Picasa Album

This is my Digital Collection from Picasa that I made. Picasa is a great tool to make slide shows that teachers could use in the classroom. This would be great for a creative project assignment, a "getting to know each other" introduction, or even a memoir of the student's time with the teacher, such as a senior video or field trip slideshow. Enjoy!

Scavenger Hunt

Today in TPTE 486, we were sent on a scavenger hunt across campus. Luckily for my team, it was only through the Bailey Education Complex where we found all of our items on our hunt. Here are a few photo's from our experience. Enjoy!

Website Evaluation

Teaching Literature

I recommend this website only with reservations because it is an “okay” website; it was not great, but it was helpful in some ways.  The website may be helpful to get different teaching and project ideas for the classroom, but probably should not be cited as a credible source for scholarly articles or journals.  There are several broken links and links to both reliable (such as an example project site from The University of Rochester) and unreliable sources (such as NovelGuide).  It would be a handy source for a teacher looking for different ideas to get the students engaged or advice on things like how to teach different narratives in the classroom.  Again, it is not a fantastic, scholarly website, but could be helpful in some ways.

Website Evaluation Tool

http://www.lesley.edu/library/guides/research/evaluating_web.html

This website is a good web based website evaluation tool from Leslie University Library.  The website narrows web site evaluation to step by step ways to evaluate a website into Purpose, Authority, Objectivity, Appropriateness, Currency, Responsibility, Clarity, and Accessibility.  Each section tells a little bit about what scholars need to think about when evaluating a website, such as whether the site is a .gov or .edu vs a .com or .net.  This would be a great tool to show to students to help them evaluate sources.

Course Expectations and Learning Goals

I must admit, I am a little nervous...and overwhelmed, already.  I can tmail..I can facebook..but thats about it and I don't think I realized it until now. I have seen it used so often and it looked so easy, I hope to get to that point.  I think it is so important, especially in a 7th-12th grade classroom to be able to effectively use technology because kids at that age are so in tune with it...they almost expect it.  It will be useful keeping their attention as well as helping them to understand difficult concepts by creating a visual for them.  I expect to learn different programs that will be able to assist in instruction and hope that it will eventually come easy to me.

About Me

I am 22 years old and currently reside in my hometown, Lenoir City, Tn.  I attended Lenoir City High School from August 2002 until I graduated in May 2006.  When the time came to sit down and sincerely think about what I wanted to do with my life, the most important thing to me, I realized, was that I made a difference and improved the lives of every person I came in contact with.  As I looked back to those who had made me who I am today, most of the names so happened to be teachers, whether at school or at church, who contributed to not only my knowledge, but perhaps more importantly, my desire to be the best that I could be no matter what I was doing.  I plan on beginning my professional internship year this August at Hardin Valley Academy and will soon be licensed to teach English to 7th-12th grade.  My hobbies include baking and spending time with my family and friends.  I have little to average experience with technology and am looking forward to being able to use technology as a tool to assist with instruction in the classroom.