Making a Website!

Last class was pretty sweet! I've made one website before and I really had a fun time with it. I'm excited to create this website because I think that it's really helpful to have a resource everyone can access to get information on a class. As a future teacher and coach I am anxious for the opportunity to create websites that will be used by my students, athletes, and parents. I am also thinking it will be fun to learn some new tricks during next class because I feel like I can already do the basics so finding a way to further my knowledge will be cool.

Copyright Issues

During last class period I felt I learned a lot about copyright laws. I think an interesting point is that there are so many specific details that qualify as copyright infringement. However, amongst all of the somewhat disappointing information I was happy to learn of the exceptions related to education. This was of primary interest to me seeing as how I will be teaching for my career. I plan on using these educational exceptions frequently in my teaching experience. As a teacher I believe there are many opportunities to use music and video as a way to add variety into my teaching. I think that utilizing technology in this way will be beneficial to my teaching and to the learning of my students.

Also, in a more personal way, I have learned that I should be more careful when working with media, or anything really, that I have or find or want to use because copyright laws cover a lot of different avenues. yikes!

Reflection Question From Class on September 10th

I think that learning to use Google docs was great! It will be a beneficial tool in working with other students and, after graduation, in working with other faculty and coaches. I also liked using the google spreadsheet. That seems like a really awesome tool for staying organized with projects or assignments that have deadlines. These tools both seemed like an efficient way to get work done with other people. I also thought it was cool that we discussed the fact that to start feeling comfortable with computers and problem-solving on them we just need to be more willing to search around for answers. The diagram of a computer expert's process was a good illustration of that idea. As a teacher I could also see using Google documents or spreadsheets to communicate with parents of students. If I have a student who is struggling in the class I can develop some sort of progress report or chart to help the parents and I stay on the same page in helping the student achieve success in class.

Goals for the semester

This semester I would like to learn how to make my blog look more original and unique from anyone else's. I would also like to have opportunities to explore new ways of incorporating technology into physical education. In an age where technology is able to assist in learning I think it can probably be applied to PE in many ways I simply haven't considered before. I am excited to see how I can apply the things taught in this class to my own teaching in the future.

Reflection on my technology background

I have had a little experience with blogs prior to taking this course. I've had a few other classes that required either making or working with blogs so I feel fairly familiar with the process. One thing I haven't really figured out how to do is how to make my blogs look cool. I only know how to use the preset junk....
As far as other technology I feel like I'm pretty comfortable with most things. I've used PowerPoint for eons and I think I can do just about anything on there. I'm also a fan of Microsoft Publisher. I feel it is an under appreciated program in general but has a lot of cool capabilities.
So overall, technology is my friend most days - except when my computer acts up in which case i resort to hating technology. ;)