Blog #10

In researching the impact gender has on the use of technology, I realized that even though there's alot of contradicting evidence out there about the differences between genders and their views, use and abilities in technology, it seems that the gender gap is closing overtime especially with future generations. Although we are all different as individuals and generalizations about our views and abilities in technology shouldn't be made based on gender, it seems that instead of there being a great difference between men and women in their use of technology it seems like now the difference is becoming smaller. It appears that with our generation, the use of and knowledge of technology is almost demanded of both genders. For instance, in college we are expected to know how to use computers and programs effectively more so than in the past, and we are all, both genders, using technology more in our lives whether by using cell phones, digital cameras, instant messaging, even making our own videos and uploading videos and pictures unto sites like youtube, and using networking sites like facebook and myspace. It was good to see that the gender gap is closing and that is good to take into consideration that future generations that we will be teaching will have a more equal ability and interest in technology.

Another issue that was addressed in the presentations was the use of e-portfolios and how they might be used in highschool or middle schools. I thought that was interesting because I didn't know very much about e-portfolios other than they were something we had post our work in at the end of the semester. I hadn't been aware of their purpose or the various kind of e-portfolios and the benefits of using them. It was intriguing to think about how since technology is continually changing how e-portfolios might someday be used in elementary schools perhaps for older grades as students are entering middle school or even for younger children to showcase their work so that parents, other adults and peers can see their progress and accomplishments. I hadn't seen the benefits of using e-portfolios before in the younger grades, but now I see how it could be helpful in helping teachers have a better scope of the level of achievement and understanding of the new students they have each year based on the work the students have in their e-portfolios from the previous year. The e-portfolios also serve as great ways to display for parents and others interested in the student's progress to see that progress is being made and to provide tangeable evidence that the teacher is...well doing her or his job! :)

Blog #9

http://www.nwrel.org/request/june01/child.html

I found this article about "Technology in Early Childhood Education" on the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory website. It basically talks about how children in early childhood develop in five dimensions similar to the five selves (like we learn about in Approaches to Pre-K class). Then it proceeds to detail how computers and technology can help enhance children's learning in the five dimensions and also how the benefits of computers like in helping extrinsically motivating children to learn. I liked the article because it reinforces how computers and technology shouldn't replace social interaction or reading aloud to children along with other essential methods of teaching, but shows in great detail how it can help children's development in the various dimensions including their development of speech and fluency.

Blog #8

Blog #6 and #7

#6 - Internet Use in Elementary Classroom

Pt. 1 - Discuss the pros & cons for using internet in early elementary classroom. Additionally, explain your personal views of the beneficial uses for internet usage (in other words, what would you explain to a principal during a job interview if s/he were to ask how to use the internet in your early elem. classroom).

Pros of using internet in early elementary classroom is that it can enhance the content of the curriculum. The internet can provide many useful resources for lesson plans, ideas, media and references for teachers. It can help students have assess to educational games and interactive activities as well as a way to research and find references and information for projects and more.

Cons of using internet is that sometimes the teacher needs to subscribe in order to use resources or some of the resources require payment to use certain services like Discovery United Streaming. Sometimes you need certain equipment like headsets, microphones, etc. to use certain resources that might be costly. Sometimes using resources the internet offers might require further instruction and training for the teacher and students which requires time. Not everyone like parents and students might have assess at home to the resources the internet offers that the students and teachers have assess to at school.

I think the internet can offer a wide range of resources that assist and provide further knowledge and information for the teacher so that she or he can present the content to students in a variety of ways that can engage the students more. I think the resources the internet offers can help enhance how the students learn and provide different ways to meet the learning needs of students by catering to the various multiple intelligences by which children learn.

Pt. 2 - ID and describe your favorite educational website so far. Post the URL in the "Link" line of your blog post (check Preference settings if it's not there). Include an image or video if you so dare!!!
It's called EduPuppy- Everything for Early Childhoood Education. It has a colorful, fun and interactive layout with different sources and abilities to search within the website. It even offers clipart and wallpaper. It literally has almost everything!

#7 - Half-Way Reflection

So how are things going???? Now that you've made it half way, what are some of your thoughts on using technology in early education? &/or what's the most important lesson/concept you've learned so far?
I have changed my mind in seeing that technology can make life easier and faster and even make learning more engaging and fun for children. I definitely can see the benefits of technology in not only enhancing learning, but also meeting the needs of children through assistive technology.

Blog #5

I thought the article was interesting, but I don't completely agree with what's being done. I think that it's good to have standards and goals for what should be learned, but it shouldn't be rigid. As a teacher, I should know the skills kindergarters need to learn and it's good to be reminded of those skills, but to have 90-page manual on how to teach these skills is somewhat unnecessary. Learning should be fun and creative! Children aren't machines who we need to have manuals for on how to get them to learn skills properly. We need to be flexible on how children learn and adapt how we teach skills depending on the needs of each child and how they learn best. Plus, I'm sorry but I'm not sure how much I could read or retain from reading a 90-page manual. That's why I'm in college now to learn effective ways of teaching skills so I can know how to adapt to learning needs and not have to read a 90-page manual later. However, don't think that I'm completely against or hostile towards this idea, I think it's good to have such a reference from which to possibly get ideas and reforcement that useful skills are being taught. =)

Blog #4

The lesson I would do with these pictures would be to have a science lesson about marine life. The lesson is intended for third grade. I took these pictures while at the New Port Aquarium in Kentucky. We could have a unit about marine life and the kind of marine life that are found in aquariums and children could share their experiences with aquariums and fish. Based on what marine life interested them, the children would pick a fish like ones from the pictures above or a marine animal and then research it and write a one page report on the information they found. This way the children would all learn something new about different marine life.

Blog #3

My teaching philosophy is:
Learning=fun
Inspire growth and self-belief
Motivate
Impact
Successful, useful skills

Basically, my philosophy is why is this important? Why should this be learned? If it's not useful or important why are children or anyone want to learn it?

Blog #2

"Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory" says unlike the traditional psychological view of intelligence, individuals have more than one form of intelligence other than logical and mathematical intelligence. This theory says that people have seven different intelligences. Each individual has different strongsuits in various or particular intelligences that enable them to solve problems or produce outcomes.

“Bloom’s taxonomy” is a theory that proposes a classification of various objectives and skills that educators should put into place for their students. It divides these educational objectives into three domains: Affective, Psychomotor, and Cognitive. The domains are set in a hierachy where learning at a higher level is based previously acquired knowledge and skills at lower levels of learning.

"Dale's cone of experience" uses the model of cone to show the relationships of educational experiences to reality or what is simulated in real life.


I believe all the theories supports technology integration in the classroom because although they provide a format or a proposed model, as a teacher we can adapt theories to fit into the teaching methods we want to use. We can use technology to help us appeal to individual students' intelligences as well as use technology to make educational experiences relate to real life.

Blog post #1

Hi! My name is Rosie. I'm from New Knoxville, OH. I'm a junior with a major in Early Childhood Education and a minor in Spanish. I look forward to getting many more diverse experiences working with children than what I have already had. I also look forward to getting my degree so I can do what I love which is helping children learn and grow. I'm starting to become more interested in working with preschool-age children and toddlers rather than school-age children, but I enjoy working with all ages and seeing what I can learn from the different experiences and the challenges I face in working with each unique child. I am also interested in working with Spanish-speaking children and children with disabilities. Besides these, I'm interested in enjoying life so I like to relax and hang out with friends, watch movies, bake and eat cookies, and doing things that make me happy!
In this class, I hope to gain more skills in working with computers and different programs because even though I have worked with macs I still need to learn more about the technology available that I can use in the future. I haven't thought a lot about how I could use technology in the classroom, but I do think visual aids of any kind are helpful so I would like to learn how to create more forms of visual aids like videos and other kinds of presentations.