Digital blog post k

Chapter 6

While reading the opening of this chapter that talks about "Fostering online Learning with educational Websites and Apps", I thought about my beginning steps in being a teacher. I am still kind of in the beginning steps. the book says that no new teacher will walk into a classroom and starts teaching extemporaneously. You will find yourself continually researching and reviewing curriculum topics and plans everyday. And that is what I do. Every week we have to think about a new lesson plan with a new topic and new ideas, new activities and also new material. The material should be always changing to keep up students interest and their motivation to learn. This Article from Teachthought describes 15 examples of new Technology in Education.

We observe sometimes that the children get bored when they always have the same material to work with. Our VPK room includes 18 children from which 15 are boys. Sadly, some material provided to them gets thrown around or broken quickly if they get bored with it. We need to redirect and change material pretty often to keep them from reacting like that. 

     In today's times, we are lucky to have the Internet as a big helper in finding teaching material. I wouldn't know what to do at earlier times with just books and magazines as recources for finding appropriate material. This does not mean I, as a teacher, am completely depended from the Internet when planning for my class. I use a lot of mailbox magazines and educational books to get ideas. It is just quicker to push a button and find what you were looking for rather then flipping several pages in books or magazines. The Internet is such a huge source to use. The book says that one part of the job of a teacher is learning how to use a computer in the classroom. It states that students and teachers can work together while learning and teaching.

      The next section I am talking about is "Managing information electronically". The book states that teaching requires constant learning about the subjects or topics you teach and find interesting and engaging for students. I think it is fun to research and look around for new interesting lessons and activities for preschoolers while I am planning my weeks. All learning goals for VPK must be wrapped up in fun, interesting lessons and activities for students so that they get engaged in it while playing. The book talks about an elementary school teacher who always searches for new science information that will intrigue, amaze and engage young minds. She wants students to understand how adult scientists investigate questions. I think science experiments are a great way for young students to learn how material reacts together. I love to find different ideas for science experiments for preschoolers and try them with a small group of children in my class. The children have fun thinking about what would happen next while I build up small experiments. There are several materials out there to use for experiments with children.

 One of my summer activities was to create a lava lamp from a plastic water bottle. The children brought their own empty water bottles with them and we filled them half full with a mixture of half oil and half water. Then we dropped a small amount of food coloring in the water oil mixture and I added an antacid tablet to the bottle which made colorful bubbles coming up. The bubbles look similar to those in Lava lamps.

Here is an example of how our experiment looked like. 

 I already found several ideas on pinterest or other social websites about how we can use simple material for children's science experiments. Most of those materials we all have in our kitchen. Flour, salt, baking soda, oil and water are ingredients I use pretty often to build science experiments with the children. 

     The next section I would like to talk about is "Webquests, virtual field trips and videoconferencing. When I started to think about how to build up my Webquest for this weeks assignment, I had a helper who suggested to provide webspace for me to set up a webpage for my webquest. I started learning some basics how to create and present content on a website. It was interesting and fun to explore the different steps of starting and putting together some useful information. I learned how to add additional things like pictures and links to my written text and format and design everything to look clear and easy to navigate. It took me several hours to finish this little learning project but now I think this information is good to have for the future.

Here is a video about the tool I used to build up my Webquest.

     It is amazing what modern technology can help us be able to do in today's time. I actually come from Germany and when I was 16, I moved from Germany to New York for a year and visited a High School. I tried to keep in touch with as many friends from Germany as I can during this time. The only popular way to stay in touch these days was a telephone or the regular Airmail. The telephone was to expensive so we stayed with mailing letters from Germany to the US at least once a month. It was always good to hear that little time about my friends. Today, I have already been here for more than 10 years and I still have friends in Germany. Now, the ways of communication have changed thanks to modern technology and the Internet. Apps like Skype or Whatsapp make is easy to contact Germany every day if we need to. The book talks about virtual field trips which reminds me that I have sent small videos to some friends over the Easter weekend. I was in the middle of the small fishing pier at Cape Coral Yacht club recording a video for some friends to give them an idea how the Yacht Club and the beach look like. I sent this video with the help of Whatsapp to Germany in no time. This is a very nice feature to use in todays times and makes us stay closer together even if we are far away from each other. Today's communication is far easier and cheaper than the traditional way of the telephone. Many different ways let us talk to people who are far away from us even with a picture in a webcam. These tools are also nice to use to build up a virtual classroom. Students and teacher can hear and see each other and exchange material without leaving their own houses. It is amazing to observe how big the world of communication and learning has changed.

Citations

Teachthought staff (2013) 15 examples of new Technology in Education, retrieved from www.teachthought.com

Joomla!(2012) What is Joomla? retrieved from Youtube.com

physicscentral.com (2015) Homemade lava lamp (picture)

Freitag. Julia (2015) Teaching, Creating and Learning with Children every day and watch them grow is fun and rewarding, retrieved from Wordle.net

 Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.