Wikis in the classroom

Using wikis is a good idea as well but the students would have to be in fourth or fifth grade probably to be able to understand the concept. I think the students would like to research and make their own website kind of as a class. The teacher could give them a topic to research and they would have to research it and maybe write a few sentences about it. And then another day or night for homework have them look at someone elses post and make sure it is correct. This seems like a great learning tool about effective websites and things of that nature.

Blogs in the classroom

I think using blogs in the classroom is a great idea to let the children tell you how they're feeling along with getting some experience with computers. This would probably be helpful when the students are in 3rd grade or higher. At the end of the day the students could write how their day went and what the favorite thing they learned was. Using a computer excites children when they are younger because they don't normally get to. I love the idea of having them evaluate everyday using blogs.

Cool Tools on the web

There are many resources on the internet for teachers with templates for anything a teacher would ever need to teach. These templates save a lot of time and keep the assignment generic. As a teacher, you could add to the template or change it slightly but I think because teachers are so busy these tools online are awesome. Teachers in every classroom should use them.

Collaborative Tools

Collaborative tools are great to use in the classroom. The entire class is able to get involved in some way with the collaborative tools. Using collaborative tools forces the students to work together to form one product. This forces the students to learn how to cooperate with each other and learn to work in groups. This is a very effective way to teach a topic.

Power Point in the classroom

Power points are a good way to present new information to a classroom of students. It is an organized form of presenting the information especially to young students. I have a feeling that students will pay more attention if the teacher makes the power point interesting and colorful rather than if I just put an overhead up with notes. Children are probably more likely to watch a power point rather than just listen or watch what I'm writing on the board. I will use power point in my classroom and see how it works with elementary school students.

Excel

Microsoft excel is a very helpful program when being a teacher. They are great for displaying grades of the students in your class. I think I will use excel spreadsheets when I become a teacher. I might also teach my students how to use excel depending on what grade I teach because it would be good for math or teaching them what graphs are and having them practice with graphs. They are really useful for a lot of projects and concepts that as a teacher we use or cover.

Technology in Teaching

The use of computers and all kinds of technology takes place everyday in schools and at homes. I think students should have the chance to use computers for at least 20 min a day in the classrooms at school. Technology is our major source of information in the world today so students should get some experience using the web early in their lives.