24 October 2011

The introduction last week to the classroom brochures and newsletters was very informative. These tools provide a forum to communicate information to the school community and update parents to any changes in the classroom culture. I remember when I was in grade school how we would have to take these home from time to time. My parents would hang them on the refrigerator and use them as a valuable source of information so they could manage their time accordingly. The ideas generated as to what to include in our newsletters was very helpful. Things like important dates, after-school activities and even school lunch schedules are helpful to know.

12 October 2011

The National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) can be applied to students, teachers, and administrators. These standards provide the benchmark for each area to achieve excellence in. They support each other as well. The Students can't succeed if the teachers and administrators aren't playing their part. The teachers rely on feedback from the students and guidance from administration in order to stay up on the latest and greatest. Educational technology is a growing rapidly and must be utilized efficiently if the United States wants to keep pace with other global superpowers. Like I said, the NETS set the bar, it is the responsibility of the "players"in the "educational experience" to do the work.

5 October 2011

The class this week focused on assessments and data analysis. Both are key areas in the field of education. The two different types of assessments, formative and summarative, allow the teacher to gauge his students' performance and his own performance in the classroom. Data analysis provides the detailed information we use to make necessary adjustments and refinements that are so critical in order to improve performance. The spreadsheet assignments had a bit of both focuses in it. The spreadsheet logged the formative assessments 9quizzes) and provided the data necessary for comparison and pattern formation.

3 October 2011

Last week in class we reviewed the finer points of making a grade spreadsheet then applied what we knew. I was able to finish my final product this week and I followed up this effort with my reflection paper. Since I had some experience in the past with using the Excel program I was able to get the project done with little to no trouble. The only thing I needed some review on was making the formulas. All in all the project was worth it since I got to apply what I already knew to classroom culture.