Podcasts

What?  
This past week we learned about podcasts.  This is something that I have no experience with and was a little nervous about it.  I was surprised how simple it was to do a podcast.  We came up with a script for a public service announcement about our core subject.  We then recorded it and posted it on our google site.  

So What?
 As a teacher this technology can be helpful in the classroom.  Podcasts are available 24/7 making it convenient to listen to anytime and anywhere.  I can record my lectures and post them online if someone was absent; assisting them in being able to catch up on the material that was covered that day.  Students can also use the podcast of lectures for reviewing.  When my students are studying for a test, they can listen to the podcasts.  This may help them to recall information or answer questions they have.  Parents will also benefit from the podcast because they will be aware of what their child is learning in the classroom.  

Now What? 

As I stated earlier, I was nervous about podcasting but it is actually very exciting and can bring a lot into the classroom.  Podcasting has become an effective way for teachers to interact with students outside of the classroom.  It helps teachers reach their students in a way that the students are familiar with and that is cool.  An idea I have is to use the technology of podcasting for announcements; this will help parents and students know what is going on at the school and in my classroom.  By keeping up with technology and using it in the classroom, it will help me to engage my students.  I can also share the technology with my colleagues to help them engage their students.  We can share podcasts of public service announcements that we either make ourselves or that we find.  One thing that I am very excited about it using podcasting to have my students make their own public service announcement and turning it into a podcast for either a homework assignment or extra credit.

UEN and the Classroom

This week we did a UEN Scavenger Hunt to get us familiar with UEN.  Prior to this experience, I was aware of all the many resources that UEN has to offer.  The resources they offer or not only great for teachers, but students as well.  As I was doing the scavenger hunt, I got so excited about everything that was available to me.  I had no idea UEN provided teachers with so much material.

As a teacher I am excited about the access that  I have to lesson plans and that as teachers we have a resource where we can exchange lesson plans to keep learning exciting.  Writing lesson plans is hard because you want your students to be engaged and by being able to collaborate with other teachers helps give insight of what we can do as teachers to improve our lessons.    It is great that they follow along with the Core curriculum as well.  You can look up the curriculum you are teaching online and have links to lessons that correlate with the standard you are wanting to teach.  This is also great so that parents have access to know what their children are learning in class.

As a student, I enjoyed having access to Pioneer Library.  It is a great way to get reliable sources to use for research.  I will have my students use Pioneer Library to find articles relevant to our course that they can share with the classroom and to write reports.  I will also let them know they have this option available to them for other classes. 

I love the interactives tools that is available on UEN.  It is a great way to help students understand the content that they have questions on.  I will use interactives as homework assignments.  I believe students learn better when learning is enjoyable.  Teens today love to be online and having online homework will reach them and motivate them more than some of the other homework assignments I could assign.  I also like that it gets them involved in their learning. 

Above all, the thing that excited me the most about UEN is the access to so many fantastic videos that I can incorporate in my classroom.  As I was looking through them to put on my google site, there were so many that I want to incorporate in my teaching.  I watched around 5 videos and they had such great information in them but were still entertaining.  Videos are a great tool to relate the topics we cover in class into real world issues.  

I am so glad that we were able to do this assignment.  UEN is amazing!  It is a great tool for teachers and such a great help.  It is nice to know that as a teacher, I have somewhere to turn for great materials and suggestions on improving my lessons.

Week 3 Reflection

This week in class I learned more about creating a google site.  I was required to make a site for my future classroom that has a calendar,announcements, homework file, resources for my students, and a file cabinet.  It is really exciting all the things we are able to do with these sites and will be a great resource for my classroom.  We also sent letters to teachers asking to make media materials for their classroom.

The google sites have gotten me really excited to have my own classroom.  The students will enjoy the site because they will have instant access to what we are doing in class if they are absent.  It will also help me as a teacher so  that I can hold the students responsible for going online to see what they missed.  Other teachers will enjoy this site because they will be aware of what I am teaching in the classroom so hopefully other health classes will be covering the same unit.  Parents will also enjoy access to this site because they will know what is being covered along with being able to know who is teaching their children with the "About Me" section and how to contact their student's teacher.


My future students will be able to relate to my classroom more by being able to have access to classroom material online.  I can give my students assignments that correlate with the resources listed on the site.  This will help keep them engaged by having homework to do online while keeping them exploring websites that are educational and have correct information.  In health, there are so many misconceptions and teens are given false information.  By giving them the tools to find the correct information, they will be able to make knowledgeable decisions about their life.
 

Week 2 Reflection

This week in class we got familiar with google.  I created a google site and learned how to make a google calendar, google document, google form, and many other great tools that google has to offer.  I had no idea that google offered so many different tools, I thought that google was strictly used a search engine and for email.  We are currently working on google docs with our partner.  We are writing a letter that will be sent to a local charter school to see if they would be interested in having us prepare media materials for their classroom.


Google is such a great tool and I am really excited to use it.  I am able to organize my schedule and have several calendars for my different activities.  My favorite thing about the calendar is it is color coded which helps me remain organized.  This is a great tool that I will use in my classroom.  It is a way for students to know what we are covering in class and when assignments are due. 


Google Docs is a tool that I can use personally as well as professionally.  It allows me to keep documents online so that I can access them everywhere and I don't have to worry about losing the data if my computer crashes or carrying around a flash drive.  Google docs will be useful in the classroom for group work.  It easily allows people to work together on an assignment on their own schedules.


My favorite part of google is the google forms.  This allows me to ask questions and have it directly entered into a spreadsheet for quick reference.  This will be an excellent tool in the classroom for me to get information from my student's.  I am excited to get more familiar with this part of google.


Technology is quickly changing and my students will be more proficient in technological skills than I will be.  I have discovered that there is so much that I am unaware of and it is important for me to keep up-to-date with technology because it is what my students will relate to.  I want my students to be able to incorporate technology into the classroom.  I plan on having a classroom site where students can access information on the course.  I am enjoying having a blog and am considering having my students write their thought on a blog instead of a journal.