Week 4 Blog

     I think that spreadsheet is a very useful program.  I love the fact that I can do a lot of things for my classroom in just one place.  Spreadsheet is very easy to use as well as convenient, it takes less time to organize your thoughts and design your worksheets and tests in the way that you want them done.  You don’t have to worry about spending a lot of time positioning everything the way you want it, the program does it for you.  I know that this will be a very useful and almost required tool in my classroom.  Excel is a very easy program that is used very frequently in agriculture to evaluate and track animals and business. 

     We use spreadsheets in the classroom because they are very efficient to store grades and make worksheets.  As a teacher you don’t have as much time to make tests, lesson plans and keep a grade book; spreadsheet makes this easier and allows for more time to be spent developing a curriculum.  Spreadsheets are a lot easier than calculators because all you have to do is type in the equation one time and it calculates all of the grades at one time.  It is a very time conscious program and also helps to avoid error a lot  better than a calculator and has a quicker input time. 

                I think the three primary functions of spreadsheets are all very useful. Calculating comes in handy when doing grades; it helps you to store and organize your information to keep it in an accurate form.  I also like that it is almost an interactive program that you can do with your students.  I love Excel and I believe that I will use it very often in my classroom.

 Sources

Jonassen, D. Howland, J. Marra, R. M. Crismond, D. (2008). Maeningful Learning With Technology. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Merrill Prentice Hill

Blogs in the Classroom

Blogs in the Classroom

     I like the idea of using blogs, but only to a certain degree. I think that people in general, are posting way too much on blogs and social networks and it is bringing us a point where there really isn't such a thing as a personal life nowadays. From an educational point of view I believe it can be a very helpful tool in keeping track of students and assignments outside of the classroom.

     I believe a blog can be a very helpful tool for students by helping them to remember dates and details of assignments and things such as club meetings. Especially in the Agriculture classrooms, you can remind students of meetings and events that are going on and make sure that they are all aware of deadlines. Blogs can be helpful in keeping everyone on the same page, but I hope we don't grow too dependent on them and forget how to keep up with everything on our own.

     I feel that requiring a student to have a blog is somewhat of a waste of time. First of all I have students in middle school that are more aware of blogs than I am. Secondly, there are a lot of things that are more important than teaching a child how to display information on a website and set up a social networking profile. If I am going to be teaching a student, then I have a lot of other things I would rather them know about. In our text book a teacher remarks that a blog "would encourage students who normally wouldn't participate in class discussions."(Jonassem). Honestly students have to learn how to speak in front of others and share their opinions. Most people will not be able to sit behind a computer for the rest of their lives without human interaction. It can be a useful tool, but can also help us to lose the personal aspect of teaching.

Sources

Jonassen, D. Howland, J. Marra, R. M. Crismond, D. (2008). Maeningful Learning With Technology. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Merrill Prentice Hill.

Hi Y'all!!!

     Hi y'all I'm Randi.  I'm 19 and graduated from Quinlan Ford High School in 2009.  I am currently a sophomore and I will be graduating in May 2012 with a degree in Agriculture education. I have a fiance' in the Air Force who is stationed in Alaska.  I work at Boles ISD as a substitute teacher. I am working hard to get out of college ASAP!!!