Learning Theories and Comps

hey Lindsay,
After re-reading ALL of the submissions about learning theories, I have decided to print out some of them to put in my comps folder. This class has had many good assignments that can be used in that regard.

Learning Theories and Computer Integration

I enjoyed learning and reading about different learning theories. This project reminded me of college and the various theories of education. It was a nice refresher course on the history of education. I was interested to learn about social constructivism. I did not realize there was a difference between constructivism and social constructivism.
Throughout this project, I was interested to see the how the examples given by each of us varied tremendously. I say this not only because we each had a different theory, but because some examples were categorized differently from what I would have done. For example, one of my group members considered www.starfall.com a constructivist website. I disagreed and viewed it as more behaviorist. I personally like "starfall" and have it as an option for my children. However, I think the decodable text and repetitive nature of the website makes it more predictable. When I think of predictable, I think of behaviorism, due to the lack of higher level thinking.
Overall, I enjoyed this project. I feel it brought about many discussions within our group.

Spring Break

How wonderful it was to take a week away from all the worries in the world! I chose to spend the majority of my break at the beach, my favorite place to escape to. From the drive down to the beach until the day I returned, I experienced several uses of technology within one piece: The Garmin. I laughed at my husband when he received this as a gift for Christmas. After this trip, I want one of my own. I typed in the beach address into the Garmin before I left my driveway. It automatically recognized the address before I could finish typing. Throughout the trip, I chose to deviate slightly from the Garmin's path. I took a few different turns my dad had suggested so I would arrive sooner. The Garmin would automatically recalculate itself when I did this. It was very helpful, because it also told me where to turn and when. The Garmin also tells you how many miles until your next turn. This works great with my personality. I knew exactly what to expect and when. My favorite feature is how the Garmin tells you your arrival time. I went through a drive through at one point and it quickly recalculated the arrival time. You can also tell whether or not you are speeding, because the time will change to an earlier one if you are. Overall, I was pleased with the Garmin and my experience with a new piece of technology. It was like receiving a new toy!

Learning is....

Learning means a lot of things to me. I think learning is any new information taken from an experience. For example, I went to Academy tonight to look for a tennis racquet. Like anything else in life for sell, there are items that are more expensive than others. I knew that the name-brand racquet must be more, however I wasn't sure why. After holding several tennis racquets, I realized that the more expensive rackets were lighter and more comfortable to hold. Bingo! That is why they were double the amount. I will consider this what I learned today! Pretty neat learning for Spring Break. It just happened to be the most recent thought on my mind.
I was interested to see the other definitions of learning shared from my group members. I agreed with their definitions, however I did not think to word them the same way. I think the important thing to remember when we think about children learning-is how we are teaching. I know I personally respond better to hands-on/visual experiences. Some children, on the other hand, are more abstract and prefer more straight-forward teaching. As long as we keep a healthy variety of teaching methods, I think we are always reaching out to our children's needs!

photo story & audacity

Audacity and Photo Story are two programs that I have been learning about lately. The social studies course I am currently taking required us to do a group presentation this week in class. We were each given articles to read, do research on, and share in the form of a presentation. We decided to survey several children and ask them what they think a good social studies teacher does. In order to share their responses, I had to download a program to record their voices. This was going fine until I inserted their clips into my group's power point and emailed it back to her. What do you know... and the clips were not working from my group member's computer. I had saved the files incorrectly. So, we finally discoverd that I needed to email them to her so she could save them to her computer and then reinsert them in the power point. That solved the problem and we were able to successfully present our power point. I plan to use audacity now! I really like its simplicity. It is easy to use and easily accessible.
Photo Story is the other program I am working toward learning how to use. Our class recently published a book. I want to record each child reading their page of the book while viewing the pages being turned in the book. A girl in my social studies class did this with Is There Really A Human Race? It was precious! I am hoping to scan the photos in this weekend and get started on it. I think it would make a great literacy center for my kindergarten children to visit as well as a sweet end of the year gift to my children. After all, this is their book!

technology helpers

what a great idea to have upper grade students available for a technology consult! Sometimes my second graders even help me, but (finally) I am usually able to stay one step ahead of them. The little boy who lives next door to me has bailed me out many times. I think part of the reason is that kids just aren't afraid of technology. They have grown up with it and they are comfortable experimenting. I am always afraid that I will permanently lose a file or screw something up. I have found that children are much more patient teachers than adults are.

I agree with Emily about typing. That's all we learned in high school: typing, typing, and more typing. It reminds me of round robin reading...there is not much meaning, but a lot of repetition. The class should have been called "Typing 101". I have to say, I did learn how to sit up properly when writing and what fingers to use to type what letters. That helped me build a foundation of some kind, however it was not meaningful to me until instant messaging became so big on AOL. Then it was text messaging from cell phones, and now it is "facebook" and "my space". Wow, how times have changed! I can only imagine what schools will be doing with kids once I have children of my own.
This brings me to my next thought: students teaching teachers. Our assistant principal included something interesting in his Friday Memo. He said a fifth grade student came to a second grade classroom to teach her how to use a technology program. How wonderful would that be for our school to create a list of students who are proficient in technology and which programs they are particularly strong in. I would love to learn directly from children for a change. I learn from children every day, however this would be a unique opportunity and experience to have for a change. Perhaps this is something to mention for resources within our school.

Chapter 4

Chapter four was easier for me to understand. Probably the easiest so far. This probably stems from using so much of this technology frequently. Word processors are used by me EVERY DAY! On the other hand, spreadsheets are not at ALL my favorite. This just goes to show you how intimidating the unknown can often be! I do not expose myself to spreadsheets enough, therefore they continue to keep me scared. I would much rather prefer to enter a table in Microsoft Word. I am much more familiar with manipulating columns and rows that way. I especially LOVE the new version of Microsoft Office. My favorite feature is how you can highlight your work and scroll through your options-it allows you to view your options as you scroll. Furthermore, you are saving time by not having to click back and forth so many times!
I also often use Microsoft Publisher at school to create my monthly calendar that I send home with my children. I like it as well, but have not figured out what features it has that cannot be used in Word. The only parts I can think of are the various wizards containing a wide range of options. For example: business cards, calendars, posters, newsletters, etc. There seem to be more technical options as far as color schemes, trademarks, water marks, arrangements, etc. I most often stick with Microsoft Word, because it is the most commonly used program that I found with parents in my class. This keeps version recognition under way as well! This way all my parents are in the "know" of what we are doing!

posting with the flu

I feel like everytime I post, I am complaining about something. Well, this time(which i hope to be the last complaint) is that I have the flu. That would explain why this message was not posted on Tuesday, but instead Friday. I took my rabbit to the vet Tuesday(who has pneumonia) and then finally got myself to the doctor. I felt pretty yucky, but did NOT AT ALL expect the doctor to diagnose me with the flu. Anyway, today is a much better day. I actually got out of the house this afternoon and went to the post office and cleaners. It felt WONDERFUL to get some fresh air. I am hoping for nice weather this weekend to get out a little more and clear up the congestion going on in my chest!
So, back to the topic of technology. I enjoyed reading the technology affordances from my group. I was amazed to see how a small handful of people would come up with so many different ways to use technology OR not use technology. I have to say, there are ALWAYS pros and cons to both. The one pro I am thinking of right now is that our group was able to communicate about our affordances solely through email and blogging. That is impressive to me, because I am used to being able to talk to people face to face or on the phone. Originally, that is what made me nervous about the class....depending on others to reply promptly or just simaltaneously. I guess it all worked out!

blogging on our group spots

Perhaps I am frustrated today. I like to be organized and on time. This week has not allowed me to follow through with my expectations and goals for myself. I guess I may be a little used to the friendly email reminders at work from various people such as our reading coach, principal, and even co-workers. I went online the other night from my parents' computer to post my assignment and could not do so because the message box would not appear. Computers can be so wonderful and convenient at times and unfortunately they let you down when you need them the most. Needless to say, my assignment was a day late.
On the other hand, I have to say I have enjoyed interacting with others from my group. It is interesting to see how other people use technology in their classroom and what they consider to be a pro and a con. It is often very obvious that we come from different grade levels, because I would not be able to use technology the same way in my kindergarten classroom.
I am excited that Dr. Wang has decided to provide "in person" assistance to us if needed. I think a review and question-answer session would be very beneficial to me! For now, I will keep on truckin'!

The new vs. the old

Chapter two touched home with me for several reasons. I never thought about how there is a constructivist way to use technology instead of an objectivist approach. You would think after four years as an undergrad and over a year of grad school at UAB that this would have occurred to me. Computer programs that are test preparatory were the most commonly mentioned in chapter two. This would not necessarily relate kindergarten, however it made me think about the interaction my children have with the computer. My children often use the computer for typing their writing in a word document, emailing their parents, listening to stories online(Bookflix & Starfall), playing math games, and playing Kid Pix. I try and limit starfall.com because it contains a lot of decodable text. I personally think the online stories are more meaningful! I guess from a philosophical view point, starfall would probably be a more objectivist approach to technology. I like Microsoft Word and Kid Pix, because kindergartners are able to type and then personalize and extend their writing with clip art and background options. The math games I have on my computer are new, therefore I am not as familiar with them. So far, I have noticed it is very interactive-as the child must move manipulatives with the mouse to place them where they belong. This program also allows free exploration, which is always a plus for any introduction to a math lesson. Overall, this chapter was interesting. It was also helpful to review some of the educational philosophers main points.

the blog

I have to say, I have been quite overwhelmed lately with the blog. I think I am overlooking the simplicity of it and making it harder than it really is. It all begins when I go to find my blog. I forget the url. Once I find or remember the url, I forget my password to customize my blog. For some reason, I keep forgetting that the user name to log in is my email. Well guess what? I have two email addresses. Luckily I did decide to use the same password for everything this time. However, it makes me wonder why UAB gets to decide how strong our password is. The reason I say this is because my universal password was not good enough for them. Oh well! After logging in several times and posting on a few friends' blogs, I am feeling better. Practice does make perfect, or better anyway. Oh, and I am looking forward to learning how to send notices to friends via email about blog updates. I was excited to receive notices about how to visit with other people from our class. I think this is helping us become better acquainted with blogging as well as with each other. I have to say, I am curious as to how I would have my kindergarten class independently blog. I think I 'll end on that thought. Bye for now!

Hope's first snow!

And she loved it!

Hope getting ready to go in the snow!

the beginning of our blog

We learned how to create our blog in class today. I am excited about being able to communicate with other teachers from our class. I am looking forward to learning about different technology opportunities available to me as a kindergarten teacher.