Critical Reflection #2

Reflection #2

The first article I read was called: Before Bringing in New Tools, You Must First Bring in New Thinking. This article was about the new age of technology and how ipads, laptops, smart boards and more are starting to come into the classrooms. I agree with him when he was talking about how we are bringing in the new technology to the classrooms and that changes the tools that we use to teach. He also talked about how we need to change the way we think. Teaching our future generation on the new technology I would agree with him about how we as teachers will not always know the answer to everything or how to do everything.The second article I read was called:Teaching the Right Stuff Not yesterday’s stuff or today’s—but tomorrow’s! In this article he talked about how the times have changed and technology has changed and now is a big part of our education. I thought it was interesting how he said that the three main things he learned when he was in school was how to

write a letter, a report and an essay. Now you write emails, make PowerPoint presentations, blogs and articles. The technology keeps improving and as educators we have to stay on top of it so we know what all the new stuff is. In this article he talked about three main things of technology  that the students should be learning how to do are working in virtual communities, making videos and programming.

Critical Reflection #3

Critical Reflection #3

After playing around with all the different google apps that google has to offer I have found them to be very useful. I had never really used any of the apps that google has to offer until I started this class. I really like the google docs, because I like how you can do forms, presentations, documents and more and they all save right onto your google account so you can access it from anywhere. One thing that is really convenient about google is that it has so many different apps to offer in just one area. Google calendar, Google plus and gmail all are great ways to keep organized and up to date on what’s going. The google apps will be great to use in the classroom for not just the teachers but for the students as well. Having the teacher make a blog or website for the class could be effective for not only the students but the parents as well. As teachers we can update the blog or website with what the students are learning, any homework that they might have, extra practice activities for a certain subject, fun and educational games, pictures of the class and other important dates. Some other apps that I have looked at but haven’t used as much are google wallet, photos, videos, shopping, reader, finance, and more.

Critical Reflection #4

Critical Reflection #4 

Copyright rules and laws play a role in everybody's life whether they realize it or not. I myself have to always remember when I am looking up information on the internet for homework that I have to obey to copyright laws.Th copyright symbol is usually always there, but most people either tend not to see it or notice it because its always there. Copyright laws are very serious matters. In any of my class my teachers always say that if they find out we copyrighted something from a website, book, article or any other source that we would automatically get a zero. Some teachers especially in college would kick you out of the class or even the school. What most people need to remember is that the internet is not a public domain. Schools can even sell you out for file sharing, which has been a huge problem for colleges. Copyright laws are also to protect you and your own work. It is always a good idea to ask the owner of the material if it is ok to use their work if you're not sure. I think that as a teacher it is important to teach the students about the copyright laws at a young age so the can know the rules before they think about using someone elses work.

Critical Reflections #1

Reflection #1

I enjoyed  reading the educational technology and the Bill of Rights for students blog. I felt like it was very informative and I would have to agree with him on some of those things. Before this class I have never used Google docs before I had heard of it but never used it. Now that I have experienced and messed around with some of the things Google has to offer I’m surprised that so many people still use Microsoft Word. Another thing I really liked that he mentioned in his blog was how easy it is to save stuff to the cloud and how flash drives can get lost or smashed. I like the fact that even on Google docs you can save a bunch of stuff on it and then you can access it from any computer. I think that most people agree with at least a majority or all of the Bill of Rights for Students that he was talking about. 



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Special Project

In Ed. Tech class we made picture boxes. I thought that this was a very cute idea and it was pretty easy to make because we had templates to trace. Inside the box once you had it all folded up you could put pictures on all the sides and on the second layer. I think this is such a cute craft and would make a cute gift for a parents or grandparents. 

The outside of the box

One of the inside layers

Second inside layer

Using Google Apps. In The Classroom

There are so many different things you can do on Google. Google has many different apps that can be useful in the classroom such as Google Docs, PowerPoint  sites, calendar and more. You can create a blog or website for your classroom and then you can teach the students how to make their own blogs or websites as well. Google Docs is a good app to use in the classroom because you can have them work on assignments and then they can share them and work on them from any computer.

Apple In Education

I think that using ipads in the classroom can be very effective and helpful. There are so many different things you can do with them and use them for. After using the ipads in class I have learned that there are many different apps that you can get for free that would be useful to a classroom. One app that I found to be useful no matter what grade you are teaching is the whiteboard app, which you can draw or write your answers on them and you can use it for any subject.