Software Skills

In class we went over a lot of tools in Microsoft word, publisher, and smart technology.  All of these tools are important for teachers to know and practice as a students so when teacher I will know what to do.  As an elementary education teacher I feel that I would use word and publisher the most.  I feel this because not all schools have smart boards or that are easily accessible to all teachers.  Word and Publisher come on all computers now and can be accessed fairly easily by anyone.  These programs will be used for assignments, assessments, letters to students and parents.  Also through word we learned a little about excel which I feel is another important tool for teacher to know how to use.  With technology becoming more common and standard in all schools grades are done on line and not by hand anymore.  In excel grades can be entered and a formula can be entered to add the grades atomically when a new grade is entered. 

Web Resources

All of the web resources we look at in class I have a use for in the classroom. 

The one I feel I would use the most would be united streaming.  I love having other ways for students to get information.  Through this website students can watch a video which almost all student love to do in school and they can find new information in a fun way.  All the videos are free which is great for teachers.  Also you can watch a full video or just a segment which are all sectioned off already for you, some of the videos also include tips for teacher like lesson plans, citation, and quizzes which can all help teacher when they find a video they want to use in the classroom.  It is also really easy to download the video so it can be watched with or without internet access. 

Another site I really likes was 4teachers.org and the specific site was academic skill builders.  This site is good for students to use to reinforce what was taught in class.  The games are fun for students while helping students to react fast to answer the question.  The games include math, language arts and geography.  This would be useful as a center on the computers or for students to do at home to continue learning from school. 

Inspiration

Inspiration is something that I will use in my classroom.  I fell it is a great tool to help organize information and see if the students understand relationships. 

Some uses are:

• Visual reinforcements for students
• Assessment to see if students understand what major events happened in the book
• Assessment to see if students understand character relationships
• Unit planning
• Concept mapping
• Worksheet for students to follow along with a book
• Research
• Outlines
• To show categories and what are in each category
• Venn diagrams to compare and contrast

Social Bookmarking

In the classroom I feel that social bookmarking would be more helpful in a middle/high school setting because students are doing research projects.  In an elementary classroom I don’t feel that a social bookmarking site will be as helpful.  Students in elementary school do not have to access like middle or high school students do to a computer and the internet.  It would help if I found a website to help the students with a concept I could posit it and when they are at home the students could easily find the website and learn from it at home. 

Social bookmarking can help a lot as a student now.  Professors are always having students use different websites for research or tips, having a social bookmarking site each student can find the website easily as well as see what sites other students have found helpful.

GoogleApps

I feel that GoogleApps is a great idea.

Advantages: GoogleApps allows people to work in a group and not have to keep sending the document in an e-mail and not knowing which one is the newest.  GoogleApps allows people to change the original document and not have to worry about resending and attaching it to an e-mail.   GoogleApps also save on their own so the person working on the document doesn't need to think about saving while they are working.

Disadvantages: Not everyone has access to a computer or internet all the time.  Also in schools the site may be blocked or the students may not have access to a computer when they are working on a project.  Another disadvantage is people use many different e-mail servers, so some people may have to set up a new account and in school this may become hard.  Also GoogleApps do not have all the options that Office has, some commands can not be done on the google site that can be done in word.

GoogleApps include: docs, videos, sites, calendar, e-mail, and talk.

Blogs in the Classroom

In the classroom blogs can be used when reading a book, the teacher can have the students blog on their feeling about the book or what they think will happen next.  Students could blog about current events; students could blog their homework answers so there is no paper to forget at home.  One problem with blogs in the classroom is that not all students have access to a computer at home and if the blogging is done in class not all schools have enough computers for each student to have their own.