These are pictures of the students using the ELMO to explain how they solved different math problems

Technology Used By Teacher

There is a wide range of technology that is available to the students and teachers at my school. Although my teacher does make good use of the technology she has, she definitely doesn't use all of her many resources to her advantage. The technology resource she uses the most is the ELMO. She is constantly displaying different worksheets or papers up on the board so that the students can see exactly what she is referring to. It is supposed to be shared among all the 2nd grade class, but it seems to stay in her classroom majority of the time. If she ever needs it, she has it, and teachers always have to come to her to borrow it. I think it is a great resource because it is convenient for the teacher, and also easy but beneficial for the students to work with. She also frequently uses her own computer. During writer's workshop, she often plays soft music to help the students focus better [also more fun for the students], and she uses it to show student's different websites that they can use when they want to learn more about something. The attendance is also done through a program on her computer. When we were doing our technology inventory of the school, we learned that there were mobile computer labs [40 laptops] that can be easily shared, but our teachers rarely use them. There is also time for students to use the actual computer lab, but teachers have to sign up for times, and I haven't seen them go there once in the 3 weeks I have been at the school. This is unfortunate because computer skills are crucial to a students education, and not all of the students have access to one at home.

After watching the video, the general theme and thing that I felt was most important to learn and remember was that technology really can influence a students way that no other lesson or activity can. It provides students with more hands on activities. it allows them to create things that can easily be fixed or changed without taking too much time. It introduces them to new technological resources that are available to them, and gives them the advantage of already knowing how to use them properly. Many studetns come to school with very little on no access or experience with any type of technology. Techonology, specifically computers, are used so much in society, and if school don't provide students with opportunities to work with and explore those types of technology, they will be seriously behind. I think they made if very clear of all the possible lessons and programs that students can be easily taught to use, but that will enhance their learning process tremendously. It seemed that the two things they seemed to think that stuetns benefit the most from are learning how to use the internet appropriately/effectively, and also using programs for different project (art) related activities. I think it is important to learn from these videos that it is the responisibility of teachers to feel comfortable using different technology resources, and also provide opportunities for students to learn from it too.

Technology Inventory

There are many different forms of technology available for the teachers/students, but everything is shared either among the entire school or each grade level. In the classroom that I am working in, the only technology they always have in their classroom is a tape player, CD player, and the teachers personal laptop. The teacher occasionally uses the audio devices to let students listen to recorded stories or songs, but she uses her own laptop for that purpose most of the time. She is able to connect her computer to the Elmo to project certain things for the class. I was surprised that there wasn't a single computer for the students to use, but I guess if the teacher wanted to use the computers, it wouldn't be too difficult to get access to some. The students watched one movie, and the tv had access to VHS and DVD. However, that also had to be shared among all of the second grade-maybe even with third too. It seems that they have a lot of resources, but the teachers don't really take advantage of everything they have.

-I completed the mid-course evaluation, informed consent, and technology inventory

Science Challenge Video

I made comments on Karyn, Heather, and Heidi's constellation activity using stellarium. Just from the activity my group did and the other groups activity with stellarium, it was clear that implementing different types of programs and technology with science makes understanding the information much more clear and engaging. I think it makes talking about concepts that sometimes feel abstract like stars and temperature, but more real. It is also easier to make connections, and see how the concepts actually work. It provides much greater understanding when you can actually see what the constellations look like, and/or watch the temperature rapidly increase or decrease with the temperature probe. The downsides may be that the technology can be slightly distracting. It's always exciting to use new things, but students might get so involved in experimenting with the pieces of technology that they struggle to focus on the content intended to be taught.When using new technology, you also have to be careful what grade level you allow to use the equipment because temperature probes and other instruments are probably expensive and slightly fragile.

Science Challenge

In our science challenge activity, we chose to have the students test and record the different temperatures of water in its different states. This activity covers the content area for fourth grade science in the first objective, standard 1, part d. This core standard states that students will "investigate and record temperature data to show the effects of heat energy on changing the states of water." Th teacher will begin by talking about the different properties of water. She will also introduce how to use the thermometer and show how large of a temperature range different materials can have. We will have the students use a thermometer as their technology device as they measure and record the temperature for freezing water, room temperature water, and freezing water. Students can also experiment with checking the temperature of the water as it is melting and/or as the boiling water starts to cool. This will simply help the students gain more opportunities to practice with the new technology and understand better the extreme temperature range of water in its different states. The teacher will provide the students with all the necessary materials, including the different water states (frozen, room temperature, and boiling), the thermometer, and a graphing chart to record the information they gather.
I think this activity is a great way for students to understand the different properties and states of water. This is a beneficial way for students to see first hand what water looks like as it is boiling, freezing, melting etc, and measure the temperature as it is actually happening. Without doing this activity, the only way to really teach the properties of water would be to relate it to snow for freezing water, or a pot of boiling water in the kitchen which is not really applicable for all students. This activity helps teach the goal of the objective better because students are able to actually see and test with the thermometer how water can be represented in multiple different forms/states.

Google Tour

He is the link to my classes virtual google tour:
Dances Around the World
I made brief comments on Heidi, Kindy, and Heather's virtual tours. I thought it was very interesting to see how this activity can be useful for so many different activities and subject areas. This is a beneficial technology skill to have because it is a great way to get students interested and active in their learning. Using a virtual tour in an elementary classroom is also a good things because it allows students to gain more experience with technology and multi-cultural activities. Some of the downsides to using a google earth tour is that there might not be enough computers for all the students to participate in the activity, and it would be quite difficult to follow the map and activities just by looking at it. This type of activity also makes it hard to see the world as a big picture. Depending on how close or far out you are from the specific place you are looking at, it's sometimes difficult to compare where you are in relation to the United States. I liked being able to see exactly what the specific places looked like, but it was confusing to make connections geographically with where we are in the US.