Intergrating Websites In the Classroom

English Interactive


The English Interactive site is designed for a younger audience such as elementary level. Some of the words could be used for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, but there are a couple of things that may be for 4th and 5th. This may include some of the verbs and words such as cigarette. The site provides correct pronunciation of the words and sentencing. A way to use this in the classroom is look at the pictures and identify them verbally and by writing it down. The site has weather labeled with pictures such as It's raining, It's snowing, etc. Could make a picture game out of it.
A way that this site can be used beyond the classroom is that the site can be accessed at home and the children can look at the pictures and even practice the words at home. Also a person can even change it and look at a German version or even another language.
The only thing that I find wrong with this site is that it seems limited on what words will be presented. If a child needs more practice on C words, it does not seem to show a way to view more C words, only what is presented already. The site also allows you to only practice verbs, I have found nothing on nouns, adjectives, and so forth. The areas at the top like Grammar, Pronunciation bring you to a page that has a bunch of other links to look at. So this may make it hard for a kid to do at home on their own. Print Page in IE

PBL My Healthy Project

The project that caught my attention the most was that of My Healthy Project. It was a project done by 1st Grade students on ways to keep their bodies healthy. During class the students shared their stories about how they keep their own bodies healthy. After stories were shared a bunch of questions emerged, for example Izzie said she jumps on a trampoline to keep her body healthy and some of the other students asked how jumping on a trampoline kept your body healthy. The class then invited a pediatrician who did a mock physical and the children took notes and observed the tools she used. A yoga instructor led yoga for the children and a massage therapist demonstrated ways to massage that helps your muscles and mind relax. The children also learned from a psychiatrist that feelings also affect their bodies. From these experts coming in, each child had questions and ideas that they wanted to explore. For example one student wanted to know what the normal body temperature was so they took the temperature of classmates. The results were shared through charts, surveys, and graphs. I like this because each person understands and reviews results differently. The students also learned about nutrition in their reading class, exercise, and the human body. For their homework they had to visit a grocery store with their parents and ended up learning how to read food labels, pricing, and packaging. An outcome of this project had a huge affect on the children and they were very conscious about packing healthy snacks and lunched and getting enough exercise.
The children had very little knowledge in the beginning about how to keep your body healthy. As a result of the project due to their research, the children discovered that there were many ways on how they can keep their bodies healthy. They analyzed and took data and as of a conclusion they tried to keep their own bodies healthy. I honestly feel that each area of Bloom's Taxonomy pyramid was touched on. Print Page in IE

Collaberative Work Groups

A collaberative group activity works well when drawn on each group members strengths. In the article, "Commonly Asked Questions About Teaching Collaberative Activities," an example is stated on just how this may work. "For example, a rought draft workshop in a writing class allows each writer to recieve comments from several different readers." In a collaberative project, the skills and discipline of each group member will be drawn on. But one thing that a person will have to decide on when doing such a activity is how many will be in a group and how will each group be made? When making the groups, it is best to have one strong member who can help with the leading of the group and the others to be at different levels.
When the students are working in groups, roles should be assigned. The roles will depend on the requirements of the assignment, such as note-taker, organizer, etc. For each group it would work well to apply the Bloom's Taxonomy. In each group the members should write down the knowledge of what they already know of the topic and assignment. State what they recognize about the ideas and information given to them. Then check ans see how each student translates and comprehends the subjects by having them summarize and explaining the topic. The students should then analyze and distinguish any research and data, then see how it relates to their own ideas. The group then integrates and combines their own ideas in order to develop and create a plan. Then evaluate and judge what the student has found of their research by creating a conclusion. Print Page in IE

Assignment 1

Technology is definetely something that is taking over the way that people do things today in society. The internet is taking over communication between people when they are not able to talk to each other on the phone or in person. Also it is creating a quicker way for students and others to find out information on something that they are researching. From the readings I thing what will be most challenging with integrating technology in the classroom is the idea of trying to explain to the parents how avatars (ex.) make learning and communication easier and funnier for the students. Also trying to have a computer for each student in the class is very difficult due to the expenses.
My own experience with technology in school was very limited in the classroom. It was maybe 30 to 45 minutes on a computer with my class one day a week the most. All of my experience with a computer was on my own time at home or in the library during my lunch to work on my assignments. A way that I hope to try and integrate technology in my classroom is start off with one computer in the class and have the students take turns on it to do an assignment that I will assign, then hopefully I will be able to get another one later. Also if the class that I am teaching is kindergarten, I am thinking I will try and get some of those Fisher Price Computer with some learning games. This is my hope and current idea to start off with. Print Page in IE