Post 3

Chapter for was really interesting for me because it gave me a lot of insight about purchasing a computer. I learned that the central processing unit is pretty much the brain of the computer and can be called other things such as processor or microprocessor. Also, there are two different types of memory: volatile and nonvolatile. Volatile memory is erased when the computer is turned off, an example of this would be when you save something to the c drive but the computer is turned off and you lose your work. Read only memory and flash memory are examples of nonvolatile which saves your work regardless of turning the computer off. Another thing that I thought was helpful in purchasing a computer was all the information about input and output devices. An input device is something that lets you enter information into a computer. Examples of input devices are keyboards, mouses, touch pads, joysticks, pen inputs, and audio and video inputs. Output is the information that the input enters into the computer. Examples of output are text, graphics, and audio & video, but examples of output devices are computer monitors, printers, projectors, and fax machines. It's pretty cool how many things go into a computer. One last thing that would help me in my decision to buy a computer is how much storage media it can handle. Storage media is pretty much the hard copy of information that computers use to store. Examples of storage media are: magnetic disks, floppy disks, zip disks, hard disks, optical discs, Cd's & DVDs, and so on. I learned a lot about how computers store information and how many little things go into one great machine through this chapter.
What I would like to share this week is not about this course, unfortunately its about health. If I could give any advice, it is to wash your hands and don't get sick! True story about this week: I started coughing a lot on Sunday, but I just blew it off, i thought it was just a random cold, no biggie. I was wrong. I went to a certain clinic to receive medical attention which was mistake number two. They told me that I had asthma and they sent me home with an inhaler. Well the coughing got worse and the symptoms got to a point where i had to get my roommate to pick me up from work last night and take me to a different doctor. So we went to a walk in clinic close to where I worked and the doctor there told me that the previous doctor I had gone to was wrong. Although I had been having asthma attacks, the cause of these attacks was Bronchitis. So the lesson learned through this story is. Go to a clinic off campus and wash your hands, otherwise you could end up with Bronchitis, and its not fun.
Since my last class, I learned how to use the Inspiration program, which I am in love with. I'm really glad that I was introduced to this program because I know I will be using it in my future teaching career. Through Inspiration, I learned how to make concept maps, which will help significantly in class by showing relationship between topics being discussed. I know for sure that I will purchase this program in the future and apply it to my class!

Post 2

This week when we were asked to look at our book online I went under the secondary education link because I have been very interested in teaching in high schools. Two websites I visited that i found very helpful were Teachers.net and the Microsoft Lesson Plan website. Teachers.net was a really cool site because it had a lot of links that could help teachers who are starting out such as job searches and resume searches. It also has a lot of articles about teaching that you could refer to if writing a paper for your degree or if you were just looking to see how other teachers might teach. One last cool thing about Teachers.net is it has posted lessons that could help you. The other website that I found really helpful with lessons plans was the Microsoft Lesson Plan Webpage. It has different school subjects and under each subject it gives a few lesson plan examples. I have a feeling I will be using a lot of these websites when I become a teacher.
Last week I learned a great deal about Microsoft Word. I thought I knew how to do everything on Microsoft word. But I was wrong, very wrong! I learned how to make a boring, plain newsletter look like a really cool newsletter. I learned how to make columns, add a background, make a heading for my newsletter, and much more. It was a really cool assignment and experience, and I'm glad I learned all of this information because I will be using it in the future.
Through Assistive technologies I found a website with ReadingPen, which is a program to help students with Dyslexia. It is a neat site because it makes it possible for students to listen to what they are reading. It also helps students with reviewing their own written work when they are done with it. ReadingPen is a little device that looks like a pen that goes over sentences and picks up what it scanned and reads allowed that it just scanned. It is a great help for students with Dyslexia.

Post 1

As students, we use technology everyday. Whether we are in class looking for information for a research paper, or even if we are just taking a quiz or a test, technology is everywhere for us. We were born into an age of technology where every breathing moment of our lives, some new technological device is invented. This is great for us because as we grow into adults and move on with our lives we will be teaching others technology. For instance if you are the president of a record label, you will have to teach others the technologies of running the business, or what if your the manager of a grocery story, you will have to teach new employees how to work the cash register, which involves technology. Learning technology is a part of life now and we need to know how to use it in the classroom. In the discussion last week, we learned about the ARCS Motivational Model which a wonderful way of motivating students to want to learn. It involves four different ares of motivation, which are attention, relevance, challenge/ confidence, and satisfaction/ success. Some examples of the ways these can help are grabbing the students attention by playing a movie that is related to the topic you are teaching, or incorporating slides with attention grabbers hidden in them to make sure the students are paying attention. Another example is allowing students to have school blogs so that they maybe post there successful work and receive internal satisfaction for a job well done. The ARCS model really does help in classrooms which leads me to my next point.
Although I didn't technically use it in class, I learned the ARCS model in class, and I truly believe that if I bring it to the classroom when I'm a teacher, it will work. Last week, I also learned a little more about Windows Word Processor. It's weird how you think that you know everything about certain software, then your introduced to new things. I learned out to head the bottom of my pages and how to format my papers to be perfect.
Something that I would like to share is that throughout my whole high school experience, I dedicated a lot of time and effort to a huge passion of mine which is video productions and communications technology. I took five communications technology classes because I was obsessed with creating new projects, videos, commercials. I made all of these using software like ADOBE Premier Pro, etc. That's just a little something I thought that I would share with you all.

Assignment 1

Well, I have been using technology since I was in Elementary school. My dad bought me a computer when I was around seven years old, and ever since, I have been glued to the computer screen. Although I was too young to understand the World Wide Web, I loved playing games! The first time I ever used the Internet was when my Dad subscribed me to some Disney Program online at the age of nine. After that I became addicted. Like most college students I took part in many of the online sites such as: XANGA, LiveJournal, MYSpace, and facebook. In high school I was on our Television Staff and I took 5 communication technology classes. Through those classes i learned how to make make/edit videos on the computer. I have always been a hands on kind of girl, and technology comes easy to me.

Throughout this class I hope to learn how to use things through technology that I don't already know. I want to learn how I can apply this technology to teaching students and, maybe even teach students a little something about it. We now live in an age where technology is taking over and by the time I'm a teacher, students will probably be teaching me something. So to save myself from future embarrassment, I want to learn as much as possible.

I learned through the Learning Style Survey that I am a hands on learner. I can learn better with more visual, rather than audio styles. I realize that I will use these skills to teach others, but I would also like to learn other styles so I can adapt to how others learn.