College- Week 7

Woo-Hoo!
It is the last week of class and I am already half way done! I did the Excel piece as well as one of the discussions and I am working on my digital portfolio. Very exciting stuff. I am especially excited to have the next two and a half weeks off. I have so much to do outside of school. I am the event planner for the fund raising team at my local YMCA and I am working extra hours at the spa I used to work at (gotta get some extra holiday cash!) not to mention.....
I am also trying to plan my wedding. EEEK! I am going a little insane to say the least. Well, I have to say, I am super glad to have taken this course and will definitely apply lots of the knowledge to my future classroom!

College- week 5

Oops again! Looks like I skipped another week! Well, that is probably because I have been working my hind end off trying to get everything done! This class has definitely been a lot of work. I have enjoyed learning about several technology elements I wasn't familiar with, like wikis and social networking sites available for classroom use. I will certainly be taking some of this new knowledge with me as I start my teaching career!

College- week 6

Well...
We are finally coming to the end of Ed Tech, and I have to say, I am relieved! It has been a lot of work and a lot of confusion. I don't think the class ever got less confusing, but I seem to have done alright. Me and my Fiance had a pretty interesting weekend. We took in a dog that was roaming the streets and put up lost signs and CL ads hoping his family would be looking for him. Fortunately they were, he was picked up today around 3pm. So needless to say, I didn't have a whole lot of free time this weekend, but I managed to get everything done! Woohoo!

You might be Jealous....er!

I also looked up the #1 song when I was born Annie (and everybody else) so drink it in!!




Ha ha ha!

College- Week 4

It has been a very busy week. Not only is Thanksgiving coming up, but we have five assignments due, plus this blog and some disscussion posts and my sister just had a baby!! Wew! It has been crazy to say the least. I took a plane up to Alaska (where I was born and raised) on Saturday and got to see my beautiful niece Kyla Jade (isn't she precious?). It has been great to see my family and friends, but there is a lot of work to do; and needless to say, I am a bit behind! Oh well, I am scurrying to get it all done. Did I mention I am the one cooking the Turkey? Yep, so I will let you know how that goes as well! Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I certainly will.

College- Week 3

I had a great time making my website. I wasn't really sure how to set it up considering I have not yet been an elementary school teacher and I have no idea what types of lessons I will present at that grade level, but I think I did pretty well. I wish the interface was a little more interesting. The setup in pretty boring and to the point. However, it is very user friendly.
I enjoyed the rubric assignment as well. In fact, so far all the assignments have been enjoyable. It is nice to have other students to talk to about the class and get feedback from them as well. I will be gone next week to visit my family in Alaska, my sister is having a baby! I am a soon to be aunt! Very excited if you can't tell! So I am going to be working really hard this week to get everything done for week 4 and 5 so that I don't have to do it while I am away.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

College- Week 2

Oops! I totally forgot to do a week two response to class! Oh well...here it is a week late. Anyway, things have been going pretty well. I am down to just the one class and it is much easier and less stressful now. Also I have really enjoyed all the articles so far and I think that the discussion posts are pretty fun. I think I am getting the hang of the class now, although some of the assignment due dates are still pretty confusing. The teacher has been helpful, but I think that being readily available online on the dates that assignments are due would be helpful. All is going pretty well.
More next week!

College - Week 1

So far this class is very confusing. Their are different dates on different pages on each assignment. The layout is not user friendly and is a little disorganized. I think a lot of people are confused about due dates and what to include in each assignment. I just found out that there is supposed to be a works cited page for the Digital Status Paper that was due on Friday the 31st. Nowhere in WebCT does it say that a works cited page needs to be included. I am sorry to say that it has been a little disorganized to say the least! Hope it improves as the course continues on.
My class on Theory and Practice is coming to an end on November 5th, so there was a lot of work to do between the two classes. Fortunatley after Nov. 5th I will only have to worry about the Ed Tech course. Hooray!

Using blogs in the classroom

I liked the two articles on blogging. I think it is important for students to be civil to each other while online, just as they would be in the classroom and it is very important for the teacher to be a good role model for the students and demonstrate civil discourse both online and offline.

Mr. H's blog was great! I really enjoyed all the Internet resources he used. He found games online that were interesting, he displayed notes for students, all homework assignments were available and it was even possible for students to watch Mr. H explain assignments via YouTube videos. My only criticism of his site was the fact that during his audio conversations with his students he was interrupted by his child (children?) and his voice faltered at times and you couldn't really hear exactly what he was saying. But overall a really good site, and I like how he incorporated math and language arts.

I think I would use blogs in my class in a similar fashion. I will be working with much younger children, but I would definitely incorporate video of myself explaining assignments and games for my students. I think it is particularly helpful for math at the age level (1st-2nd grade) I will be working with.

Who am I?

My name is Darcy Martin. I am currently a graduate student at Concordia University. I hope to be a 1st grade teacher with an ESL endorsement. However, I am currently a pre-K Teacher at a YMCA school, which I greatly enjoy!
My favorite animal is a dog, specifically the dachshund because I have two and they have lots of personality.