Avatar- Science Slim

Okay, so this is pretty sweet. Today in class, we logged onto Science Slim, a virtual environment. It was pretty crazy. I made an account and I made an "avatar" of myself. It kind of reminded me of the old computer game, The Sims. I could transport my Avatar to different locations and actually talk to other Avatars. It was pretty nuts.

I was thinking about this and I was trying to think of how I could incorporate this in my classroom. Obviously it is fun, but how could I make this educational?

Well I gave this a lot of thought, and honestly I'm still working on it. I did come up with a few ideas though. I was thinking that the older students (6th grade) could help design and make different locations in Science Slim. Not sure if this is even possible, but that would be cool.

For a little bit younger students... I was thinking that I could have the students have to ask different "Avatars" questions. They would have to find out certain information- kind of like a scavenger hunt. That would be kind of fun and it would be a great way to use technology to get to know the other students in the class.

I'm still learning about this, but I hope that over the next few weeks I'll learn more about Science Slim and how to incorporate it into my classroom!

My Survey

Good morning everyone! I hope you had a fabulous weekend. Today in my technology class I learned how to use a survey in docs.google. The more I learn about google docs, the more I love it! It really is the coolest tool. I already using google docs in my life. My friends and I are making a summer list that we can all add too. It is fabulous. I also plan on using this in my classroom. It would be really easy to have parents or students take a survey about my class. It would save on paper.. GO GREEN, and it would be convenient for parents. This would also help the students use technology. I also think it would be fun to teach older kids how to make a survey. I remember learning how to graph in the upper grades in Elementary school. This would be a fun way to use technology to help the students get information to graph. Great idea huh? I thought so. :) Well this is all for me. Have a great week. You won't hear from me for a while.. class is canceled for the next two weeks! Spring Break!!! Wahoo! :)

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dERuYkdvbFAxQ3V2T1VpcDNkS3FRMGc6MA

Here is a link to my awesome survey! It was a lot of fun. Check it out. Fill free to take it. It will only take a second!

Cell Phones for Learning?!?

Today we learned how to create a gradebook on an Excel sheet. We learned basic functions. I learned how to type in certain formulas to calculate the students grade. I'm sure this will save me hours so I can use my time watching 24, doing P90X, and chilling with my friends. Can you say awesome? Yup, I like it. I also learned how to convert documents from read-only to read and write. This is SO helpful. I wish I would have learned this earlier. This will be nice to use when my teachers post documents on blackboard and I can download them and change the file. Thanks technology.
We did the coolest thing in class today. We did a class poll online at polleverywhere.com. If any of you have used this website, you know how awesome it is. We did a poll on the weather and everyone in our class texted in our results. It was pretty awesome. Too bad my 1st graders probably won't have cell phones.. bummer. That would make a cool lesson. Hey who knows though. Maybe in 10 years they will all have cell phones. Never know. It was a cool experiment though. I wish my teachers would have used our cell phones for learning, than trying to patrol kids using them. Lets be honest, everyone uses them anyways. Instead of paying for i-clickers, professors should just use cell phones. Yeah, that would be pretty awesome.

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 :)