In my future classroom, I want to be update on all the technology available and be able to incorporate it in my teaching in many ways. I can keep updated on technology through organizations for teachers, journals, and workshops.
Some organizations that I might consider joining are:
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Center for Children and Technology (CCT)
Center for Technology in Learning (CTL)
Computer Using Educators (CUE)
Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education (SITE)
Technology & Innovation in Education (TIE)
World Council of Associations for Technology Education (WCOATE)
Some journals I would consider subscribing to are:
Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
Computers & Education
Educational Technology and Society
Educational Technology Review
Interactions
Journal of Computing in Teacher Education
Once I graduate and become a teacher, my plan is to attend as many workshops as possible, to join organizations (listed above), and to subscribe to journals (listed above). My plan is to incorporate technology into my form of teaching in as many ways as possible. I think it is good to expose children to newly developed technology as well as enhancing the old technologies, so that they have a well rounded grasp on how technology works. I also think bringing technology into the classroom helps to keep the students attention span as it is more of a hands on approach.

I do not think the website, http://www.martinlutherking.org, would be appropriate to use in my future classroom. Based on the quote on the opening page to the site, it sounds like the publishers of this website were white and/or were against what Martin Luther King Jr. had accomplished in his lifetime.

“That night King retired to his room at the Willard Hotel. There FBI bugs reportedly picked up 14 hours of party chatter, the clinking of glasses and the sounds of illicit sex–including King’s cries of “I’m f–ing for God” and “I’m not a Negro tonight!”

This site does not use appropriate language that I would want my students to be reading, which is why I would not use it in class. It does not just get to the point of what happened in Martin Luther King Jr’s life, but it seems to discriminate what he did in a way.
Based on this example of a poor informational website or teachable website, children need to be aware that just because it has a common domain or one that would normally seem informational does not mean that it is. Everyone, especially teachers, who are searching for information on the website to use in their classrooms need to make sure that they read everything, becasue URLs can be decieving.
In doing a search on google using “Martin Luther King Jr.” I found that the site listed above came in 3rd on the choices of links. I think it got such a high ranking, because of how it summarizes and introduces the website, the publisher has tweaked it so it will lure the researcher in. This is what it says, now tell me if you wouldn’t think that site would hold the information you might be seeking?

Martin Luther King Jr. - A True Historical Examination
The truth about Martin Luther King: Includes historical trivia, articles and pictures. A valuable resource for teachers and students alike.

When thinking about how I will teach my future classroom, I will try to include as much constructivism as possible. A Constructivist approach to teaching is one that requires the students to more or less teach themselves and be able to understand a subject, the teacher would act mostly as a moderator for the classroom. The teacher will ask the students questions as to why certain contents within the subject matter are necessary or how they might happen. The constructivist approach of learning allows the students to become the teachers in a sense and will not be required or encouraged to memorize the content, but rather to understand the underlying concepts.
I believe, by bringing constructivism into my future classroom, my students will be able to gain a better knowledge and understanding which will in turn give them the opportunity to become very successful in their future schooling. I also believe that it is important to bring this form of teaching to the students at an early age, which is why I would bring it to my first grade classroom, because it will get them in the habit and require that they deeply understand and comprehend the materials being covered throughout the course of their schooling.
Constructivism and technology can be closely interwoven, because todays technology is becoming so advanced that it allows everyone the ability to learn material in a hands on way. Different tools can also be used in learning that will require the students to have a deep understanding of various materials.

When I first entered my ED 205 class, I was soon overwhelmed, because our professor told us that most of the class (or all if you chose too) will be online. I had never taken an online class before, so I had no idea what to expect from it and myself. I did not know how I was going to make it through. What would I do if I started falling behind? Falling behind is easy to do with an online class…forgetting about the deadlines, because you’re wrapped up in completing other work that doesn’t require online activities. Not only did we have to have the labs complete by a certain day at a specific time, but there were also online readings, the chapter of the text, and surveys that needed to also be completed. I started freaking out, because I am the type of learner that requires a hard copy on paper of reading assignments and doing assignments by hand and not online or with the use of a computer.
As time went on, I grew to like the online class. I could now set my own pace for completing the work. Online learning has advantages where you can save your work on the computer and come back to it later to complete. To me, online learning and activities also seem to be able to be completed with less of a time requirement…meaning it doesn’t take as long to complete. In online learning you also don’t have to worry about losing your paper assignment, becasue with the click of the mouse, your homework assignment is sent to the professor the moment it is completed. However, I also think losing that one on one instruction time with a professor is a disadvantage.
I can see more classes becoming online classes in the future, because it will benefit both students and teachers. In order for an online class to be successful, the professor/instructor needs to keep in contact with the students to find out for sure where they fall. This interaction will make future classes better as the instructor can figure out what works best and what might remain a little bit confusing for the students.

I feel that students should learn the following software applications in school in this order…
1.) Educational Software - should be taught at the beginning elementary level and continue on through high school and college. I believe this form of software is the most important, because it enables a child to learn through interaction.
2.) Word - which should be taught at the elementary level (approximately 2nd-3rd grade), because this is what most of their papers will be published in.
3.) Powerpoint - which should be taught at the middle school level, because it is going to be the basis for most presentations.
4.) Excel - which should be taught in the upper middle school level to beginning high school level, because it can be used in presentations and is a way to make tables and spreadsheets look very neat and professional.
5.) Publisher - which should be taught in the upper middle school to beginning high school level as well, because it offers many different professional publications that can be used to gain success in school as well as the work place.

As a future teacher, I feel it is one of our duties to help children understand different tragedies and what they mean. I think it is very important for children to understand what is going on in the world today. Two major instances that stick out in my mind that I would want to help my students out with are the Terrorist Attacks that happened on September 11, 2001 as well as the reasons why our troops are overseas and the most recent hurricane Katrina. The aftermath of both of these tragedies has hit home to so many children as they may have lost relatives or other loved ones through the occurrences or their parent(s) might be members of the United States military. There are many different websites that both teachers and young ones can utilize to help them cope or teach these subjects. One resource that I would use as a teacher to get ideas from on how to teach my students about tragedies would be the National Association of School Psychologists (http://www.nasponline.org/NEAT/crisis_0911.html) this is a great website that offers many different opportunities to teachers in dealing with national and personal tragedies/crisis. There are other resources that can be found online, through the television, books, etc. For example, just the other day, my roommates and I watched a 1/2 hour tv show that interviewed children ranging from ages 2-11 about what September 11 meant and means to them. This showed me that no age is too early to teach children about life changing tragedies.

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