Apps In Education

Reading the Apps for Education there were plenty to read about. The one that I downloaded on my phone was Edu-Creations, this app is about configurations about any type of math skills. It is great for geometry helping children with the problem solving and figuring out the answer. With the education apps is from the SAMR which stands for "Substitute technology acts as a direct tool substitute without functional change, Augment technology acts as a directed tool substitute with some functional improvement, Modify technology allows for significant task redesign, and Redefine technology allows for creation of previously inconceivable task. When the app was done downloading it was hard for me to understand how to use the tool, at first. When I kept playing around with it, it became easy.

This app was great! I retaught myself all over again with geometry and trig. It was hard to remember what was geometry and how to solve for the problem. When I kept asking questions with the help button this app would help me remember how to to solve the problem. If teachers wanted to use this app they could also. Setting up a little quiz on it and they could grade the quiz on the app. It was really great to know that this little app tool can help students in there subject. It is helpful and the student can use it at any time. Even if they misunderstood what the teacher said in class, the students could go click on the app and this tool will help them succeed in there subject. The only down side is that I think this technology should be used in classroom, the reason being students are using technology more than ever and this will help them learn. You can even create a game within your class with teams and challenge them winning a little prize who scored the highest right answers. This app should and will be successful, I know it is not a big app now but probably within a year this app will probably become noticeable in the education of students.

Technology and Elections

As I was reading this article on the reader Technology and 21st century elections from History Tech, it caught my eye about the difference in our today elections than the past elections. We all know standing in line waiting for our turn to vote is always boring or just wasting time. It was interesting reading how we can vote on our mobile phones, for instance the campaign tools powered by cloud computing. I tried using this on my android phone I searched in the Google search engine, and it took me to the campaign voting site. I clicked on it, looked for the button on the left side to vote. I clicked on the button and I could not upload the site because the site was blocking me. I could not use the voting tool. I asked my parents who both own a IPhone and they both could vote on their IPhone with no problems. It was a lot easier for them to vote just a click from their phone, but for me I could not use the mobile phone due to my service plan that I chose. It is interesting ready that "80 million voters in the U.S. will access political information critical to their decision making process via cloud-based news and campaign apps on smart phones. A 200% increase from the 2008  Presidential race". That is great to hear about, that our technology is doing  a great job campaigning for our elections, making it easier for us to vote. The Internet helped our Presidential campaigns both promote what they wanted by our social media apps and our Internet.

This technology tool is one of kind, it helped my parents make voting easier than waiting in a line. It took my parents less then ten minutes to vote for their candidate. Instead of waiting in line to vote, they got their voting in and continued on their daily schedule lives. I could not enjoy that experience due to my Android phone but I still made the time to go vote tonight, even though I had to wait least thirty to forty minutes, I voted for my candidate. It was great that my parents got to use the technology tool, I wish I could have but my parents were very happy with the technology tool. My dad will be looking for some more technology tools in the near future he says. I have a feeling that technology tools will keep growing more and helping our country with all the success that we need. I can not wait till the next four years to vote again hopefully with only an option with technology tool to vote for our presidential candidates in 2016.

Lincoln Movie and Floor Plans?

Over this past weekend with the Thanksgiving holiday I saw the Lincoln Movie. In the beginning it was the usual background information but it got more in depth with Lincoln life story. How he wanted to become the President of United States, how he wanted to make changes within the Civil War. While looking for something to blog about, I found this website called the Lincoln Movie and White House which is pretty cool to see the actual floor plans of the White House when Abraham Lincoln was the President. While looking through this you can actually go to the White House Museum Floor Plan clicking on different rooms on the website. You actually see real images of what the that particular room looks like. There is a summary of the specific room about the history of the room, which is great to know about. I showed this website to my little cousins who are in the second grade, seventh grade and fifth grader, they all liked the website. The reason why they were excited clicking on different rooms, even though the second grader could not read fully all the words. There were pictures showing her what is in the rooms. She would ask different questions, for example, what is that there, who is that in the chair? Questions about the picture, but the second grader was learning more about the rooms in the White House because she was asking questions. Even though she has not learned anything in the government subject yet, but she was learning by the pictures. Clicking on the different rooms were helping her read and pronounce the different rooms. This is a great site to actually know what is the White House, knowing a little more history about the White House is a great! If students saw this in class they would probably know more about the White House and wanting to learn, because it is a hands on learning. Clicking on different rooms learning about the history of it. It is great! Just watching my little cousins go on this website, I was helping them learn and understanding a little bit more about the White House because of the website I found out.
This website can help education a lot in many ways. It will help the students keep there attention span longer, actually want to learn more because you can click on different rooms. Can ask more questions because the student may not know who is the picture or what the history of that room consist of. This website can be used for government, I think it is a great technology tool for the teachers to use in a classroom. Teacher's can teach a little bit more what is in the White House, let the students focus more about what is in the White House, knowing a little more background knowledge.

Interesting Way for History to Come to Life with Google

While reading the "21st century museums:Bringing history to life with Google Cultural Institute", it was interesting reading that different history memories that I learned in class and in the science industry museum. "You can discover 42 new online historical exhibitions telling the stories behind major events of the last century, including Apartheid, D-Day, and the Holocaust. The stories have been put together by 17 partners including museums and cultural foundations who have drawn on their archives of letters, manuscripts, first-hand video testimonials and much more. Much of the material is very moving—and some is on the Internet for the first time". Which is great to actually see on your computer. Seeing it at your home rather than walking. But the only thing that I am against is that will we have any museum's? Will the museum's close down because the Internet is taking away all the exhibits? If so then I am not a fan for this Internet to keep growing. I remember as a child walking into a museum I felt intelligent seeing the old artifacts, the old airplane crafts and actually walking around a museum learning and seeing the past history. Sometimes at the museum there were statues talking about different heroes during a specific time in history. Actually seeing the statue was great, I took a picture of it and showed to my family telling them what I learned at the museum. Personally as a student learning at the museum was a great teaching tool for us. Actually learned what happen during history of the time period, see the actual artifacts that were left or if any were left. Hearing speeches from other historians about the information they learned discovering more about the topic.
With in the Internet I feel that we lose that personal face to face time, yes we can learn so much from the Internet but sometimes actually looking into an exhibit is way different then looking online. There is already a lot of different information about history which is great for us teachers. This is a great tool for history teachers like myself. I could give an homework assignment but in the mean time I would like to go to a field trip with my students letting them explore the museums just like I did. Learn more by seeing the artifact, listening to an historian talk about it at the museums.

No Parent Talk about the Bees and the Birds.

I find it interesting reading this app of "The Miracle of Life: A complete educational application, focused on the human body´s cycle of life". What caught my eye looking into the reader blog of how there is an actual app on your I-pad to know about your human body's cycle of life. At first, I could not believe that there was an actual app about this, it sounds crazy but at the same time it is helpful. It can be helpful with your pregnancy actually knowing and seeing a visual of how your body will act and happen while your growing your baby inside of you. This app covered everything within the stages of your body.

The stages are fertilization, gestation, and growth. Fertilization, knowing about the eggs, how everything comes together of making a baby. The gestation is actually understanding if you will have twins, how the heart beat will be within your womb, how the birth itself will be happening. Lastly growth, how your body will be changing when the baby is born and how your body will be changing throughout your life. The video that have posted is actually a great little preview of what the app will be giving an insight of it.

I can remember back in the fifth grade, I had to go on a field trip to Robert Crown; it was the most terrible field trip of my life. I did not know what we were going to see or learn that day but it did leave a scar in my memory. I remember my mother telling me about the Birds and the Bees conversation how it happens and how they make little baby birds and bees. At Robert Crown, I actually saw a video within my class making me feel very comfortable. It was hard understanding what was going on when the boys would be starring and starting to make fun of us girls. I know I felt embarrassed because the boys would just make me feel uncomfortable about my body. With this app on your I- pad, you can watch it whenever you would like, you don't need anyone by you because the app explains it great! I wish this app was around when I was learning about the Birds and the Bees from my mother. It was awkward hearing this story from my mother. I would of like to have this app because I could of really had the grasp of knowledge back in fifth grade, understanding my body. I would of felt great emotionally and physically because I knew what was going on with my body.

If I was expecting a baby I would definitely look at this app. This app helps you actually understand what happens with your baby when it is an egg, to a human being. After I saw this app, I copied this link and emailed it to my best friend who is expecting a baby this December. At first her reaction was, "what is this", I said "try it out it will not hurt you, this app might guide you in prepare safe way to understand what you are going through your pregnancy". My best friend took this app and actually liked it. She feels prepared with her baby on the way. Even though this is a technology app this is a educational app for everyone who needs to know about "the miracle life" that we all experience one day within our lives. If I did not see this reader article, who knows if I would make my best friend feel comfortable about her first pregnancy. I made a difference in her life feeling positive about her delivery of her baby coming in December. She also sent out the app to her sister to be aware of what "the miracle of life" does to your body and being prepared when she is going to expect to have a baby.

You don't need to talk to your parents anymore about the Birds and the Bees. You can just open this app and actually learn about it from the technology app. This app explains is great, has great pictures and you can make the decision when your ready to understand. It is cool seeing that technology made my best friend and I feel comfortable about "the miracle of life". If I did not see this app on the reader, who knows if I would feel comfortable talking about it as I do now unlike when I was in fifth grade learning it. I will probably download this app when I will be expecting my first baby. Check out the link. See if it will help you feel comfortable during your "miracle of life".

Posted Yesterday by kim b

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Thoughts on the Tech Tools for Teachers

Throughout the 21st century there are always new ideas or new technology. Technology itself can be overwhelming for everyone. Starting in the 1980's the big cell phones were in starting to become a big if you had a cell phone in your cars. In the 1990's the cell phones were beginning to get smaller with online access. In 2000 and beyond we started with I-pods, I-phones, with all the different apps for us to get involved within our social lives.

In my opinion, we lose the actual face to face conversation with our peers and loved ones. With technology it keeps growing quickly. I need to learn and catch up with it. With teachers, there are so many  great tools for us, I just  need to learn. We keep learning more and more because our technology is growing faster and trying to keep up us up to date with our students. What I would like to get out of this class is to finally appreciate computers. Have a good relationship of understanding computers. Learn all the different aspect of computers, learn the short cuts and keep learning more technology in education. Computers since I was little, was hard for me to understand. I am used to reading books, journals, letters within actual text books not looking online for them. I feel it is great that technology is easier for us, to save more time. But in reality, I feel that technology is making us cheat more often then actually taking the credit to find the product. I remember my second grade teacher would always give us a Friday award for finding actual books within the library. As a student I felt great actually understanding how to find a book or an author in the card catalog. Now days, students do not know what a card catalog is. My sister and I are eight years apart; she is in high school and is on the computer all day long. She is allowed to have laptops within her classes, typing rather then writing in a notebook for taking notes.

As a teacher, I am realizing that technology is growing quickly and our students are becoming more involved in it. I need to start getting the grasp of technology. My goal in my teaching life is to be a great teacher.  If I do not understand technology quickly like my students will, I feel like I will lose my students because I am personally not up to date with them, as I should be. I am used to writing all the time in a notebook, not typing as much. Change can be a good thing but I do like the old fashion education of learning which is paper and pencil.