Que sera sera!!!

Well its finally over. I have been taking two classes, prepping my students (special education students) to pass the Living Environment Regents (4 out of 5 passed!!), planning my wedding which is this Saturday, and housing 10 family members from Ecuador. Piece of Cake!! I am so glad that this is over.

I gained some very important information from this class; information that otherwise I would never have been exposed to. I learned about Wiki...I thought they were the little guys from Star Wars. I also discovered a lot of resources that I will definitely use in my classroom. In the end I guess the class was worth the long hours sitting in front of the computer.

If I had some advice for Dr. S it would be- please provide more detailed instruction. Rubrics are great for analyzing the end product, but concrete instructions give us a little more time to be creative and a little less time calling and chatting with friends to figure out what we are supposed to do.

I would also like to comment briefly on the structure of the classes. I thing that an itinerary for each class should be posted and everyone should be prepared before class so that the class runs a bit faster. I feel that we waste a lot of time waiting for people. Efficiency is lost on the computer. Communication is faster in person.

Money, money, money!!!

I wrote my final essay on Funding Technology in the classroom. As we begin to explore new methods of incorporating technolog in the classroom, we are going to need more money to pay for all of this technology. Tax payers can not bear any more of the burden, therefore school officials need to explore different ways to find money for such programs. We need to look to federal grants, corporate funding and discounts, and donations from notforprofit organizations. The money is out there we just need to find it.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

What a great job I did on my final project!!!

For my final project I created a WebQuest that allowed my students to take on the roles of doctors and diagnose a patient with a disorder of one of the body's systems. The students use the patient's case file to figure out what system is affected and then look for treatments and outcomes for their patient. This activity brings a new dimension to biology. It is like a treasure hunt for the students to complete in order to review the body systems.

I plan on using this in my classroom next year. It combines a number of skills that are necessary for the students to pass the Living Environment Regents. The systems are the basis of a majority of the Regents exam.

The lesson plan portion of this assignment was useful, but I would never use the teach-nology site again for this purpose. It produced a very unorganized looking lesson plan. i would have preferred to complete it in word.

Out of this world WebQuests!!

My Five good Wequest:

Bones and the Badge
http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/kearny/forensic/
I really like this web quest. It has really good graphs and is very easy to follow. I also like this web quest because it requires the students to use logic and their problem solving techniques. This web quest is a forensics web quest (which I teach). Each student will be given a case and they will look at different pieces of evidence and they will have to solve the crime. The students will work in groups and they each will have an assigned function.

Evolution Web quest
http://www.biologycorner.com/quests/evolquest/index.html
I like this web quest because students find a way to answer their own questions. On this web quest the students have to come up with different ideas what evolution is? And how would they answer questions about evolution that they don’t know. After they are done doing research and answering these questions they will post what they have learned for other students to learn from their research. I also like this web quest because students have to create a websites and they are able to use technology at a higher level.

I am Joe’s….
http://www.ufrsd.net/staffwww/stefanl/Webquest/joe/index.htm#introduction
This web quest is very original students will be assigned one part of the human body system such as the heart, the lungs or any other organ. Students will then research info about their assigned parts and they will type an essay on the first person narrative. Students should include as many details as they can and it could go something like this “"I’m certainly no beauty. I weigh 12 ounces, am red-brown in color, and have an unimpressive shape. I am the dedicated slave of —well, let’s call him Joe. Joe is 45, ruggedly good-looking, has a pretty wife, three children and an excellent job. Joe has made it. Me? I’m Joe’s heart." I actually really like this web quest because it includes writing as one of the biggest requirements. I also like the fact that I know my kids have really hard time writing and maybe this would be a better way of making them write. I also thought that maybe after they each have written their part would actually make it a song, I think they would really enjoy it.

APBioWikiWebQuest
http://scook.cuip.net/~speretz/wikiwebquest/webquest.htmI like this web quest because it doesn’t only require students to do research but they also have to present it to their peers. I like the fact that with this Web Quest students type something they learn and they also comment about the different things their peers have learned. I think is important for student to learn form their peers.

Rickshaw or Rowboat? Is Climate Change Coming http://teacherweb.com/BD/AIS_D/Rickshaw_or_Rowboat/index.html
Student research the topic of climate change and how is this affecting the earth and global warming. I like this web quest because is very easy to follow and the graphics are really cool.

Parting is such sweet sorrow!

Today in class Dr. S asked a very important question we had to reflect on how are we different now compared to the first day of class. My answer to that question is that I feel that now I know there are so many other ways to incorporate technology in the classroom than just doing research or using power point. I feel that the wiki and the web page have helped me develop a better understanding of the diversity of ideas that there are out there for students and how we can used them in the classroom. We also had to look at the standards and I feel that my biggest improvement has been on standard 2. I feel that now I can target the diversity of learners I have in my classroom. Overall, I feel more comfortable with the idea of integrating technology into the classroom. The next thing we looked at was a chart on shifting the paradigm. It was about a class who took a virtual field trip. This chart reminded me of Web 2.0, the change from static to an active classroom. My essay topic is On funding technology in the classroom, and my culminating project is a web quest on human body system's disorders.

Under a rock!

Data Sets and Online Tools

This assignment opened my eyes to alternative sites that explore information that I currently use in the classroom. The sites that allow for collaboration between students and schools are very valuable in showing the students that they are not the only ones completing the information. The students I work with are Special Education students and they need to see that other people in the world are doing the same experiments and lessons that they are doing. These tools are invaluable in our classrooms.

Web Quest Wonders and Blunders

This assignment was much longer than it originally seemed. I thought that it was very lengthy and the instructions for the assignment were extremely unclear. I did find some awesome WebQuest that I will definitely use in class. We really do need to use WebQuests more often in the classroom and I have been using WebQuests since I began teaching. They are great resources for teachers and fun ways for students to learn.

This Class is Like....

Today we met as a class and we had to come up with our groups with a metaphor of a technology rich classroom. After we did this we went back and presented ours to the rest of the class. After that we went back into our groups and come up with a question related to the different models. This question will be use to ask a question to one of the groups. Our group was given the fallowing question What model is best in order to implemented in a special ed. classroom. After all the groups answered we met as a group and discussed a little bit about our next weeks assignment. My group will be meeting again on Wednesday.

LoTi

I feel that it is very important for all teachers to be technology friendly. In my school I
feel that we are at a level three. The school definitly has the resources but I feel that
only some of the new teachers use them. I find myself telling some teachers how to use
certain things or internet websites. I feel that it is important that as the students are
becoming more in touch with technology, we as educators should too. If we want our
kids that belong to generation "M" to learn we should also learn and try to be always at
high level.

Second Meeting

Today we talked about how important it is to know our students. Our students form part of a generation that is know as generation "M", this generation is very in touch with technology. The students that belong to this generation are not only good with technology, but they also have many other characteristics such as: they can multitask, they have one goal and they focus on it and they don't feel school is important. I feel that is important for us as teachers to understand how our students learn in order for us to teach them. Things have change and we as teachers should try to acomodate our teaching to the new generation of learners.