This week we are learning about using Smart Board technology for the classroom. I think this software is really exciting for teachers to build lessons with. I find it a bit overwhelming, but I have not yet really taught anything. Simply building a lesson makes me feel a little trepidation. I know that with time, my oddball nature will go away and I will have the same enthusiasm and youthful excitement I see in all of my fellow peers. No one else seems to be quite as anxious as I am about leaving my job and actually beginning my career. That's exciting, right? :)
This lesson is cool because it provides some interactive activities for the students to work on. I especially like how the teacher has made "teacher notes" for themselves all throughout the lesson. I'm sure a seasoned teacher may not need so many notes, but as a pre-service teacher, I rather like the attention to organization. I think this is especially helpful for teachers who have created a lesson and then do not actually utilize it for some time, so the notes serve as little reminders as to what is supposed to happen in each section.
This lesson shows how to use Smart Board to teach sentence structure and type. Very valuable! I could definitely find ways to utilize some of the activities from "Activity Builder" to teach the value of combining sentences. This could be a great morning activity to get the class focused and introduce a sort of "mini-lesson" having to do with English grammar and proper sentence construction.
"Scrabble" submitted by G. Snoke is a wonderful activity! I really love this classic game made into an modern interactive game for the classroom. As an English teacher, I could easily see the value in using this sort of game to improve spelling, language acquisition and use of vocabulary terms. IT helps students to expand their vocabulary as well. This would be a great filler for dead time in between lessons, or as an emergency type of activity if there needs to be a substitute teacher or if the regular teacher is called out of the classroom for any amount of time.
"Hangman Game" by BYoung is a pretty simple activity, but it is interactive. Can you still play Hangman in schools? It's sort of amusing, but I like that it encourages students to use contextual clues and spelling skills to make connections to concepts. It could be used as a warm-up activity, a time-filler or as a review for introduced material.
This video called "How to Use The Activity Builder SMART Notebook 11" posted by Smart Board Videos shows how to use the "activity builder" feature in Smart Notebook 11. This is a great way to put the interactive element into the Smart Board lesson plans. It's blurry, but he demonstrates how to use the object container and accept/reject feature. He shows how to go through the gallery and select different types of containers and objects to build different types of lessons that would be more appropriate for your content area. He also shows how to re-size objects on the page so that things will be proportionate. This could be a great exercise for younger students to sort different parts of speech like "verb" "noun" "adjective" etc. Perhaps for older students it would be a good exercise for sorting different types of sentences or phrases.
This video called "New Features for SMART Notebook 14" posted by SMARTclassrooms demonstrates some of the really cool new things about Smart Notebook 14! My content area is English, but I thought it was really cool the way you could write an equation on the screen and then drag it to the input box and it would automatically be graphed for you. You could also drag the graphed image and the equation would change in real time, which is a really interesting feature. I really like the ability of labeling a 3-D object. This could invaluable in the Biology lab setting. It could also work for labeling parts of a narrative, or demonstrating correction markings.
This video called "Advance Smartboard Lesson Creation" posted by Mark Guifre is one I really like. This person was really creative and shows some examples about how to effectively use Smart Notebook in different content areas! This person gave really clear demonstrations, and this video functions as a basic tutorial for learning how to use the software. It is 29 minutes long though! I really think the application with the butterfly is really neat. I used the rectangle in my class lesson for EDT 365. I think it would be a great way to review or teach new vocabulary.
These are just a few examples of lessons and video demonstrations. I still have quite a bit to learn! It will be fun researching more about what others have done.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Professional Learning Network
What is a Professional Learning Network?
A Professional Learning Network (PLN) is a social network that teachers can use to share and learn new information. These networks have always existed in some form or another. In the pre 2000's they were discussions with other teachers between classes, articles read from a magazine or journal, and conferences or workshops. Now, with the prevalence of the internet and social media, it is a network that has grown exponetially and continues to do so. Teachers can now use the internet to create specialized communities in which they can share information.
Why a Professional Learning Network is important....
PLN's are important because they provide a way for teachers to support one another in their fields. By connecting with one another, teachers can stay up-to-date with changing trends in technology, or share new teaching techniques. It is even a way for teachers to gain exposure. Teachers can seek advice from other professionals. As eternal learners, it is the perfect meeting place to continue to expand their specialized knowledge.
What I hope to gain from my PLN...
I hope to gain some new friends and receive advice from other professionals. As a preservice teacher, I am thrilled with the opportunity to brainstorm ideas about how to be the most effective teacher that I can be. I hope to gain some confidence and learn a lot about real experiences that will help prepare me to best serve my students.
To find out more about PLN's, visit this blog! It provides a wonderfully detailed account of how PLN's came to be what they are today.
Happy learning!
A Professional Learning Network (PLN) is a social network that teachers can use to share and learn new information. These networks have always existed in some form or another. In the pre 2000's they were discussions with other teachers between classes, articles read from a magazine or journal, and conferences or workshops. Now, with the prevalence of the internet and social media, it is a network that has grown exponetially and continues to do so. Teachers can now use the internet to create specialized communities in which they can share information.
Why a Professional Learning Network is important....
PLN's are important because they provide a way for teachers to support one another in their fields. By connecting with one another, teachers can stay up-to-date with changing trends in technology, or share new teaching techniques. It is even a way for teachers to gain exposure. Teachers can seek advice from other professionals. As eternal learners, it is the perfect meeting place to continue to expand their specialized knowledge.
What I hope to gain from my PLN...
I hope to gain some new friends and receive advice from other professionals. As a preservice teacher, I am thrilled with the opportunity to brainstorm ideas about how to be the most effective teacher that I can be. I hope to gain some confidence and learn a lot about real experiences that will help prepare me to best serve my students.
To find out more about PLN's, visit this blog! It provides a wonderfully detailed account of how PLN's came to be what they are today.
Happy learning!
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