Letter Writing Video

I thought that the idea of writing a letter with your finger on a student's back and then having them continue it to another student, and then to another student who eventually wrote the letter on the board, was a great idea! It was like "telephone", without the talking. I thought that this exercise really could help bodily/kinesthetic learners.

So People Really Do Read Blogs

I have to share the coolest thing! On my blog, I talked about how I donate to RIF (Reading is Fundamental) and how I thought that teachers should make donations to organizations like this. Anyway, in the mail, I received a letter from a RIF representative thanking me for listing them on my Blog and being so supportive of their organization. It was obvious that they read parts of my Blog because the letter also mentioned that I would be a great "future teacher", so they knew based on my Blog comments that I was not a teacher yet.

I never really thought that my blog would be read by anybody outside of our class, but that scenario made me realize just how little the world is thanks to the Internet!

Starfall

I checked out the website www.starfall.com and loved it. Since I have a kindergartener who is learning to read, I think this site will be extremely helpful to her. First, I feel the website makes learning fun. The animation, movies, and games make it exciting and easy for young children to use. Second, since my daughter is a kinesthetic and visual learner, using the computer and mouse will definitely accommodate her learning styles. Lastly, I was so impressed by the website that I decided to use it as a part of my lesson plan for our Lesson Plan project due. I'm thinking about doing a lesson plan for kindergarteners learning the alphabet.

Dr. Luongo, as an aside, as a current "non-teacher" student in your class, I really appreciate all of the websites and tools that you share with us. I really feel that these tools give me a headstart, especially when I get a job as a first year teacher. I know it's overwhelming the first year (and I am really nervous about it), but I really feel that these websites will help me out tremendously!

Put Your $ Where Your Mouth Is

This is a really great website--First Book. Check it out at http://blog.firstbook.org/
First Book is a nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. First Book has provided more than 50 million new books to children in need in thousands of communities nationwide.

I personally contribute to RIF (Reading is Fundamental) every year. Ever since my first daughter was born, as one of her Christmas gifts, a monetary donation is made in her name to RIF. Now that I have 2 daughters, contributions are made in both their names every Christmas.

I think it is important as teachers that we make at least one donation every year to an organization that helps educate children. After all, as teachers, shouldn't some of our charitable donations be directed towards education and children?!

Education Blog Article Critique

I thought that this article was an informative article regarding blogging. First, I thought the article was fair regarding the advantages and disadvantages of blogging. Obviously, an advantage is that students get experience with writing and technology simultaneously. A disadvantage is the "ever so popular" and entirely possible "blog slam". You know, the inappropriate commentary that potentially borders on slander or bullying. Strict guidelines would absolutely need to be implemented, discussed and reinforced with students to ensure that this type of blogging never occurs.

Another important aspect of the article was the history of blogging. It is interesting to note that some people do not consider anything that is "contrived" (like school assignments) to be blogging. This group of people tend to think that blogging should be stream of consciousness, like a diary. Therefore, school assignments, which have guidelines, restrictions, are written for a grade, etc. would not constitute blogging. While I understand this group's point, I do think that you can use the blog format for school assignments. Granted, I understand that many students would not completely "open up" for fear of teasing or not wanting to share their deepest thoughts, but they might not do that anyway with a "paper and pencil" assignment. I do think that "thrill of the blog" would excite many students to use this technology for some school assignments. Let's face it, as teachers, we would surely be deemed "cool" if we allowed our students to use this medium for some of their work. And connecting with students is a surefire way to gain their respect, which leads to a richer learning environment!

Technology Definitely Makes a Positive Impact

Technology definitely makes an impact, not only on students, but on parents. Last night was Back to School night at my daughters' school. The 2nd grader's teacher used Power Point for her presentation to the parents. Her presentation was well organized, easy to follow, and was visually pleasing. My kindergartner's teacher did not use any technology in her presentation and the difference was evident. The presentation was not as "professional", lacked in organization and did not have any visuals for the "visual learner". As a former businesswoman, who is comfortable with technology, I can absolutely guarantee that I will use Power Point in my Back to School night presentations!

Pay Attention Video

I watched the "Pay Attention " video on YouTube and agree that teachers have a wealth of technological resources that they could be utilizing to engage students. I can certainly attest to the fact that children are "tech savvy". In fact, my own 7 year old daughter taught herself how to change the stationery background on emails, change the picture on the "msn sign in screen", change the arrow cursor to other shapes (like a fireball or rocket!), and insert emoticons!

She then had to teach her mom!.............Technology point--- well taken!

Introduction

Greetings from Taran Fedor! I am a graduate student at St. Peter's University, NJ and I am pursuing my Elementary Education Teaching Certification. I am excited to begin student teaching in January and look forward to enriching the lives of children!