Features of Word, Powerpoint and Excel

I use word to type up documents, edit text, and finalize papers. I sometimes insert pictures and I use word art as well. I use power point to create PowerPoint presentations using both pictures and text. I used excel to figure out different formulas for my statistics class.

To teach children PowerPoint and word, I would have them type up a paper on word changing the font doing a different font in each paragraph. I would also have them insert a chart demonstrating their data in their paper. They would also be challenged to insert a fun shape. They would use word art for their title. I would also have children create a PowerPoint presentation, using transitions, sounds, and inserting clip art or a picture. I would teach them to use these features and they would get to show they understand how to use them in these projects. For the last and final project I would teach the kids how to use some basic features in excel. They would show their understanding by creating a graph of their spending each month. If they do not get an allowance they can create a pretend spending chart. They would label each category of spending. For example food, candy, clothes, toys. They would then calculate the percent of money spent in each category. I would make sure to go over how to do this with them. This project would have to be for older children, because the formulas in excel can get quite complicated.

resources for educators

I chose to visit the adventures in educational blogging site. Here I found many different blogs talking about different issues teachers may face. One of the first blogs talked about technology education for teachers. It talked about how many teachers are not educated in different forms of technology. It talked about how many school districts provide educational classes after school, however, not many attend them. This is because they do not have time. One district talks about how they made Monday afternoons devoted to teacher learning and meetings. This month they devoted this time to technology classes. Though these classes were optional many teachers attended them and there was a big turn out.

I want to make sure that I am educated in the different types of technology. I will try my best to attend as many technology classes as I can so that I can be better educated. This way I can incorporate technology easily into my lesson plans.

Another blog talked about organization. There is an application called life balance which allows you to easily organize your tasks and emails. He said he used the application on his ipod touch however it was not compatible on his computer. He found a solution. He found that by linking his ipod to his computer he could access the application online. This way he could add tasks from online or from his ipod touch. He talks about how he really liked the sub-tasks and places feature. With the sub-tasks feature he could easily set up to do lists as well as track the progress of his projects. The places feature helped him to remember to get the dry cleaning or go to the store.

I would look into using this application as a teacher. Being organized is so important. It is so easy to loose track of tasks and projects. This application seems to make things a little bit easier.

online learning experience

I listened to a pod cast on interactive white boards and their use in the school setting.I learned a lot from listening to this talk. They talked about teacher interaction verses student interaction with the white boards. They talked about how teachers primarily use the white board for instruction. Their focus was that students need to be challenged to interact more with the white boards. This way they are applying what they have learned. One teacher talked about how she allows her students to use the white board soft ware to create presentations and videos. Another teacher talked about how her drama students would use the white board to display different backgrounds for their plays. They would edit the images on the computer and then display them on the board. Another teacher talked about how she liked the record feature on the smart board. She liked how she could record everything that was written on the board. This was very helpful when showing a student how to do a math problem. They could write out the problem step by step and then if needed re play the steps until the student grasped how to do the problem. I found this all to be very interesting.

I would apply this in the class room setting by challenging myself to allow my students to interact with the white boards. I should focus on instructing them. However, I should also allow for a time when they interact with the boards, show what they have learned. I could do this by allowing them to create their own power point presentations. Also I could do this by allowing them to participate in a game or something that allows them to apply the skills they have learned.

Project 4

Here is the basic plan for my technology project. I hope you enjoy listening to it. I plan on creating a mini lesson using the smart board notebook soft ware. This will be a power point slide show which will utilize all the features of the smart board. I will then post my completed lesson on a blog site. This site will be different than the one we use in class. I have yet to come up with my lesson, but I will work on this in the next few weeks. Here is the link, I hope you enjoy listening.

http://www.box.net/shared/ddv5ppjqo8

Assignment 3

I worked with Jenny Burch for this project. We decided to use Google for our search engine because it is well known and reliable. Our tool box contains different links that we thought would be helpful for educators. There is not really any organizational part, the links were just placed in the search engine. If you want to check out our search engine here is the link: http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=008248482121840346341:osrbrylpfm8

Some of the sites I used were:

• Teachertube.com: This site is a lot like YouTube, however it is geared for teachers. The videos are pre-screened so that they are appropriate for students. These videos help to explain concepts to students and some are just for fun. I would use this site in my classroom, to help students better understand difficult concepts. Sometimes a video can do the trick.
• www.k12.wa.us: This site is very helpful it contains the grade level standards for K-12Th grade. This site is very helpful because it helps teachers pin point what their students need to learn for their given grade level. I use this site a lot to make sure my lesson plans are up to par. I'm sure I will use it even more when I'm a teacher. It is nice to be able to make sure you are accomplishing the right learning targets.
• www.fossweb.com: This site is great because it contains different games and activities for students of different ages. This site is very user friendly and I love the different games it has. I would use this site to help promote learning of a certain subject. I would use the games along with a lesson to make it more fun and interactive for students.

week 10

This blog was very interesting. I liked the story about the doctor and the i phone. My dad is a doctor and he sometimes will draw pictures for patients to better explain a concept. A video, however, is even better. This way patients would be able to better understand what is going on. I also found the part about the flip camera to be helpful. who would have thought that there are so many different uses for a camera in the classroom. I love the ideas. It would be fun to send DVDs showing kids progress during the week instead of paper news letters!!

the active board week 9

In class we met at Alexander Graham Bell Elementary School to go over how to use the active board. This teacher was extremely helpful and allowed us to sit in on her classroom. I learned that the smart board is different from the active board. The active board only has one pen that is used for writing and moving objects around. This teacher helped us by giving us an introduction on how to use the active board clickers. I liked the different features the active board has. The active board seemed to be very similar to the smart board. It was helpful that the teacher gave us a brief introduction on how to use the smart board clickers. She gave examples of flip chart quizzes she had put together. This was helpful. I felt like I learned a lot of new techniques. For example she showed us how to add sound to a slide or flip chart. She also talked about the importance of technology in the classroom.