Can you hear me now?

I felt this last instructional unit was unexpected but fun. This is what I would like to one day bring to a fifth grade class of my own. One of my favorite quotes from the second video that was in week #13 was "engage don't enrage." This is exactly what I feel teaching should be. In schools right now there are bans on cell phones and ipods. These valuable tools are seen as a nuisance rather than techniques. One way that phones and ipods could be used is using a scavenger hunt either on school grounds the way we did in class on Wednesday or a "virtual" scavenger hunt giving historical clues to follow and following the path of a GPS system on phones.

Podcasting would be a great way to keep students in touch. I remember there were times in elementary school when a student would break a leg or be out of town for a long period of time due to a death in the family or illness. Podcasting would be a great way for the away student to be able to stay in contact with his or her class and not miss out on any of what's going on. This would be great in combination with text messaging between the away student and his buddy. The buddy system not only helps the student who can't be in class for whatever reason but also gives incentive the buddy who is in school and volunteers to be a text buddy has the opportunity to help out and to get some extra credit points.

I would also like to put a new spin on "show and tell." I would like to be able to give the assignment over a weekend and tell students to take a picture of something fun or interesting and send it to 5 people and then have everyone on Monday talk about the favorite picture message they received over the weekend and then let the student that sent the picture elaborate on why he or she thought it was fun or interesting.

All of these methods would help "engage not enrage" the students. Cell phones and other mobile devices are a part of everyday life and so is school, may as well combine the two. When this is done it will help make communicating with fellow classmates more comfortable and learning something to look forward to.

This is a cool video to use as a field trip replacement. It would be cool to go and see a honeybee farm but maybe a little too scary.

Social Networking

Social networking can be very beneficial in the classroom. In the past couple of weeks I've been trying to get use to facebook but am very use to myspace. In the classroom I would probably prefer facebook because of the privacy level. As a teacher I would like to use social networking as a way to stay in contact with parents and guardians. While I was volunteering at headstart, the teachers would tape important notes to the parent to the children, for example, a permission slip for a field trip would get taped around their wrist like a bracelet. They would do this to make sure that the parents would read the information and return it to school with their student. I would like to use social networking in addition to paper notes to parents because some parents will be more apt to respond to electronic communication and some will be more apt to respond to paper communications. With students I look forward to using social networking as a motivator to learn about the variety of technology available. There are many beneficial facebook applications that students can use as study aids. There was one in particular that made the state curriculum standards available to teachers, unfortunately, I didn't mark it and have been unable to find it again. I feel social networking can also be used to help build camaraderie amongst the students, help them to feel comfortable with each other and with myself, the teacher.

Powerpoint in the classroom

I like powerpoint because it's a simple, quasi-semi animation program. One of the ways I look forward to being able to use it in my classroom is as a gameshow. Everyone likes to win games. This could help motivate students to learn the material. It could easily make the students want to learn even more.
The 2nd way I would like to use powerpoint is similar to what we did in class the first day of the semester. When I was younger the first day of school always meant seeing some old faces, meeting some new ones, and talking about our summer. With powerpoint I would like to with a digital camera take a picture of every student and make "flashcards," the way we did in class, but include their favorite color, animal, and a memorable event from the summer. I would do this in class to introduce everyone to each other and help make everyone feel welcome to the new school year. When the students return the next day I would have a seating arrangement made according to favorite colors and have the slides printed up and laminated and hung up in the classroom. I would do this mainly to deter from calling each other "hey you" and emphasize learning and using names.

Assistive Technology

Why is inclusion important both to the student with special needs and the culture of the class?
When I was a child, moving was a way of life. At the time I hated it, but this is the reason I wanted to be a teacher. It didn’t matter how many new schools or students I encountered it was always the teachers that made me feel included and a part of the class. Inclusion is important to the student with special needs because not only are they defended with the Americans with Disabilities Act, The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the Assistive Technology Act, but because every human being has the right to be educated regardless of special needs.
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities and requires common places used by the public to provide an equal opportunity for access. I see this in two ways, equal opportunity for access into public buildings, and also equal opportunity for access to education. Legally it provides access into public buildings and ethically there are really no boundaries.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act looks more towards the aspect of education and students. It entitles everyone to a “free appropriate public education for students with disabilities.” It entitles students with special needs to a non-restrictive learning environment.
The Assistive Technology Act affirms that technology is a valuable tool that can be used to improve the lives of Americans with disabilities. It also provides funding in order to help implement the technology that is that valuable tool.
Inclusion is important to the culture of the class because it provides not a moral way of being, but an ethical one. If the culture of the class is ethical it will spill out past the classroom creating ethical students who will take it into their lives, and hopefully into their future.
The culture of the class starts with the teacher.

What technology tools do you find specifically valuable that assist students with visual, hearing, motor, learning, or language disabilities?
For students with visual disabilities I believe that a Narrator program and a Magnifying program together could be very beneficial, especially in combination with a Braille keyboard. There are many programs out there but these two can make a very big impact on an everyday routine.
Students who have hearing disabilities could be deeply impacted by a Voice to Sign Language Translation Program.
Students with motor disabilities can use an on-screen keyboard or a voice recognition software to transcribe spoken word to text.
Language disabilities can be addressed with a language translator. Either a voice recognized translator or a written one or both. These are a few of the examples of Technology that I feel can be valuable to assist students with a variety of disabilities. Any of these can be used in combination with any other programs. Some of these are available on Windows XP and Vista at no additional cost.
Cecilia Garcia

pets

Girl's Best Friend

I love my pets. Sometimes they get a bit hard to deal with. And really I only have one pet. But in the house I live in there are in total: 4 dogs (all small ones) and 3 cats. I love them all. They all have such distinct personalities. Anyway, I was trying to think of something to write about and a cat was trying to get into my room. That's all I have.