Power Down Day

          So I did not go one whole day without using technology. With work, my social life and having this class on-line I am always using technology. I read this assignment and thought it would be interesting to see if I could do this so I was going to try to go without using any technology from 5 p.m. yesterday until 5 p.m. today. I was doing so good in the beginning and I told myself I could do this, then a huge storm came and I started worrying and had to use my cell phone unfortunately because I was not at home. Then when I got home our electricity went out and I continued to use my phone to contact people and get news about the storm and to get on Facebook to keep myself occupied for a little bit because I am terrified of severe storms. Then today I realized I had to do some stuff for school before five o’clock today on my lap top so I had to use technology then too.  Also when I think about it I couldn’t have gone one day this past week without technology because of being so busy. Being a supervisor at a grocery store I use technology, I have to use the cash register and the intercom which would both be considered technology. Also I am glued to my phone, I can’t think of one day I don’t use it. Especially because of trying to get a hold of my parents when I need to ask them an important question and I also tutor a girl so I need to use my phone to be able to get a hold of her so she knows what time I can come, etc.  It was harder than I expected to go without technology, you don’t realize how much you talk on the phone or get on the computer until you actually sit down and think about it, and then it is surprising. Although one thing is I do not watch much television and I can say that I didn’t play any video games, and loosing electricity from the storm eliminates some technology out of my day. I would recommend this to my friends and I would like to try it again because it would be interesting to see how many text messages you actually get, how many voicemails, how many Facebook notifications, etc. It would probably be nice to go one whole day with peace and quiet and no distractions all day from our technology.

Bullying Needs to Stop

               

                I think that bullying needs to stop and children need to learn that it is not ok. Children need to learn to respect all people and get along with others. Students need to accept that everyone is different and to not make fun of them. I think that the next generation of children, the bullying and disrespectfulness is just going to get a little worse so it needs to be stopped now. Why are children being so mean to each other and why are more children becoming more disrespectful? I think that some schools need to keep a closer look at bullying and how other students treat each other and to punish those who cross the line. I think children need to know and to be told by the schools to reassure them, that they can go to any teacher or administrator and talk to them about any problem they may have and I also think that more teachers need to listen to students who come to them with an issue.  I agree with the supervisor of psychological services in the video who states that the children in the background watching and not taking action and just laughing should have been punished as well. A lot of students think that if they tell on the bully they will get hurt or bullied themselves but if they tell an administrator that can stop the problem. Also both sides of the story need to be looked at. More schools need to have bullying programs and have more authorities speak about bullying to stop bullying in and out of schools.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the SMART board

      The SMART board can be a great tool to use in the classroom but it can also be overused too. The SMART board is great to project things from the web for children to learn or participate with. It is also a great tool to project lessons or worksheets that the students are working on. When the students are working on a worksheet such as a fill in the blank for vocabulary the teacher can project the worksheet on the screen and fill in the blanks with the students. This may be easier for some students to follow along with then just writing the answers on the regular white board. Although SMART boards can sometimes be overused I think it is always good to split up the technology that the teacher is using. Sometimes teachers can use too much technology, in which some students might not learn as well with too much technology. I think it would be good to use the regular board for writing specific lessons on such as spelling words, etc. When the SMART board is used I think it is good for the students to participate with it, to come up and write their answers on the board even though sometimes it can hold up a delay from technical issues and having to restart the program a couple times but it teaches the student how to use technology. The SMART board would also be great to project educational games from the web for the whole class to participate with instead of getting on their own individual computer if they are not available. There are a lot of fun games that can go with any lesson that can be fun and exciting for the students but also very educational and I think the students would really enjoy using the SMART board for such activities!

Learning is Fun!

        This website is great to have children learn curriculum in a fun and exciting way. There are lots of fun games on here that young kids would love to play. They have games on here for any lesson for children to get extra help with, such as vocabulary learning verbs, science lessons such as learning life cycles, learning about herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores, etc. There are also lots of fun math games, social studies and world geography practice like learning the 50 states of the United States to help children who need extra help. Instead of just giving a child another worksheet, another story to read the teacher can have them get on this website and play a game that is of interest to them and they can not only learn the material and get the extra help they need they can also have fun playing the game and possibly want to learn even more! With this website the teachers can have their students get on computers in their classroom and practice things for specific lessons of that day or week. If teachers don’t have many computers in their classroom and would like the whole class to participate at the same time they could always ask to go into the computer lab at their school.  I was actually playing some of these games myself to see what some of them were like and I thought they were a lot of fun and would be great for children! This website also has quizzes that could make a quiz less stressful for the students and the teacher could take their score as a grade. There are fun activities for all subjects there are health activities, chemistry, art, science, math, language arts and even more so check out this link by clicking here!

Cricut Fun!

Cricut Fun!


           With all of the new technology being used in the classrooms today, the Cricut machine is one of them. I personally have a Cricut because I love to scrapbook. One day I was talking to a teacher that I had in elementary school and now my younger brother has her too and she was telling me and my mom some good ideas that you can use the Cricut for in the classroom and I can’t wait to use these ideas in my future classroom as well! She told me she bought the Cricut cartridges “Everyday Paper Dolls” and “Paper Doll Dress Up.” She said you can make so many things with these. A few that she mentioned and my brother told me about were that they made leprechauns for St. Patrick’s Day, Santa Claus’, Elf’s, M&M’s, ducks and chicks for Easter, dogs for Valentine’s day, tulips for Mother’s Day, President Obama and they made Pirates (which is our schools mascot). I think this is a fabulous way to make crafts in the classroom, it is not only fun and exciting but it gives the students a chance to express how they feel and who they are and also lets them be creative, which I think is very important for children. According to the article, “With Classmate Cricut Cartridges, Learning is Oh so Fun!” by “Cricut Cartridges” it is also a way to save time instead of tracing things to make classroom crafts. Although I do not think that it saves time necessarily because you still have to put the paper on the cutting board and insert it into the machine and click the buttons of what you want to cut out (which takes time) I think that the items are definitely more detailed and the Cricut cartridge might have more options that a teacher might not of even thought about. My teacher cuts out the original pattern and then traces the rest for her whole classroom which I think would save even more time! This article also has other cartridge ideas that look very useful in the classroom as well! They have cartridges that are helpful for teaching children letters, states, and much more! I believe the Cricut is a perfect piece of technology for the elementary age level!