Week 3 - The 6 C's of ICT

Well, its that time of the week again! 

We've been talking about the 6 C's in ICT. They are:

1. Curation
2. Communication
3. Creativity
4. Collaboration
5. Critical Thinking 
6. Citizenship

Last week I posted about Google Docs which fell into the Collaboration category!

This week was Communication week. We have been creating websites for our hypothetical classrooms. I won't post a link to mine yet because it is not quite finished but when I am done there will be a link to it on my blog. It is really tough to make a classroom website when I do not yet have a classroom of my own but I am doing my best. We used Weebly to create our websites... super easy to use by the way!

Curation (or, website organization!) was the other C we talked about this week. There are way more tools for keeping track of your favorites then I would have ever thought. Here are just a few of my favorites: Feedly, Pearltrees, and Diigo.

However, the very best website for keeping track of everything you love has got to be Symbaloo! When I have spare time (no idea when that will be, we've been busy!) I am definitely going to make one of my own and use it as my home screen. I will also add one to my website! 

So September is almost over and in exactly three weeks I will have completed my first day of student teaching. The list of things that need to be completed before that in our classes is insane! These next few weeks are going to be crazy!! Wish me luck!

Here's another Wordle with key words from this week!

If you haven't yet, check out my All About Math page for some super cheesy but super awesome calculus videos! Even if you have no calculus knowledge they are hilarious!!

Week 2 - Reputation is Everything!

Well, its that time of the week again! Time for another blog post!

So what happened in the wonderful world of education this past week? Discussions in all classes seemed to center around the idea of social media and it's implications for us as teachers. Now social media can be everything from the obvious facebook and twitter, to google docs. For anyone who has never used google docs (which was me up until yesterday) it is the greatest invention since sliced bread... well maybe not, but there are some really cool uses for it! I made my own form! Fill it out now!

Anyways, in our discussions we keep coming back to the negatives of social media. 

1. Once its out there... its out there for good. So be careful about what you post and what other people post on your behalf. We're teachers now and we have to act like it (whether we like it or not!)
2. To friend or not to friend... that is the question. We will be out in the schools in four weeks today and it is guaranteed that we will be getting friend requests from our students. Do we accept? NO! It is only asking for trouble.
3. So what is the best way to communicate with students and parents? There has been a lot of discussion on this topic. In my opinion, a class website is the way to go! Maybe email... but definitely no texting students and no facebooking students. 

These are only a few of the many topics brought up by my fellow almost teachers this week. Unfortunately, the answer to many of our questions was it depends on the situation. Well for a math major like me... that is definitely NOT the answer I was looking for! Black or white, yes or no, those are the clear as mud answers I'm looking for!

Well, I think that might be all I have to say for today. I will leave you with another wordle I created. What can I say, I love these things! 

Week 1 - Wait... we're not teachers yet?

So here it goes, my very first blog post!!

So September 3, 2013, 90 students walk into the education building with excitement and high hopes that every single one of them will get a full time teaching job in two years time! What do we find out? Well turns out that only 50% of us will find a job. Of course everyone believes that the 50% includes them... how could it not? We are all intelligent, energetic, social beings who are looking to make a difference in the lives of all the children that we will come across! But what we didn't know is that before we can become full fledged teachers we must make it through 2 years of assignments, presentations, and yes... blogging!!

Technology... its everywhere!! We can't hide from it so we might as well embrace it. And that is the aim of our Using ICT in Education class. To learn how to effectively use technology in our classrooms whether it be in the form of Youtube videos like these ones, smartboards, websites, blogs, Twitter... must I go on?

This week we were introduced to the world of technology in the classroom. My favourite part was learning how to create this blog. As scary as it is to post my own thoughts for everyone to see I can see how this will be very helpful in the future. It is a time for reflection. What works, what doesn't work, some ideas for next time. We also learnt how to use Wordle, which makes word splashes quickly and easily. These can be used in the classroom to introduce a new topic, on bulletin boards or as a study tool. Today, I am using one in my blog!

Well that's all for my first week. This is only the beginning and the possibilities are endless!