WEEK 5: Podcasts

WHAT?-

This week Dave and I got to make a podcast for our future classes. We chose to do it on smoking and smokeless tobacco to inform our students of the dangers and risks of these products.

SO WHAT?-

I think that learning to make a podcast is going to be a fun and effective tool for me to use in the future; especially on the webpage I am making for my classes. Dave and I had so much fun writing the script and recording it for our pages. In English classes our kids do so much reading, I think that any kind of language, written or verbal, is effective. Podcasts are very popular with this new generation of learners and I am excited to know how to create and manage my own podcasts. Technology is very receptive with high school students and if I can make my podcasts entertaining and informative, I think that they will be a big hit in the future for me as a teacher.

NOW WHAT?-

I think that I will give homework assignments using podcasts. This way my students will have my voice recorded and they can listen to the assignment and instructions over and over again if they need it repeated. I think that writing an assignment down is one way to instruct the curriculum, but even giving it verbally can be an effective learning and teaching strategy as well. I also think that I will have students do mini lessons and record them so that after they present they can be on my classroom website to be replayed and reviewed by all the students. I really think that podcasts can be an great and entertaining way to share and record information. I am excited about using podcasts in my future as a teacher.

Week 4: UEN

After exploring and using the UEN website, I think adding its options to my classroom google site will really benefit me as a teacher. I have realized that the UEN website has a lot to offer my future classroom and students. I love that the core curriculum is right at my students, their parents and my fingertips. Following the core curriculum is a very important asset to my teaching methods and I know that I will refer to it a lot on my web page. UEN has so many options for research as well, and I love that. Since research and information is such an essential part of my core curriculum, I know that we will be using UEN a lot so my students can find reliable sources.

Another great thing about the UEN website is that they have lesson plans I can refer to for ideas and use for teaching. Sometimes it is nice to compare ideas or build from other teachers lesson plans and teaching methods. I usually look over lesson plans and don't like them completely, but I can find a few great ideas to apply to my personal lesson plans. This is a really good resource, especially for a new teacher like me. The lesson plans are really useful too because they apply to utah state core curriculum.

I absolutely love the interactives because they have grammar, vocabulary and spelling games that my students can play. A lot of high school students need these kind of visual games to use because grammar is such a hated trade for students. I hope to use a lot of online grammar, vocabulary and spelling quizzes for my classes because the visual and technology helps a little with making it a little more of an enjoyable activity. Kids seriously hate this part of my core and I will be honest, when the kids hate it isn't the most fun to teach. Hopefully the interatives from the UEN site can make it a little more bearable.

Pioneer library is a pretty cool option that UEN offers teachers. It actually found some interesting things while exploring this part of the assignment. I am totally going to SIRS over Google for research for my students when we research. I love how it targets their learning level for the information they are searching for. It is true that a lot of information on the Google is beyond their learning level and they have a good chance of using a website or information that is not as reliable of a source as the the sources they can find in the Pioneer Library. Even thought I wasn't pumped about UEN because of comments I have heard about it; I am extremely surprise with how much of it I will apply to my teaching and classrooms. I am overall pleased with the part of UEN this assignment covered.

Week 2

What?

This week we learned how to use different options that google has to offer. I really think that google docs and google sites will be a huge tool in my classroom in the future. One of our first big assignments was introduced and this week we are creating our rough draft of the letter we will send to a faculty member at a local school. In this letter Dave and I will be asking them if we can create a podcast for their classroom.

So what?

Learning about all these google options is going to give me so many awesome tools as a teacher. A lot of students are technology driven and having them use computers and google programs will hopefully catch an interest. Being able to run these programs as a teacher will make it easier for students to learn digitally and I think it will really improve the motivation in any modern classroom.

Also, I really liked the idea of having them use google docs to collaborate online with their classmates. High school kids would really eat that assignment up, being that they are always texting and using instant messengers on their free time anyway. Why not include these hobbies in our education and have kids enjoy online working environments? I am already thinking of fun activities and assignments I can create to take advantage of what I am learning in instructional media.

Now what?

I honestly think that using google docs, sites and even the calendar will make me a more efficient and responsible teacher. If I can keep my calendar up to date it will be easier to not only direct my students with an agenda, but also help my colleagues and I track what I have been doing in my classroom throughout the year. These programs will minimize the amount of paper and supplies I will have to use in my classroom, while also making grading and assignment management easier. Organization can be one of the hardest and most time consuming responsibilities as a teacher; I am hoping that learning how to use these programs properly and thoroughly will help to cut this time down and leave me more time for lesson plans and individual work with students.

Learning all these new strategies for teaching has really opened my eyes to new ideas and options as a teacher. I honestly cannot wait to exercise these new tools in my classroom and hopefully they will catch my students interest in my English class by using modern technology and digital learning to motivate them to read and write. English is a subject that a lot of kids do not enjoy because it is challenging and considered boring, I will take advantage of any skill or strategy to spice up my subject and classroom!