Field Experience Week 3

What? This was our last week in the classroom. We had a great experience and were able to use technology throughout our classroom time. We did continue to have technical issues with showing our information because of school Internet connections and so forth, but eventually we were able to have our final digital story work without a problem. The students enjoyed the digital story and thought it was cool to hear our voices recorded into our video- that was fun. They also enjoyed the pictures and picked up information from the narration. This helped them in being able to retain the information for the assessments and to be able to understand more of the different features. Over the week we created many different slide shows and information video clips for the students. This worked well and helped to enhance our lessons with large pictures the students could see well. Small printed pictures wouldn't have had the same impact. The students wouldn’t not have been able to see the pictures well and it wouldn’t have been as effective in teaching. Especially since our classroom maps weren’t working during our field experience. We talked with our cooperative teacher about technology and her main question was how to create a blog and link it to her Canyon's Site. We came in early and helped her look at options.

So What? As we looked at the blog she already had created and then saw her site, we realized it was probably most effective to put a text box into her Canyons School District Site with a link that would take her students and their parents directly into her blog. She doesn't use technology in the classroom but I think if she had more time to research and work with the different technology she would incorporate it into her lessons. I don't feel like any of her 4th grade team use technology and where she is new I assume she is just following their lead. I think they could really use a math resource site with games and additional information for the students and their parents about the math concepts they are studying, the students continue to struggle with the basic facts, addition, multiplication, subtraction, division--even though they are teaching them algebra. By giving the students a site where they could practice their basic skills maybe the students would be able to catch up and understand better.

Then What? I enjoyed my field experience and I also enjoyed being able to understand and be able to easily create digital stories to enhance my lessons. I feel that there are so many areas I will be able to incorporate technology into my classroom, the possibilities are endless. I plan to create sites to help with educating my students and games and links to help them practice and build their basic knowledge. I also love the idea of being able to communicate with my students and parents through a website, and I feel this gives them the opportunity to ask questions and understand the goals of my classroom. I also like the idea of giving my students the opportunity to learn technology themselves and help them understand these tools. By learning now they will be able to use these tools as they continue through school and it will help them work more effectively and also enhance their learning.