Not so hard after all!

Each one of my projects in Ed Media seemed daunting at first! How the heck am I going to do this?! Create a website? Make a video?? But after lab and taking the needed time, each project was very doable. Not only that, I am very sure that I can and will use some of these ideas and resources in my classroom. I found the webquest and lesson resource page to be very practical and helpful. And the video was not only fun to make and edit, but could make a lesson much more interesting. It is important to me to make my classroom fun and hands-on and to be a creative educator. The skills I learned in this class will help me to do that.

How is the internet changing the classroom?

I recently spent a day in a fourth grade classroom. With Ed Media fresh in my mind, I took this opportunity to ask these teachers (with 20 years of experience) what changes they had seen over the last 15 years with technology being more and more integrated into the classroom. One thing they said was the vast amount of resources there now is for teachers. Simply google any topic and thousands will come up. Tons of lesson ideas and even entire thematic units already prepared! Another thing they talked about was how the internet is changing students' research. Now students automatically go to the computer when they need information. Both of the teachers said they still have students get information from traditional resources as well, such as encyclopedias and informational books. They still felt it was important to learn the process of finding information that way.
Growing up in a time where the internet was revolutionizing the world, I saw changes in my education. I saw more and more emphasis on computer education. When I was in lower elementary we simply had Library time once a week, but as I got older, it shifted to Library and Media time. As I got to junior high, it became required to do powerpoint presentations and take some computer application courses. In high school classes, we started doing webquests of sorts and relied heavily on the internet to do research. To put things in perspective, the girl I babysit who is only 10 comes home from school and yells to her neighbor to get online so they can play in an online arcade! There is no denying that the internet is changing our world!

Watch this video: Shift Happens
It's about how the internet is exponentially changing our world.

Web Quests, who knew?

I just got back from my Thanksgiving Break. I spent one of my days in a 4th Grade classroom. My neighbor is a teacher and she has let me help out in her classroom, and I thought I'd try a whole day in the classroom. It went by so fast! It was definitely affirming-- I genuinely enjoyed it! I was telling her about the things I did in my Ed Media class, and I mentioned the Webquest. She told me that she used a webquest in her social studies class. They are learning about the 50 states, and the students looked up information about a state in pairs. It tickled me to see things that I'm learning about actually in use!! I think that webquests are an excellent learning tool. My unit was intended for 1st grade students, and that was somewhat of a stretch to use the internet and computer technology at such a young age. Even so, it was very doable and I believe we will see these tools and resources used younger and younger. The webquest was a perfect tool for the outcome Mrs. Tibben had in mind for her 4th graders.