Learning from Presentations

The presentations in class yesterday were all wonderful and inspirational. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone's WebQuests, Websites, and Movies. As I was watching the presentations I would find myself thinking of ways I could adapt what they had done to my class setting. Some people think that if a project is planned for an elementary classroom it cannot be used in a secondary setting, but it can. Just as an example, one of the WebQuests (sorry I cannot remember the name of the classmember who presented it) on Shopping Spree Winner was designed for an elementary school math class but I can see how it could be used in my clothing or finance class with high school students. The idea of being able to spend money and on clothing would definately appeal to my teenage students in the 9-12 grades. There were also a couple of the movies that I wish I could use in my classes. Teachers must continue to be learners in order to keep their classes exciting and inspirational for their students. I am hopeful that utalizing some of the technology tools that I now have in my teaching file will help make my classes more interesting for my students.

What I Have Learned

This has been a very interesting experience. Doing a blog and setting up a facebook account. One thing that I have learned that I am not sure was an objective of the course is how my students feel when I make one of those assignments that seems to be just a way to keep them working. Don't get me wrong. I understand the reason for having us write messages on the wall and inbox for all the members of the class is the show that we understand how to use the technology and that we get comfortable with it. I also understand the reason for posting to the blogs. It is just that, when you are sitting at the computer trying to come up with something to write to someone you know little about, it gets very time comsuming and a little frustrating. Like I said, I understand how my students feel. But sometimes you have to do an assignment just for what you can get out of it, not because it makes any sense to you. Please don't take any of this personally, Dr. H, and I hope it doesn't hurt my grade. :) The assignment was to put our thoughts and feeling into our blog and that is what I have tried to do. Does anyone out there understand?

The Learning I Teach

Someone ask what I teach. I teach Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS). For the "older" generation in the audience, that is Home Economics in the modern age. My students are getting the FACS of life in my classroom. I start the beginning of the year telling my students that I am the only teacher who can, without reservation, tell them that everything I teach is something that they will use for the rest of their life. This is the reason many of us who teach FACS cannot understand why there are people in education and government who are trying to make our program extinct.

The way I explain it to my students is that everyone is going to have to intereact with other people (Interpersonal Relationships unit). We all love food and must eat (Foods and Nutrition), and we all wear clothing (Clothing Management). We are all going to live in some type of dwelling (Housing and Interior Design) and we will all use money in some way, either money we make or spending someone else's money (Personal and Family Finance). Most will have children of their own (Parenting) and even if they do not have children they will have to interact with them in some way (Child Development). These are truely "life skills" that everyone needs to be successful in every other aspect of their lives. Why would we not encourage students to take these classes rather than trying to throw the program away. Hopefully you can tell that I am passionate about what I teach.

Feeling Overwhelmed

I have spent most of the past three days working on assignments for my class. To say that I am feeling a bit overwhelmed is an understatement. Today I spent most of the morning looking for pictures to use for my movie and still have to put the movie together. I then spent all afternoon typing in the information for a WebQuest into the program to post the WebQuest. I thought I was never going to get into a website that would allow me to put it together and post it on the web. I hope I have done everything correctly and it works the way it is suppose to. I can see the value in learning how to do these things but they are very time consuming and mentally exhausting. The challenge now is finding the time to incorperate these types of activities into my classes when I teach.

Learning is Everywhere

We often think of learning as being in a formal educational setting. Those are the most obvious learning experiences and I am having a lot of those kinds of experiences these days, but learning happens all around us. As I watch my children grow and progress I learn through their eyes. It amazes me to know how much more quickly my children learn things than I did at their age. The technology they have to help them seems to speed up their learning processes. They love it when they teach their mom something and have really enjoyed teaching me how to use these new means of communication. Learning together has been a wornderful experience. It has given us a chance to spend more time together and I am learning more about them and the wonderful people they are becoming. Please don't misunderstand, we spent time together before but this is time on a different level and it has been wonderful.

Staying Young at Heart

The experiences I am having with the Integrating Technology class are showing me that you are as young as you feel and as you are willing to get involved in "young" things. Having a facebook account has really brought out the young ideas in me again. My children, ages 20 and 14, are so excited that I have a facebook account. They could not wait to add me as friends on their facebook accounts and that really makes me feel wonderful. To have children who want their mother to be a friend on their facebook account is an honor. I have also added one of the young teachers I have worked with as a friend and she was sooooo shocked when she saw it. She said she couldn't believe that I was on facebook. I find that I look forward to checking my page to see who has written a message to me. My son got me started with flair and I really love it and find the whole thing addicting. I can hardly wait until my students find out and start trying to become a "friend". I am sure that I will have to be very careful with it and selective about who I add as a friend. Any advise for an "older" teacher?

My expectations

I was ask what I exptected out of the Integrating Technology into Teaching Class. I was expecting the class to focus on things we could use in our high school classrooms that were more along the traditional lines. Things like PowerPoint presentations, use of the SmartBoard in the classroom, maybe using document scanners, and other things like that. Although that is not what we have focused on to this point, I am not disappointed. I am actually excited about the things we are doing. I would never have thought of myself setting up a blog. Really don't know what I am doing and hope that I am on the right track. My children, I have three at home and one out on her own, were shocked when I told them that I had set up a blog. They were even more suprised when they found out I had also set up a account on facebook. Those are just things that I had never thought about doing. I hear the young people at school talking about them but I never thought of doing one myself.
I am also looking forward to doing the other assignments. I have wanted to set up a web page for a long time. Started one for school last summer but never got it finished and attached to the school website. Now I have a reason to get it finished. I think I will be more comfortable with the aspects of the computer and the internet that I have not been exposed to before.

Beginning of Class

Today I started the class that will complete my Master's Degree. It is a class about using technology and that is the reason I am starting this blog. Blogging is new to me and I am a little apprehensive about what I am doing. The class is going to be very interesting but, I must admit, it is not exactally what I was expecting. My student will never believe that I am blogging and setting up a facebook account. Being of the "older" generation I have never thought of getting involved in these things but that proves that "Learning is a Lifelong Process". I look forward to doing things I have never done before.