Field Experience

One of the great things I got to be a part of in my host classroom was a guided reading. This was done in groups of three based on reading levels. Each student would take turns reading a page. While they were reading the teacher would keep a running record to keep track of fluency. I thought that my teacher did an excellent job at asking questions throughout the story and making sure that they could comprehend what was happening in the story. After watching the guided reading I got to do my own. I had the group read the story and I came up with two activities for comprehension of the story. One was a puzzle. I photo copied some pictures and had the students put them in order as it was in the story. For the other activity I used magnetic letters and had them spell out vocabulary words from the book. I was greatful that my lesson went well and the students were engaged and able to perform the activities.

Shawn

Reading Thoughts

I was particularly interested in the assigned reading we had on the website "Welcome to the Digital Citizenship Wiki!" Before reading this article I did not know what digital citizenship was. I learned that it is "a process where all users of technology can learn what is acceptable use. It provides a framework in which all users can begin to ask what they should be doing with respect to technology. It is an attempt to provide a consistent message to students, teachers, parents and all users alike about what they need to do to be productive users of digital technologies" (http://digitalcitizenship.pbworks.com/). There are nine elements that make up Digital Citizenship, and they are all very new and important ideas that people should be aware of. Our society needs to use technology appropriately, and this will provide more opportunities for everyone.

-Heidi Bennett

Using the netbook in other settings

I think another way to incorporate using the netbooks with students outside the classroom (other than the nature walk) is to create and interactive program that goes along with exhibits at a local museum, then go on a field trip to that museum and have the students work in groups to complete the activities in the interactive program.  These activities will not have to be completed in order so that students do not all crowd around the same exhibit.  The students will be expected to finish the entire program before the field trip is over and post their activity responses in their blog when they return to the classroom.

Melissa Santana

Nature is Everywhere!

This is a picture of a beautiful maple tree located on SUNY Cortland's Campus. The tree is full of vibrant colors, and it is mostly a deep red color. Fall is my favorite season of the year, because all of the trees leaves change so many different colors. I particularly liked the tree I took a picture of because, red is my favorite color, and this trees leaves have so many different tones of red on each of the leaves. I will be observing this tree throughout the semester, and eventually all the beautiful leaves will fall off this tree and the winter season will begin.

-Heidi Bennett

My Nature Walk

I took this picture on my nature walk. I have these awesome woods behind my house. I thought this tree was really cool because it was pretty tall, although you can't tell because I wasn't able to get the whole tree in the picture. I wonder how long it took the tree to get to the height it is and what kind of history it saw in its life.

Also, you can see my umbrella in the top of the picture because when I went on my walk it was raining and I didn't want my netbook to to get wet. Although the weather almost reminded me of Racquette Lake, I had fun on my nature walk observing the things around me.

Heather Clark

NATURE WALK

Last weekend I went to Watkins Glen State Park which is known for its many waterfalls and trails. It was my first time and it was alot of walking but many beautiful sights to capture on camera. There were tunnels, lots of steps, waterfalls, trails that led into the woods, a cemetary, bridges, and a park. One of my favorite pictures was taken from the top of the hill, on an outlook where you could see across the park into a field. A great view of how beautiful Fall really is!

Nature Walk

There is an example of MDL in use

Here is Humphrey on my Nature Walk

He is a very cute puppy!

Woods

More woods

Here is the path that we walked along during the nature walk

Cool branch

Humphrey exploring the ground

I was checking my netbook's ability to take close-up pictures.  I think it worked pretty well.  I did not like having to carry the computer around in the woods, it made me very nervous to walk around with it open so that I could continue to take pictures and it takes a while to load when I close the computer so I do not see that being an option.  I would not really see this as a good idea for younger children as it is very expensive and risky to have kids taking these outside just to take pictures, I think that it would be much more economical to use a digital camera and a notebook to journal, and upload the pictures when they get back to the classroom. 

Melissa Santana

Ups and Downs of using a Net Book!

The net book is a very small, and lightweight laptop computer. It is convenient to bring with you on the go, and it weighs less than some of my school textbooks. I love being able to access the web whenever and wherever I want, and it even has a long battery life. My laptop has really bad battery life and I need to plug it in frequently, but with the net book I barely need to charge it. The downside of the net book is that it does not have a CD drive, and this means you cannot install anything in the form of a CD.

-Heidi Bennett

Field Experience

The fourth grade classroom that I am hosting in has been such a great experience for me. My host teacher has her computer hooked up to the television (mounted on the wall), and it has a sentence with a underlined word that shows up on the television screen. The students need to write down the sentence in their journals, and then think of synonyms that are associated with the underlined word. The children have so much fun doing this activity, and all of the students have a chance to be involved and respond. She writes the words that the children came up with, and then she goes on a website that has all the synonyms words, and together they see if they came up with all the words.

-Heidi Bennett

Here is our group!! Shawn, Heidi, Heather, and Melissa.

Positive attitude!!!

Weekly Reading

I read a website for homework that has introduced me to many different types of tutorials on "Top Ten Tools For Young Learners," (http://glovely09.wetpaint.com/page/TopTen+for+Young+Learners)
and this is something important that you can introduce to your students. There is a particular tool that I found would be useful in my fourth grade classroom, and it is the "Kerpoof Studio." This website lets children create their own movie, and I would have my fourth grade class create a mini movie based on a chapter book they read. They can add pictures, text, and they have complete control of individually personalizing the story they read. This is the direct website that you go to for creating your own story board, (http://www.kerpoof.com/#/activity/storybook.)

-Heidi Bennett

field experience

Field experience-

One of the great moments in my field experience was teaching my class lesson. I had learned a lot from my host teacher and gained confidence through watching her and adapting her great ideas to my own lesson. I taught a lesson on friendship. It went very well and the students really enjoyed the activity. I did a read alout based on the topic of friends, then we had a discussion about it and i wrote what they said on the marker board. This was one of the good ideas that I had learned from my host teacher, to discuss the book and then use words from the book as vocab words and write them on the marker board during the discussion. After the discussion I explained the next activity of the lesson. I had taken pictures of all the students in pairs and now I was asking them to write about how the person in their picture is a good friend to them. This was a great experience for me and the teacher liked my activity idea so much that she did something similar for one of her lessons.

Shawn

MLD

Mobile Learning Device

I have found things that I like and do not like about my netbook.  I love that it is small and light, which makes it very portable and easy to use at school and work, but it does not have all of the options that my personal laptop has.  I cannot put disks into the netbook so I can't install programs that I have already purchased.  I have also found that the netbook is very slow at starting up.  I do not shut it down, I only put it in sleep mode because it takes to long to shut down and start up, and it also takes a long time to connect to the Verizon Network.  The small amount of memory on the netbook is also a problem for me because I like to save all my pictures and documents in an easily accessible place, but I have to carry around an external flash drive as well as an external mouse because I find that the mouse pad on the laptop is too small and difficult to navigate.  

-Melissa Santana

Games for Kids

Daily Technical Tricks and Resources

I found this article with 10 good sites that children can use to play games on a classroom computer. All of the sites have educational games and help students practice topics within the classroom or give them a chance to do something that interests that and de-stress without violence or misbehavior.

http://www.emergingedtech.com/2009/09/10-free-educational-game-sites/

The best part about the article is that the sites are defined with what grade levels the site works with with bios about topics and what type of games are on the sites.

Heather Clark

MLD Experience

My experience with the mobile learning device has forced me to adjust to a small keyboard and touch pad. This was hard to do at first, but the more practice and time I spent on the net book, the better I became at using it. I use my net book to create unique calendars, and fliers for the classroom that I am hosting in. I use pictures and colorful fonts to make my papers more appealing to peoples eyes. I found a great website that is a tutorial for creating appealing fliers and calendars for the classroom. The website is below and you can copy and paste the link into your browser.
(http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:Bwd8C3UVA0kJ:www.epa.net/launch/epafls/download/content_uploads/subsites/taps/spls_/_classes/Creating%2520a%2520flyer%2520with%2520MS%2520Publisher.pdf%3Fversion_id%3D568788+how+to+make+microsoft+publisher+flyers+eye+catching&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiZ3ZXnnmkqV2trA9lB0I2hfMYZKZ9rC-t-LEXoXhBhQaYL8YnRr9sp3KBdICisORSUJQQU5NJ3CHHj_jwaeTaAdTNBFF5N1bUcbuGP1qAk2YFIfSZPSOqItmdKTliu-_o6nPUx&sig=AHIEtbTaOcMvkANVHY0Io8t88a7noEZ4UA)

Heidi Bennett

You can use your computer as a phone!

Daily Technical Tricks and Resources

I have recently learned how to use the computer to make phone calls. If you have a Gmail account, it allows you to use your computer's microphone and speakers for free, to call your friends and family. It is so convenient to call people directly on their phones from your computer, and it allows you to have your hand be free to do work and talk at the same time. I do not own a house phone, and so when I misplace my cell phone it is very difficult to find at times. But the fact that my computer can call it, save me time and energy of looking for it. I found a website that has easy to follow directions, and a video that provides you with short tutorial about how to use your Gmail account as a phone (http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/call-phones-from-gmail.html).

Heidi Bennett

Field Experience That I Will Use In My Own Classroom

I have learned many new ideas from my field observations, and there are many cool puzzles that my teacher uses to help the students practice adding and subtracting. They have to label each of the letters of the alphabet with a number, and they have a word and the children have to find out the value of the word with the corresponding numbers with each letter. They also have to add certain words, and then they have to subtract the total of two specific words. I am going to use this is my classroom because I saw how much fun the students were having fun. I think it is important for students to have fun while they are learning and practicing new things.

-Heidi

field experience

Field Experience

In one of my observations I watched the teacher use the smartboard for sentence work. The students came up to the board and made corrections to the sentences and filled in the words. The teacher also assisted in this activity writing in words as the students mentioned them. I had the great experience of teaching the class using this system on the smartboard. The teacher allowed me to teach the whole lesson using the smartboard and calling on students to come up and make the corrections.

Shawn Travis

Technology in the Classroom

Field Experience

I am observing and participating in a fourth grade classroom at Randall Elementary School in Cortland. There is a rolling cart that is filled with about thirty net books for each of the children to use individually. The students are eager to use the small computers, and it helps them to practice on improving their typing and computer skills. The students use the computers weekly, to either type up their autobiographies, or use it to do a fun math activity. It is so interesting to watch the children use the net books, because the keyboard is a perfect fit for their small hands. When students use the computers they become very quiet and involved with the work that is asked of them. I believe it is important for children to become engaged in their schoolwork in more than one way. For example, the students are using their reading skills, writing skills, and computer skills all in one to create one assignment which is their autobiography.

Heidi Bennett

First day in 4th grade

Field Experience

On Thursday September 23, 2010 I went to Mrs. Riley's 4th grade class for the first time. I was introduced to the students as another adult in the class with authority, then I was given time to observe the class and how they interact with each other. I thought Mrs. Riley isn't doing community building to optimize student interaction and good behavior as Kim Kennedy is teaching us about. The children aren't really focusing in on the read aloud while the teacher reads to them, maybe they would pay more attention if they had paper copies of the book. Although I did notice hand-raising when students wanted to talk and some students even related stories to their own experiences so classmates could understand points in the book better.

By the time the day was over, I learned some students have reading problems and I believe one student has attention problems. This class will help me learn about working with different abilities within one activity and increase my patience when working with individual students.

Heather Clark