Post #5

I believe students should be able to use the internet for research because it makes it easier for them. When students are able to do something without too much effort they can't complain and and are more willing to do the work. However, the students should make sure their resources are valid, and if they sources are not valid, points will be deducted. Some students will still use books because they may personally find it easier to use a book they know is valid, rather than making sure a web page is valid. This offers many different ways of doing things with validity.

I think blogging, Black Board, and e-mail would all be very useful for students. I think blogging offers students to communicate with those who are willing to listen (read), which will make stronger connections between the students as they learn about one another. I also think Black Board has been very helpful for most students. It offers them the use of internet connection to send in assignments and to view whats to come in upcoming classes because of a syllabus or calendar. E-mail has also been very vital to me as a student; when teachers e-mail reminders, study group opportunities, and other class info, it has saved me a lot of time and head aches.

I am personally worried about students (and even my kids) on getting on adult websites and other pages they shouldn't be on. True there are parental blocking applications, but some sites still manage to avoid these. I am also worried about cyber stalkers, who are also hard to keep computers and phones safe from. Young students are not aware of the danger behind chat rooms. As a teacher I feel I must constantly be aware of what websites the students are on.

Post #4

I would use Microsoft Power Point to make good clear presentations for my students. This way the can clearly see what the topic is on and what is most important. I personally feel Power Points to be extremely useful to students when done properly. This way none of my students (with a few exceptions) will be confused on what the test will be on and what to know (I want to be a teacher who's students know what I want them to, not to trick them, but to make them smarter).

Outline, idea map, and story boarding skills are very helpful to clearly plan anything in life, be it an essay, a presentation, or even movies/comic books. These simple skills can help with school and hobbies, and make kids a lot less stressed. (I'm not sure what else there is to say on this topic).

I think learning some tiny things about search engines can help me in the future. Knowing that " " " tells the search engine to put those words together, that "and" means to include both, and that "or" means to have one or the other. Knowing these things can fine tune my searching abilities to make it much easier for me to search the web for things I may need to teach class or answer students' questions.

Post #3

I may have a lesson plan including Microsoft Office Power Point. I would be using Power Point to do slides for my class, which will be 5th grade and under, to get the points of the topic clearly on the board. I may also use Inspiration for charts, such as in English (in elementary you typically teach all fields) students can clearly see how an essay should be written when they can see a chart.

Facebook.com is a great website that meets many criteria from Chapter 6 on a good power point on a web page. It's very consistent in color (gray and blue), text is justified (at top and columns), very few different fonts (header, body, some links), more than just text (pictures and so forth), everything is important (well as important as something can be on facebook), correct capitalization, very easy to use, screen is focused (with help from tables), matches audience approval, no flashing texts (except in ads), lists (everywhere on the site links are in list form), navigation is simple (in header), graphics (pictures), organized screens (once again, tables), size is used appropriately, and things are placed properly. Facebook did a good job at creating a user friendly web page.

When I was a kid, my teachers were very skeptical of plagiarism, they had web pages that would determine if the paper was plagiarized, they made you use books only they knew (so they can tell if you just copied it), and other things. As a teacher, I would probably allow my students to use any source they wish, as long as they had a complete bibliography and the paper was written more as an analysis rather than a lecture on the subject matter. This proves that the student actually read the books, articles, etc. and understood it enough to think about it and write what he or she thought of the book.

Post #2

As a student I have used Microsoft Word to write papers for my teachers, both in high school and college. It's useful when you need a word count, certain margins, and/or certain fonts. My teachers have used it for syllabuses, other hand outs, and tests. It made it a lot easier for them to create a mass of these things with cool designs using Microsoft Word.

I will probably use word processors to help students write and read. For some students, hand writing can be hard, so using a keyboard can greatly ease the assignment. For others who have a hard time reading, word processors can offer help to them as well. I will also ask my students to use Microsoft Word to make more appealing assignments, such as a brochure or flier.

One of the skills I learned is the Mail Merger in Microsoft Word, I can see that coming in great use to create all sorts of things for students' parents. Another is the cool things you can do with Microsoft Word now, like in the Word & Graphics 2 assignment. I thought it was cool, and I hope to combine the Mail Merger with those cool new things I learned for this assignment. This will make my handouts much cooler and more personal with out being tedious on my part.

Post #1

I believe computers are becoming more and more popular in classrooms (no matter how hard people try to prevent it, things change). As I continued my education, I've seen more and more technology used in classrooms, from tests composed on Microsoft Word, to presentations done on Microsoft Power Point, and even graphs done with Microsoft Excel (I know it seems like it's only Microsoft Office, but its the most accessible program for teachers). Using computers makes teaching reach a whole new level. My only concern with computers being used my students and teachers is online teaching, it brings the online experience too far, it takes kids away from school, where they gain necessary social skills for the real world. I do agree that computers can be used to help teaching, but I don't believe it should be used to teach.

When I teach, I don't expect to use much besides what I listed above (using Microsoft Office) because I will be teaching Elementary School. If by the time I get to become a teacher students can use Black Board, I will as well. That is one thing I would like to learn in class, how to use Black Board from the teachers point of view.

Hey class mates! I can't wait to become a teacher. I didn't know what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, but now I will be just walking and I jump because I am so excited about teaching. I never thought I would become a teacher when I was growing up, I thought teachers sucked and that I wanted a lot more money then what teachers make. But now I don't care about the money, I'll deal, besides my girlfriends gonna be a doctor, so she'll be my sugar mama. :P