Final Reflection

I feel that the websites introduced to us in class were very useful. Thinkfinity and teacher tube can especially be helpful to me.
I still feel uncomfortable with blogging. Theoretically, blogging can be a great technological tool. However, I feel that students using blogs can be dangerous. I guess that I am somewhat leery of the Internet and as a result, I worry about Internet safety. High school students are very adept at blogging and social networking. Ideally, these could be very successful in education. There have to be lots of blocks and monitoring so that students don't abuse these sites. We also have to be careful of cyber predators.
I hope to implement many of these websites into my curriculum in September. Thanks!

Second Life

I found a very interesting article about virtual games which students are using. The question is that if teachers can use this for educational purposes. The problems are that schools may not have all the equipment at their disposal. Also an educator needs to be very "tech" savvy in order to use it.
What caught my eye was the use of avatars in Second Life. the way it was described is that it is a game. It also mentioned the use of virtual simulations.
I was a bit confused as to how it can be used in education, but I found it interesting because we did discuss these topics in class.
Does anyone have any comments on this article?
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/06/18/42secondlife_ep.h27.html?tmp=1453753891

GradeQuick

The name of the grading spreadsheet our school uses is called GradeQuick. All teachers in the school use this for posting grades as well as for exporting grades for parents to view. Here is how it works.
You need to weigh each category. My grading is 10% classwork, 10% homework, 20% quizzes, 20% projects, and 40% tests. As you enter an assignment, you must label it with one of these categories and then it is weighted for you. What is also good about it is that it keeps a running record of the student's grades for the quarter. Parents obtain a password from the school and then can access their child's grades from home. I feel this prevents parents from constantly questioning the teachers. They can then ask their child why an assignment is missing!
Using GradeQuick is much easier than Excel becasue everything is already set up for the teacher. You do not need a formula because it is already there for you.
I always do a hard copy first, then enter the grades into GradeQuick. I always print a final copy for my records after the quarter is done.
With GradeQuick, you can view each quarter or the entire year. Students are always concerned about their current cumulative average for college transcripts or they have an "A" average in order to be exempt from the final exam.
Excel can produce charts and pie graphs. GradeQuick cannot do this. It can, however, print progress reports for parents to sign and return. The more I use it, the easier it becomes.
Another advantage is that students' names are already imported in the program for each class.
I also like the fact that there is a component where the teacher can list homework, projects, etc. I have a weekly schedule posted and update it weekly for each of my classes. If a student is absent, he/she can check edline (parent/student access component) to be current. Many students and parents have told me that this is helpful.
I really love GradeQuick. I was very intimidated by this at first and never used any spreadsheet for grading befroe this. I used the calculator and did my averaging manually. This is so much easier! I can never imagine returning to a claculator again. I also do not have to use an old-fashioned gradebook. I can just print out the spreadsheet with the grades which I keep in a three ring binder for parent conferences, administrative questions, etc.
I am very, very happy with GradeQuick. Even if my school changes programs, I will be happy to learn a new one because this is so much easier and less time consuming.

Teacher on MySpace

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=4791295&page=1

I found this article about a prospective teacher who did not get her credentials due to her picture on MySpace. I thought it was interesting as I am always telling my senior students to be very careful with this when they go to college and beyond. During the course of the year when I taught the novel 1984, we discussed freedoms and government regulations on individuals. Some students used this topic in their research papers about contemporary regulations by the government. Hopefully, they will be given more warning about this in college. Will they listen, probably not.

Excellent websites

When I went on the teacherweb/alternate route website, I found this website:
http://www.sitesforteachers.com. It was described as a good site, but it does take a little while to explore. There are many excellent free sites with lesson plans, exercises, etc. Some, however, are trying to sell you their teaching product, but do have some "free samples" on their site. I found a few websites dealing with working with ESL students of all levels. Hope this website can be beneficial to some of you.

Blogging

I am finding that loading pictures and graphics on my blog is difficult. Also I am not sure what to write. Could anyone help me with this? Thanks.