+'s and -'s of having computers in front of all the students

In our last lecture we discussed the up and downs of students having computer access at all times. We found thats it's very difficult for teachers to get their attention when he/she is trying to show something or talk about a certain point. However, some teachers have the abilily to temporarily shut down what ever it is they are doing so they can get all the students attention. also by having a computer for each student it can speed up the learning process and productivity. It seemed like everyone in the class had a different opinion on whether or not its a good idea to have that many computers.

Legal Issues in the classroom

In our most recent lecture we dicscussed issues concerning copy right falacies. Our teacher gave us a work sheet that had several true and false questions about whether on not certain documents were legal to use. In the class he managed to bring up examples online that described what is right and wrong in terms of copy right laws. this topic related to social issues, ethical issues, and safety issues. the reason for this is you always want to keep these in mind when researching and printing things off for a class discussion. It is imperative that you follow the copyright laws especially when you become a teacher becuase the risk of getting in trouble is high.

Lately in lecture classes we have been learning a lot about tools such as administrative tools. basically we see how they are used and when we may want to use them in the classroom. There are many uses for these tools and they continue to grow in terms of more being available. I personally find them useful and i enjoy learing about what they have to offer.

Basically there are endless amounts of productivity tools. their main purpose is to help reveiw knowledge, apply knowledge, and to explore new knowledge. however, they are easily broke down by what particular age group you wil be teaching. for me, elementary education, i am somewhat limited to the one's i should use with a younger group of students. for example, refernces such as dictionaries and encyclopedias might quickly lead to loss of focus and motivation for 3rd grader. it would be better to use methods like drill and practice, Educational games, and tutorials. the main thing is making sure the students stay interested in the lesson. in the discussion we were told to make sure we kept up to date on these productivity tools and always stay familiar with them.

Being productive is the main purpose of our class. In the two hours that we are in session, we are always learning something and putting it into context. so far its been very difficult to take in all the information but there's lots of help outside the classroom. we have been modifying our web pages and preparing them for the critique session coming up soon. Meanwhile, in the lecture we have been discussing different styles of learning and how they may change depending on the envrionment of the classroom. as a teacher, you must take into account what kind of class you are teaching. are there any students that are extremely slow learners? What kind of materials do you have acess to? etc.. Another topic that we have been discussing in the lecture is productivity tools and how we can use them to our advantage. Again, theres lots of information being processed so its hard to retain it all. luckily the lectures are posted online along with other helpfull notes.

This week in the lecture and in the discussion we finally went over things that i had some basic knowledge on. We discussed how efficiency, effectiveness, and enhancement are the three main adjectives that should come to mind when designing a lesson plan. Time is always an issue in the classroom so you want things to run efficientally. use programs such as powerpoint to speed up the learining process. being effective means that you are able to help the students comprehend the information and achieve thier goal for the day. there are many technological devices that can help you be effective. Enhancement is making sure the students are engaged in the activity and motivated by it. its imperative that the students are making improvement. this is probably the most important lesson so far because these the "Three E's" will always be used no matter what your goal is for class.

So far in class we have learned to create our own web pages and obviously make a blog account. in the latest discussion we talked about professional development and why teachers should participate in it. professional development allows teachers to stay familiar with new technology, new data, and new information on different styles of teaching. Technology can help us achieve our professional development goals by allowing us to manage a more organized and efficient classroom. It is imperative that teachers continuously innovate their instructional strategies and methods in order to maintain effective learning environments.