October 12

I think that using the smart board the other day in class was good for us - It's a lot like the Mimio that I've been researching so I think that was good. I enjoyed being able to get my hands on it - now if only we could get ahold of a Mimio to mess around with!

September 30

I found this website when I was researching for the Mimio. It's pretty informative about what you can do with the Mimio and how it can transform the classroom setting. I think it's pretty cool!

http://www.mimio.com/products/index.asp

September 28

Today we started doing presentations. I thought there were a lot of cool ideas whether it was teaching a lesson on music to a group of high schoolers or colors to a group of first graders. I think that seeing other people give these lessons is a good way to learn. Seeing someone else teach and critiquing them helps us realize what we also need to work on.

Virtual Tour

I found this virtual tour online of the Taj-Mahal. It's obviously a bit better than the virtual tours we did in class, but I think it's still super cool. I really liked how you could use your mouse to move the camera.


http://www.taj-mahal.net/augEng/main_screen.htm

Day 5

Adobe Photoshop is awesome. I have it on my computer but I've never used it to the extent that Ben showed us in class the other day. It would be great to be able to use that as a tool in a classroom. We used it at my high school for our yearbook class. It worked really well for editing pictures and whatnot but it's very complex. I use it on my own computer to edit photos and do some fun things. But using this in lower elementary wouldn't be possible.

Day 4

I thought that doing the presentations in class the other day was great. It gave a lot of ideas. And I felt it also gave me experience on how to put together a presentation for a class which was great. I think this was very useful and I will most definitely use this presentation AND the idea in the future.

I also talked with my teacher for my observation hours for another class about Mimio's. We discussed how to use it and what not and she had no idea what it even was. She asked me what it was and wanted details. She had no idea how to use it. I think it'd be cool of we could get those working in the classroom cause I think they could be a good tool if you use them right.

Day 3

So yesterday we worked with Dr. Diers on using clickers in the classroom. I've previously had Dr. Diers as a professor and she used clickers on a regular basis in the classroom. I think it's such a great idea. I'm a student who doesn't like to actively participate in the classroom, so this gives me an opportunity to give my input in the discussion without voicing my opinion to the whole class. I think that it's a good way to draw the whole class in.

Though, because I want to be a kindergarten teacher, I probably wouldn't use this technique quite as often as I would if I taught in the older grades. It would be a fun activity sporadically but it could be difficult with students.

Obviously, since I took Dr. Diers classes, I'd used the clickers, but I'd never really thought of the effect they had in the classroom. I think they're a great tool to draw the students into the classroom.

Something Learned Day 2

I honestly can't believe the video we watched today in class on the "six sense" technology. I just think that's absolutely crazy. I think it's scary how technology is completely changing our lives. I never thought of it from the previous generations view of how technology has advanced in their lifetimes.
I think that it's weird how when the guy using the "six sense" walked up to a stranger and his camera told him who he was and all about him. I feel like that's not safe in our society today. As we also talked about in class today, I think it's taking technology too far. It's going to make our society lazy and irresponsible. We have to do some things for ourselves, we can't let technology run our lives.
On the other hand - It's cool that people are coming up with new ways to use technology, even if I don't completely agree with it :)

Interest in Research Project

Last year in Paula Lee's Language Development and Learning class, we learned how to use a Mimio in order to do a lesson in a kindergarten classroom. At the time I basically just learned how to use the Mimio so I could teach the lesson, but I feel I didn't learn a lot about why or how teachers incorporate the Mimio into their classroom. I felt that it was more of a nuisance rather than something the students could do easily; especially with kindergartners.

The one thing I did notice was that the students absolutely loved to have their turn at the board. I'd like to figure out how to use a Mimio correctly and how incorporate it in your classroom so it helps the students learning and introduces them to new ways of learning.

I think this topic would be fun to research and figure out. It'd also help in the future if I found some lesson plans and such on using the Mimio in a classroom.

What I've Learned - Day 1

I never thought about doing a virtual tour with a classroom. That's a great idea! I think it'd be fun to do a place where it'd be really hard to take all your kids, like a museum or a foreign country. I think that it would be a great tool to get your students involved and interested in what you're talking about.