[[mini LESSON]]

"What went well in your teaching?  Based on what you learned as an instructor, what changes would you make next time?"

I think that my entire lesson went very well, especially because i prepared by reviewing (and playing) with the website as i was making my lesson plans.  I became really familiar with the tools and tricks and what the site was capable of doing.  I think the most helpful part about my lesson was that i created the short story/scenario that we would be using as a class to work our way through the creator.  This would be especially helpful when demonstrating a lesson to a group of students who are elementary age because it wouldn't give them an opportunity to get distracted with the details. 

I think that if i had more time, i would allow the students to print off the postcard they created and allow them to decorate the front of each one.  Each student could be given another students' information and we could mail them to eachother's houses with positive remarks about the other student.  Any number of lessons could be derived from this short mini lesson. 

The part i learned most about this was that you can't wing it.  I had to really walk through the website and figure out how it worked.  I also had to create a way to keep 30 people on task and focused on the main idea--creating a postcard. 

::LIFEsaverJOURNAL::

"Based on your learning experience in the LifeSaver lesson, describe the attributes of inquiry learning.  How can you incorporate inquiry into your curriculum planning?"

 i think that these inquiry projects are really great hands on activities that allow students to have fun, take control of their learning, and use technology to apply different skills such as math, using charts and graphs, and even literacy.  I think that the life savers activity would be an awesome "reward" lesson for my students that have behaved and done well all week.  They are earning their reward (candy) while still accomplishing something academic (math and graphs). 

Inquiry projects could be used as rewards, to initiate problem solving and inquisitive thought processes.  They can be used in just about any subject, but are especially nice for science, social studies and math lessons.  With today's technology in the real world i think ti is important that students are exposed to as many different aspects of the Microsoft programs as possible.  (personally, i had no idea that you could do 90% of what is possible on these programs [word, excel, ppt, etc] until this year).  The more familiar students are with these programs, the more successful and creative they can be.   

[journal 3] ::scaffolding::

"From the learner perspective, how did the lesson scaffolding tools/structure support your achievement of the task?"

 I think the filter machine was a great tool to use for ANY topic.  I think that it is a great way to modify and narrow down topics that students use for research projects and presentations.  My group was able to go through each section of the tool and have a discussion about why we answered each question the way we did and helped us narrow down our topic.  It would be an amazing tool (that would need to be modified) to dissect huge research topics that are often selected by ambitious kids, in order to save them from a daunting task.  Instead of choosing to research all haunted houses in America, for example,  the tool may lead them to research one of the most haunted houses in Virginia. 

"How did technology help you modify the files to meet your needs as a learner?" 

  Our group was able to change the dimensions of the Action plan table so that we could make it suit our topic about School Uniforms.  We customized who was going to be allocated to which job within the group and then we were able to organize what topics needed to be covered and how to go about our research.  The power point was an amazing tool to use as well, and i liked learning about the hidden slides.  I think i have looked at that "hidden slide" icon a million times, and never realized what a useful tool it could be, especially to try to walk students through a lesson.  

[journal 2] ::widget::

"how do you envision discovery learning as a part of your teaching and curriculum?"

I think it is extremely beneficial to the students, when given proper instructions, to explore a topic to create a presentation or report.  When we researched the information about a country in the last class although we were confused on what a "widget" was or should be, we managed to acquire all the necessary and relevant information about the countries we researched.  With only about 2 hours to work on it we came up with extremely creative and persuasive ways to present the information.

I would like to teach third grade, which allows my class to have a little more freedom with what my students are capable of doing.  I could give them a prompt or a checklist of information and send them to the library to either work on the computers or search for books--both needing to have QUALITY information.  This is fun way for my students to learn how to do research while also learning how discern quality information from the "other" information.  My students could compile their new found facts and make a poster, create a report, draw a picture, or create a prop to inform us about the topic that they researched.  I could definitely see myself using a method similar to this in my classroom. 

[journal 1] beliefs

Michelle Wyatt
1.12.11

“What are your beliefs about teaching and learning with technology?  Describe how technology has supported learning in classrooms you have observed.”

                I think that technology can be used in very beneficial ways that support learning for students AND teachers.  Technology has created opportunities for students and teachers to become organized, efficient, and neat.   Different software such as word, power point, excel have all been designed to help and support education. Technology has revolutionized the teaching profession as well as the students’ career, however wonderful; it does have its drawbacks.  Students rely heavily on the internet and computers and forget about the books and journals.  Technology can also be a downfall though, quality lessons that are more valuable by DOING (being creative and making a prop or poster board) are undermined by throwing together a power point. 

                The most common form of technology I have seen thus far (I’ve been mostly in elementary schools) is the doc cam.  Many teachers have tech-centers set up at the front of the class that include the doc cam and a computer.  If necessary materials are available on the computer they can switch gears and present them to the class on the projector.  It works really well when giving instructions or reading a book to a class.  The teacher doesn’t have to worry about who can’t see, s/he simply has to just put it on the doc cam and it is large enough for everyone. 

THE REAL MICHELLE WYATT!!!

okay..so apparently there was a mistake and there was a previous michelle wyatt...but this is the REAL ONE!!! 

...im not engaged, have a broken leg, nor do i have kids.  thank you! 

for my BA cohort...i hope this gets fixed!