In-class lesson plans

I really enjoyed seeing every ones lessons that they designed over these last few weeks. I felt like I gained a lot of insight about what you can do with technology across all subject areas as well as grade levels. I also thought it was great to be able to see what types of technology are out there to use. I am always looking for different resources to use in my own classroom so I thought that the presentations were very beneficial in that aspect.

My

1)What is the greatest advantage to having a blog in this course?

I thought that the greatest advantage to having a blog in this course was being able to communicate with other classmates in a very open environment where we could feel free to have open discussions. It was a more rewarding experience then just the regular boring discussion forum on angel that I have always used in the past. I also thought that the blog allowed us to be more personal. We could include information about ourselves and post pictures. I thought it was great how we could update and keep things current if we wanted to. I also enjoyed how some weeks we were given an open topic to blog about and some weeks we were given a specific blog topic and I thought that it kept things interesting and gave us more freedom to have a casual conversation with classmates and or a more professional one.

2)What is the greatest barrier to your successful use of a blog in this course?

The biggest barrier that I had with the blog was the fact that some of the information I posted took a lot of time and effort and I never received any feedback or comments. I know that I was guilty at not always commenting on others posts as well. Other than that, I had no problems with it and really enjoyed creating it and reading what other classmates posted and commented on.

What a weekend!!!

Well, I got married this weekend!!! It was a great day, I could not have asked for things to go any better. Everyone had a great time and now I feel like its all over with and it all went by way too fast. You spend a whole year planning things and then the day flies by and before you know it, its all over. Thank goodness for pictures thats all I have to say. I cannot wait to see them. I guess I also should comment on class as well. I thought that we were going to do more work on our websites because I know that I need some serious help! I thought the video clips we watched were a little goofy but I guess they got the point across. Other than that its spring break/honeymoon for me!

Article Discussion

Overall, I think that my article discussion went very well. I did not get to ask all of my questions but the ones that I did ask developed into very in depth conversations. I felt good about the topics that we discussed and was happy to hear all of the different opinions that people had. I think that it is safe to say that technology is a very controversial topic that has both its ups and downs and that the digital divide is, unfortunately, something that is always going to be present unless we can take the necessary steps to try and close it.

Correction for lesson plan pbs sites

When you go to the links posted in the lesson plan it will tell you that the page was not found but at the top there is a icon labeled video clips. If you click on the video clips it will let you scroll through each one and select the ones I listed. Sorry for the inconvenience!http://pbskids.org/lions/videos/twovowels.html

http://pbskids.org/lions/videos/vowelboot.html

Lesson Plan with PBS Sources

Heather Ryan
EDU 580A
Lesson Plan/ PBS sources
March 31, 2009


Lesson Plan Title:
When two vowels go walking.

Objectives:
Students will be able to tell what the two vowels rule is and be able to recognize it in words and apply it to their everyday reading strategies.

Standards:
Standard 1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for
information and understanding.


Anticipatory Set:
Each student will be given a vest to wear with a specific letter placed in the front pocket of the vest. Students will then be called up to the front of the class by their letter name. Students will be arranged in an order that builds a word. (i.e. students will stand together with the letters d e a r to form the word “dear”) A discussion about wear the vowels are located and the sounds that are heard will occur to begin the lesson.


Step by Step Procedure:
1. Vest Activity (anticipatory set) (5-10 minutes)
2. Watch Between the Lions When Two Vowels Go Walking on pbskids.org/lions/videos/two vowels.html. (3 min.)
3. Watch Vowel Boot Camp (review of vowels and sounds long/short and application of two vowels go walking rule)
pbskids.org/lions/videos/vowel boot.html. (3 min.)
4. Review Rule as a whole group
5. Repeat Vest Activity for guided/ independent practice and use vowel boot camp tone and terms
(i.e. build words such as tree, say, dream, and meat some used
in the clip and others not mentioned)
6. Continue to monitor students when they are reading to see if they can identify and use the rule. (this can be done informally)


This is a great lesson that is appealing to all students and helps to meet many different learning styles such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.

Smartboard Use

Even though our time with the smartboard was short, I did learn more about them then what I knew before. I have recently started using the smartboard inside my classroom and have been teaching the kids how to use it too! They have found it to be very interesting and always give a cheer whenever I turn the projector on. Overall, I know that there is still much more for me to learn but, I have begun a step in the right direction!