Ashleigh Booth's Blog

Onto New Beginnings!

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:52:00 +0000

I had such a positive experience this year in both the field and in my TE classes (well, most of them... haha). Spending time in the field taught me so much. I got such great experience in working with first graders. My TE classes did such an awesome job at accompanying my field experiences.

My favorite thing about your class, Gina, was roundtable. I really enjoyed being able to tell my colleagues about my experiences in the field, and our discussions helped me get through a lot of situations that I was faced with in my first grade classroom. Our discussion, and your extra research on abuse benefited me so much! It really helped me to handle the situation I was faced with when one of my students was sexually abused. I was aware of the behaviors that this student might express, and was then able to watch out for them. This greatly helped me out with knowing how to treat the student, without being overly protective of her. Thank you all so much for your help in this!

Not only did I have a great time this year, but I also feel that I worked really hard in becoming prepared for my Internship. I am so excited for next year, and despite how I felt at the beginning of the year, I actually feel prepared! I am so thankful for my experiences this year, and I wish all of you luck in your Internship!

Such a Great Feeling!

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:23:00 +0000

Today in my placement, I had such an amazing thing happen to me! As soon as the first graders got in from recess, my CT explained to them that she was going to put in a movie about bullies. Last semester, Cassie and I each taught lessons on bullying to our students, so they already had some background information on the topic. We taught the students what a bully was, and also told them that the person who is being bullied is called a target. In my part of the lesson, I used roleplaying activities in which one student acted as the bully and the other the target. I had the students act out how they would handle the situation in a polite and non-harmful manner.

Right as my CT started the movie, one of our students that was sitting near me said, "Miss Booth, the person who is getting bullied is called a target!" I said, "That's great! Who did you learn that from?" The student smiled and said "From you and Miss Knape, remember?" He then went on to tell me how much fun he had acting out the scenarios in my lesson.

After this incident, I couldn't stop smiling! It was such an amazing thing to hear- that my student found my lesson meaningful and that he still remembered the information I presented. It was such a good feeling to have! I have wanted to be a teacher ever since I can remember, and today only strengthened that ambition. I cannot wait to have more of these types of experiences throughout the rest of my life!

Experience From The Field

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:07:00 +0000

Last week in my placement, I was able to sit down and talk with my CT for a bit about the Iowa test that my first graders were taking all week. I, personally, think the idea of first graders taking a week-long structured test is ridiculous, and my CT shared the same opinion. I observed the class on Friday, which was the last day of their testing and the students were very clearly drained and had shut down to any class work. My CT simply put in movies for the students to watch in the afternoon, rather than having them work.

I had the opportunity to look through the teacher's guide to the Iowa test. The thing that I was extremely surprised about is that the teacher can read the directions only once for the students. At such a young age, first graders need repetition. Reading the directions only once is in no way going to help the students to complete the test. My CT told me that this was the biggest aspect of the test that the students struggled with.

Finally, my CT told me about one of the students breaking down during the test. One of our students who is an absolute perfectionist started crying during a portion of the test because she didn't know what to do. She was so upset that she ended up going home early in the day and not completing that portion of the test. This is an awful experience for a child so young because from here on out, that student will more than likely have high anxiety about all the structured tests she will have to take in her future.

I am curious to see what you all think about structured tests like this for students so young.

Basal Reading Programs

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:29:00 +0000

After learning a bit about Basal reading programs, my feelings about them are not all too positive. I believe that the intention of creating an organized program to help children with their reading is a good idea, but the limitations outweigh the positives in my opinion.

My biggest problem with the Basal reading programs is it does not allow for different-level readers in the classroom. It is extremely rare that all of your students will be on the same exact reading level as one another, which is what the Basal reading programs are designed for. I like the idea that is talked about in the Tompkins book about teachers trading with other grade-level teachers to accommodate their different-level readers, but this might not always be possible to do in the school. It is extremely important that teachers are able to accommodate their different-level learners, and the Basal reading programs do not allow this in all circumstances.

Other problems that I have with these scripted reading programs is the over-usage of worksheets and the fact that the students do not have a change to practice their reading orally. Too many worksheets seem to hinder the students' motivation and progress in the classroom. Worksheets may become boring for the students, which is what I see all the time in my field placement. Also, not being able to orally practice their reading will not help the students improve their skills whatsoever.

If I had to use one of these scripted reading programs in my own classroom, I would try my hardest to trade books with teachers of different grade levels to accommodate my students. If this was not possible, I would do all that I could to improve my students' reading skills while using the scripted program.

New Literacy/Technology Project

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:50:00 +0000

After the completion of my new literacy project, I definitely learned a lot! I absolutely love exploring new technologies, so this project was a lot of fun for me. The main idea that I got out of this project is how to connect an aspect of literacy (in my case, social literacy) with a new technology (blogging). So many aspects of material taught in a classroom can be expressed through the use of technology, and this project only strengthened this idea.

In exploring social literacy, I was able to see that students' knowledge and ideas can be shared effectively with one another through blogging. Blogging is such a great tool to utilize in the classroom because it gives your students the freedom to share their ideas. Not only do students express their ideas to the rest of their classmates, but the classmates can comment on the ideas, potentially creating a great conversation and a strong classroom environment. Blogging opens the doors for so many opportunities in the classroom because it offers numerous ways of utilizing the technological tool.

In considering the knowledge that I gained from completing this project, it can surely be put to good use in my future teaching. I definitely plan on utilizing several aspects of technology in my classroom, including blogging. This project showed me how easy it is to incorporate material being taught in the classroom with technology. Using technology whenever I can will definitely be more effective in teaching my future students!

Teaching Vocabulary in the Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:39:00 +0000

This week in class, we talked about methods and challenges of teaching vocabulary. In thinking about utilizing vocabulary at the first grade level and looking at the methods used in my field placement, I have numerous frustrations.

I have really not noticed any time set aside for vocabulary instruction in my classroom. Vocabulary is sometimes integrated into other subjects, but is not done so very often. For example, during a math lesson just recently, the first graders learned about greater than and less than comparisons. Because of this particular lesson, the students now understand what greater than and less than mean.

One method that my CT uses for teaching vocabulary is the utilization of worksheets. I would have to say that as far as I can tell, the worksheets are not proving to be effective whatsoever. The use of worksheets to teach vocabulary is not improving the students' skills in reading or writing from what I can tell. The use of only worksheets to teach such a valuable aspect of language arts frustrates me because I feel that students are not getting as much out of the lessons as they could be.

On a brighter note, I have noticed a method that my CT uses that I believe has proven to be rather effective. Every day after the students return from lunch/recess, my CT reads a book to the class. During this time, my CT will read through the book and when she comes to a word that the students might not know, she will take a bit of time to talk about the word and how it relates to the story. This method really helps the students to understand these new words, and they seem to enjoy when my CT introduces new words to them.

I wish that I could see a bit more creativity when it comes to vocabulary instruction in my CT's classroom. I definitely believe that vocabulary should be set aside and taught on its own once in a while. I also believe that vocabulary can be effectively integrated into other subjects as well. With a combination of these two methods and an emphasis on creativity to form lesson plans, I feel that vocabulary could be effectively taught in a classroom. Worksheets are not always the answer!

Writing in the Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 02:34:00 +0000

This week in class, we discussed the writing processes and methods used in the classroom. In my placement, a first grade classroom, writing is incorporated several times throughout the day.

One method my CT utilizes at least once a day is journaling. The students love to write in their journals because they have no limits on what they can write about. One thing that I have noticed from reading through a couple students' journals that can become problematic is the repetition of journal entries. For example, one of my first graders writes about how she loves dogs but hates cats at least once a week. In this case, the same journal entry is being used over and over again, so new words are not being utilized very often.

Another method my CT uses is presenting the students with a writing prompt. This method usually works well because the students are guided in what they are expected to write. However, this process can become problematic at times as well. Some of the students in the class will answer the question that the prompt poses, but do not like to elaborate further on the idea. At times, asking the students to write more than one sentence is like pulling teeth!

The students seem to like writing in their journals more than answering to prompts. However, neither of the methods seem to be very effective in my classroom. I feel that the students feel very self-conscious about their writing because they are not as a whole, an advanced group of students. Almost the entire first grade class struggles in writing, and because of that, they do not seem to enjoy the process.

This class needs motivation to want to write, but it is difficult to find effective ways to do so. I can only imagine my CT's frustration!

My First Language Arts Lesson Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:50:00 +0000

I taught my first language arts lesson plan this morning in my first grade class. It did not go as well as I had planned, yet I did not feel that it went badly. I taught a lesson on phoneme manipulations- adding and subtracting letters/sounds from words to make new ones. My students seemed to really enjoy the lesson. I provided letter cubes for them to experiment and form words with at their tables and they had a lot of fun with that. In fact, once I asked them to clean up their stations, they asked, "We're done already?" I left the letter cubes in the classroom for them to experiment with.

My biggest problem when I present lesson plans to my class is that I forget to say all that I want to say. There were so many more ideas I could have connected to in my lesson plan that would have benefited my students that I forgot about at the time. I do not know why, but I still feel a bit nervous when delivering my lesson plans to my students. I am always afraid that they will not get the most out of the learning experience as they can.

Next time, I will take the lesson a bit more slowly and will try and cover everything that I can to benefit my students.

I am very excited to improve on my language arts lesson plans in the future!

Teaching Reading

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:32:00 +0000

I really enjoyed reading the Tompkins chapter 2 for this week's class. It was interesting reading about teaching reading. I really like the concepts about the alphabet that is talked about in the chapter. Tompkins states, "Young children also develop concepts about the alphabet and how letters are used to represent phonemes. Pinnell and Fountas have identified these components of letter knowledge: the letter's name, the formation of the letter in upper- and lowercase, the features of the letter that distinguish it from others, the direction the letter must be turned to distinguish it from other letters, the use of the letter in known words, the sound the letter represents in isolation, the sound the letter represents in combination with others, and the sound the letter represents in the context of a word" (88).

These concepts of children learning the basics of the alphabet are very interesting. Students must have these understandings of the alphabet in order to build on their skills in reading. As a future teacher, I know the importance that the alphabet plays in students learning how to read, and will therefore work very hard to make sure my students are comfortable with these alphabet concepts.

In teaching my reading lesson to a first grade class, the Tompkins chapter 2 helped me grasp concepts that will help me in designing my lesson plan. Because my first graders are just beginning to read and are still struggling with reading, I will concentrate my lesson around alphabet concepts. I believe a lesson based around these alphabet concepts will greatly benefit my first graders and will make my lesson plan an effective one.

Dialect

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:15:00 +0000

In considering dialect, I would have to say that there are many factors that affect the way I talk. Codeswitching is a huge part of my life because I speak differently in different contexts. For example, when I'm with my friends, I might talk a bit more carelessly and inappropriately, while with my parents and at school, I speak in a completely different way.

I would also say that the cultural environment and the digital/media environment have impacts on the way I speak in different situations. For example, when speaking to my friends online or through text messages, I use a different sort of language that includes abbreviations or phrases that we only used over the Internet or texting. Examples of these include "lol (laugh out loud), idk (I don't know), and ttyl (talk to you later)." Because of the digital/media environments, when codeswitching to talking to my friends, all of them know the abbreviations and phrases as well.

I find it very interesting in thinking about how we unconsciously codeswitch in different situations. For example, in writing a paper for school, I would not use the phrases "lol" or "idk." I also would not use these phrases in talking to my parents or boss either.

I am looking forward to exploring more about dialect and codeswitching!

Goals for TE 402

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:42:00 +0000

This semester in TE 402, I would like to accomplish two main goals. The first is to learn how to better integrate language arts into other subject areas and the second is to effectively design and deliver language arts lesson plans.

I hope to gain several things from TE 402, including how to motivate my students to want to participate in language arts lessons, how to accommodate all levels of learners in my classroom, and how to get students to creatively express themselves through writing, just to name a couple.

I chose these goals because I feel they are important aspects of teaching language arts in a classroom. Not only do I need to be able to design effective language arts lesson plans to present to my students but I also need to know how to deliver them. Also, motivation to learn a subject area is extremely important as well, and I think it is very important to know how to motivate your students.

I am greatly looking forward to this semester in TE 402!

Before, During, and After- VanDeWalle

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:38:00 +0000

In the Before section, I believe it is important that students understand the problem. This is interesting to me because it is often expected that students automatically understand the problem but there may be many of them in the class who might not. Making sure that students understand the problem would be very beneficial in the classroom. It is more effective to have your students on the same level rather than on different ones. A simple action that teachers can take to make sure their students are understanding the problem is to spend some extra time going over the instructions and the problem at hand. If possible, one-on-one time with students who may be struggling will be beneficial as well.

In the During section, I like the idea of observing and assessing students' thinking without necessarily teaching. I find this very interesting because at times it is difficult to sit back and watch your students making progress on their own. Sometimes you just want to jump in and give them the correct answers! This process would be very beneficial to your classroom because it is very important for students to form their own concepts and ways of doing things and then going from there rather than making them do everything your way. An action that teachers can take is to simply sit back and observe how the students are processing their thinking. You might ask them guiding questions rather than giving them the correct answers. This provides for more lightbulb moments!

Finally, in the After section, I like the idea of summarizing main ideas and identifying problems for future exploration. This is interesting to me because connecting ideas from previous to future lessons is extremely effective and beneficial to your classroom. Continuous connection of these ideas allow your students to make connections as well and better remember the material they learned in previous lessons. Teachers can effectively achieve this connection by simply making connections in their previous lessons to the next lesson. Be sure to look ahead and make effective connections!

Base Ten Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:08:00 +0000

In considering which questions to ask and who to ask them to for my base ten interview, several things came to mind. At the present, my first graders are learning about place value and the "tens" and "ones" spots/places. They have recently been learning about trading 1o ones or singles for 1 ten stick and then counting the tens and the ones separately to get the final number. My CT has told me several times that place value is one of the hardest concepts that these students will be faced with throughout the entire school year. For that reason, she must spend several weeks building the concept of place value and base ten.

I plan on doing my base ten interview next Wednesday, February 20 and will interview two of my first grade students. I plan on interviewing one student who seems to be catching onto the concept of place value and base ten rather quickly and one who is not catching on so quickly. In interviewing two students with different levels of abilities, I will be able to more effectively compare the data I collect.

I do not have my specific questions planned out just yet, but I know I am going to design my interview questions around the idea of trading ones for tens. Even though the students are currently working on this in the classroom, it is a very difficult concept for them to grasp. For this reason, the more reinforcement of the idea they receive, the better they will understand. Not only am I using this interview to find out what they know about base ten and place value, but I will use it as a sort of assessment as well.

I am greatly looking forward to interviewing my first graders on base ten and place value!

Concept Mapping with First Graders

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:03:00 +0000

Last week in my field placement, my first graders were asked to make a concept map about "telling the truth" and to then construct sentences from the phrases written in the concept map. My CT drew a concept map on the board as a template for the students to follow and even helped them make the map, filling in ideas with their help. She then told the first graders that they could add more legs to the concept map or they could use the one on the board to create their sentences, whichever works best for them.

My CT is very good about involving me in her classroom instruction and activities, which I love because it provides me with excellent experience in various types of situations and lessons. However, this activity turned out to be very frustrating for me, even though I know her intentions were good.

After introducing the assignment to the students, my CT simply sat down at a table and asked me to go around the room to help the students create their sentences. Once I felt the students were ready, I was to send them over to my CT's table for feedback. This task was very difficult for me because my first graders are at extremely low levels in writing. Even my CT has admitted that she has never had a class that has gotten this far behind in their reading and writing levels before. My first graders have trouble reading simple words that they should definitely know by now, let alone writing them on paper.

About 75% of my class struggled with this assignment. Even though they all know what sentences are and they all know what constitutes a sentence, the majority of the class was simply just copying phrases down straight from the concept map onto their paper. When I tried to explain to them that they needed to construct sentences and even gave them models to follow, the students made no progress.

My frustration by the end of the assignment was not triggered by the students themselves, but by myself because I was unable to help all of them in completing their sentences. I did not know how to even begin helping an entire class like that to write sentences from a concept map and this frustrated me. I'd say that 10 students out of about 28 completed the assignment correctly.

To me, using concept mapping at a first grade level is a very difficult task to grasp. I am curious to see what you guys think about this!

Math- Base Ten!

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 04:59:00 +0000

In considering the thought processes of students learning about base ten and place value, I have been paying special attention to this in my field placement. Recently, my first graders have been learning about base ten and place value, and will continue to hit this concept hard for the next few weeks. My CT told me that this is one of the hardest concepts for students at this age to grasp, which is why she must spend so much time on it.

At first, the students were introduced to the idea that if you have ten "singles," you must trade for one "ten stick." This was very difficult for the students to grasp at first- Why do we have to do this? My CT would break a number up into a t-chart. For example, the number 28- In the t-chart, the number 2 would be on the left side column and the number 8 would be on the right. Then, she would ask the first graders how many ten sticks go in the left column... 2. And how many singles in the right... 8. Once the students practiced the t-chart method over and over, they began to get the hang of it. I really liked this method used by my CT because it lays out the concept of bundling and regrouping in a very visual way. This is exactly what my first graders need!

One of the students in the class, a more advanced first grader who is hindered by his ADD and is often seen as a "problem child" because of it, had a "light bulb" moment. He said, "GASP! The two ten sticks means the same thing as two tens... ten, twenty!" Once the student stated this, which seems like a very simple concept to us, several students in the class replied with, "OH! Now I get it!" sort of reactions. Since this moment in my placement, the first graders have been doing much better with the grasping of the base ten concept. I thought this was great and very uplifting, and so did my CT.

I am looking forward to working more with my first graders on base ten these next few weeks!

A Classroom Dilemma

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 02:00:00 +0000

This week in my blog entry, I've decided to talk about something other than the topic suggested by Gina. I realize that confidentiality is a major factor to consider in talking about issues in our placements with the rest of the TE class, but I would like to bring this issue to the table anyway and see what my classmates have to say about it.

On Monday, I found out that one of the girls in my first grade class was molested and was put through a rape unit at the hospital once her mother found out. My CT waited until it was time for me to leave my placement to tell me, and it was a good thing because I broke down crying. This is one of the saddest things that I have ever heard happen to a child that I have known personally, and was not sure quite how to react to the situation. Knowing that there is nothing I can do to help that does not take time, my CT instructed me that I should research the effects that a situation such as this can have on a young child. My CT told me that she had done her own research and that children that are victims of molestation or rape can either withdraw from people completely, can become very clingy, or can try to do something to his or her classmates at school that has been done to them.

I was just curious if anyone has had an experience similar to this one in their field placements and if so, what they felt they could do to help. I would have brought this up at Round-Table this week, but I was unable to make it to class. What do you guys think?

My Language Arts Lesson Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 03:24:00 +0000

In considering what to teach in my Language Arts lesson plan, I chose the picture book, The Napping House by Audrey Wood. There are numerous options of what I can teach that correspond with this book. For example, rhyming words, syllables, beginning sounds, ending sounds, vowel sounds, and phoneme manipulations are among the options that I can teach to my first graders that relate to The Napping House.

This particular children's book is a cumulative story, much like The House that Jack Built. Kids love this book and I am looking forward to incorporating it into my lesson.

I am not entirely sure which concept I am going to teach my first graders to accompany the book. I would like to pick two areas from the options I listed above to cover in my lesson plan. As of now, I have decided that I would like to teach beginning sounds and vowel sounds. However, phoneme manipulations is another option that I am interested in teaching. In these important concepts, I will pick words from the story, as well as other words that the students are familiar with for the activities. I will then ask the children to help me find other words that have the same beginning sounds and vowel sounds as the words we found in the story.

In choosing this particular lesson plan and picture book, I wanted to pick a story that would be fun for the students and also would get them excited about participating in the lesson. I think I have chosen a great book and lesson and am very excited about teaching it!

TE 402- Math!

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 02:23:00 +0000

So far, I feel like the semester in TE 402 is off to a great start. There are many aspects related to teaching mathematics in my classroom that I hope to gather from this class.

I hope to learn effective ways of integrating math into other subject areas in my classroom. Math is extremely important in every individual's life. I hope to be able to spark children's interests at the lower-elementary level so they gain a passion for learning math and an interest in continuing their math education in the years that follow. I, personally, do not enjoy all aspects that learning math entails due to negative experiences in my past. However, I hope to gather ways of being passionate about teaching math so that my students will be passionate about learning the subject. Finally, I hope to obtain ways of teaching effective math lessons in the classroom that will be both fun and informative for my students. I am very excited to see what else TE 402 has to offer!

Up to this point in TE 402, I feel that the class is very organized, which will aid in my success throughout the semester. I hope to gain as much as I possibly can before I enter my internship year, and with the instructors that I have in 402, I feel that this is absolutely possible. Both instructors seem very enthusiastic about the subjects they are teaching, which pushes me to be enthusiastic about the material I am learning!

A New Semester in TE 402!

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 03:02:00 +0000

Hello!

I am very excited to be starting the new semester in TE 402! I look forward to gathering new knowledge and ways to make Language Arts and Math fun and meaningful in the classroom! I was very pleased to hear that we would be incorporating blogging in this class so I am more apt to keeping my blog up-to-date with information.

In this week's class, we will be talking about "differentiation" and how it is utilized in teaching. Differentiation in the classroom, to me, means the teacher's responsibility to adjust his or her lesson plans to each and every student, no matter which level of learning they may be at. This is mostly applied to students with learning disabilities.

There are many ways differentiation is utilized in the classroom. For example, simple adjustments such as allowing students more time to complete a worksheet or giving them options as to which activity to take part in may be useful. However, if you have students who still do not prosper in literacy even with these adjustments, you may, as the teacher, need to turn to outside sources. For example, you may need to talk with the school counselor and have the student tested for a learning disability. In these cases, students may be pulled out of the classroom for a period of time each day and worked with individually on their literacy skills. This option is used with a couple of the students in my field placement and seems to work rather effectively. Communication with the students' guardians is extremely important and aids in the success of the student. When students with learning disabilities are surrounded by a positive, motivating support system, they will be more likely to succeed in school.

I am looking forward to learning more about differentiation in this week's class!

Just the Beginning

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 05:27:00 +0000

In wrapping up the semester in CEP 416, I am not viewing this experience as the end, but rather only the beginning. This class was very meaningful to me as a student and as a future educator. I have been provided with various aspects of technology that could easily be integrated into the classroom. For example, blogging, website design, podcasting, and organizing the Internet using Google tools are all excellent aspects of technology that could be incorporated in the classroom.

In creating my technology integration plan, I chose to create a class blog for a first grade classroom. This area became of great interest to me because I do not feel that technology is incorporated as often as it should be in young elementary classrooms. Many teachers, I feel, do not see it possible to include aspects of technology in young elementary classrooms because they may believe students are too young to become involved in technology. I highly disagree with this statement because I believe technology can and should be integrated in all classrooms, no matter what the age of the students. I feel that a class blog would be great for a first grade classroom, and that the kids would become very excited and involved in this experience. Here is a link to my mock class blog. Check it out!

I am looking forward to building on the aspects of technology I learned about in CEP 416. I feel that I have been introduced to numerous very meaningful tools and if used effectively in the classroom, could be very beneficial to my future students. It's only the beginning!

Podcasts

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 20:14:00 +0000

This week in class, we experimented a little with podcasting. I had been looking forward to this lab for weeks because I did not know a single thing about podcasts and was eager to learn! Even though we were only briefly introduced to podcasts, I still feel that I could use them effectively in my classroom. Here is the podcast our class created!

Podcasting could be used in numerous ways to aid in lessons in the classroom. As we used it in class, podcasting could be used to record presentations done by members of the class and then played back for later use. As a teacher, you could record your lessons and have them played back for your students if you are to be absent. In a lower elementary classroom, you could use podcasting to help with oral language skills. For example, you could record yourself saying sentences and play it back for your students to both hear and repeat back to you. Finally, this tool would be great to use in a foreign language class. For example, you could record yourself saying sentences and then play it for your students for them to respond on tests. Podcasting would be an excellent tool to use in the classroom for any grade.

I am looking forward to learning more about podcasting and its effective uses in a k-12 classroom!

Images and Copyright Laws

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 20:34:00 +0000

Erickson Hall in the middle of a renovation!

This week in class, we learned about uploading images and also about the copyright issues regarding images that others upload onto the Internet. In being introduced to this idea, I now know how to claim rights to my own pictures that I upload and can choose an option that does not let anyone else take or share my images. This is a very useful tool and will be extremely helpful in making sure that my pictures are not being used elsewhere on the Internet.

In using Creative Commons, I, as well as my students, will be able to use images for class projects and other various activities without having to worry about running into copyright issues. This website is very useful and I look forward to learning more about using Creative Commons for my future classroom.

I foresee some challenges in teaching students about copyright laws dealing with images and videos on the Internet. Students may not realize that it is not appropriate to simply take images from Google Images and use them on their own classroom projects. Taking images from the Internet without knowing about specific copyright laws can be dangerous and is not encouraged in the Education community. Therefore, using websites like Creative Commons will prove to be very effective in the classroom. In searching on sites such as flickrCC, you are only searching among images that have copyright settings that allow you to utilize them for your own use.

I look forward to learning more about copyright laws and making sure that my classroom is using images and videos from the Internet properly.

Organizing the Internet

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 18:35:00 +0000

Recently in class, we did some exploring in organizing the Internet. First, we set up our own social bookmark accounts. I chose to use del.icio.us. This account allows me to bookmark websites that I find useful or interesting. What I like most about my bookmark account is that I can share my list of websites with fellow colleagues or students. This will provide my students with resources that will be useful to them.

Next, we took a look at Google calenders. I already had some prior experience in using Google calenders, as I have set up my own personal calenders in the past. What I love most about Google calenders is that you can set it up to where you receive reminders in your email when an event is coming up. This is extremely helpful when I have a major assignment due or an upcoming meeting.

These two tools that aid in organizing the Internet would be extremely helpful to me, my students, and their parents. In using my del.icio.us account, I can share my bookmarked websites as resources with my students and their parents. It not only helps me to stay organized and to pool together some of my favorite sites, but also allows me to keep my students and their parents informed and interested. The Google calender is also very helpful in keeping students and their parents on the same page as myself. Here, I can post reminders for upcoming events such as assignments, days off of school, and field trips. In sharing my calender with my students and their parents, they can stay informed by looking for upcoming events. Aside from sharing a public calender, I can also create my own personal calender. In creating a personal calender, I can choose not to share it with anyone and make it private.

I am very excited to learn more about organizing the Internet! I feel these tools will be very useful in my future classroom!

Personalizing the Internet

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:55:00 +0000

This week in class, we focused on personalizing the internet. All of the tools that we used in our assignment will work very effectively in aiding in my future classroom. In using Google Alert, I chose to receive information on Diversity in Education. This tool is excellent because it allows me to receive information that could help in my classroom. For instance, if we are doing a unit on ecosystems, I can use Google Alert to send me information on ecosystems that could aid in my lesson plans.

Next, using Google Reader, I was able to set up my own personal aggregator account. This allowed me to link to my classmates' blogs and to see when they make updates.

Finally, we played around with the iGoogle tool. There are so many games and gadgets available to explore! In using the "add tab" option, it was so easy to organize the applications I chose for my iGoogle page. There are so many fun applications on iGoogle and I really enjoyed playing around with my page!

These tools would be great to use in the classroom. I think students would really benefit from the Google Alerts. In receiving information from Google about the search phrases of my choice, I can feature up-to-date and helpful information in my classroom. This is such a great tool!

I look forward to exploring these Google tools more and learning more about how to use them. I can't wait to feature these tools in my future classroom!

My New Website!

noreply@blogger.com (Ashleigh Booth's Blog) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:56:00 +0000

I am in the beginning stages of creating my first website!
Check it out!
I hope this website will allow my students and colleagues to learn a bit about me and my experiences. I have structured my site in a way that provides separate links for each section of information about myself that I wish to include. I believe the structure I have chosen will be rather effective in separating the sections of information so it is not confusing to guide yourself through. I will continue to add new elements to the page and am always looking for feedback! Feel free to contact me with helpful ideas in improving my website! Enjoy!