Inspiration

Inspiration is a program that teachers can use as a tool in their classroom for themselves as well as for their students. Teachers can create concept maps and outlines for units and lessons, as well as use the math manipulatives for lessons. Inspiration is definitely something that I will use in my classroom when I become a teacher. The program is very beneficial to students who are first learning to create outlines. The teacher can create a concept map with students since it helps student's visually see what kinds of information get included in an outline. The teacher or students can also choose to use pictures instead of words to create their outline. This is a good way for younger students who are just learning how to read to understand what they should include in an outline, as well as understand what an outline is. The neat thing about inspiration is that with the click of a button students can take the concept map that they created and turn it into an outline. Students could use this program to help them build ideas about a story they wanted to write, or to create an outline for a research paper. Another option that the teacher has with this program is giving students time to practice their math skills using the math view option. Here students can play around with math tiles, pattern blocks, base ten blocks, fraction tiles, and fraction boxes to build essential math skills.

The program that I think I will end up using the most as a teacher is the 4teachers program which includes rubistar and quizstar. I think that it is extremely important to let students know your expectations of them whenever they create a project, or finish an assignment. Students should know how they are going to be graded, and what things you will be looking for in their work. Rubrics help students to see if they included everything you wanted them to include in their project, and to help them reflect on their grade and know why they received the grade that they did. I will use rubistar often when I teach to create rubrics for students in all conent areas. The neat thing about this program is that it has premade rubrics that you can choose to print. You also have the option of adding new boxes in the rubrics, or removing ones that you do not necessarily like. I also find rubrics to be a good, unbiased way to grade assignments and use them as assessments. Quizstar is another thing I will probably use often. It is an easy way to create quizes for students to take. These quizes can be used as an assessment, or could be done just as practice. As a teacher creating quizes and tests after each unit is something that is done often, and quizstar is an efficient and effective way of doing that.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking will definitely be something that will come in use when I begin to teach. I was aware of social bookmarking, however until now did not know how beneficial social bookmarking can be to a teacher. Social bookmarking is a good way for teachers to organize websites into categories or “tags” so that when they need to find a certain website, they can easily locate it. Teachers can also follow each other and share websites that they found. Not only is social bookmarking beneficial to the teacher, but it can also be beneficial to students. If the teacher wanted students to do research on a certain topic, he/she can place a list of websites on their social bookmarking website for students to easily access. The teacher can also assign readings that students can read from home with internet access. If students do not have internet access from home, the teacher can still print out copies for these students to read. Another major advantage to using social bookmarking websites with students, is that is saves teachers from making copies, and instead, students can just log online to do their readings. Also, when students use social bookmarking sites to complete readings, they are much more engaged then if they were completing their readings from a textbook or a handout.

As a student at Albright College, I can see many ways that having a social bookmarking site can help me now, as well as in the future. Because I am an education major, I am constantly writing lessons, planning activities, creating units, and finding ideas that can help me when I begin to teach. I could use my social bookmarking site to organize websites that I found that are helpful to teachers/students. By placing websites into categories, I can easily be able to find them. Also, if I needed a website on something specific, like classroom management, I can just see what I tagged under that category and see what comes up. This will make it much faster to complete an assignment since the websites are essentially at my fingers. Social bookmarking is something that I plan to begin using right away, and continue to use throughout my career. Not only will it help me organize the websites that I find online, but it is also an easy way to share these websites with my coworkers, and hopefully many of them will have social bookmarking websites that can be beneficial to me as well.

Blog #1

1. Blogs can help enrich the educational process in many ways, which is why many new teachers incorporate them into their curriculum. Blogs can be a way for students to comment and critique on a nights reading, or even to discuss a project with a group at home. Blogs are also a good way for students who are absent from school to keep up with the class, since it is easy for teachers to post notes and tag certain websites for further readings on a topic. Teachers can also list websites that can be useful for an upcoming project, or just to post websites that they would like students to read. Some teachers also use blogs to post the readings in place of using a textbook. Those who do not have internet access at home are still given a textbook. It is also much cheaper for school districts to use blogs in place of a textbook. Blogs are also more motivating to students, especially those who otherwise might not actively participate in classrooms. Blogs are also effective forums for collaboration and discussion. Digit portfolios can also be created by students, and teachers can easily access and view them. Another benefit of blogs is that students will tend to pay close attention to spelling and grammar since they know that others, maybe even the public, can view them. There are a few disadvantages for using websites as well. One disadvantage is that technology is not always reliable, and students may have trouble accessing the internet on a particular night and in return are unable to complete the readings/assignments.

2. It is important to evaluate websites before using them in the classroom and for research. As a teacher you do not want to convey information to students that are not updated and valid. Also, teachers should make sure a website is still in use and working before planning on showing the website to students in a lesson. Teachers should also be sure to teach students why it is important to evaluate websites when using them for research and show them proper guidelines to follow when evaluating them. I think that a lot of students and even teachers/professors do not know how to properly evaluate a website, which is not a good thing. These teachers could be giving their students outdated information, or even information that is made up, since some websites are on false topics, or are very bias. I believe that teachers should incorporate how to properly evaluate a website, and teach students the importance of evaluating websites in their lessons. To do this, teachers could simply point out certain things on the websites that they are using for class, and ask students, “is this an updated website? Is this a good website to use?” Students should be able to know how to search for an author’s name, when the website was last updated, the authenticity, and reliability, to just name a few. Whenever the teacher uses a website for a lesson, she should have students try and find this information and come to a decision together whether or not the website is a good one to use. This is probably how I would reiterate the importance of checking a website for its reliability, and for getting my students into the habit of always checking on these things whenever they visit a website, whether it be for research purposes, or even for personal use.