Post # 9

The online tool that I looked at was on learning more about Marine Ecology. The website I found that was pretty interesting was http://www.secretsatsea.org. It is a website that would be useful in an elementary school setting, such as grades 3-5. It was interactive learning that would teach the student's facts about the ocean and how they can do things to help keep it clean. It is in essence an adventure game that the student's take to learn more about the ocean.

In the game, the student's must complete tasks that are related to what they learn as they go through the game. As they answer more questions, they get closer to solving the case. In this particular website, they are learning about whales. They find out what they eat, where they live, and other facts. There is a vocabulary sheet there to enhance what they are learning through the game. I think that this website could be extremely helpful in teaching young children about marine life and how to take care of the ocean. It is very kid friendly and easy to use and I think it would be a great tool to use in a classroom.

Another tool that I could use as a teacher is Excel. I think that I could use Excel and similar programs as a teacher. I could use this spreadsheet tool to keep track of student's grades and to help keep them organized in one place. I could also use it in a class project in a 7th grade science classroom as a way of organizing data. For example, if the student's were doing an experiment on plants, they could use Excel to keep track of plant growth, how much water they give the plants and other variables that are involved in the experiment. They could also develop charts on the program to help present their data in an well organized fashion. In chapter 13, it mentions various ways to use spreadsheets. I could use Excel to create charts and graphs that would present data on what we are learning. I could also use it to help calculate numbers that we are dealing with or to calculate grades. I think that using Excel as a teacher would be very beneficial and will enable me to keep track of grades in an easy manner.

Post # 8

For the powerpoint 2 assignment, I created a powerpoint that was a math review that incorporated the upcoming holiday of Thanksgiving. Following the guidelines set up in Chapter 8, I made sure that the text was easy to read against the background. I also used different kinds of graphics, incorporating some from WordArt, google images, and clip art. I never used more than 3 fonts per screen, and kept the colors consistent and less than 4. Each of the screens only had one purpose idea, either a question, or the answer that went along with the previous screen. I never used flashing text. All of the buttons that were included had a purpose that was quickly discovered once it was clicked on. I think that the powerpoint presentation that I created followed the guidelines in Chapter 8 very closely. As can be seen in the image on the left, I used consistent fonts, simple graphics that are relevant to the slide, and had a button that was clear and easy to use. 

There are a few ways that I can incorporate peripherals into a classroom. I can use printers to allow students to print off a project that they are working on. I can have them use cameras to capture photographs of something out of the classroom and bring back the pictures to incorporate into a project. In a classroom, we could also use video cameras to produce movies on what we are learning and show how it appears in life. For example, if they are learning about exercise, the students could make a movie to show different kinds of exercise and how to do each of those. I could use these peripherals with computer based technologies by having them take what they have made and put it onto the computer to present it to the class. They could make it into a powerpoint presentation, such as putting their pictures onto powerpoint to make a slideshow. There are many different options that are available to student's today.  

Some new skills that I have acquired within the last week or so that will enable me to further my teaching career are learning to be more adept with using the powerpoint program. I discovered some tools on there that I did not know existed before. I think that they will further enhance my teaching experience and allow my lessons to be given in an interesting manner. By using powerpoint, I can deliver lessons in an organized manner and also include videos, sounds, and graphics where appropriate. Powerpoint has a lot to offer and I think it will only make my teaching habits better and will allow me to use technology in a way that will be easy for students to understand.