Integrating Websites into the Classroom

PE & Health
4. Bam!

This website is to help educate students on their health. It explains how to eat well, exercise, deal with stress, safety factors, and it even has some healthy recipes.
It allows the kids to post "Bragging Rights" on when they have done or learned something healthy in order to share with other kids. It has interactive options to explore different things regarding health. It also has smart tips and tricks on how to be healthy that are relevant to kids.
This site could be used for a lesson on how the immune system works. It could also be helpful for checking personal nutrition by using the food journal. The site also has a feature where kids can analyze what messages the media sends them about their body and self image. This could be useful for helping students to be critical readers and viewers.
Bam! Has some experts on the different health subjects, so kids could ask them questions about things they aren't comfortable asking in the classroom. Kids would have fun interacting through the various activities. It could be beneficial for parents to learn more about healthy habits. Print Page in IE

PBL Website Response--My Healthy Self

Why did you choose this project as your favorite of the six? Identify specific aspects that appeal to you.
I chose "My Healthy Self" because I really liked how it involved building upon the previous knowledge the students had. It also brought in local experts and parents to help teach the students. I also liked how it allowed the students to practice what they had learned by teaching it to someone else.

Which higher-level thinking skills (from Bloom's Taxonomy) does the project utilize?
The PBL experience applied the knowledge the students learned through teaching others, it had them analyze what they considered to be healthy, they also synthesized their ideas to create ways to check how healthy their class was.

What (if anything) about the project could be improved?
It could maybe work more on integrating what they had learned at home. The students might keep a log of their health habits, and then discuss what they have observed in that time frame.
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Reading Response #2

How do quality telecollaborative projects develop students’ critical thinking skills (the highest levels on the Bloom’s Taxonomy pyramid)?

Telecollaborative projects push students to critically think about their work in a new dynamic area. Huit said, “…research has shown that students remember more when they have learned to handle the topic at the higher levels of the taxonomy…because more elaboration is required, a principle of learning based on finding from the information processing approach to learning”. In a telecollaborative project students are asked to work together to complete a goal. They do research, summarize the content, combine, and present the information as a group or in some other form of presentation.

A telecollaborative project allows students to exchange work easily and quickly. A website can also be used to help foster the project. The teacher can also present the steps and roles expected of the group and individually online. Enerson, Johnson, Milner, and Plank said, “The site supports students as they learn to plan and run a productive meeting, use action plans and progress reports and perform self-assessment to track the progress of the team ”. This kind of a project pushes students to rely on each other, and to use tools available to them through the internet. To achieve the end product students will have needed to analyze each other’s work, and be able to create something as a whole. Print Page in IE

Reading Response #1

1) TECH PAST

• Briefly describe your previous experiences with computers in the classroom during your own K-12 education.

I remember computers being used rarely in my younger school years. I only used them to polish my typing skills or to play an educational game. As I reached middle school I began to use the computer more for research, to type papers, and projects. I feel like most of my teachers were too unsure how to directly include computers with their everyday instruction. There was one high school AP class where we were each allowed to use palm pilots at school and at home. It wasn’t all that useful because it was a lot of work to integrate it into our studying. I think I used the computer more outside of class than I ever recall my teachers using it during their instruction.

2) TECH PRESENT

• Describe your current ideas for integrating technology into your future classroom (indicate grade level and/or content area). Specify the purpose(s) of the technology and how the students and/or you will use it.

I hope to be better at including technology in my future classroom than my teachers were growing up. I would like to teach third grade, and I feel most students are ready at this age to navigate through a computer. I would like to use some interactive programs that to help my students practice their math skills. I also think it would be useful to have a class website or blog available. I could post current homework, and have other class announcements available. I also think it would be great for parents to be able to see what their child is doing in school. I feel technological use in the classroom is essential to preparing students for life outside of the classroom. I think it will improve their opportunities in a world that is becoming more dependent on technology. By using more technology in my classroom I can save time, help with collaboration, and more easily have access to students’ progress.

3) TECH FUTURE

• Based on the assigned readings (for Sept. 30th) and your own experiences, what do you anticipate being most challenging about using technology in the classroom?

I think integrating technology into each subject would be challenging in my future classroom. Technology could make it easier to differentiate my instruction, but I don’t feel confident on how to do that yet. It would be difficult to be up-to-date on and proficient on the latest available technologies. I think that it may be hard to make computers accessible to every student in my class as well.

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