Ideal Classroom Project

The topic/project for the Ideal classroom was a very long and confusing process. It is a lot of information to take in all at once, and I felt very overwhelmed at the beginning of the project. There is so much information to cover, it is hard to sort it all out and get organized. We decided to use a music/recording room for our ideal classroom. We thought that music integrated into the curriculum can really make a difference in the succession of the students. We hoped to create an atmosphere that was fun, creative, but also educational. We did not want to limit ourselves to only studying music, but incorporating it into math, reading, social studies, and science.

The process that we used to create this final product was one of organization. We started off by collaborating our ideas and deciding what each of us thought an ideal classroom would consist of. When we put our heads together, we came up with the music room. It has been proven that students involved in music have higher rates of graduation than students not involved. By integrating music, it reiterates this idea of using music and creativity in the classroom. After compiling a "rough draft" of what we wanted in the classroom, we got to work creating a site to display every aspect we wanted. We created a google site and each contributed our ideas, explaining in detail to characterisitics of the students, the classroom set-up, and a rough draft of a potential floor plan. We thought that by using a website, it would make our ideas more organized and flow in a better way that is easier to understand.

Technology played a very large role in the collaboration process between my partner, Abby and myself. Since this project was due right after Spring Break, we had to use the access of the internet to stay in contact and to create this site. By both of us having access to our Ideal Classroom site, we could edit and create pages from over 100 miles away from each other. This was a project that could not have been completed without the aid of technology.

A barrier that caused a kink in our project was the essence of time. Because it was assigned over Spring Break, it was hard to get time to meet to work on it. So this project was mostly done collaboratively online. We met a few times to discuss changes/additions, but nothing too major. This really was the only downfall we had while working on this project. I felt we worked well together and our ideas on the ideal classroom were aligned in many ways. I felt that I learned a lot from this project about what I want my classroom to be like, and also compare it to what other future educators may want their classrooms to look like. This was neat to see the differences and also the similiarites come out in things such as where the classroom will be located, how many students in a classroom, what kind of technology is being used, etc. This project not only put into perspective what I want in my future classroom, but also gave me a chance to compare it to what other people want in theirs.

This project was extremely difficult in the essence that it was so detailed. I felt it was important to include all of the small details in our descriptions to really get a feel of what we wanted our classroom atmosphere to be like. Also, we were specific so it could display the effort we put into this project. I feel we did an exceptional job on our ideal classroom despcription and it was a great learning opportunity as well.

Using Blogs in the Classroom

Recently, I realized that a major switch was needed in my life. The major that I am currently in is elementary education. The entire time I have been at UNI has been a great experience, it just did not feel right. I recently discovered that I am going to pursue secondary education. I want to be a High School College Prep/English teacher. I have always been fascinated with poetry, writing, reading, and grammar. This choice has also impacted the way I look at the current classes I am involved with now. I have to make the most of my experience, even if thus far it has been not on the right track.

Recently while researching different blogs that could be used in the high school classroom, I found a couple that caught my eye. The English blog of this 11th grade teacher discussed different ways to integrate poetry into the curriculum. I found it interesting the way that this school chose to use a blog as an informative tool instead of a teaching one. This blog shared teachers' ideas instead of using it as a resource for students to help them understand not only poetry, but also integrating technology into their curriculum.

This has been an enlightening experience that has changed the course of direction here at UNI. I feel that now, my view of technology in the classroom will be extremely different and look forward to blogging about these changes.

Using Computer Software in the Classroom

Computer software has made a big impact not only on the everyday internet/computer users, but has also impacted the classroom. I think that technology has changed the course of teaching, as many would agree with me. Software is a good way to teach a subject interactivly and also make it fun for the students. Recently in our computer apps class we have been discussing computer software and the importance and need for it. I am still learning a lot about computers and also the different things involved with them (software, internet) but I feel that I have come across a couple web sites that would be great for kids to use.

I intend on working with special needs students, so the software I use must cater to their needs. In other words, I need an easy program that is individualized for each student. What works for one student might be completely wrong for another student. When looking for software that would work for the special education classroom, I had to keep a variety of things in mind. The different levels of comprehension in my room vary much greater than that of the normal classroom. I must pick something that has different levels of cognitive abilities.

I found a couple of interesting sites while searching for something that might work for my area of interest. It is called Professor Garfield. It is an interactive site that allows students to play games and also learn things such as putting items in sequential order.

I found many other sites that are worth looking at too. Very insightful day searching the internet :)

Starfall
Poetry
Online Books