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.

Copyright in the classroom

Copyright in the classroom is taken very seriously and I think it should be. It is not that hard to paraphrase a few sentences if you want to use the ideas of other people. I think that people should not be able to just use other people's work without citing it first because those people who originally wrote it aren't getting any credit for their work. It's unfair for the people or originally wrote the work if people don't cite or paraphrase. Copyrighting is somewhat and should be a very serious crime.

Educational Software

I believe educational software helps students to learn while having fun at the same time. I think students in elementary school should have a little bit of time where they are allowed to use the computers and play or use educational software. It would let the children have fun and could also help them learn math or any educational information. I think students would love to have time on computers during school, it would get some energy out of their body because they would be doing something fun instead of just sitting in the classroom all day. Also it would give them a little experience using computers because technology is very important in the world today.

Graphic Organizers in the classroom :-)

I think using graphic organizers in the classroom is a very good idea because it helps children to understand the material they are being taught. It is a way for students to relate individual information to other information. Graphic organizers can be a good way for children to study for tests in subjects such as history and english information. Also when writing a paper children can use that to organize their information they are writing about. There are many different types of graphic organizers children can use.

Interactive White Boards (SMART Boards)

Interactive white boards are a tool for teachers to help project material in a different way. Interactive white boards helps energize and motivate learners in a classroom. A combination of a simple white board and a computer to engage all students around the world. The touch display connects to your computer and projector to put the information onto the screen. You can control computer applications on the screen, write notes in digital ink and also save work to pull up and present later. It is a phenomonal tool in the classroom to show information in a new way and if you can use a computer you can use the interactive white board also known as the SMART Board.

Internet Safety with young children

Internet is a very helpful source for children to research for projects for school or even just to learn, but there are also many hazards with letting your children on the internet. When getting on the internet, it is possible to access the world. A child can type a word missing letters by accident or add letters and type a word that is total opposite which could bring up violence websites or pornography. When letting a child on the internet, someone should definately be supervising and even helping type the correct words. There are even laws made that help protect children from putting too much information about themselves on it before parents see it. One law is the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act which requires websites to explain privacy policies before letting children enter information and also does not allow websites to make children enter too much information to enter a contest or play a game. There are also pop up blockers or parental controls online that parents can use to keep unwanted information from coming up. Parents should keep the computer in a common room and keep the child supervised when letting them on it, share an email address with the child, bookmark chilren's favorite sites for easy access, spend time with children online and teach them appropriate behavior and sites while online and seek online protection help.