Google Docs Rocks

Today has been a splendid day in Inst 4010. We learned all the ins and outs of google docs. I learned how to share, edit, and create documents. I also learned how to allow people to view my documents. I like this because it gives better control of who is accessing and using my documents. I think this will be very helpful as a teacher. The best part is that it's FREE. I am ALL about that. Not going to lie, it is pretty cool to edit a document back and forth. Google docs are super convenient and are just down right awesome. Thanks GOOGLE. You've done it again. :)

Today in class, we learned how to download videos from youtube and post them on blogs. This is helpful because many times youtube and other sources are blocked in the schools, but by downloading the videos, I can still use these resources in my classroom.

Here is a video about 21st century learners.

YETC

Today, our class went to the YETC lab in the Educational Building at Utah State. YETC is the resource center here. It has an open access computer lab, lesson plan materials, C.D. roms, DVDs, and other technology resources. teacherlink is also a great website for teachers to access.

I will graduate next spring and will hopefully get a job as a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade teacher. I was trying to think of how I could use technology for those age groups. There are a few websites that I think would really be helpful. First, there is a spellingcity.com This is a website that allows the students to type their spelling words. The words are spelled out for the students and they are given a sentence for each spelling word. They can take a spelling test online. This would free up time for me as a teacher and give the students an opportunity to work with technology. There was also a Math Factory Worksheet. Here, teachers can individualize worksheets for each students. It is very quick and simple. I thought this would be great for accommodating different math levels. I could make worksheets for each student based on what math facts they were struggling with. This would make it very easy to target struggling areas and could really strengthen the students math abilities. There was another website that I really found helpful- storyonline.net This is a website that has different actors and actresses read stories. It is a great way for the students to listen to different stories by people that they look up to. Many children don't like reading, but if they were to see that "famous" people enjoyed it, it may change their opinion about reading. I think all of these websites would be great for the younger grades. I'm excited to be able to use these resources in my classroom.

Inst 4010

At Utah State, I am taking an instructional technology course for my Education major. We were assigned to make a blog and post comments about the class. Here is a my first post :)