Reference Materials

We use the internet for a variety of things today. One of the main tools that I personally use it for is a reference. I am constantly using search engines to look up information that I do not know. I find using multimedia products very useful in the classroom. My first graders are very curious and are frequently asking me questions. There are many times that I do not know the answer and will use a search engine to look up the information. In the book it states how most of the major encyclopedias are no longer published exclusively in book format. I find this sad, because even though the world today is dominated by technology, I feel students should still learn how to use books as a reference. What happens if the technology is not available? Will the students not know how to use reference materials that are not technology oriented? Students should be taught how to use the online reference materials as well as books. Students need to be taught how to use reference materials appropriately. When I was in school, we learned how to use reference materials in the library. I am not positive they still do this, but it would be very helpful for students. Reference materials are such a wonderful tool that everyone can learn to use.

Electronic Grade books

As educators we have such a wide range of technology available to us. One of the things that stood out to me in Chapter 5 was the use of electronic grade books. At my school, we use a program called STI. This allows us to enter in our grades and the program will automatically average them. It is such a nicer way to average grades than the traditional way of using a calculator. You are able to enter in student names and their assignments with the correct weighting information. As a person who strongly dislikes spending a lot of time averaging grades, this would be extremely useful for me. The only thing that is a drawback for me is that our school to requires us to keep a physical grade book. We have to turn it in at the end of the year as part of our year end checkout. So there are definitely pluses of using an electronic grade book to save you time and energy, but the drawback is doing double the work by keeping a physical grade book. Another drawback is that I am only able to access my electronic grade book at school. I do a lot of my grades at home and this would pose a problem for me. Even though an electronic grade book sounds like a great idea, I think I am going to stick to the old fashioned handwritten grade book for now.

Word Processor

Chapter 4 discusses teaching with the basic software tools. The one that I rely on the most would be the word processing. I do so many things for teaching and graduate school on my computer. Word processors are one of the greatest inventions! I am very thankful for this invention because it saves me time and stress. It takes less time for me to type something then to actually sit and write it. Also, it helps those people who do not have good handwriting.
For teaching, I use Microsoft Word to do my lesson plans every week. I also use it to make up tests that I give my students. I send home letters to parents that I type on Microsoft Word all the time. I count on the word processor tremendously to help with my spelling and grammar. I mean that saves you time from having to look it up in the dictionary!
In the book it discusses how children as early as 5 can be introduced to using a word processor. I have Microsoft Word on both of my computers at school. One activity that they do is to practice typing out their spelling words on the computer. My students love anything involving the computer, even if they are having to type! I feel that with such a technology oriented world that the earlier we can introduce students to all that technology has to offer the better.

Instructional Software

The thing that I can relate to the most in Chapter 3 is instructional software. As a first grade teacher I use instructional software in my classroom daily. I have literacy centers that my students go to everyday. The one that my students fight over to get to is the computer center. I even have to watch the students at the neighboring centers that become easily distracted by the computer center. I normally do not have to worry about the students at the computer center doing their work because they are so engrossed in learning. I have two computers in my classroom that the students are able to use. I have a variety of websites that focus on phonics that I let my students use during their center time. The ones I use most frequently are starfall.com and pbs.org. I feel that my students enjoy this center because it is interactive and entertaining. Students these days have such easy access to technology that teachers constantly have to struggle to keep them entertained. These days’ students have laptops or their own computers at home. They are usually pretty up to date on the newest technology. As a teacher we should try to incorporate technology in our classroom as much as possible. That will enable us to entertain the students as they learn and teach them how to use technology appropriately.