Why the Science Links?

I have been interested in new and exciting ways to get students motivated about science, which is why I chose to search for science related websites and blogs. It seems that too often students dread science related activities and science classes and I wanted to find ways to change this for my students. Also, it seems as though science would be a great avenue to integrate some of the new technologies that are available for the classroom. Check out the complete list of links I have added here!

The links on my blog cover a few different topics. The Eureka! Science News site provides articles about new events in the field of science. Not only does this site keep you up to date on what is happening in science, it also has links to how to incorporate these topics into the elementary classroom. The events that are posted provide examples of curriculum requirements that may be more exciting to students than what the text book has to offer.

Although the Steve Spangler Blog also provides resources for science in the classroom, his blog also talks about the view of science education by today's teachers and students. He has great links to science experiments as well as other lesson plans that would be great to get students excited about science. It seems to me that his main reason for creating this blog is to show other teachers that science can be fun and exciting for students if they make it that way. He blogs about the downward slope of student performance in science and about why he thinks this is happening as well as what we can do to fix it. His blog is not only informational but it is also motivating to see someone so passionate about science education.

The Venier News site is quite different than the other sites I linked to this blog. Although the site does not specifically talk about science education, it is a resource for tools to use in the classroom. It has catalogs for new classroom science technology and articles with reviews of the products. It also gives viewers the opportunity to evaluate labs for use in the classroom. I was attracted to this site because in thinking back to my own science education we only had the basics. With access to these new technologies, who know how much students can accomplish in science education.

In many of our education classes we are encouraged to create tools that we can quickly reference in the classroom. We have been told that these tools will not only help us to create lesson plans quickly but they can also be a resource to refer to when parents and administrators have questions about how we are managing our curriculum. I think that RSS feeds could be a very beneficial tool for the same reasons. RSS feeds are so easily accessed and there is a benefit of having all of the information in one space. With the help of folders, these feeds can be separated depending on topic, that is for lesson plan ideas as well as helpful tools for parents. Also, as a teacher I could encourage the parents of my students to subscribe to a class blog so that they could be easily updated regarding what is taking place in the classroom. With the RSS feed they can see quickly and easily what is going on in the blog without actually having to go through and search the blog site. Also, for elementary students RSS feeds would be beneficial for starter research projects. By giving students access to RSS feeds I would be able to filter the information so they know what type of information to look for while still giving them many different options to choose from. There are many benefits to the use of RSS feeds in and out of the classroom and I look forward to seeing how effectively they can be implemented.

My Digital Footprint

I was actually quite surprised with what I found when I googled my name. Although there were several misses, which is unusually because of my name, most of the first page of hits were related to me. Most of the links were to online newspapers for honors I have received throughout my life so far. There were award notifications from high school sports as well as for my most recent scholarships at Michigan State. I was also surprised to find and article that had me quoted from abc channel 12 news. I was interviewed in early December in front of the Financil Aid office and they did end up running the story and quoting me! I also found links to a research project I conducted at Michigan State. I have left more of a digital footprint than I thought.

I am hoping to use my portfolio to highlight my accomplishments in the field of education to show off to future employers. With the set up of the web page, there is quick and easy access to priliminary information that employers as well as parents of students would like to see. My resume shows my qualificiation and my about me page gives a quick snipet into my interests and personality. I also want to use this portfolio to show that I am interested in technology in the class room and to show the benefits that technology can have for students. I am very excited about my portfolio and am anxious to make it more complete.

Interesting Blogs in Education

I have never taken the time to look into blogs that are available on the web. Before venturing out, I thought blogs were just something that some of our professors incorporated to give us more work. However, after viewing some of the blogs that current teachers are using I started to see the use and benefit that blogging can bring to educators as well as students and parents.

There were two blogs in particular that stood out to me. The first is titled, 21st Century School Teachers. In this blog two teachers teamed together to create a site full of resources for other teachers and even parents. They offer links to "Cool Websites" about many different aspects of education. Some of the links are subject specific and offer ideas on new lesson for science, math, language arts and more. There are also links on how to publish work in the classroom on the internet as a way to showcase the work of students. As a future teacher a site like this would be extremely beneficial since I sometimes have difficulties with web searches. This blog also includes a link to a "tip sheet" which provides readers with tips on how to use popular as well as new technology in the classroom. This would also helpful as a quick guide to technologies I attempt to use. The blog posts that a published on this site usually reference other blogs and deal with issues in education. Not only does this site provide resources for other teachers but it also creates a forum for discussing dominate issues in education.

Another blog that I found interesting is called A Teacher's Thoughts. This blog focuses primarily on the use of technology for science instruction. It was interesting to see ways in which technology can be specified to different school subjects. The author of the blog provides information about online science fairs that teachers can use for their students. There is also information about online wiki's and ways that students can use it to bring their learning to a new level. Not only are these resources discussed, but there are also blog entries reflecting on the students' first experiences with the technologies. I enjoyed this aspect of the blog because it is always nerve racking to try new things. However, seeing how these new technologies worked with actual students gives teachers the opportunity to see what to expect and how to prepare for student reactions.

I think that blogs can offer teachers a fast and easy connection with their students and also their colleagues. As a teacher, I think that I will use blogs to keep up with new ideas for classroom instruction and also outside tools that can be used to further education. I think that blogs would also be a beneficial tool to use with students. I would create a blog for my students that provided a list of the assignments for the class and helpful resources they could use to complete them. Also, blogs would offer the students a tool to communicate with each other as well as me about topics covered in class. There could also be a link for parents to see what is going on in the classroom so that they can help their students to succeed. I hope that the school that I end up in will be open to the idea of blogging so that I can use this incredibly useful tool with my students and their parents.