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Good Motto

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It's a way of

 

looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to

 

laugh at life's realities.

-- Dr. Seuss

Copyright Laws

I was very interested to read about all the copyright laws on our lab about creative commons in my CEP416 class.  I didn't have a clue that there was a site out they that allowed you to collaborate with other author's work without even having contact with them.  I think the creative commons licenses are awesome.  I definitely plan on using it later on down the road.  It is also a great way to see what creative things other people can do with your work.  I also love how much control you have over stuff you post online.  It is nice that it is up to you how much of your work you want to share with everyone using the internet.

Teacher Websites

I think it is extremely important that all teachers create their own websites.  It is a useful tools for students and parents.  I think parents feel more comfortable having some background on their student's teacher, also having a website is an efficient way to keep students and parents up to date on what is going on in the classroom.  Creating a website in my opinion is a necessary thing.  Also if there are weekly updates, students and parents will always have access to their students' assignments, weekly updates, and overall news from the school.

Smart Boards

When I completed my 50 hours of observation in the classroom last semester(at my previous university) we learned a lot about the use of smart boards.  I was fortunate enough to be in a classroom that did use this technology and it seemed like the students really enjoyed it.  The best part about it is it made the lessons interactive and it appeared that it made learning more fun.  There were many games that could be used for particular lessons on the smart board.  Overall I think everyone should check them out because it seems as though it is going to be a big part of our future student's learning experience.

SMART Boards Why are they so easy to use?

Twitter

Last week I created a twitter account for my CEP 416 class.  I was a little skeptical at first because I have heard that twitter can be very distracting and people get obsessed with it like Facebook.  I still do not feel very comfortable with it, but I am now realizing that if you only use it for education purposes (like I am for my class), it is not too overwhelming.  I realize this is a good way to get daily updates from all the people you are following.  I think that the more educational people I start to the follow the easier it will be to pick up on all the great things twitter has to offer.   For example, instead of doing a google search on new educational technology, if you are following someone who has a tech ed twitter, all the updates are right there for you in their newsfeed.  I am coming to realize this technology is a very useful tool.

New Technologies

In the first week I learned how to use RSS.  I never thought about creating a page where I could organize all of my favorite websites.  My tool bar on my laptop has gotten so messy from all of the different websites I visit on a daily basis.  I learned that with Google Reader I could add all of my favorite websites to one page and I would also get updates on the different sites.  This is extremely useful and helps me stay more organized.  I like that I now only have to log on to one site to view all of my favorite spots to look at on the Internet.  This is a useful tool to use as a teacher because I can keep all of websites I search in one place.  I enjoy the updates on each of the website as well.  It is extremely easy to use because with many of the websites I have tagged, I don’t even have to go to the website to see the most recent posts.  They are all automatically updated to my computer.  The only weakness I have notice in the past week while using Google Reader is that the updates per website can get overwhelming.  At times I will have updates in the 90s on all of the most recent posts.  This isn’t something I would have my class use because it wouldn’t be appropriate for the elementary level; it is something I would recommend to the older grades.  I would however, share this with other teachers to help keep all of their searchable sites in one spot.

Hello World

My name is Christina Naife. I am a junior at Michigan State University. This blog was created for my CEP 416 class and this is my first time using a blog.

I have been using technology almost every day since 6^th grade when my parents enrolled me in the lap top program at my middle school.  I use Microsoft Word, Facebook, Email, and Weather.com almost everyday.  Technology is very important for everyone to learn about.  There are new programs being developed everyday so I think it is very important to take a class on it.  I think it is great that MSU has offered a course like this that is specially geared towards future educators.  I love technology but at the same time I am ignorant to many programs out there. 

I hope this class helps me better understand all the different programs I can use to my advantage.  I plan on using technology as much as I can in my classroom.  I want to be more confident with new programs and learn different tricks to make my Internet searching more productive.