Post #10: The final post!

This class has taught me so much throughout the semester! I have learned a lot more about Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and more! I have also learned about web based tools like Wikispaces, which are helpful in inter-group communication and project completion.

I feel really great about our final project! Everyone contributed equally and we had a great time working on the project. I think using Wikispaces was a terrific idea and our teacher will really love our final project and what it offers her class and students! I am so glad Ms. Newman will be using our final project for her classes now and in the future.

I will use the knowledge I have gained from this class, like using Excel and Wiki, as a teacher in the future. I can use excel to grade and present projects and Wiki to communicate to my students. I will use all of the knowledge I have gained from this course as a teacher in the future!

I found that many of my fellow classmates and myself really enjoyed learning about Excel and spreadsheets and found the information very useful. Also from reading my classmates blogs I found that we are all interested in improving our knowledge of technology. I also found that many of my classmates like similar cliparts that I like!

Post #9

I feel very optimistic about our group project. It is great that the teachers will actually be using our projects! I hope our teacher is satisfied with our final project.

I have contributed by meeting with team members and completing my own assigned parts. I have communicated via e-mail, wikispace, and phone with my team members. I also changed the layout and look of our wikispace to appeal more to the kids.

I have learned a lot about using Wikispaces in the previous week. They are a great tool for communicating and seeing what everyone has done. I will use Wikispaces in the future for projects and communicating with members.

Post #8

Webquest would be easy to adopt in our project with a 6th-8th grade Language Arts class. We could develop a Webquest asking the students to listen to a short paragraph being read and anser the questions that follow. For example, we could ask them to name the voice of the writing, any specific emotion or sensory words used, onomatopoeia's, etc. I think the students will learn better if they can liten and watch their teacher read a passage, it will be easier for them to pick out the parts that the teacher is looking for.

A good example of WebQuest can be found by following this link. This is a good example because it encorporates multiple representations of the content, student contruction of content, and shared responcibility. This WebQuest would be great to use to help the students learn more about technology and the history of the computer.

Being able to create and use WikiSpace is a helpful tool that I think will be especially useful to me in my educational career. A WikiSpace can serve as a communication tool between teachers and students as well as a resource to check information and get feedback from your peers. This tool is wonderful for communicating with your students and creating assignments and writing up reference tools is simple and easy to use!

Post #7

Class websites are a great tool to aid in the organization and effectiveness of a classroom. They help with teacher, student communication and serve as a tool to post assignments and due dates, as well as grades and even weekly updates. E-Office Hours is a web-based resource that aids teachers in creating "Virtual Classrooms". The website is created "by educational instructors and software engineers who have blended the latest, cutting edge technology with years of teaching experience to develop the most advanced teaching tool and website available, VirtualOffice". The purpose and intent of the site is clear. It is to be used as a resource for teachers and students to view classroom information and serve as a communication tool. The resource is accurate and current in its information, evident by its creators. The site is very well-designed and has great usability. It allows the user to select different options for fast, effective use of the resource. The E-Office Hours website can be accessed by following this link:
http://www.eofficehours.com

I can use excel as a teacher to create many effective teaching assignments. For example, if I was an elementary science teacher I would use excel to create graphs showing the rate of extinction of select plant and animal species over time. Then I could use the data to ask the students questions like, how many more species will be extinct by the time you are 20? Using the spreadsheet tool would allow me to create these charts ad graphs and would serve as a great tool to teach students and keep them engaged and interested.

One case that used Excel creatively in the school setting is Illinois middle school teacher Kelly McMahon's use of spreadsheets in her math class. She created balance and spending spreadsheets to aid her students in the math learning process and problem solving. Spreadsheets are easy to use and answers are displayed with the click of a button, what could be easier?