Chapter 8 Reflection: Academic Software

This chapter was okay, some do and don'ts I hadn't thought about before. Some programs we hadn't used yet.
I checked out some really cool blogs, anything from music, speech, ESL, special education, to kindergarten.  Mrs. Busha  is my favorite blogger. She teaches kindergarten in White Oak Texas.  The other blogs I checked out  was from her.  She has alot of things going on in her room and many cool ideas, her sight has a ton of stuff on it. Her blog sight definitely catches your eye and then you just keep looking.     
The music teacher videos almost everything I think and puts it on her blog. I am not into music, but neat ideas.
The speech blog was interesting just because we have several kids that have speech problems.
The ESL blog was also neat, many more ideas and other sights to check out.
My last blog was Nina Peery -choose to move- she   deals with ADHD and autism, her blog has tons of stuff on it, so many cool ideas we will probably try in our room. She has stations that she changes every month. She also has tedx talk videos, I enjoyed watching them.  She also sent me to the site "Free Technology for Teachers" check it out, if you haven;t already! Until next time.

Chapter 7 Reflection: Administrative Software

I thought this chapter was going to be boring at first but some of the software talked about, I was thinking of several uses in our classroom. Word processing in the classroom is used frequently in our building.  Spreadsheets not so often, but using them as a progress sheet in meeting goals from IEP's would be "handy".  Database system for student information is useful too.

I guess I've been evaluating software all the time -in my head-  just not using a software evaluation rubric.  That was new to me.

Chapter 6 Reflection: Digital Technologies in the Classroom

I liked the Dave Eggers TEDx talk.  I thought it was good after he got past the "and uhs.  826 Valencia tutoring center is a great idea.  I think the idea of a volunteer - driven tutoring center would be hard to kick off in this area.  Maybe a different kinda  setting might work, but would be cool.
Chapter 6 was interesting, so many digital technologies.  There could be so many different ways to use them in a classroom.  Using a digital camera is pretty popular with our kids, I am going to try your idea of putting their picture on the smart board so they can decorate themselves. Tablet PCs sounds like fun. The older elementary math students would love it and teachers could help them sooner if they need it.  Touch screens would be beneficial in our classroom.  I like the smart boards, they are difficult to use but once you get use to using them they're not hard.  My daughters class uses laptops and clickers in their classroom she loves it.

Digital technology is great and I enjoy using different tools in our classroom and I see where they can be beneficial to our kids, but some tools get outdated so fast, some kids do not have the opportunity to get new technologies or even update the ones they have, they may be lucky to have what they have.  Not every kid and parents have the money to keep up, so I hope teachers who are technology users keep this in mind. There are many kids that do not a have computer at home. They have other things to spend their money on just to survive. I guess in a way this can help them to set their goals higher.