Blog #1

Computers, and technology in general, have become a vital tool in the modern classroom over the past decade. It has become an efficient way for teachers to record grades and communicate with students and parents but even more it has become an efficient way to teach. Using programs like Powerpoint as a visual aid in a lesson can make understanding drastically easier. Also using computer games or tutorials like Mavis Beacon's typing software or Oregon Trail can be a good hands on way for students to learn. Like the book talks about, access to computers is still an issue. They are still relatively expensive and not all of your students will necessarily own a home computer. This is a problem because computers have come to take a large role in homework, projects, etc. that it might be difficult for some students to keep up.

I always enjoyed using computers in school and I do plan on using them in my classroom. Since I plan on being a high school English teacher an obvious use would be for writing papers. I also plan on using them as a research tool and a visual or audible aid to my lessons like my high school teachers did. I hope this course offers some other ideas on how I can incorporate technology into my teaching.

Write about anything? Ok. Well I'm a total music geek and a friend of mine just sent me a link to this video here. It's an instrumental song called "Ocean" by The John Butler Trio. If you're a guitar player or maybe just a band geek like me you'll probably appreciate it so go check it out.

Blog #0

Just like the vast majority of our generation I was already pretty familiar with technology before this class. I've used plenty of Microsoft Word obviously writing papers throughout high school and I use the internet on a daily basis. I learned about Powerpoint in my 8th grade TV Production class where we had to make them all the time to play on the news and ever since then I've used them frequently for school projects and such so I'm confident in that. I took a business technology class in high school which is where I really developed my typing skills. We also learned some Microsoft Excel but since I haven't used it since I'm not very confident with it.

For this class I would like to become familiar with Microsoft Excel specifically and have a brush up with Powerpoint. Also, as an Education major, I would really like to gain some ideas on how to incorporate different programs into the classroom.

I learned that I am fairly balanced with just a slight lean toward the active, sensing, and verbal styles and a moderate lean towards sequential learning. I've always been a hands on person so the active came as no shock and I knew I was a slightly verbal learner, I tend to skip over graphs in readings. I learned that my lean toward sequential learning should be beneficial because it is the style of most college courses.