Reflection

This course has helped me develop my professional use of technology by forcing me to explore new uses for technology. I was also provided with many opportunities to use different technology that I probably would not have used as easily on my own time with out this course. I have learned how important it is to use these different forms of technology to help better prepare students for the work force that they will find themselves in after school. This course also explained that students today need to be taught using different technology driven strategies to best serve their way of learning as a "Digital Native". By using technology different ways in the classroom students will have more direct involvement in creating their own learning experiences. The shift in the classroom from the teacher being the focus to the students directing their own learning through technology will be beneficial for students because they will own their work and what they are learning. By October 2011 I hope to have a classroom that uses a blog on a regular basis. I would want to use this classroom blog as a place to post final writing assignments were peers can read or listen to a story and comment back on the positive parts of the story. This classroom blog could also be used in Reading to discuss classroom books or independently read books. Students could share parts of the story, use summarizing skills, or focus on the main idea. Finally the blog could be used for math, science and social studies for discussion on assignments that are to be completed at home. In order to accomplish this goal first students need to practice with the computer and accessing the Internet. After students are comfortable with the Internet it will be important to teach them what is acceptable when commenting on a blog and make sure that students have a clear understanding of what is exceptable and what will not be tolerated when they are posting a comment. They are also going to have be taught how to respond to the question while staying on topic and not going off topic. Finally students will need to be shown how to use the blog site that the class has. My next goal for my classroom is that I will continue to teach skills that students will use in the 21st century workforce. The classroom will be working on group activities, communication and problem-solving. I will continue to educate myself on teaching strategies that will better help my students in the future and then implement the strategies in the classroom with students.

Podcast

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The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

In reading The Partnership for 21st Century Skills found that much of the information was interesting but seemed familiar to me. A lot of the information on the website reminded me of the ideas I had heard during SIOP trainings. Such ideas like the Core subject being important to give the kids a strong foundation, bringing the world to the classroom and the classroom to the world to build knowledge those are all things that I have heard before. Some of the information was not so familiar but made a ton of sense such as the list of desirable skills. As a teacher I look for the ability to make decisions, work as a team, communicate, learn new technologies, and acquiring knowledge in my students so it makes perfect sense that an employer would look for that and expect those skills in an employee. I also agree with the view on content that was presented I think that students need to have a mutual respect, they need to be able to make responsible and reasonable financial decisions, they should also be well informed on politics so that they can make educated decisions. The other content mentioned I believe is already being implemented whether on purpose or naturally. I believe that most students today are already somewhat globally aware by how small and integrated the world has become, also many students today are bilingual I only teach 2nd grade and I have children that are already fluent in both languages. I think that the most interesting piece that I read was to know that some of the skills that I am teaching students today will be obsolete in three to five years. It is very surprising to me that information will expire so quickly, it is a great reminder to me that I need to be constantly be reevaluating my teaching and changing my strategies to keep up with the present. I think that this website will cause some teachers to adapt their way of thinking when it comes to planning activities with children. As for the students I think that this will put more personal responsibility on them, they will be held accountable for their education and actions.

http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf

Using our blog

I think that this classroom blog could be best utilized by adding assignments to them. I teach all subjects in the second grade curriculm. Some assignments that I would like to add to the blog in the future are for Writing, Math and Reading. For writing I would like to post writing promts for children to respond to and later post great writing pieces from the children to be displayed on the blog. For Math I would like to post questions for the students to work on at home and post answers to on the blog. The children would then be sharing thier way of thinking and problem solving. Finally for Reading I would post questions about books that were are working on in class. They would also be able to share thier personal thoughts on what they are reading independently. There are a lot of great ways to implement the blog into the classroom and I can't wait to get started.

Early Realease

Parents please remember tomorrow is an ealry release day. Children need to be picked up by 11:50. See you then.

President's Message

Week 3

Well we have made it through 3 weeks of school I think both your children and you deserve a big pat on the back. This week we worked on science, the children learned the scientific process of an experiment. They were also exposed to various tools that they will be using thoughout the year. Keep the scientific investigation alive at home as well by engaging your children in observations of their surroundings. In writing we worked on the concept of ideas and forming details for our ideas before writing. Our writing topic for the week was to write about a place that we either had visited or a place that we would like to visit. Your children worked hard coming up with great descriptive details about the places they had been. Student work will be posted soon. Finally we had our Seahawk Writes which is a writing test that is given school wide. Next week students will be reading about Firefighters and why thier jobs are important, so if anyone is a firefighter and would likle to write in aboiut what they do or would like to come in for a visit please contact me. In science this week we will be dicussing the different forms of matter. Start talking to your children about solids, liquids and gases. Finially in writing our topic next week will be to write about our favorite animals so if you would like to start researching those animals at home that would be a great start to the writing assignment. Well parents til next week.

Welcome

Hello parents and families, welcome to our 2nd grade blog. On this page you will be able to find out what your children have worked on throughout the week as well as what is in store for them in the coming weeks. I am hoping that you will check out our blog to see what is going on in class so that you can be a part of our learning.