K-3 Classroom

Hey Everyone!

  I was doing some research about lesson plans for K-3 that included technology. Since we were talking about it in class I figured I'd see what kind of other ideas I could find besides just our groups. I stumbled upon this website that teaches children the basics about computers. I played with the typing with Katie part at the bottom of the page. It told children how to properly place their hands on the key board and gave you games to play that made you type words and letters. I also looked at the time machine. It showed you a picture of a computer and talked about it, then when you put it in the time machine it gave you a picture of the same computer years ago and talked about how it has changed. I found that pretty interesting. There were plenty of other cool ideas on this website that I messed around with that seemed like young children would like to play with also. Hope you guys check out the site! 

http://www.growing.course.com/level_K/index.html

Technology In The Classroom

This week while I was reading articles for another class I'm taking I stumbled over one that caught my eye. I know many people in this class were interested in how to use technology in a classroom full of 4 or 5 year old children. This article talked about one class in South Carolina who used lots of technology in their classroom of 4 and 5 year olds. I thought I'd post it so anyone who was interested could read it. It seemed like there were several good ideas for projects you could do with them that included using video cameras, digital cameras, e-mail, and the internet. http.//journal.naeyc.org/btj/200809/pdf/OnOurMinds.pdf

Technology & Travel

Hey all! This weekend our softball team went to Tennessee for a tournament. I realized while we were there just how much we depend on technology. Many of our team members have a blackberry or some other type of phone that has the internet so we can check our e-mail while we are in an airport or look up our next flight and see if we are going to make it. Not only that but just about everyone has an Ipod or Zune and a computer. It's much harder than you think to do homework while you are traveling. Although it's nice to have your computer with you on a trip so you can do homework on the plane or in your hotel room it's a hassel to get through security with a computer. You have to take out all of your electronics when you go through security and then when you are done you have to put it all back in your backpack/carry-on. Then when you are on the plane you have to shove it in an over head compartment or under your seat. I guess it just didn't really occur to me until this weekend how dependant we are on these things. It's nice when you are traveling with a big team because someone always has something that you need if you happen to forget, like a charger for your computer or Ipod or cellphone. 

Ipods In The Classroom

Something that came up during our classroom discussion was the use of Ipods in the classroom. Are they good or bad? Should you be allowed to have your Ipod in for classes? Is it easier to cheat in class with an Ipod?

I personally believe that Ipods could be a good addition to a classroom. For most people it seems like they worked better with some sort of music or noise in the background. In a class I took last semester we talked about how different people learn differently. With Ipods people who like having music in the background could have their Ipod on and it wouldn't distract others who might not like having music in the background. Also children would be able to listen to what ever music helps them focus. 

On the other hand some children will find a way to use Ipods as a way to cheat. I know a person I knew in high school used his Ipod to cheat on a test. Our spanish teacher used to let us listen to music on our Ipods and this particular person decided to make a song that had all the answers in it so when he would get stuck on a question he would start the song over and listen to it. In a way I thought it was very creative that he could make up this song to remember the answers, but I also hated the fact that he cheated on the test while everyone else had studied.

 I guess there is good and bad to everything and we need to decided if the good out weights the bad or not. What does everyone else think? Should we be allowed to use Ipods in school?

My First Post!

Hey everyone! 

This is the first time I've ever used a blog before so I'm curious to see where this will take me and what I'll end up doing with it. I know yesterday in class my group talked a lot about MLTI. We had a bunch of questions about it. For instance, why 7th graders? Why start using them in the middle of middle school? Why not give them to the 8th graders or freshman in high school? We also talked about how maybe the schools jumped into this idea too quickly and didn't give it enough thought. My sister is two years younger than I am and she was the second year of the MLTI program, they had no rules or restrictions really except for they laptops were not allowed to be taken home. My brother is four years younger than I am and when he first started the MLTI program they had an assembly about the laptops, parents had to come in and sign wavers saying it was okay for their child to take the computers home, and they also had to pay an insurance fee on the computer in case anything happened to it. These rules came after my sisters class because so many people had problems with the computers, they broke things, they got viruses, etc. The school even hired a second computer teacher just to fix computers. As a group we felt like the schools probably should have thought about some of these things before they jumped into buying all of these computers. We are not saying this was a bad idea it just needed some more thought before being thrown into schools and classrooms. 

I hope this sparks some ones interest! :)