Resource Log 30

https://secure.delicious.com/login?v=5&jump=http%3A%2F%2Fdelicious.com%2Fsave%3Ftitle%3D%26notes%3D%26tags%3D%26noui%3Dno%26share%3Dyes%26time%3D1236376797

This is a very cool site for students and educators to use. The site is delicious.com, it is an online bookmarking site. What I like about it is that not only can students have a place to bookmark sites of interest, but others can log on and check out other peoples bookmarks. You can also key word cites to make searches easier.

Resource Log 29

http://mywebspiration.com/

This site might not be needed for many students, especially if they have inspiration of concpet mapping programs on their computers, but I found it very interesting. I've started to use concept mapping in my classroom, and webspiration is a free online site that has some great tools for educators and students to use.

Resource Log 28

http://pixel.cs.vt.edu/edu/fis/techcons.html

I teach at a laptop school, so implementing technology into my curriculum is vital. This article was good to read in that it gave good examples of how to use technology in the classroom as well as why it is beneficial. I always hear that it is good, but this site gave me some good info on why it is valuable.

Resource Log 27

http://www.inform.umd.edu/UMS+State/UMD-Projects/MCTP/Essays/Constructivism.txt

This article discusses ideas on how to implement constructivism into teachers classrooms. Comparisons are made to traditional classrooms and how the constructivist approach is not a new concept and is easy to use.

Resource Log 26

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/drugfree/sa3const.htm

This short site lists 12 principles that learning is based off of. The main focus is that student learning is not just from what they are taught but from their beliefs and attitudes.

Reflection 10

I used the site discover.com last week when teaching about marine ecosystems. This site was great in that it offered lesson plans that deal directly with a video that I show. Usually I show the video and we discuss what we've seen, but this time I was able to do so much more. This lesson used the discussion and video that I have used in the past, yet it also gave me ideas of activities for the students to do via the interent and research. They were split into groups and researched all about coral reef ecosystems, the dangers that surround them, and what is being done to protect those precious habitats. Students were able to branch off of what they knew and build upon it. This was great in that it incorporated all that this class is about. We were able to effectively use the internet and technology as well as build upon previous knowledge.

Reflection 9

While I haven't tried anything new to reflect on, I have been thinking some things over about authentic assessment that I'd like to try in the near future. After reading over the website in my previous resource, I've really thought things over about how I teach. One of the biggest pitfalls in my teaching style is that I tend to go by the book and do all the traditional assessment for my students. I've been thinking and since I'm teaching a new course this semester I want to try to do some new assessment techniques, it might benefit my students a little more. I've read that authentic assessment uses more real life situations, which would make class more relative to my students. My forensics class in the future will try to incorporate a real situation labs to test my students retention. How I'm going to do this is still to be determined....but I'm going to try to make some changes for the better!

Resource Log 25

http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/rubrics.htm

This is a great tool for constructing rubrics for authentic assessment. I've made rubrics before, but this site focuses on rubrics dealing with authentic assessment. Many examples and tips are used to help ot both new and veteran teachers.

Resource Log 24

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/9-12.html

This is a great site. There are many lesson plans from all areas of education (many form science!). The lesson plans area great in that they incorporate technology, and they also have many leading questions for students to research on their own.

Resource Log 23

http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/whatisit.htm

This site was all about authentic assessment. I've heard about it in many classes before, but wanted to look a little more into it. What I liked about the site was that it compared traditional assessment to authentic assessment. I've always been a traditional type of teacher, mainly since that is what I had and it is what is easiest, but this site offered some valuable insight in how to change things up a little bit and the benefits that are possible.

Resource Log 22

http://pirate.shu.edu/~jamesjan/LessonB1.htm

I like this source! This was a lesson plan for teachers. The site gives a basic lesson plan about constructivism and some useful information for teachers to aquaint themselves with constructivism. I also like the fact that it is interactive, allowing teachers to branch out and find more information and resources.

Resource Log 21

http://www.glogster.com/

This site is one that allows students to make digital posters. The source is free to use and allows the integration of technology and constructivism. Students can use the info learned in class to make posters for all students to see.

Reflection 8

Last week I used a site called education-world.com. This was a very intersting site in that it offered articles and blogs about utilizing technology in the classroom, as well as resources to use in the classroom. When I was looking through the site I came upon a site called glogster. I never go to the site in my classroom, but I was able to use some of the info found on the site to help create future lessons for my classroom. Glogster is a site that I will talk about in my next resource log, and will make my classroom a much more interesting environment. Not only will I be able to use technology in a way that I never thought I would, but The students will be free to use knowledge learned in my classroom as well as others to design technological projects for others to see.

Reflection 7

This reflection is about the information used from the National Geographic website. When I taught a lesson about squid last week, I needed some information for them to dive into and be very interested in. What I found was an article about giant squid that were found off the coast of Antarctica. The article was very good, and the students seemed to like it, but I need to be a little better in incorporating technology into this lesson as well as making it more constructivist. I feel that I just let them read the article and we discussed it, I did not utilized what I am learning in class to have them take that information and build off if it. I think that the next time I use articles form NG I will be a little more creative on having the students do more with it in order to build off of that information.

Resource Log 20

http://dsc.discovery.com/

Again, not much of a site designated to constructivism or technology, but this site allows me to stay current with science information in order to be able to create lessons utilizing constructivism and technology. It is also a very interesting site that the students enjoy having access to.

Resource Log 19

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

This does not deal with constructivism or really technology, but I find it to be a very valuable resource in my teachings. I teach ecology and zoology, and National Geographic has so many articles, pictures, and resources that are very interesting and educational and useful to me in the classroom. It also allows students to take the lessons ever further and research topics of interest.

Resource Log 18

http://www.edzone.net/~mwestern/

This is another site with tips and information for teachers to use in the classroom. Topics range from simple tips, to articles, to powerpoints, to information on how to incorporate technology found at workshops into the classroom.

Resource Log 17

http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/

This is a pretty interesting site for integrating technology into the classroom. I was able to find a number of lesson plans as well as blogs and articles on how to use technology effectively in the classroom. I have only scratched the surface and plan to dig a little deeper.

Resource Log 16

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget

I needed a little refresher on Piaget so I looked him up and read over the Wikipedia page about him. It was good to refresh on his ideas and to be able to rethink on how to use them in the classroom. I found some nice information that will allow me to restructure some lessons that I have planned for the future.

Reflection 6

Last week in Ecology I used Google Earth. We are talking about wetlands, and were focusing on the Chesapeake Bay . Most of the students had heard about Chesapeake Bay, but most of them also did not know where it was. I was able to use Google Earth on my Smartboard to show them exactly where it was and what river flowed into it, creating the estuary. Usually I'll just pull up a map showing the students the locations of various places in the lesson, but I tried this out and it was great. I was able to start on STL and move to the bay. They were a little more interested in doing it this way and it offered a little variety tot eh classroom. I think that I'll use this more often instead of maps or pictures. This was also nice in that it allowed the students to go out and explore more areas of interest. I mentioned the Mississippi river delta in another section of the lesson and they were able to build off of theri experiences and research into the delta as well as other areas we covered.