EDUC 633 and 638- Introduction

Hi Everyone,
So excited for this course!  Looking forward to meeting all of you on the web!  Here is a little about me;-)
My name is Maggie Ward and I live in Littleton, CO.  I teach first grade at Littleton Public Schools.  I am currently pursuing my Masters in Educational Technology Instruction and Design.  I love to play tennis, shopping, watching movies, and playing with my boys.  I am looking forward to learning about how I can effectively use technology and support for my colleagues.

Video Blog of Maggie Ward

EDUC 631 Week 8

 

 

I think ebooks can be great for students and the use of technology.  I still think pre-emergent readers should be using real books because it creates book awareness (front and back of the book, top and bottom of the page, etc.).  If students are proficient in book awareness, then I feel that ebooks can be great.  The interaction with ebooks can facilitate lots of great things like loving to read and it can create address all five components of reading such as phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary.  I think having ipads in the classroom will allow students to use ebooks more effectively because they can manipulate the pages with their fingers and it will address hands on, visual, and auditory learners.

EDUC 630 week 7

My own personal use of technology with my family is quite a lot.  I have an ipad, which my children tend to use more often than I do.  They are effortlessly getting on Netflix to watch kid and parent approved shows, playing Angry birds, participating in eduction friendly apps.  My husband is constantly on his itouch sending emails and checking the latest news from the Sun newspaper in England because they have the football scores readily available.  Myself, I use my laptop to constantly check emails, create discussion boards, as well as writing papers and taking tests.  If I get to have a break and have fun I secretly love to play games, especially farming "second life" games.  I know I am a huge dork, but I love time-management games because I rock at them!  My current endeavor is "Candy Crush" I just cannot get past the 31 level!  As a balance, I would really like to call it an outlet.  I try and have the TV off most of the day and have family dinners and fun activities so we can keep love and a healthy social relationships sans technology.

Week 6 EDUC 630

 

 

I loved investigating all of the free educational social networking sites that are out today.  My favorite free website for my classroom is from www.yola.com/  Like everything you can upgrade to a fancier version but the free website has quite a lot of features.  If you want to own your own domain the upgrade works for that, but I am happy to just getmswardsfirstgrade.yolasite.com in this domain for free.  Another thing I liked about this site is you can blog with your classmates, upload assignments, use Google translate for the text in any language as well as create a Google calendar of any events that are occurring in the classroom from snack to testing times.  I  think technology out there is amazing for students to keep a relationship between parents, teachers, and students.  We do have to be careful about social networking with the younger audiences, I would NOT recommend Facebook for this audience it is too dangerous and social networking in education needs to have a babysitter and approval of things before it can go viral.

EDUC 630 Week 5

As an adult learner I feel that asynchronous tools are better for me because I can do my assignments and discussions on my own time.  I have 2 boys, a full-time job, a small business on the side, and trying to complete 2 classes within 8 weeks.  I clearly do better in the asynchronous environment than the synchronous environment because of the time commitment.
As a professional I think I would prefer the synchronous environment because this could provide my students more interaction and feel better about strengthening a teacher and student relationship especially for the younger ages.

EDUC 630 Week 4

Please reflect on some web-based resources for education . . for living . . you find useful and why. Share your secrets here. :)

 

I am having a hard time comprehending this week's reflection on finding a web-based resource for education and living?  This first thought that runs through my mind is Pinterest.  I am OBSESSED with Pinterest.  For some reason it makes me a better person, teacher, mother, cook, decorator, quote giver, DIY, etc.!  If you have ever been on this site you agree.  This is educational as well, there are so many "pins" made by teachers.  I have a board on Pinterest dedicated to classroom ideas only.  I can search for a particular subject matter and up comes hundreds of ideas for teachers and most of the ideas are free, which of course we love!

And another resource I love to use is of course www.SMARTboardexchange.con because I can just input a lesson that I am completely unprepared for and find rigorous amazing lessons for my students on any subject matter.

I use www.brainpopjr.com for the primary level because they have a funny robot and a smart girl who teach students about anything you want.  They are short videos which is a great way to introduce a new subject and see if students have any background knowledge.  There are so many great resources, but for living?....Aren't we doing that now?

 

EDUC 630 Week 3

 

As a visual and hands on learner, I get more out of all types of presentations than text in a book.  I feel that presenting material in different fonts, animation, colors of slides are visually stimulating because my visual memory can recall this information better than highlighting words on paper.  In Thorsen (2009), presentations was also defined as using text, video, audio, graphics, and animation.  I think incorporating these essential visuals and auditories into information and displayed for learners can help students recall curriculum in a more rigorous way. 

In my classroom, I use a SMARTboard which is interactive as well.  I love that I can go onto www.SMARTboardexchange.com and download a lesson in any appropriate subject and grade level matter and be able to deliver a rigorous hands on lesson.  I have noticed that these students are constantly engaged and can transfer the subject matter quicker than timely lessons.  I think I would have learned better at their age if they had interactive boards back in my school day.