Holiday Blog

I was not really sure what to write about this week given we missed classes and are still doing the same assignment. We are working on Web Quest, which is an online activity for students to engage in an explore. It can be a virtual tour through space and time to a series of worksheets and activities on a subject you as the teacher are trying to teach. It is different experience for students to take on during a class and a great way to keep attention while teaching simultaneously. Our group decided to do the sixth grade core about Egyptian civilization and how the writing has evolved and affected us today in our world.

We are excited about the opportunity to take the students back in time to explore the ancient ruins and read the writings on the wall. They will learn to interpret writings and discuss how these writings were important to them and also how they are important to us today; is it possible for these writings to give us information which may aid in our society today? We haven't really got into the assignment much more than thoughts and how we will set everything up. I am excited for the web quest and I hope that I can learn how to do them well so that I can use them in my future classroom. It seems like an awesome way of teaching with strategy in mind, rather than trying to accomplish the same thing day in and day out all the time.

The class is fun and I see many possibilities to learn. I feel I will become a better teacher by just learning how to better my knowledge of technology and it's simple components. For now I will stay away from the hard and complicating items hoping to eventually know what is what and how to do it. Web quest is a great start I think!

Video for this week was Engaged Learning, I was interested in the video because it showed how the world is changing and how we can learn in different ways. I was interested because I wrote a paper recently about the change in average skills and learning in the classroom. Today our students are considered to be failing in our learning if they are not above average. In the past learning meant being able to even read after having a sixth grade education. I am intrigued by how many teachers will not step up to the plate of technology, yet still they teach the same things with same methods and resources as a traditional teacher would have twenty years prior. Technology bings engaged learning; something that students need to have to succeed in our world today.