This week, I worked with the presentation website, Prezi. If you are unfamiliar with Prezi, it takes the place of a PowerPoint Presentation.
The Prezi that I created is directed towards future students that I may have. The presentation explains to these students who I am, why I became a teacher and ways that I teach. In the future I might be able to use this as an introductory presentation of my teaching style. The audience of this presentation would be students in elementary school.
Here is my Prezi, Why Teach? :
Even though I have (briefly) used Prezi before, I was extremely frustrated trying to use it to create this presentation. It takes awhile to get used to the format and for someone who has used PowerPoint for so many years it has been a rough transition to say the least. I felt limited to the given transitions, colors and templates of the template that I chose to use in Prezi and longed for the ease of editing my slides.
On the other hand, I did really love that I could sign onto Prezi and edit my presentation from any location. At one point I had to use a software to convert my voki to a video before I could insert it in my Prezi and rather than download the software, I was able to do it on my husbands computer and then sign on and insert my voki on his computer and then bounce right back to my own and continue working. It was so nice to be able to do this without saving to a jump drive and transporting that from computer to computer. For this reason, I vow to become more fluid with my understanding of Prezi and how to use it so that I use it for presentations rather than my beloved PowerPoint in the future.
I have also included below my symbaloo again with the same links from my previous blog post as well as all of the videos and links that I used in my Prezi.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Welcome to my blog!
Welcome to my educational technology blog! I would like to begin
by introducing myself. My name is Lauren Coffaro Grunder. I am married to my
wonderful husband, Andrew. I also am the lucky mother of two fabulous children
Gigi and Charlie. In my free time I enjoy reading, planning activities to do
with my kids and spending time with my husband.
 |
| This is called a Wordle. There is a website http://www.wordle.net which generates images like this. It is very easy to use and I have used it in the past for certain educational topics. For example, I made the main large word "Rocks" and used vocabulary and other information about rocks as the surrounding words as a study guide for students in my 3rd grade class. This Wordle is about my interest and hobbies. |
During my time in the classroom as a
student teacher, I have noticed the desperate need for technology in the
classroom. Technology is the future and in order to expect our students to
function in a world driven by technology, we must teach them how to effectively
use technology in their everyday lives. I have been extremely fortunate to have
had access to some of the most recent technologies used in the classroom during
my field placements and I am committed to staying up to date on technology used
to enhance learning.
As a future educator, I strive to make a
connection with each and every student by discovering their individual learning
needs and tailoring the educational content to meet these needs. I wish to
prepare my students for the future and in my opinion that means, helping them
to find their learning strengths, interests and giving them the tools they need
to compete in the world.
3 Great teacher blogs
I have searched the internet for some teacher blogs that excite me as an educator and help to motivate me and my desire to teach and learn. I came across multiple teacher blogs that provide great information on the educational topics that matter most to me, technology and special education. There were three blogs that really stood out and have made their way to my daily reading list.
I have included a symbaloo. This is a resource that I will refer to often in my blog posts. A symbaloo is a place to keep bookmarks that you or anyone you choose to allow access to, can access from any computer. There is a website, http://www.symbaloo.com/ which allows you to create your own symbaloo. I find it useful to have the websites, email and blogs that I frequent all at one location. In the past I have used this in the classroom to bookmark resources that we use in the classroom so that students can easily find the websites in the classroom and at home. In the symbaloo I have included on my blog I have posted the links of the blogs featured in this post. As I continue to post to this blog, I will update this symbaloo with the various links that I use in this blog as well as other resources that I find helpful.
When I think of myself as an educator, I first call to mind myself as a student. What has helped me to be a successful student? The answer is, the skills that my special education teachers have taught me about myself as a learner. Naturally, I associate individualized learning with education.
1. Teaching Special Thinkers
The first blog I have for you today, Teaching Special Thinkers, covers one teachers adventures as an intervention specialist. The blog can be found at the following IP address:
http://teachingspecialthinkers.blogspot.com
This fantastic blog is written by an Intervention Specialist in her second year as a second grade special education teacher. Ms. Dixon, typically posts to her blog weekly. Her blog is comprised of resources that she has found on the internet, in books and through other educators as well as teaching strategies in which she has found success. She focuses a lot on do-it-yourself projects that enhance learning and her classroom which is awesome because I love DIY projects! Another reason that I love this blog is because the author, Ms. Dixon, writes about her job with such passion that it inspires me to push myself to be that type of dedicated teacher. She also has a tab in her blog dedicated to being a proactive teacher. He recent posts cover how to be a proactive scheduler, how to set guidelines in the classroom and how to use lists to stay organized. Enjoy reading this blog, it has really given me some food for thought and has got me thinking about the teacher I would like to be.
2. Ask a Tech Teacher
The next blog is titled, Ask a Tech Teacher, and covers just about anything in the educational technology realm of information. This blog can be found at:
http://askatechteacher.com/
This blog is a little more formal than the previous but it is extremely informative. I mentioned in my 'welcome to my blog' post that I had a passion for technology in the classroom. While this is true and I strive to incorporate some sort of technology into each lesson plan, I don't necessarily know how to do all of the things I plan for. This blog can help. The author of this blog is a K-8 teacher but also teaches many teachers how to incorporate technology in the classroom. She mentioned that for her classroom assessments, she tends to have students use a form of technology to share what they have learned in the unit. I think this is a fabulous idea because it teaches students to use different forms of technology and gives them the opportunity to display the information that they have learned rather than just test-taking. The great thing about this blog is that the author provides many apps, lesson plans, websites and resources that benefit teachers who are using technology in their classrooms. This blog is a wealth of information and surely one that I will be keeping handy for my Educational Technology class!
3. The Autism Helper
The final blog that I have to share with you is The Autism Helper. This blog can be found at:
http://theautismhelper.com/
This blog grabbed my attention because Autism is such a large spectrum but one that I will be dealing with on a daily basis as a special education teacher. Having access to this blog and other like it is helpful to see into what resources teachers are using to help students with autism. This blog is filled with resources, activities and tips to teacher students with autism. This is a blog that I will surely save to my favorites for a rainy day because it has some really awesome resources and insight on teaching students with autism.
Overall, there are some really helpful resources to be found in educational blogs of all types. I am excited to continually explore the internet for blogs and resources that I find helpful and I will be sure to share if I find anything spectacular. For now, I think these three blogs are a great start to building my educational repertoire.
I have included a symbaloo. This is a resource that I will refer to often in my blog posts. A symbaloo is a place to keep bookmarks that you or anyone you choose to allow access to, can access from any computer. There is a website, http://www.symbaloo.com/ which allows you to create your own symbaloo. I find it useful to have the websites, email and blogs that I frequent all at one location. In the past I have used this in the classroom to bookmark resources that we use in the classroom so that students can easily find the websites in the classroom and at home. In the symbaloo I have included on my blog I have posted the links of the blogs featured in this post. As I continue to post to this blog, I will update this symbaloo with the various links that I use in this blog as well as other resources that I find helpful.
When I think of myself as an educator, I first call to mind myself as a student. What has helped me to be a successful student? The answer is, the skills that my special education teachers have taught me about myself as a learner. Naturally, I associate individualized learning with education.
1. Teaching Special Thinkers
The first blog I have for you today, Teaching Special Thinkers, covers one teachers adventures as an intervention specialist. The blog can be found at the following IP address:
http://teachingspecialthinkers.blogspot.com
This fantastic blog is written by an Intervention Specialist in her second year as a second grade special education teacher. Ms. Dixon, typically posts to her blog weekly. Her blog is comprised of resources that she has found on the internet, in books and through other educators as well as teaching strategies in which she has found success. She focuses a lot on do-it-yourself projects that enhance learning and her classroom which is awesome because I love DIY projects! Another reason that I love this blog is because the author, Ms. Dixon, writes about her job with such passion that it inspires me to push myself to be that type of dedicated teacher. She also has a tab in her blog dedicated to being a proactive teacher. He recent posts cover how to be a proactive scheduler, how to set guidelines in the classroom and how to use lists to stay organized. Enjoy reading this blog, it has really given me some food for thought and has got me thinking about the teacher I would like to be.
2. Ask a Tech Teacher
The next blog is titled, Ask a Tech Teacher, and covers just about anything in the educational technology realm of information. This blog can be found at:
http://askatechteacher.com/
This blog is a little more formal than the previous but it is extremely informative. I mentioned in my 'welcome to my blog' post that I had a passion for technology in the classroom. While this is true and I strive to incorporate some sort of technology into each lesson plan, I don't necessarily know how to do all of the things I plan for. This blog can help. The author of this blog is a K-8 teacher but also teaches many teachers how to incorporate technology in the classroom. She mentioned that for her classroom assessments, she tends to have students use a form of technology to share what they have learned in the unit. I think this is a fabulous idea because it teaches students to use different forms of technology and gives them the opportunity to display the information that they have learned rather than just test-taking. The great thing about this blog is that the author provides many apps, lesson plans, websites and resources that benefit teachers who are using technology in their classrooms. This blog is a wealth of information and surely one that I will be keeping handy for my Educational Technology class!
3. The Autism Helper
The final blog that I have to share with you is The Autism Helper. This blog can be found at:
http://theautismhelper.com/
This blog grabbed my attention because Autism is such a large spectrum but one that I will be dealing with on a daily basis as a special education teacher. Having access to this blog and other like it is helpful to see into what resources teachers are using to help students with autism. This blog is filled with resources, activities and tips to teacher students with autism. This is a blog that I will surely save to my favorites for a rainy day because it has some really awesome resources and insight on teaching students with autism.
Overall, there are some really helpful resources to be found in educational blogs of all types. I am excited to continually explore the internet for blogs and resources that I find helpful and I will be sure to share if I find anything spectacular. For now, I think these three blogs are a great start to building my educational repertoire.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)