9/27/11 Standards Standards Aligned System

Today we started out by finishing any questions we had on our spreadsheet assignments. I turned mine in as well as a reflection on my findings from my grade book. We then moved on to talking about standards and how they will help us focus our teaching to what we are expected to teach. I am very familiar with standards because for all of my education classes, we have had to use standards for our assignments. I have never really looked at the SAS website because I just used the book that the department of education put out. The SAS website appears extremely helpful especially because it has tools and resources on it that are connected to the standards. I will most definitely be using this website in the future as a reference to all of my lesson plans. It is also very clearly laid-out and easy to use, which makes it a great tool for teachers.

9/22/11 Excel Spreadsheet

This class we worked more on our spreadsheets. We learned vlookup which helped us use our weighted averages to calculate the letter grade. I was still having some trouble with copying and pasting and getting 0s, but I figured it out. I am happy with how my grade book is turning out. I think it will be such a useful tool in the classroom.

Excel 9/20/11

In this class, we worked on our gradebook assignments and learned more codes and how to graph. The codes were a little tricky, and I had a bit of trouble copying and pasting my work onto the graph sheet because my numbers kept coming up as zero. I figured it out after some time and was able to then make my graph successfully. I wrote down the codes in the excel sheet so that I will not forget them. If I do somehow forget, professor Enlow made some videos on how to do the formulas and posted them on blackboard. I hope at some point I can remember all if the codes because it will be easiest when I am in my classroom and do not have to stop to google codes for the gradebook of my own.

Excel 9/15/11

Last class we discussed our upcoming gradebook assignment using the Microsoft excel program. I feel it is important for me to learn this program and all of it's short codes because it may definitely benefit me when I have a classroom of my own. It seems like it will be a little challenging because of all of the codes we have to use, but I have worked in Excel before so i think I can do the assignment with some ease. I look forward to next class to learn some more codes!

Copyright Laws

In last Thursdays class, we discussed copyright laws which was very interesting to me. I did not know much about them, and now I am very cautious as to the use of others' work. I was unaware of the consequences which I had just never given them any thought. I will be extra careful when using others' work to use in my classroom. I took the quiz on how well I knew my copyright laws ( which was considered Fair Use or not ) and I think I did pretty well for not knowing that information before. I was able to get the majority of them right. Overall, I will make sure that I cite the work of others and obey the copyright laws when I use someone else's work.

9/6/11

  In today's class, we talked about how we can define the 21st Century learner and ways which we can incorporate the ongoing styles of technology into our classrooms. One of the videos we watched ("What if" ) was an evolution of technology and what people said about certain technologies "never being incorporated into the classroom" was especially interesting. It made me realize that reform is on its way whether we like the new information age or not, it is coming; and through that video, it was evident that others in the past have resisted against it as well. It shows that it is up to us to be on the rising tide and help students be more technologically literate rather than discourage it.
  We used Google Documents to express our opinions regarding this subject and from working with it in class and in the past, I am familiar with what how it is used. I will definitely utilize it in my classroom in the future so I can cater to the 21st Century learner's technological literacy needs.

9/1/11

Today's class consisted of addressing some of the challenges children of America face in school. We started out answering the question  "Is there urgent need to reform education?" through an online poll which we could answer through our cell phones. We then went in-depth with the question and watched two videos one about interesting facts, and one on President Obama and a speech he gave on reforming education highlighting key points and facts on Imagination. We then had a class discussion about why they need is so prevalent and why some students might be dropping out (whether it be for family reasons, un-interested, or regarded to their level of knowledge and discouragement that they cannot succeed in higher education) or why there are no AP classes ( students are just passed from grade to grade without being on grade level). It was an interesting class and through the discussion it made me feel so discouraged in that the American Education is not valued and is not enforced by home-life and it is just one big spiraling circle of short-cuts that not any are benefiting from; we all need to work hard together to make education important again. It is very discouraging that it is not just happening in our city, but throughout the country as well.