a blog after each class about their impression and whatever they feel in that day and I will read and comment on them. This will not only provide me taking instant feedback about my teaching style and but also my students will feel to be a part of technology.  I won’t be stuck with PowerPoint and Youtube; I will use Prezi, Photostory, Photo Peach, Windows Movie Maker and the other presentation software.

Week 7- Cell Phones in the Classroom

Two ways you think you might incorporate cell phones in your classroom

Cell phones are the 21^st learning tools of education. It became obvious and certain after I read the information about cell phones in the classroom environment. As we are all the prospective teachers of this century in which technology is developing incredibly, we have to learn how to handle the cell phones in the classroom.

To begin with, forbidden thing will be more attractive to the students.  Teachers can convert cell phones from distracting device to useful one. One way is to use the basic features of cell phones. Most of cell phones have calculators, digital cameras, internet access and dictionaries. To begin with the calculator, students use it math and science classes. When I was taking that kind of courses, I usually forgot to bring the calculator and I always used my cell phone. Besides this, there are some kinds of courses in which students need to infer with the numbers or percentages. Second one is digital cameras.  Students can use them to document a variety of things for multimedia presentations or reports. In fieldtrips, students can take photos and they can use them in their travelogues. Internet access is the third one. Many phones have wireless Internet access, or EDGE and 3G; thus easy access of Internet opens up a world of possibilities for class use. The last one is related to the use of dictionaries in the cell phones. Students in literature and language arts classes can benefit from being able to quickly query the definition of a word. Additionally, students who are English learners especially can benefit from translation dictionaries which are becoming available on cell phones.

Another way to incorporate cell phones in the classrooms is to offer students new apps and creative ways to communicate besides the basic features of cell phones. It is not possible to restrict the use of cell phones with the four things above as long as they are allowed to use it.  I did some researches about the cell phones in classroom and learning environment and I found so many options.  As a prospective teacher who want to minimize the use of cell phone during the lesson period, these two options below are the most appropriate for both the classroom and learning environment of the students.

Phones as a Studying Tool

 There is a new free resource called Study Boost that connects with mobile phones. You create an account on Study Boost, and then you can create your own “batches” of study questions. You can subscribe to the study questions via cell phone (you can also view them on the mobile web). This feature is available for T-Mobile prepaid phones as well. In addition you can share your study questions with friends, teachers, and others so they can also review on the go.

Text Reminders for School Projects / Assignments

Remind101 is a free site is created for teachers and students to create text and/or email reminders for assignments, projects, quizzes, tests, labs, class activities and homework. Teachers create accounts, upload syllabi, and insert all class projects, activities, homework and assignments. Then students can log in to Remind101, search for their class, subscribe to the class, and automatically start receiving all reminders on their prepaid cell phones for the class activities.