The Website Project

The website project was a good idea, and I feel that I know how to make a website (I'm just thankful that we didn't have to use html from scratch). I had already done programming things in previous classes and on my own, and the Google system is very easy to use. I actually felt limited in some ways.

Anyway, I think it's a good project, but I am not sure how applicable it would be in most schools. Not all students and parents have internet access at home (where I'm student teaching might not even have it at school, still waiting on that), so a website should not be essential to the classroom for most people. I tried to model mine as a supplement, and I think I did a decent job.

Wrapping up and such

So the class is coming to an end, and I think I've had some success in it. It is always good to hone skills that will be useful and necessary in the classroom, and I have certainly done that, with the group projects, power points, and the website. The class helped me improve in some areas, such as using and presenting power points. Observing the power points of others and getting feedback on my own was instrumental in evaluating what power points should be used for. Group work was also very beneficial for me, especially when not working in person. It will be helpful to know how to do this, as projects and correspondence with other teachers will not always be in person.

Lesson Plan

So I did my lesson plan for the class, and I think it went rather well. My technology (a glorified calculator) was a perfect tool for what I wanted the class to do. However, I feel that I should have prepared an example of what I wanted for the class to do. This was my biggest mistake, but that is why I am doing it in class now... to find out what mistakes to avoid when I am teaching a real classroom.

Anyway, the lesson plan's technology is essentially a calculator programmed with equations. Instead of doing all the math to plan methods of saving, the students used this tool, which is realistic of real life. In a career no one will be doing equations by hand. These tools exist for a reason. In a math class, this would obviously be different, as the point there is HOW to learn and why things work the way they do, but for economics, I feel that the point is that they do work (at least as far as math goes). Economically specific math equations I will obviously teach so that students can understand how the system works.

Lesson plans and such

I feel like I'm getting a lot out of the lesson plan assignment. Really, it's not just doing one, it's reading everyone else's as well. It is interesting to see all the different ideas that people have concerning using technology as part of a lesson, many of which I would have never thought of myself. However, I feel that the core of using technology in a classroom should be learning to use that technology in an effective way, especially if it is relevant to college education or living independently.

Weeks 2 and 3

We are now through the first part of the class, and I really enjoyed it so far. The most fascinating thing for me was using a web cam. I had never used one before, and it was kind of interesting. I could not even find the camera on the monitor.

It was also one of the few times I had ever used a Mac. While I do not ever think I will own a Mac (many reasons for that), it would still be a good idea to figure out how to use the desktop and download areas. I couldn't find my powerpoint to post, even though I had just downloaded it.

I really learned a lot about my topic, too. Doing a presentation was definitely an inspiration to learn all about it so I would look knowledgeable and professional in front of my peers. Gradebooks are obviously good things for teachers to know about, so I'm pretty happy with my decision, and how much I learned about it.

Beginning W401

Here is my first blog post! More to come very soon.