What I Learned from Other's In-Class Presentations

Today in class, we had the opportunity to get in groups and give our slideshare presentations personally. After hearing five other people's slideshare presentations, the two best ideas that I learned about were the following: One can use something as simple as Powerpoint to present a lesson on weather...I thought that this was a really good idea, since something such as a technological visual that all the students can see is captivating to them. Finally, the second idea that I liked best was to use Google Earth to talk about something as specific as the natural wonders of the world. This is an effective way of bringing these natural wonders to life, as they see where exactly they are located through this wonderful computer program.

Reflection on Internet Readings

For my fourth article, I chose to read "Fighting Internet Filth", by Mario Hipol, in the August 2005 issue of the Ensign. From this and the other readings, I learned that one really doesn't have to be a computer expert in order to protect their family from the dangers on the internet. There are several simple, yet effective precautions that one can take to keep their entire family safe. Simple things like making sure you have an internet filter, bookmarking the main sites and/or search engines that you'll need, putting the computer in a public room in the house and not in a private room/area, and so forth. Another thing that really stuck out to me was limiting internet/media use each day, so as not to let virtual reality become a reality, as Elder Ballard expressed.
When a parent-from what I've learned through reading these articles-I plan to implement what I've learned (as stated in the above paragraph)directly to my children. Not only am I going to put our computer in a public room of the house (such as the living room), but I'm going to limit the time spent on the internet, as well as place bookmarks on our internet. In this way, the chances of my children clicking into a bad site will lower significantly. Of course I will talk to them about why we do so, so that they don't feel like we're just being strict. I will be sure that my children understand the positive and negative aspects of the internet, so that they can use their agency for good if they so choose.
As far as being able to be of positive influence over family and friends regarding this issue, I think that by being a good example and practicing these teachings myself would help a lot. I think that the decisions that one makes on the internet and elsewhere (movie choices, music preferences) says a lot about that person to their family and friends. And by seeing how these choices effects how you are as a person might and can influence family and friends to want to make similar if not the same decisions as you.

What I learned from other's use of technology

After going through a couple other slideshare presentations that illustrated how others integrated technology with their lessons, is that it can be done in a way that is simple, yet very effective. For example, there was one lesson that I liked in particular that went over the sight and spelling words' phonics sounds for that week by putting them up on a screen that all of the children could see. They were able to come right up to the screen and point out what they thought would be the answer(s), and thus it became a technological, interactive activity. When I put my lesson together, I wasn't sure that first-graders could go on Google Earth themselves and search for locations, but I think that I could have enabled them to do that by prepping a computer for each of them in the computer lab...on each computer, the virtual tour of the continents would already be set up for them to follow. By looking at others' lessons, I saw that even if it's by the click of a mouse, little children can participate in technology-oriented lessons.

Globe presentation

The Globe

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Google Earth Lesson

For my first technology lesson with my first grade class, I decided to use Google Earth in order to give them a visual of the globe while they learned about continents. I first zoomed in from a complete view of the globe into Utah and then into their school, Jordan Ridge Elementary. After using this as the hook of the lesson (the kids got pretty excited!), I zoomed out again, followed by zooming in to a couple places outside of the States that the students had been to. This was followed by taking the class on a virtual tour of the 7 continents. After going over this, I helped them memorize the 7 continents through a chant/song. Overall, it was fun, and I'd say the class was pretty entranced by Google Earth!

Lesson using technology

A simple but effective idea that was brought to my attention today out at my assigned school, was using the new projectors for shared reading with the class. By placing the book under the projector, the whole class can see the pictures, read together as they see the teacher's finger guiding them the whole time, and in the end receive an effective shared reading experience. I personally had never seen a projector that one could put something under and it not come out looking like something does under an overhead projector, so this was and is a great idea to me.

Classroom Technology Inventory

In the last three days that I've been with the first-grade class that I was assigned to, there isn't a whole lot of technology that I've seen thus far. What I have seen is that every classroom (that I've been in so far anyway) has a projector that projects the entire image that falls under it's lense, and not just the shadow like the standard/older projectors do. Personally, I think it's amazing, and a great way to present object lessons to the class so that they don't have to come and gather around a table or something of the like.
The other bit of technology that I've seen in my assigned school are the Mac computers in the school computer lab. I was happy to see the multiple learning programs and games that have been installed/downloaded onto these computers for the students' learning enrichment. They have a lot of fun, and at the same time are learning critical thinking skills.
So when I did the technology inventory, I really couldn't say much. The above are about the only technologies that I've seen so far. The teachers don't seem to use it a lot, which I'm hoping will change.