I found a blog about teaching students German. This particular website was for students who will speak primary German which means the beginning level. I took German in fifth grade and I found this website very helpful and interactive for upper elementary to high schoolers who are learning primary German to look at.
The blog was really interesting with a lot of interactive activities for the students such as videos for them to watch or different links to pages with vocabulary for them to look at. The objective that the teacher set out was helpful for the students to know what they are looking for.
I reviewed a lot of different wikis and this is the one that I found to be the nicest laid out and easier to navigate. There was not a lot of information on the page which was really helpful for me. I also liked that the teacher had different activities and assignments for the students to do. It was easily laid out and helpful for me and others to see what that particular teacher wanted.
What I did not like was that on the sidebar of the wiki the words were all in German. This is fine for the students who are working on their homework but if the parents are trying to navigate through the website they would not know where to go. Besides that I thought the website was very interactive and useful!
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Inquiry Based Activity
For this week's objective, we were asked to make an inquiry based activity using wiki. I am beginning to form a better understanding on what a wiki is and how effective it can be in teacher. I was really excited to start on this project.
For this particular project, I decided to chose a first grade lesson of helping students identify and categorize shapes. This seems very rudimentary but that is the point. The first graders need to form a basis of understanding these shapes. Therefore I made sure to implement different methods through online resources.
One thing that I really liked about the wiki page being available for the students is that I was able to easily put up information for the students to go through. For instance, in my wiki I wanted to provide a variety of sources for students to check out so they could get a better grasp on material. Because of this, I was able to paste information on my wiki page such as interactive games for them to classify the shapes, a video for them to learn more about the shapes and hear their names and see pictures of them, and I was also to have a brief multiple choice section so that the students could test their knowledge after going through the games and video.
I had a massive "ah-ha" moment when I was able to put together how I could implement the material that I was learning about and doing in the actual classroom. By developing a wiki board for the students in my class, I was able to see that it could be really useful for how I want to teach particular material. I think it is an amazing idea to bring in technology for students who are already using technology in their everyday life to teach them more about subjects that might be easier to have hands-on methods such as shapes. It will be helpful to use a resource like this because in order for me to make sure they are comprehending how to sort and categorize shapes in the class, I need to assess them somehow and by pulling in different methods such as games and multiple choice questions I am able to do this more effectively.
For this particular project, I decided to chose a first grade lesson of helping students identify and categorize shapes. This seems very rudimentary but that is the point. The first graders need to form a basis of understanding these shapes. Therefore I made sure to implement different methods through online resources.
One thing that I really liked about the wiki page being available for the students is that I was able to easily put up information for the students to go through. For instance, in my wiki I wanted to provide a variety of sources for students to check out so they could get a better grasp on material. Because of this, I was able to paste information on my wiki page such as interactive games for them to classify the shapes, a video for them to learn more about the shapes and hear their names and see pictures of them, and I was also to have a brief multiple choice section so that the students could test their knowledge after going through the games and video.
I had a massive "ah-ha" moment when I was able to put together how I could implement the material that I was learning about and doing in the actual classroom. By developing a wiki board for the students in my class, I was able to see that it could be really useful for how I want to teach particular material. I think it is an amazing idea to bring in technology for students who are already using technology in their everyday life to teach them more about subjects that might be easier to have hands-on methods such as shapes. It will be helpful to use a resource like this because in order for me to make sure they are comprehending how to sort and categorize shapes in the class, I need to assess them somehow and by pulling in different methods such as games and multiple choice questions I am able to do this more effectively.
Friday, February 8, 2013
WebQuest
This past week we were asked to explore a variety of WebQuests. WebQuest is a resource for teachers to explore a variety of projects that the students in the classroom can do. While I was exploring, I noticed WebQuests that were helpful and some that did not make much sense. As a teacher, I would like to find a site that my students can easily access from home so that their parents will also understand what the objectives are in a simple way.
One thing that I found very useful about these websites is that they are an easy way for teachers to find well-developed tasks (if the site is good) about a variety of things that the students may be learning about. It has everything from activities that the students can use to the grading scale of what the teachers will use to evaluate their work.
One of the useful websites that I found was the Underground Railroad WebQuest. This WebQuest was organized and useful. It also had a variety of sources that the students could explore while also keeping it relevant to the topic.
However, the WebQuest about ice cream was not useful. It was not well-organized and did not do a good job of explaining the task to myself and to the students. I also did not find it very relevant to not only the age group that it was targeting but also in general.
Overall I find WebQuests to be an interesting source for teachers to use but not one that I will find myself using a lot.
One thing that I found very useful about these websites is that they are an easy way for teachers to find well-developed tasks (if the site is good) about a variety of things that the students may be learning about. It has everything from activities that the students can use to the grading scale of what the teachers will use to evaluate their work.
One of the useful websites that I found was the Underground Railroad WebQuest. This WebQuest was organized and useful. It also had a variety of sources that the students could explore while also keeping it relevant to the topic.
However, the WebQuest about ice cream was not useful. It was not well-organized and did not do a good job of explaining the task to myself and to the students. I also did not find it very relevant to not only the age group that it was targeting but also in general.
Overall I find WebQuests to be an interesting source for teachers to use but not one that I will find myself using a lot.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Website Evaluation
For our last assignment, we were asked to evaluate a website. I chose PBS Teachers to evaluate. This website was full of interesting information. They had various resources for teachers to use in their different subject areas that they may be teaching about such as science, math, health and exercise, reading, and other subjects. I also appreciated the fact that it was clearly divided into grade levels so that the teachers could effectively look through the different information without having to also find age-appropriate materials.
When evaluating the site, I found it difficult to find who the publisher was. I have never had to navigate through a site while looking for a variety of information such as publishers or other copyright materials. I did notice, after searching for quite a while, that at the bottom of the screen there was a link titled "Private Policy" and under this link was all the information that I was having trouble looking for. After finding this, I was able to more fully understand a variety of policies that a website has.
Lastly, this evaluation tool really helped me see why it is important to know a website fully before allowing students to access it or for me to look to it for other types of information. If it was a random website that was not run by such an reputable company such as PBS, I would not know if I could trust the information that it was putting out. Also, it was extremely helpful that they had a page full of their credentials. As an educator, I feel so much more comfortable pulling information out for my class to review. Because of this activity, I now know what to look for in websites.
When evaluating the site, I found it difficult to find who the publisher was. I have never had to navigate through a site while looking for a variety of information such as publishers or other copyright materials. I did notice, after searching for quite a while, that at the bottom of the screen there was a link titled "Private Policy" and under this link was all the information that I was having trouble looking for. After finding this, I was able to more fully understand a variety of policies that a website has.
Lastly, this evaluation tool really helped me see why it is important to know a website fully before allowing students to access it or for me to look to it for other types of information. If it was a random website that was not run by such an reputable company such as PBS, I would not know if I could trust the information that it was putting out. Also, it was extremely helpful that they had a page full of their credentials. As an educator, I feel so much more comfortable pulling information out for my class to review. Because of this activity, I now know what to look for in websites.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Wikis!
My newest endeavors of attempting to understand the world of technology has started to show its advantages. I have never been keen on technology and haven't really tried to understand the complexities of it. Most recently, we, as a technology class, have been asked to make a wiki page and learn the ins and outs of it. I didn't think it would be that challenging, but I came to find out that wikis were slightly more challenging for me to understand at first than blogs and websites.
I have always heard of blogs. My mom is a fan of the Pioneer Woman's blog about different types of fun recipes or my aunt loves to look at various teaching blogs to get fun and creative ideas but the concept of a wiki was new to me. I heard of wikipedia but how would something like wikipedia apply to teaching?
A wiki was far more than I could have imagined. Why are wikis so different from blogs? Why should I chose a wiki in my classroom over some other forms of technology? In a wiki website, you create a page with your students. For instance, the page might be titled "Rome". As a class, students may be asked to be put in pairs to do different aspects of Rome. It could be things such as "agriculture", "culture", "gods", etc. In these various pages, students can go in an add information, pictures, etc to their page for other students to access. Not only do the pairs all have access to the different pages, but all of the students do. So if one of the team members wanted to add information to the wiki page, all they would have to do is go in and edit it. They are able to access it at any time and do whatever they want to the page. As a teacher, I would also have access to this page to monitor the students' responses and make sure they are appropriate. This is different from a blog because of the ability to edit others' post and because all the students can access the same page.
Wikis provide a lot of interesting teaching styles that I cannot wait to implement into my classroom.
I have always heard of blogs. My mom is a fan of the Pioneer Woman's blog about different types of fun recipes or my aunt loves to look at various teaching blogs to get fun and creative ideas but the concept of a wiki was new to me. I heard of wikipedia but how would something like wikipedia apply to teaching?
A wiki was far more than I could have imagined. Why are wikis so different from blogs? Why should I chose a wiki in my classroom over some other forms of technology? In a wiki website, you create a page with your students. For instance, the page might be titled "Rome". As a class, students may be asked to be put in pairs to do different aspects of Rome. It could be things such as "agriculture", "culture", "gods", etc. In these various pages, students can go in an add information, pictures, etc to their page for other students to access. Not only do the pairs all have access to the different pages, but all of the students do. So if one of the team members wanted to add information to the wiki page, all they would have to do is go in and edit it. They are able to access it at any time and do whatever they want to the page. As a teacher, I would also have access to this page to monitor the students' responses and make sure they are appropriate. This is different from a blog because of the ability to edit others' post and because all the students can access the same page.
Wikis provide a lot of interesting teaching styles that I cannot wait to implement into my classroom.
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