Techology in the Classroom!

Welcome to my technology blog, a requirement for the completion of ED 638, a requirement for the Language and Literacy Masters program. I have posted a few technology related assignments on this page to show you how much I have learned since I began my masters program. I can now create blog pages, I can download pictures to a slide presentation that I can share with those who visit my page - I don't have to print my pictures to share them. I also learned to create a webpage in my ED841 class last spring and learned to hyperlink so that you can access my page from here. In this blog, I have included some information on internet tools and sites that I think are worth visiting for excellent instructional resources. Uploading a picture to my blog was one of the skills I learned in this class. This is a picture of me standing in front of one of the great pyramids of Egypt. I still can't believe I was there.

My IRA Sites for Great Instructional Resources

Part of the requirements for ED 638 is to research and select websites that are to be submitted for possible inclusion in the Guam IRA newsletter. These are the sites I selected and submitted.

Faye’s 1st IRA web address upload

http://www.timeforkids.com

Faye’s 2^nd IRA web address upload

http://www.braam.ik.org/

Faye’s 3^rd IRA web address upload

http://www.poetry4kids.com/modules.php?name=Poems

Faye’s 4^th IRA web address upload

http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/storyhour/

Faye’s 5^th IRA web address upload

http://pbskids.org

My Top Three Internet Tools

One of the three internet tools I chose as a resource for teaching is Google. Google is considered to be one of the top search engines in the world. It is a search engine that offers a wide variety of services including but not limited to internet searches, services for creating blogs and sending and receiving email messages. Google also provides social networking tools, organizational tools and chat tools as well as services for mobile devices. The features of Google that are useful for classroom instruction are gmail which can be used for written communication between teacher, students, and parents; google Earth which provides 3D overviews, through satellite images, of major cities and other places, driving directions, and maps to numerous locations; google blogger (web log or blog), a social networking service for connecting with friends and family , posting your opinions, giving advise, staying in touch, and a host of other communication needs. Using google in the classroom or as part of the instructional plan helps to build up the technology skills and to meet the academic standards for technology literacy. Some of the ways to use google in class is to have students use the internet to search for articles and other resources, search for images, post their blogs to communicate with their classmates, use it to communicate with other students around the world, download photos, create blogs, and create an organizational site that can be used as a portfolio of their work. There are countless ways to be able to achieve techology literacy through the use of google.

I used google to create this web page as part of the course requirements for ED 481G last spring. It was, at first a bit challenging but once I figured out how to use the tools and navigate around the pages, I really got involved in developing the page. The most fun I had was editting the pages. Everytime I thought I was done, I would think of something else to add or delete. The final product (and grade) were worth every bit of anxiety and sweat. But the best part of this was that it was free! http://sites.google.com/site/fayecamachokaible/Home.