Title: Authors "in Residence" Make Writing Fun!
Author: Chelsea Hagins, Jackie Austin, Raven Jones, and Taylor Timmons
This Article was about an online writing mentor (who is a childrens author) that helped 4 fourth graders with their original stories. The writers would email their stories to the mentor and the mentor would respond with praise, constructive criticism, and ways the children could improve their stories. The children responded well and in the end they revealed that writing on computers and having someone all to themselves to read and edit their work allowed them to enjoy writing and understand how to write better, more creative stories. I felt that this was a great idea but that it would be very hard to hook up with an actual childrens author to mentor kids in an elementary school. I also think it would be difficult to choose just 4 or a low amount of kids to do this when in reality, all kids should get the opportunity to.
Q1: How could I change this approach to include all the kids in my classroom?
A1: I think it would be really interesting to try and hook up with a high school class or even a college class to evaluate and read my elementary class's work. I think we could even use blogger.com for children to type their work and receive comments from upper classmen. I think that by hooking up with another class, the students could have personal mentors and work one on one rather than sharing mentors.
Q2: How could I incorporate typing in my classroom other than doing this program?
A2: When I was in school, we never had to type anything. But since computers are a necessity and a part of everyday life, I think it is important for young children to learn how to type. I also think that typing allows children to enjoy writing more because it is more "fun" and less tiring than writing with a pencil and paper. I think I would just tell the children to type essays or other class writings rather than writing them for homework, or if I had a sufficient amount of computers in class they could even do class work on the computer.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Online Tools That Really Shine
Title: Online Tools That Really Shine
Author: Gail Lovely
This article was about using different web based tools to further students learning. They are websites that students can go on to practice certain skills or websites for teachers to download lesson plans or stories to teach to their class. I thought these websites were an amazing idea. I think that with the way technology is becoming more of the "norm" that having students work on computers to practice skills will help them with those skills and will help them learn how to use certain technology. I also think that the kids would get a better knowledge of the subject matter because they are using a different method of learning rather than just listening to the teacher lecture. They get to put their skills to use in a more fun and interactive way than writing on paper. I also thought it was neat that the teachers have websites where they can buy subscriptions to. I think that with the decreasing education budget, there is not enough materials for teachers therefore they can go out and get it on their own now.
Q1: For which subjects would I as a teacher use online tools for?
A1: I think that math is a subject that students would benefit from greatly. I think that there are really efficient online games that help them with their skills but in a fun way. It can be an interactive game, puzzle, or quiz. I just think that being on a computer is already interesting enough but with the added colors and interactive component, it makes learning more fun and more effective than with an old fashioned pencil and paper. I think vocabulary and grammar would also be good subjects to learn on computers or to enhance the knowledge of.
Q2: What kinds of material would I want to download off the Internet?
A2: I think I would want to research and maybe use other peoples lesson plans. I know that creating lesson plans is extremely time consuming so for those days when time is of the essence, I can go online, read through a few and pick one I like. I also think that buying subscriptions to online reading material can help the kids knowledge because not every school has a fully stocked library or money to buy new books.
Author: Gail Lovely
This article was about using different web based tools to further students learning. They are websites that students can go on to practice certain skills or websites for teachers to download lesson plans or stories to teach to their class. I thought these websites were an amazing idea. I think that with the way technology is becoming more of the "norm" that having students work on computers to practice skills will help them with those skills and will help them learn how to use certain technology. I also think that the kids would get a better knowledge of the subject matter because they are using a different method of learning rather than just listening to the teacher lecture. They get to put their skills to use in a more fun and interactive way than writing on paper. I also thought it was neat that the teachers have websites where they can buy subscriptions to. I think that with the decreasing education budget, there is not enough materials for teachers therefore they can go out and get it on their own now.
Q1: For which subjects would I as a teacher use online tools for?
A1: I think that math is a subject that students would benefit from greatly. I think that there are really efficient online games that help them with their skills but in a fun way. It can be an interactive game, puzzle, or quiz. I just think that being on a computer is already interesting enough but with the added colors and interactive component, it makes learning more fun and more effective than with an old fashioned pencil and paper. I think vocabulary and grammar would also be good subjects to learn on computers or to enhance the knowledge of.
Q2: What kinds of material would I want to download off the Internet?
A2: I think I would want to research and maybe use other peoples lesson plans. I know that creating lesson plans is extremely time consuming so for those days when time is of the essence, I can go online, read through a few and pick one I like. I also think that buying subscriptions to online reading material can help the kids knowledge because not every school has a fully stocked library or money to buy new books.
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