Reflection #2

We live in a world filled with technology that improves every day. The population of the world who are young children up to young adults, are used to living their lives with technology. Most sixteen year olds in the world today, could not imagine their life without a cell phone, a facebook account, instant messaging, i-pods, etc. I know this to be true, because I am only eighteen, and growing up my world was filled with technology.

As a teacher, I will use these communication tools to communicate with my students, students' parents, and colleaugues. It is a very fast and productive way to communicate. Most children will go home after school, grap a quick snack, and go directly to their computer. They will check their facebook account, email account, instant messaging, etc. As a teacher, I can log on to my accounts after school, and I am able to communicate with most of my students. It is also a very fast way to ask my students' parents and colleaugues questions. They are able to respond faster through the internet accounts, rather if I wrote them a letter, or even called and left them a message.

In some cases, a communication/ social networking tool, is not always the best option. Some people may not have access to the internet, so calling them would be a better way to communicate. Older generations also may lack the skills needed to use these tools. They would not be able to communicate because they would not know what they were doing. In a few situations it is not a good idea, but overall I think it is a great way to communicate.

I enjoyed the short video, Introducing Web 2.0. I learned a lot in just a couple of minutes. I think this video should be shown to every educator. It showed a lot of resources you can go to on the internet, and use for many different reasons. I never knew there were so many resources for different things. I am glad I watched this, and the knowledge I gained will be very useful.

Reflection #1

My ideal classroom would be a special needs Kindergarten class. I plan to teach special education, and I would love to have the ideal classroom. The classroom would have lots of posters and colors on the walls and shelves. I would incorporate sign language into my teaching, so there would be posters of the alphabet and other simple signs around my classroom. I would want at least seven children in my class, but no more than twelve. I would hope they would have all different personalites. I would want to work with children who are unable to speak, who are in a wheelchair, and children who are mentally and physically challenged. I would want the parents of my students to be very supportive and to know what their children are learning in the classroom. I would hope my colleagues were understanding of my students, and are willing to help with any challenges I had. I would use computers to teach my students different concepts. I would want them to play different learning games on the computer, so they could have a fun way to learn. I would teach my students in very simple ways. I would also repeat the concepts over and over, until I knew for a fact my students understood the concept. My overall goal for the class would be to do everything in my power to help my students be main-streamed into a regualr education class.

I enjoyed the video we were assinged to watch. I do not think it would be a smart idea to start charging people for their internet usage. There are a lot of people who have to work on the internet in order to accomplish their work tasks, and they should not be charged to do that. It is a bad idea, and I believe if it did happen, money would be lost in the end, not gained. I think touch screens for computers is a great idea. This would help the students in my ideal classroom. A lot of those children would not be able to click and hold a mouse, but they could touch a screen to choose their answers. I believe this idea is great! I also think it is a great idea to give discounts for i-phones. If people are given options to save money, they are more likely to buy the product. In the end, everyone would be happy.