Its been a long time

Knowledge is Power

I have been working on a service project. This week I meet with my parent to let her know what was going on and to introduce myself along with my partner. With every ones busy schedule we had to find ways to make this all work. So that was why my partner and I both meet with the parent and then Maryann went in and help start a blog . He was excited because he knew his mom has one. I went into his school and recorded him working on Spanish sounds. He chose the ones he felt comfortable working with and went from there. Although I was having some technical problems we were able to put this video together. You really have to know to have the power to work with technology. I believe that technology is not a simple task to learn, but i am only speaking for myself. it is something that I have to really mess with. I enjoyed this because when iIdid mess around with it I saw the work in progress. It was also great to see that child worked was also very into getting this project done. Well the children are the future and I hope he takes this new technology with him.


Here is the finished product
http://voicethread.com/#u352282.b449489.i2389456

Here is his blog that he started
http://marcel-lettersoundsinspanish.blogspot.com/

Lady Montessori

I have had the opportunity to experience a whole new way of education. At the beginning of my technology for teachers class we were introduces to a way of learning that I did not understand to well, the Montessori way. I took a tour at a Montessori school and I was so impressed with the way things were. I knew when I first stepped into the school I was going to see something new and I did. It was completely different to any other school that I have ever stepped into. It was very peaceful, quite and welcoming. I was given a tour by the principle and I did not know at first that this was here title. I say this because everyone loved to see and great her. That is not so common because kids usually try to avoid the principle or at least I did. She told us a little about the school and took us into a few rooms. I notice so many things that I loved. This school has a three “R” rule. Respect yourself, respect others and respect the environment. How great is that? Another thing was it is a hand on school they have many resources to find education out on there own. They find out life on their own. They work at there own pace and are not held back from moving on if necessary. They don’t have some one else telling them how to think. Instead of just giving them answers they are given was to find answers. One quote that I saw was by Mari Montessori, children learn by discovery. These quotes are painted all along the schools with work from the children. Another great thing that was mention was that each room has a peace table. Mari Montessori believes so heavily in peace. If the students have a problem with each other they learn to work it out on there own. They sit and talk out there feelings. There mascot was the dove symbolizing peace. This is just such a great school and I sooo glad that there are actually schools out there like this one. I enjoyed visiting this school and hope to be apart of the same kind of community.

service project

I am a little nervous here. I have to start this service project where I will show off all that I have learned in my technology for teachers class. All that i know about the project is it has to do with Spanish voice sounds wanting to incorporate a VoiceThread of close-ups of the mouth while kids make up alliterations alongside. I have just looked up what alliterations means and what I understand it is kind of like a toung-twister.

I have yet been able to start this project because i have not meet with my student and the parent. I have attempted to email my parent and I have also email ed the other student that i am working with to see if they have had any contact with the parent. My teacher suggested to make a hand written note which i did not think of but i am going to do and drop it off where she works which is in this same building. along with emailing her again.

I will be taking a tour of the school that this child goes to and I have asked to meet with the students teacher so that maybe she can activate my mind on what she has in mind about the project. i hope to be well prepared for when i meet up with my parent. this sounds like a fun and interesting project. when i do meet with my parent ad student i should show them how tho start a blog along with showing them a kwl chart and log them into their own voice thread. I would probably ask them to get started on think of some of the different sounds of Spanish and what are some items that make these sounds. although i did not know what the definition of alliteration was i would ask them look this word up and jot down some ideas.

ohh what a wedding

chart


I have linked my spread sheet above. This could be one way to use a spread sheet in the classroom.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pXtQRU686lJ7as7RMm25DAw&hl=en

I had to work with a spreadsheet this week and what a great way to manage a budget. I have been working on a make up unit plan having to do with music. although the spread sheet i had to do was over a wedding budget I know that I could use a spreadsheet in a the future.

One way that I would use a spread sheet would be with the unit plan that I have been working on. I would ask the students if they could start a band what type would it be? Then I would go into further detail with this. for example, i would ask what is needed to start this band. I would then give them a budget to go out and by there necessities. they can do some research and find out things they already knew or things they didn't know.

I had work on spread sheets before but i never knew that a spread sheet could give a message. I like that if i went over budget i would get a negative message. if i stay on or was under budget i would get good news. if they were under budget i would leave the a message that they could be allowed to purchase one more item that could be used for the band. If they were over budget they would have to stick with what they bought.

The inspiration of music

Making a movie was fun. Of course there were some set back when working with the technology. I think it is great that I can create something with my own flavor and also something that I was able to create that a lot of people will enjoy.

The program movie maker was already on my computer which is great because I can continue to mess with it. I was also able to embed a few other items like photos and videos. I believe movie maker can also upload something that has been created through power point.

I think that working on a project like this can involve all kinds of participation. For example a student could get very creative of course with parent supervision on interviewing people of the community. If they were doing something on good citizenship they could record themselves doing some volunteer work.

Here is a little moive that i created that gives example of diffrent way that music inspiers people. The only thing i was unable to do was the naration.

The plan to success

I am having a little fun with a new assignment that I was given. Although I have no been able to upload a video that where I asked a good friend of mine my unit question for this project. I read through a tutorial that can someone go about making a well though out video. I read there are seven elements of digital storytelling. My first slide is where I present my dramatic question which is “how does music inspire people?” This question is great at least I think so because there are so many different way to express this to answer it. Another element that I bring up is emotional content because I think music is apart of everyone’s life in some kind of way. I had a friend of mine answer the question. I’ve known him for about five or six years and when I first met him he was just getting into starting a band and now he plays the kind of music that he loves to play. I believe the music I chose to play in the background is excellent. I am setting it up in a way that I hope people can see different ways that my question can be answered. I am also working on the pace.

here is my story borad
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dftdmf2_15cw2gj7c9

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dftdmf2_177hc5stn3&hl=en

voice thread

Here is my voice thread that i have created...

Just an other method of teaching and learning

I am a Strong believe in motivation a child. Not everyone can learn from the same teaching techniques. So i think if there are new ways to teach than am all for it. Writing a summary may not work as well for one student like it does for the other. This is why digital storytelling is a great tool to use in a classroom. student could create something unique. Especially those students who love technology, this is a tool that can be looked into with more depth. it is defiantly a new free technology that people should check out.

This tool can have people comment in many diffrent ways. Those who like to speak there mind can and for those who don't can express them selves through writing. this would work great in the classroom because technology is growing in education and this will probably become very popular soon. Multi curricular-integration is possible.

Some sites to see

I have always tried to avoid anything that has to do with computers. Still to this day I try to avoid them. I do realize how technology has overpowered just about every work industry. Schools, stores, name it, it is all pretty much computer based. So might as well get with it and learn it. My class technology for teachers is turning out to be a great tool to feed me in the areas that I am weak in. I have always had trouble when it comes to trying to search for something on the web. I would type in a word or question but it was always way to broad, but for an assignment that I had to do I viewed a few videos with a little more insight on what is going on with the web. Tagging also I see it kind of like a bookmark or putting something under your favorites on your computer. Tagging is just more in depth. Something else that I viewed was a video about social media, kind of like blogging. Something we as people can share other can view it rate it and leave a comment. Who doesn’t like a little input? I like to say I can give advice, but it doesn’t mean you have to take it. Rss is great because it save time and who isn’t try to find an easy way out? Instead of search for something your interested in subscribe for it through Google and each time it will search for you. GREATI do think that technology is very useful in the classroom. Just because something isn’t filter very well it is hard for a student to take much advantage of the internet. If that wasn’t the case there is so much out there a child could do with using the internet. For example I came across a lot of web site that could help me out on an up coming assignment. Check these out. Some of the web sites also led into more web sites, so it a never ending search.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dftdmf2_12fmrnfvhr&hl=en

SO...Why are blogs important and how can i use it in the future?

Blogs are a place where we the common folk have the “power of media”. I like this comment because although we live in the land of the free and the brave we are hardly that. We are the reporter and publisher. We can be creative as in making our blog unique. People can talk about any thing like the news, reality, differences or likenesses. I think in a classroom blogging could be useful. A student should be able to find themselves and should feel unique. From viewing some videos for an assignment I saw many different benefit of blogging in a classroom. For example, getting introduced to other cultures this can help expand a child mind. I think everyone, not just the student sitting behind a desk should see that just because a person lives in another country, continent, state or city we all can relate some way or another. Kids can feel motivated that other people not just their class mates but someone in Argentina can view what they have posted. Students are allowed to state their own this important to motivate.
I also went in to the website (http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/) the blogger David stated that “What I find, as I get to attend conferences and see presentations from classroom teachers who are doing innovative and captivating activities, is that they did not learn to do these things in workshops. They learned by being creative and by engaging in conversations with other educators through the growing (and sometimes bewildering) array of online meeting places.” To me I see once again how important technology has become. Everyone does some kind of work through technology and it is important especially in the school system. Like he stated I as a future teacher can learn form others not only through books, school, observation, but through meeting other teacher through online meetings.

For The Love Of Music

Blogging is something completely new for me. In a class that I am taking this semester entitled Technology for Teachers, we are exploring a lot of new tools that could possibly be use once we become teachers or just for our everyday life. This is excellent for someone like me who is pretty much computer illiterate. We have been doing a few assignments that tie in together and this is how I ended up here with this blog.

On one assignment I had to choose some questions that eventually I think will lead to some kind of lesson plan. I chose to use the question "How does music affect our lives?" I chose this question because music along with art is not used as much as it should be. I believe everyone can relate to music in some kind of way so this question broad enough to answers. Along with this question I had to choose a few other questions that a student could find some further insight along with doing some inter-curriculum. The questions I chose were "What can music teach us about history?", "How does music inspire people today?", “What does the music of today tell about us?", "What does the music from the 60’s or any era say about its time period and culture?" and I chose these because I think theses can help students developed an open mind towards music, life, cultures or just an open mind in general. These questions help look back in time as well as the present. Students can compare and contrast music or their way of living. Most importantly I think students should be encouraged all the time.

This is where I want to tie in one of our other assignments which were to view the difference of inquiry and project based learning as well as ways to use them. I think both learning’s are necessary because not everyone learns the same just the way not everyone may not like olives on their pizza or what ever it may be. Inquiry based learning touches base on way we learn in every day life on our own. It is also more like hands on learning. Joe Exline says, "Inquiry implies involvement that leads to understanding. Furthermore, involvement in learning implies possessing skills and attitudes that permit you to seek resolutions to questions and issues while you construct new knowledge." (Exline, 2004) The way learning used to be was more of the teacher reading out of a book and students expected to memorize and learn? This doesn't give students much of a chance to ask questions. Also it is not being able to always answer a question but understand it. Project-based learning is where students learn while doing projects. These types of abilities help students communicate, organize and understanding themselves as well as others opinions with confidence. Students work together in groups while working on a project. This helps student because the find other ways of learning other than their own. Right now it is a little scatterd but it will eventually come together.