Enjoy

http://www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=15395&title=50_States_and_Capitals__cartoon_song_

Final Post: Good-Bye

I just wanted to thank Prof. Schmidt for all her hard work and dedication to this online class. She certainly kept me on my toes checking blackboard and my blog constantly. I'm sure most of us students share that sentiment! : ) I am actually going to save all the awesome links & reading materials to my delicious account this weekend. I certainly feel that so much of this information will come in handy for future classes and in my future teaching career. I also wanted to thank all my classmates for taking the time to post feedback on my blog, I really appreciate that from the bottom of my heart. If we don't receive feedback we can never further develop and learn. Maybe one day we will cross paths again in another class. The best of luck to everyone in your future endeavors and hope you have a great summer! Is anyone taking Summer classes in Jersey City? Let me know k, thank you! : )

http://www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=15395&title=50_States_and_Capitals__cartoon_song_

TeacherTube Videos - We Didn't Start the Fire

I found these cool videos, I hope you guys enjoy them.

TeacherTube Videos - We Didn't Start the Fire

Pay Attention

Pay Attention

Mexican Fiesta Take 2

http://questgarden.com/125/78/7/110501120219/

Webquest: Mexican Fiesta

My webquest was created for a second grade class.
It's an early writting assignment.
It also has Spanish Content knowledge as well. Students will plan a Mexican
Fiesta. They will make their own Mexican decorations and food. They will take a virtual trip via the Internet using Scholastic's Global Trek links.
Students will each have to write a page regarding their Mexican Fiesta experience. After, they are done with their writting assignment, we will create a scrapbook using everyones work. They will get evaluated on creativity, illustrations and titles for their pages.
Students will experience team work and have a sense of responsibility according to their tasks. Students will be exposed to different cultures and traditions. One my goals is to create diversity awareness at this early age.
I enjoyed using the questgarden website, the help tools were great and the graphics were quite user friendly. I hope you guys enjoy it. I had lots of fun creating this.
I appreciate all feedback. :)

http://questgarden.com/125/78/7/110501120219/

Presentation: SMILEBOX

Amber g

View more presentations from A059143.

PowerPoint

My power point presentation is on "SMILEBOX". It's a super cool site that allows you to create all sorts of picture greetings/slideshows, scrapooks, newsletters and so much more. I stated that it's an easy guide to using "SMILEBOX". If you haven't used it, I highly recommend it for you personally and especially with students. The applications and designs are spectacular. Have fun and I hope you enjoy presentation. I am currently trying to upload my presentation to slidesare, however since I'm on a school computer it's taking a very long time, I have been waiting for 15 minutes now. So, I will try to upload it again, when I get home from work tonight. Thank you for understanding.

Reflections on Online Learning

This class has been quite an adventure for me! First of all, it's the first time ever I take an online course. This type of learning experience has been amazing so far. I am now a blogger, when I first heard that term I thought it was just for news or current event forums. Blogging is actually very entertaining and soothing. The amount of information that we have to read is quite extensive and time challenging, but I look forward to reading it every week. I must admit that sometimes, I still print lots of paper, because staring at the computer screen takes a toll on my eyes. However, the wealth of information that Prof. Schmidt shares with us is truly awesome! I have learned about so many new sites and links and video recording myself and blogging. One of my favorite learning experiences was virtual field trips! I still go on some of those sites and daydream about visiting them one day! Creating my website was a little time consuming, but I shouldn't complain cause my web quest has been keeping me up lately, but it's fun! Meeting deadlines always makes me nervous, however constant checking of blackboard keeps my mind at ease and of course I also torture our poor Prof. with constant confirming emails! ;) I would also like to add that this type of learning not only prepares us for our classroom  & our students, but for the real life scenarios where we will have to deal in the workplace. Whether you decide to stay in teaching or maybe change to administration, the tools that we have will benefit us in the future. It has been so exciting to actually share some information with the students I substitute teach and the adult students as well. Even some of the teachers ask me about any new sites or information I have learned about. I am quite lucky and blessed that a few teachers have been so open and candid with their online experiences as well. I must admit, they all love online courses and highly recommend them. I guess these classes are self paced in my opinion and you can basically participate in your virtual classroom as soon as you blog or make a comment on somebody else's blog. I'm really looking forward to one day actually having a real classroom website where students and parents can communicate with me. There is so much information available to students and parents that I would love to share. There is not enough hours in the day to explore the vast resources online with students. Learning online is a life learning skill that children and adults will always have to keep up with  as technology advances every day.

Class Website Revised

I have revisited my webpage and this link should work. Please use the following sign ons:
Classroom Username:  A059143
Classroom Password:  HOPE182
Click on: Parent (button)


http://homepage.scholastic.com/CHBuilderWeb/LoginAction.action

Class Website

Hello, I hope you guys like my website/class page. Since, I don't have an actual class yet most information is fictional. However, this is information I would love my students and student's parents to have. I tried using the google site, but I liked Scholastic better honestly. So, please give me your candid feedback. I was a little disappointed the pictures I wanted to post were too large and the site would not allow it.
On the homepage I added a live news headline tickler. I also added a welcome greeting. I included a student spotlight segment about upcoming Science Fair and Arbor Day. I tried to include a media link for Earth Day celebrations around the world, but it was not able to show live link. However, if you would like to view it, please just copy and paste link under Happy Earth Day on your address bar. I was able to add a calendar on the announcement page. I also listed 2 homework assignments that are due after Spring/Easter break. The book lists, online activities and live resource links were fun to set up. I was able to put some of my favorite ones and I also asked some kids from my school which ones they enjoyed as well. I hope you enjoy them too! Please make a note that you must sign in with a user id and password, I have provided them below. Thank you.
http://homepage.scholastic.com/CHBuilderWeb/LiveHome.do


Sign In:
User Id:      A059143
Password: HOPE182

Web 2.0 Tools

When I first heard of Web 2.0, I have to admit it thought it must be a new website of some sort. Now I feel silly because it' actually so much more. Web 2.0 is actually about revolutionary new ways of creating, collaborating, editing and sharing user-generated content online. This is so cool because it's quite user friendly, so children and basically anyone can utilize it. It's like technology made an easier way to communicate and share your ideas and thoughts. You know longer need to be afraid of trying new technology. Sometimes I wish I was still a kid!
Web 2.0 is not limited to blogs, social networking applications, and wikis. It has an infinite amount of tools and resources for students and teachers and business owners. You can learn how to make a power point presentation, make videos & movies, and  conference calling/podcasting. I actually found a site where you can create your own social network too! You can even do online scrapbooking, how awesome is that! (I love creating scrapbooks, I have one for every place I have visited! such a  goofy nerd I know! :)
There are some my favorite links so far, I am actually doing some work with my CCD students on some of them.
 http://www.smilebox.com/
http://280slides.com/
http://animoto.com/education
http://www.polleverywhere.com/
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/
http://www.wordle.net/

Educational Technology Trips

 

About half of all breeding pairs of the blue-footed booby live on the Galapagos Islands, which are a group of islands about 600 miles (965 kilometers) off the coast of mainland Ecuador.

(Tortuga Bay - Santa Cruz-A couple of marine iguanas bask in the hot sun on the beach of Tortuga Bay, near to the main town of Puerto Ayora.)

When I heard about this trip, I was so excited because I have been to Ecuador so many times. Needless to say because my parent's culture and heritage are from Ecuador. More importantly now, because many educational programs/trips in Math and Science are being conducted there, due to Ecuador's vast rainforests,volcanoes, beaches and exotic animal species. It always has been famous for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution that he conducted his research in the Galapagos Islands of the coast of Ecuador.
I am constantly surprised and amazed on how technology has enhanced learning for students and teachers. At one of the middle schools in Kearny, NJ where I sometimes substitute teach a select group of teachers and Montclair State University Graduate students traveled to Ecuador, South America. This trip was a courtesy of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The journey was part of an NSF-sponsored grant program called GK12 Fellows in the Middle, which matches graduate students from Montclair State University with math and science teachers in Kearny middle school classes twice a week. NSF pays for the trip to promote an exchange with researchers and teachers abroad.
They visited the Universidad Tecnologica Equinoccial, a Quito (capital city of Ecuador)based university, and a special school called Millennium El Beatario whose students are chosen by a lottery. They also made long bus trips to the Equator Museum site and to a cloud forest and rainforest, where they spent two nights.
One of the teacher's captured video footage, which she plans to show to her students as part of a lesson on biodiversity – of such creatures as the Galapagos penguin and the dart frog that are “endemic to the region.”
At the Equator monument, a teacher filmed some scientific demonstrations depicting the “Coriolis effect,” how the earth’s rotation can deflect the path of an object in motion – water will flow counter-clockwise north of the equator, clockwise south of it and straight in the center of it. Also: an egg can be balanced on the top of a nail in the “center” of the equator line. A few days before the group left Ecuador, the teachers conducted a live video conference from Quito with Kearny students who watched the hookup in the Kearny High School auditorium. The Kearny kids asked about Ecuadorian food, culture, schools and climate, among other things, and got to chat with several Ecuadorian students. Kearny teachers and administrators will try to assess what impact, if any, the interaction of the graduate interns and classroom teachers had on students’ performance in math and science.


(Monument marking the Equator, on the outskirts of Quito, Ecuador)

Brooklyn High School Teacher

I heard this on the news over the weekend. So disturbing, but true.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/04/01/2011-04-01_brooklyn_high_school_teacher_busted_for_making_columbinestyle_terror_threats_nyp.html?r=news/ny_crime

Ok guys, this is the first video of myself I have had to record and post on a blog. For some reason when I hear myself, it does not sound like me, very strange...anyway let me know what you think. I know I talk fast, but any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you much....

Virtual Field Trip Experience

Ok, where were the virtual field trip experiences when I was a child?!  The amount of awesome information, but most importantly visual information is extraordinary. How blessed are our children/students of today to have the resources available to them without having to leave their classroom or home. I must admit I loved so many of the sites the Prof. posted on blackboard. However, my two most favorite were www.arounder.com and www.amnh.org .
These sites were so cool! I actually fwd many links to my friends and family, especially the ones with children. I was very interested and amazed and kind of hooked on these sites and will be going back quite frequently. In arounder.com you have everything from historical works of art, museums, stores and breathtaking views from any city you pick from. There are destinations you can virtually visit from all over the globe and even Mars and the Moon! They have virtual panaromic 360 degree full screen views that are by far the best I have seen online without a doubt.
I would intergrate these sites to my curriculum according to the subject matter I would be teaching. In Social Studies I would certainly utilize arounder.com. I would pick a country like China and ask students to have a virtual scavenger hunt around the great wall of China. I would incorporate a checklist for students to follow. I would also have them gather text information and images so they can make their own scrapbook. On amnh.org the students have so many forms of interaction, I highly recommend you visit this site. Go to www.ology.amnh.org , the activities are endless. On this link students can learn a lot about astronomy, paleontology and the definitions of other "ologies". They can take journeys through space and the Gobi Desert.  I love Science, so right on exhibit they are focusing on the human brain functions. The visuals are awesome. I would have my students categorize the different and distinct brain functions. I would have them compare the human brain, to the brain of a dog or grasshopper. In terms of evolution how studying the brain can help us perhaps live longer. Perhaps also get the future neuroscientists on their way to discovering the mysteries of the brain! :D
I found this quote on one of the sites and I really feel it hits the spot.

"Technology is not just another tool for instruction; it can break down barriers of time and space that has limited the traditional classroom." -Walter McKenzie

High School Report Cards

          The two high school report cards I will be comparing are East Side High School in Newark, NJ and Harrison High School in Harrison, NJ. I attended E.S.H.S way back in 1993. I currently substitute teach at Harrison H.S about once or twice a week. I was a little surprised to see ranking results for my old high school. Just looking at the percentage rate of students planning to attend college was scary. I know it's been like 18 years from when I attended, but from what I can recall we had our class valedictorian attending Harvard. Some other top ramking graduates also were accepted to Brown and Princeton, not counting the many others that went to State Universities/Colleges.  I do remember my graduating class consisted of a little more than 400 students. However, in regards to Harrison H.S., I am also quite surprised at the percentage of graduating students who are planning to pursue a college education.
            The report card results we are comparing are based on 2009-2010 scholastic year under the student performance indicators option (assessments). Let's start by comparing HSPA results in Language Arts Literacy in E.S.H.S. We had 310 students that tested with a proficient score of 47.7%. In Harrison H.S. we had 161 students that tested with a proficient score of 78.3%. These results are significantly higher by 31%. However, when we look at HSPA  results in Mathematics we have E.S.H.S. with 307 students that tested with a proficient score of 47.9% and in Harrison H.S. we have 160 students that tested with a proficient score of 56.9%. These results have a lesser difference of 9%. When I see these results it's quite obvious that Harrison H.S. students are performing better in HSPA. I do want make note that Harrison H.S. had almost half the student population that E.S.H.S. had. Regardless of this fact E.S.H.S still does not reach a proficient score of over 50% in this area. Looking at graduation rates, E.S.H.S. has a 78.9% rate and Harrison H.S. has a 83.8% rate versus the state's rate at 90.6%. We can see that Harrison H.S. only beat E.S.H.S by 5%. When we look at SAT scores, E.S.H.S. had 119 students taking test with an average score of 399 in math, 381 in verbal, and 386 in essay portion. Harrison H.S. had 78 students taking test with an average score of 459 in math, 420 in verbal, and 424 in essay portion. We can see a difference of 137 points higher by Harrison H.S. students. Surprisingly, for advanced subject placement classes we have a interesting disparity. In E.S.H.S. they offer A.P Biology class in which 11 students were members. There is also a Calculus class in which 9 students were members and English Comp. who had 15 students. In Harrison H.S. A.P Biology class in not even offered. They do have 14 students in a Calculus class and 0 in English Comp. class.
             Regarding attendance rates both schools are approximately at 94%. Dropout rates are at 2.0% for E.S.H.S. (mostly consisting of Asian/White/Hispanic). Harrison H.S. has 0.0%  drop out rate which is awesome! Graduation rates are pretty much equal for both schools at 96.0%. Again, it's sad to see that post graduation plans for both schools are not that promising. We have E.S.H.S. with 21.3% of graduates planning to attend a 4 year college, and 39.9% planning to attend community 2 year college. In Harrison H.S. numbers are slightly higher with 36.5% planning to attend 4 year colleges and 47.7% planning to attend community 2 year college. I must add that this data was surprising, but I do recall certaing factors that should be spoken about as well. I do have to believe that their are certain extenuating circumstances that existed and I'm sure still exist in E.S.H.S that have a reflection of these scores/rates. E.S.H.S. was known for accepting students from all districts due to their special education and inclusion classes. This fact alone contributes to the overpopulation of students. E.S.H.S. has almost double the amount of students in Harrison. These two cities are neighboring cities in which they are much alike. Both schools have diverse nationalities and environments, but the huge difference is the volume of students.

Technology in Schools

I personally think using technology in schools is very beneficial for students and teachers. Using technology motivates and encouranges students to learn more and be curious about what's going on around them. In this day and age students will be better prepared for their future careers by uitilizing various forms of technology. The communication value alone is priceless, the fact that you can communicate with someone around the world in an instant via email, text or Skype is amazing. I wish I would have had some of these resources available to me as I was growing up.

Introduction

Hello class. My name is Amber Gonzalez. This is my first online course and first time blogging. I'm quite excited and challenged at the same time, but it's all good.
I have been substitute teaching for almost 2 years in Harrison and Kearny, NJ. It's been a great experience so far. I go from kindergarden to high school seniors in one week, so I get a wide spectrum of students to interact with. I see students of all ages using technology. Several kindergarden classes I have been in take a computer special at least once a week. It's pretty awesome how they already know how to navigate computers. I have also had to use youtube in many instances to show students art in paris, music from other countries and lectures and speeches from various historians. I look forward to continue my utilization of technology with students as a learning tool.
 This is my first semester in St. Peter's, I'm pursuing a teaching certification in K-5, with a concentration in Social Studies for now. Perhaps in the future I may also go for a Spanish Teacher certification and also pursue my Master's Degree.

Saturday class

sitting in class & blogging for the first time yipee!