Miranda+Metzger

EDU 240 Miranda's FINAL ** 1.    As **//COGNITIVE MEDIATOR//**, the educator helps students to become independent learners who construct meaning by combining new information with their own background knowledge. **Discuss two assignments that you completed using a South Dakota State Standards topic in your major area of study. Describe each program and then tell how you could use that program with your students to enhance their technology skills when you start teaching.
 * TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION

A.** One of the assignments that I created in class was a Microsoft Word brochure. I made a brochure that introduced a new piece of literature to the class by providing background information about the story. Microsoft Word is not specifically designed for creating brochures, but it is very easy to do so with the word processor. Because Word is familiar for many people, it is easy to navigate and create projects. I think that Microsoft Word has an obvious practical application for an English classroom. Students will be asked to produce writing as part of the curriculum and will need to use a word processor to type their essays and papers. Most students will already have knowledge of word processing, so to enhance their technology skills I will have to go more in depth with some of the features and capabilities of the program.

2.    As **//RESEARCHER//**, the educator seeks to improve educational practices within the school setting, using an inquiry approach to serve students more effectively. ** As a researcher in this class, I have learned to first skim for content. Then, if a site or page looks promising, I go back and read it slowly, absorbing more information. Creating a presentation or discussing the material in a chat helps me to not only recall the information but to put it to effective use. I find that information stays with me much longer if I know it well enough to teach it to someone else. The class has taught me to be careful about the research that I do. It is important to find sources of information that are appropriate and useful. I feel now that I know more about where to go to find information that is helpful to the field of teaching, and that many of the sites we previewed in this class will be valuable tools for the future. 3.    As **//COMMUNICATOR//**, the educator is skilled in modes of communication that will enable effective communication and collaboration with other educators, parents, and families. **Discuss one Internet site and one technology program that will help you to communicate to your students and their parents when you become a teacher? Describe how you could use each one to communicate to either students or parents when you are teaching.
 * B.** Another state standards topic assignment that I created was a PowerPoint describing different methods of correspondence in a workplace. Having worked in a bank for nearly six months now, I have come to see the value of being able to communicate effectively in a business setting. It is essential that students are prepared to be effective communicators when they enter the world of work. As another element in the Microsoft Office Suite, PowerPoint is also familiar to a lot of people. PowerPoint enables teachers to present information to the class in a way that is visually stimulating. The program cuts down on boring lectures and the formerly popular "overhead notes." To increase students' skills in using technology, they should be asked to create their own PowerPoint presentations. They will learn to use appropriate text, insert pictures, create hyperlinks, and add transitions. There are many, many, ways that PowerPoint can enhance learning in the classroom.
 * How has completing research in this class (reading the textbook, researching sites on the Internet, creating a presentation for class) helped you to become a better teacher candidate?

A.** An internet site that will be a valuable tool for communicating is the Google-based "Blogger.com" site. The site allows users to quickly and easily create a weblog where they can add text, photos, and links to other sites. Because the site is part of the world wide web, it can be easily accessed by students and parents. I could use the blog to keep parents updated on daily activities, projects, and upcoming events in our classroom. The blog could be a general way of communicating with all parents, and Wikis could be set up for each individual class. The blog would give parents a way to communicate with me about what is happening in the classroom, and a way for me to respond and address concerns. Wikis could be used by the students to add their own information to the class.

4.    As **//EVALUATOR//**, the educator maximizes students’ learning by using a full range of formal and informal information-gathering processes in order to respond appropriately to student individual differences. **Discuss one web site and one technology program that you used and evaluated this semester? Why did you find each one useful and how might you use them in the classroom when you start teaching?
 * B.** A program that I can use for communication is Microsoft Publisher. Another component of the Office suite, Publisher has templates that allow projects like newsletters and brochures to be easily created. Creating a newsletter becomes a simple process with Publisher. Simply choose a template with colors, fonts, and a layout that you like and go to work. It is easy to add your own text and pictures to a pre-made template. For a really creative person, there are blank templates that allow much more freedom of design. Sending home a weekly newsletter is common for elementary grades, but is also a great idea for any classroom, even in high school. The newsletter will highlight events in the class and keep parents informed about upcoming projects their kids may have due.

A.** A web site that I found helpful was one called Poets.org. The site has information on famous poets, contemporary poets, poetry readings in audio and video formats, and resources for educators. The site contains a vast amount of valuable information about an important literary form. I used the site to research several of my state standards topics, and found it easy to navigate and very informative. I think that students in an English classroom would benefit from having a resource so easy to use. I find literature and especially poetry fascinating, and I think that this site is a great tool for helping me to share and spread my love of words. Students can do research, listen to readings, and find poems for different occasions.


 * B.** A program that I learned to use this semester was a Flick-r based site called Big Huge Labs. The site allows the user to upload photos and then create fun projects with them. I did my presentation on this program, so I had an opportunity to become familiar with many of the features and capabilities. Posters, puzzles, magazine covers, mosaics, calendars, CD covers and many more projects can be created with this great site. Students could enhance their creativity and create projects that would support what they were learning about in class. For example, if we read a book in class, students could then design a movie poster announcing the release of a movie based on the book, starring their fellow students.