Welcome to Elementary School

Today we had our first visit with the elementary school we will be observing. Our class got a brief introduction to the school. We were given a quick tour of the school, and everyone got to meet their assigned teacher. My teacher has a second grade class, and they use technology regularly throughout the day. Their school has so many different tools to use. They are very modern and up to date with their technology. I cannot wait to see how they incorporate technology into their schoolwork because this is the area I see myself teaching. I am hoping to teach second or third grade so this should really help me visualize what I would like to do in my classroom. The school seemed to happily welcome us, and I can only hope I get the chance to use some of the things I learn from them in my very own classroom.

Goodbye Middle School

This week was my last week visiting the middle school. It was so sad to know that I would be leaving them. On my last day I did get to see them using their IPods. They were broken up into groups and given an assignment based on a person in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Black Cabinet. They were given a member of the cabinet and had to find at least five facts about that person.  Most of the groups used their time wisely and easily found enough facts. However, there were some groups who had difficulty finding all the facts they needed, but overall they seemed to work well in their groups and with the technology. The main problem with the IPods would be the wireless connection making the internet really slow, but most of the students are use to this and deal with it the best that they can. I will miss visiting their class and seeing how well they incorporate new technology with their schoolwork.

PowerPoint Presentation Day at Our Host Middle School

Today during my visit I was able to see the students' PowerPoint presentations. They had to choose three things to discuss during the Progressive Era and have pictures and bullets in their presentations. All of the students seemed to be well versed in how to use this aspect of technology. Their presentations looked to be very well organized and contained everythng the teacher asked them to include. Of course, some students appeared to be more advanced in their PowerPoint presentations than others, and some were nervous to have to stand up and present their project in their class. However, they all overcame their fears and were able to present their PowerPoints to the class. The only problem some of them had was their grammar and spelling, but you could understand what they were trying to say. Overall I was very surprised with how well everyone's project turned out and how all of them were able to stand up in front of their class and present their project.

My First Day

This past week I had my first visit to our middle school. It was a nice size classroom, a little smaller than I remembered. They did have a lot of upgrades in the classroom. They use a smartboard to take notes. When I was in school we used an overhead projector where the teacher would write with a marker and roll the plastic to a clean sheet to start new notes. They use the smartboard to have a PowerPoint on the screen. The teacher also gave them a PowerPoint project that will be due next week. When I was in middle school we had never heard of PowerPoint. They were also going to get to use ipads in class next week to work on their PowerPoint. They were cautioned about the slow wireless connections though. I know in our middle school we only had computer lab that was able to get internet service for us. It is amazing how much new technology is used in schools and how much it affects what is taught in school.