Week 8

Summary of Class

Though this class was only a 8 week course, I do feel I have learned alot from this class. This has been one of my most enjoyable classes I have had. Before this class began, I always considered myself to be technologically literate and I have heard about blogs and wikis though I never worked with them. I was under the impression that blogs were used for journalists purposes and did not know much about them. This class not only taught me what blogs and wikis are, but how to create my own.

The Audacity for podcasts and Photostory 3 programs are ones I am sure I will use many times in the future and apply them to classroom activities when I begin teaching. I also learned a lot from the sites of the night links and other lesson content, such as gasbuddy, and I am sure many of the links are very suitable for a social studies classroom. Though there is so much more to technology than what was covered in this course, it did help prepare me and open my eyes to more technological possibilities in the classroom.

Week 7

1) Describe a grant that you could apply for that would apply to your subject area and grade level. (If not currently in the classroom then imagine you are in your ideal classroom situation for this activity.)

While doing research, I came across a grant that sounds appealing for my future social studies classroom. It is called the "National Council for the Social Studies Award for Global Understanding" and it is given in honor of James M. Becker. This awards goal is given to "social studies teachers who have made significant contributions toward helping students increase their understanding of the world."

As a person who has had experience traveling to different places in the world, it is one of my goals as a teacher to promote global understanding and history to my students. This goal fits my interests on promoting students to gain a wider interests on learning about the world. This award awards $2000 to teachers or teams who gain acceptance in being nominated for this award annually.


2) Imagine your principal has just informed you that a wealthy patron has donated a large sum of money to the school and each classroom teacher will be given $2500 to integrate technology into their curriculum. What would you buy? How would you use it? Please describe your plan on how you would use your $2500

If I was given $2500 for my future classroom, I would spend it to improve the teaching tools I may have in my classroom. I would like to supply my classroom with a few desktop computers for the back of the class with internet access and have social studies themed software installed on them. In my methods of teaching, I want to use the computers and the internet to promote in class research on group activities, such as using the CIA world factbook website and other reliable sites for research.

I would also like a ceiling projector connected to a computer so I can use PowerPoint's, interactive maps, and other software to teach students social studies. I very much support the use of computers and would invest in having more in my classroom. I would also like to invest the money in getting detailed up to date encyclopedias and atlas's for use on in class research as well.