Wow! Since I last blogged so many things have been accomplished in my life in the way of technology but yet so many are left to do.
I successfully set up Skype at Glenn Stephens and we have talked to people in Texas and South Korea. One of our teachers has a daughter that is teaching English in South Korea and we have been skyping with her. Our students love it!!!!! They are finding out all kinds of things about South Korea. They are learning about language, customs, food, etc. We will be having an interview with an author this week. Pretty exciting!
My second adventure was finding photos and clipart for Earth Day for Campanelli's and Shackett's glogster activity and putting them in a folder and then putting it on the s drive for students to access. After a many hours of researching and exploring this was accomplished with a great sense of satisfaction.
My next adventure was with glogster itself. This included emailing Lauren and getting help from Gina in figuring out the best route to follow in the way of a regular account or an education account. We ended up with the regular account, but I am still playing around with it and collaborating with Gina and Lori. We might just make it as we are pretty close. Most students have put their poster wallpaper on and named their file. The confusion has been on my part with glogster itself. We are hoping to finish this within the next couple of weeks.
Last adventure was with Marcia. We were able to add a table to our Wiki and feel we have a better idea of where we are going with our wiki. Yeah!
I hope to explore more with photos next. There is so much that can be done with that. Animoto looks like such an exciting activity to share with the students.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Amazing Opportunity
This school year has been one of the most amazing years of my life. I have to pinch myself sometimes to make sure that I am not dreaming. I can attribute these feelings to the fact that I am teaching in a classroom.
I did teach a few years after I graduated from college many years ago. I absolutely loved teaching, but when I had my kids I decided to stay home with them. Staying home did not mean staying away from school. Between volunteering, room mom, and a paid lunch helper I was definitely kept happy.
When my youngest was in kindergarten, I was offered a part-time EA/SEA position at Stephens. This was perfect. Time in school - time at home. I have loved being an EA/SEA for the past ten years. In some ways it was the best training I could have had for my position right now. I have been in every age level classroom, learned to modify lessons for special needs students, fine-tuned my ability to develop relationships and conflict resolution skills, and benefited from observing on a daily basis some great teachers. I was able to take classes along with my fellow teachers every year and allowed to teach lessons I had prepared in their classrooms.
Once my oldest child was in college and my youngest in high school, I finally realized that I wanted to take everything I had learned and set up my own classroom. REACH became my opportunity to teach and I went for it. I am so glad that I did. I love REACH!! I love to teach and to see students' faces light up when they learn to do something new on the computer.
REACH gives me the opportunity to see students at all grade levels. It allows me to not only teach technology but to incorporate literacy, math, social skills, etc. My technology background was limited when I started, but with an open mind I feel like I have learned more in the past year than I would have ever thought possible. I am a person that loves to learn new things and with technology constantly changing, I feel that I am in a perfect spot. I am so excited about the opportunity to learn more about technology, best practices for teaching technology, and ways to collaborate with the regular classroom teacher.
Also, I am excited to take this class at Thoreau. This will give me an opportunity to get to know all of you better. I am very impressed with the teachers and the work they do here. Thanks to everyone for being so welcoming.
I did teach a few years after I graduated from college many years ago. I absolutely loved teaching, but when I had my kids I decided to stay home with them. Staying home did not mean staying away from school. Between volunteering, room mom, and a paid lunch helper I was definitely kept happy.
When my youngest was in kindergarten, I was offered a part-time EA/SEA position at Stephens. This was perfect. Time in school - time at home. I have loved being an EA/SEA for the past ten years. In some ways it was the best training I could have had for my position right now. I have been in every age level classroom, learned to modify lessons for special needs students, fine-tuned my ability to develop relationships and conflict resolution skills, and benefited from observing on a daily basis some great teachers. I was able to take classes along with my fellow teachers every year and allowed to teach lessons I had prepared in their classrooms.
Once my oldest child was in college and my youngest in high school, I finally realized that I wanted to take everything I had learned and set up my own classroom. REACH became my opportunity to teach and I went for it. I am so glad that I did. I love REACH!! I love to teach and to see students' faces light up when they learn to do something new on the computer.
REACH gives me the opportunity to see students at all grade levels. It allows me to not only teach technology but to incorporate literacy, math, social skills, etc. My technology background was limited when I started, but with an open mind I feel like I have learned more in the past year than I would have ever thought possible. I am a person that loves to learn new things and with technology constantly changing, I feel that I am in a perfect spot. I am so excited about the opportunity to learn more about technology, best practices for teaching technology, and ways to collaborate with the regular classroom teacher.
Also, I am excited to take this class at Thoreau. This will give me an opportunity to get to know all of you better. I am very impressed with the teachers and the work they do here. Thanks to everyone for being so welcoming.
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