Tech Interview

It is very interesting to see what technology is available at different schools. Herriman Elementary seems like a pretty nice school and there were not any computers in our classroom. When I was at Midvale Elementary last year for one of my classes, the Kindergarten classes had three computers in their classrooms. They were not very new computers but they worked fine. They did rotations and did learning games on them. It is very interesting because Midvale Elementary is an older school in not as wealthy area. The only computer in the classrooms was the teacher's lap top. They did however have an audio system. It is weird because you cannot tell you are using when you are. Most of the technology you have to check out from the library or the computer lab. I learned of the technologies that may be common in the elementary schools. I also learned that different schools from the same district can have completely different resources.
I think that now I will be more aware when I am working in the elementary school what I might have available to use when I teach. I can try to become more familiar with the technology that I might be seeing and I can research them. I realize that technology is a great thing and that the schools seem to always be trying to get more technology in their school. Also, I learned that it could take a very long time to get those technologies. There are new things coming out that help the schools everyday. It is great. Who knows what new things will be in the schools by the time I am teaching in them. I love technology and I am excited to learn about all the ways to use technology in the school. I think these field observations themselves help me see what is really out there.

Third Week at Field

Monday we practiced football for PE and corrected daily oral language with the students.
Then we helped to students make turkeys out of coffee filters and construction paper. They were so cute! We introduced the students to their new vocabulary and spelling lists for the week and gave them their assignments. Then we read some Greek mythology to the students for a listening comprehension activity.
Tuesday we went to the library with the students and helped the teacher out by correcting a huge stack of papers to catch up. The students continued working on their turkeys and then we did spelling and vocabulary.
Wednesday the students went to the computer lab to type their Greek myths from the week before and we interviewed the tech person. Then we corrected DOL again and the students finished their turkeys and did partner reading.
Thursday the students went to the computer lab to practice typing and we corrected and assigned another DOL. We read Crash with the students and then went outside to get into the BYU and UTAH teams for the big game tomorrow. The kids did great! Then We read more Greek myths to the students as they did a listening comprehension worksheet.
Friday the students had a vocabulary test and then went outside to play the BYU vs UTAH game. It was a pretty long game. Most of the students from our class played on the BYU team and they did great! BYU won.We tied up any loose ends and said our goodbyes! I had a great time on field.

Second week at Field

This Week we got to teach our lesson plans all week. It was really a great experience.
Monday we played a dogeball/capture the flag game with the students. It was a lot of fun! After playing we taught our first lesson about Greek mythology. We did a concept development lesson plan for what is a myth. They wrote down all the things they think of when they hear the word myth and we grouped them on the board and came up with generalizations about myths. It could have gone better but it wasn't too bad. They came up with great generalizations.
Tuesday We taught our Who are the Greek gods lesson. I made a powerpoint about some of the greek gods and goddesses and then the students made a mask of any god or goddesses they wanted and what their symbol was. It went so well. The students enjoyed the powerpoint and the masks very much. Wednesday we read greek myths with the students and did a jigsaw. It went well I thought. There are things I could have done better but it went well. Thursday the students got to write their own myths. We didnt have a lot of time because there was an assembly but it still went well. Friday the teacher was not there and there was a substitute but we pretty much got to run the whole class that day. We gave all the spelling test and corrected the DOL and stuff. Then the students got to make grecian urns to illustrate their myths. It was a lot of fun.

First week of Field

* I didn't realize until today that I wrote my last weeks blog on my psychology blog by accident so I am going to copy and paste it here*

My first week of field was great. The teacher we are working with is such a great teacher. I felt really nervous at first but it got better. On Monday we played football with the students. I do not know anything about football so the students had the opportunity to teach me. It was great. We also got to do a reading level test with the students. Tuesday we got to correct Daily oral language with the students and we read from some Egypt magazines. Wednesday we helped the students in the computer lab with an Egypt scavenger hunt then we read from the Egypt magazines again. Thursday we helped with correcting some vocab and helped give a vocab test. Friday I gave 2 spelling tests and helped around the class. It was a great first week. I am excited and nervous for next week. We get to teach our unit on Greek Mythology.

Google sites

We Learned more about what we can do with google sites. We made them public and created them as if we are teachers and we are informing the parents on what is going on in their child's class. This is really great. I learned about the My UEN last year and now I know there are so many other things you can use to create a website for your classroom. I really like the Google sites because you can use the google calendar. I really like the google calendar. I will use it to keep everyting straight from my class to my appointments and fun activities and even birthdays of friends and families and students in my class. I think it is very handy. You can choose to look at everything at once or you could choose to only look at your class calendar. It is really easy to access it too because it is on gmail. It is easy to add pages. I really like the announcements and different types of files you can add. I think I like it more than my UEN in soem ways. I know I will deffinitely use some sort of website that parents could get on and look at what is going on in class because the students dont remember everything when they get home and it is good for the parents to know what is going on and what to be prepared for. I would love it as a parent so I am going to make sure I create one when I am a teacher. It will be a lot cuter and stuff because I will probably get more familiar with it by then.

Digital Storybooks

This week we learned more about digital storytelling and watched some really great examples. There are so many things that go into digital storytelling. The pictures (panning, zooming and even video), the sound (music, narration, guest speakers and sounds) and the font and wording. It is a lot to deal with but it will be cool to see the outcome of my piece. I am really excited we are learning about this. This is an awesome way to pull the students in.

Digital Storybooks

We learned about Digital story telling in class this week. It is really neat. You can use this to teach anythihng. We only briefly talked about it so I am really excited to learn more.