Using iChat in the Classroom!

          Teachers are constantly trying keep their students updated on what is happening around the world. It is very important for students to keep up on current events. Wouldn't it be fun to connect with people who know the most about a certain current event?
          After reading a story about using iChat in the classroom, I realized it would be possible to connect with other people all around the world. If you have never heard of iChat, it is a full screen video conferencing tool that allows people to talk to one another over the computer. For example, many riots were recently going on in Egypt. Students could use classroom to get on iChat and talk to children from Egypt to see how these riots have impacted their lives. Not only could you use iChat around the world, you could also use it throughout your school. Students could chat with eachother over the computer and collaborate on projects while being in different rooms.
          As a teacher, I could use i Chat to view other mentor teachers. By doing this, I could pick up on some teaching methods that could help me become a better teacher. Teachers are also using iChat with students who may have hearing impairements. A child with the disability could watch the lecture on the computer while an aid could guide them through the lesson slowly.

Image used with permission from Flickr.com by loudestnoise

Kindle!

          I have recently been hearing a lot of great things about a new piece of technology called the Kindle. After reading the article What is a Kindle, I learned so many great things. The Kindle is an electronic device used for downloading and reading electronic books! The Kindle has over 130,000 different books available to download, and each book can be downloaded in minutes!
          One reason that I would want to include the Kindle in my classroom is to make reading a fun experience for my students. Reading is such an important part of a students life, and many students just do not find reading entertaining. The Kindle could solve this problem for some students! Another great thing about the Kindle is that students are able to listen to an audio recording of the book. This may help the students with words that they are having trouble reading.
          Even though the Kindle is pretty expensive, schools should understand that you can buy so many books on just one Kindle. I bet that buying a bunch of large text books is more expensive than buying a Kindle with a few books on it. Also, carrying around one Kindle will be so much lighter than carrying around a bunch of heavy textbooks.
          All around, I would love to integrate the Kindle into my classroom. I want to make learning a fun experience for the students, and I feel that the Kindle would help me out in so many ways!

Image used with permission from flickr by jimmiehomeschoolmom

Smart Table in the Classroom!

Recently, I have been very interested in the SMART products used in the classroom today. While looking through these products, I came across the SMART Table Interactive Learning Center. The SMART table is a great way to allow students to collaborate on one surface. The table allows multiple students to touch the screen and work together on the teacher's lesson. As a teacher, I would be able to download the ready made activities that come with the table. The SMART table comes with a toolkit that allows the teacher to customize the activities that you are able to download. Not only can a teacher create her own activities that will fit the needs of the students, but a teacher is also able to create an assesment that fits right along with the activity. I would love to have the SMART table in my classroom because I feel this is a very fun and entertaining way for students to work together. One of my main goals as a teacher is that students learn a lot, but have fun while doing it. This SMART table would definitely help me with my goal!

Image used with permission from: Flickr.com by kev_hickey_uk

ActiView in the Classroom!



Image used with permission from http://www.flickr.com/ by Anyaka

          While I was looking around on the Promethean Website,I realized that we have come a long way from the traditional lecture style classroom that is shown in the picture. I came across an amazing tool called Actiview. Actiview is a new way to visually present lessons, projects, or ideas to your students! You can take anything and set it underneath the Actiview camera and make it visable to the entire class over a screen.Once you have an image up on the screen, you are able to manipulate the image with this software! ActiView is very comvenient because you can control everything with a remote over the interactive whiteboard. This makes it easy to control what is going on over the screen, while walking around and helping your students.     
         I would love to use ActiView in my classroom someday. This tool can turn a boring lecture into a fun and interesting lesson for students. I could show many different images over the ActiView screen and have my students manipulate the photos to help them better understand the lesson. For example, I could have something extremely small and have ActiView zoom in so the students can see all the details of a particular object. We could also take pictures of what we put over the ActiView screen and make a library of our classroom images!

My First Blog!

Hello! My name is Amanda Eller, and this is my first time blogging. I am looking forward to sharing my ideas about technology in the classroom!

Watch this video about blogging!