Digital Cameras

Using digital cameras in the classroom looks like it would be so much fun. It is a way to get the students more involved with learning how to take pictures and how to use technology to get it onto a computer and do different things with it. It looks like it would be such a good tool to use in the classroom. After looking at the list of things to do with a digital camera, here is my top 10 list of activities to do with a digital camera.

1. Write a class novel and illustrate it with live-action photos of your students.

2. Have students go on a photographic scavenger hunt, taking pictures of the objects they find rather than retrieving the objects themselves.

3. Have each student choose a letter and find an object that begins with that letter. Take a picture of the child with the object and use the pictures to create a class alphabet chart.

4. Document the growth of classroom plants or animals with daily or weekly photos.

5. Create a seating chart with photographs for substitutes

6. Assign pairs of students to walk through the school to find such examples of geometric shapes as circles, triangles, parallel lines, obtuse angles, and so on. Label each photo and create a geometry book.

7. Take a photograph of each student at the beginning and end of the school year. Have students complete Venn diagrams of themselves, showing how they have -- and haven’t -- changed during the year.

8. Arrange students into groups and assign each group one of the five senses. Have each group photograph the appropriate sensory organ and then have them take pictures of objects that organ might best perceive

9. Photograph students dressed up as what they want to be when they grow up and use the pictures to illustrate career reports.

10. Use photographs to illustrate the process for complicated projects or for science experiments.


After looking at these ideas, I have decided that I am definitely going to use this kind of technology in my classroom!

Technology in the classroom

I think that technology should be made a very important part of an elementary classroom. Technology opens up so many doors that can be so helpful to help teaching now than it did in the past. There are so many different resources on the internet that can help a teacher reach the content standards. I used to think that there was not very many different ways to use the internet in the classroom, but I am constantly being shown different ways that it can be used. After learning about trackstar.com, I am definitly planning on using that in the future. But there are other forms of technology that can be used. During my classroom field study I was introduced to a Smart Board. That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. My lesson plans will have to include different ways to incorporate technology and computers in order for my students to learn the skills that are necessary for them to function in the world today.

The Learner-Active, Technology-Infused Classroom

I really like the learner-active, technology-infused classroom! It seems like it would be very active and like the students would be learning a lot! It seems like both the teachers and the students have a lot of responsibility. The teacher is responsible to produce an environment that is conducive for the students to work together and have the resources that they need in order to complete the task that needs to be completed. The teacher is also responsible to spend time making themes that would be thought provoking and interesting. The themes should probably be ones that would promote creativity, but also ones that would be relevant to teach about and for the students to learn more about. The students have the responsibility to take part in the projects and to use their brains to figure out the tasks that they are to be doing. I like how the parents of the students are encouraged to be a part of this classroom. It gives them a way to know what is going on in their child's classroom and gives them a way to be involved.

I never really heard of a learner-active, technology-infused classroom before. I read an article about a lesson plan inventions. The students were to come up with a machine that would change the world. I first read this lesson plan and was really curious on how there would be enough time for the students to do this task. Then I realized that teachers split this project for about 45 minutes a day for like 3 days a week.

I really like the concept of this kind of classroom. I think it is a good idea if it is implemented with the regular kind of teaching as well. Both ways have their pros, but they both also have cons. I thnk that a good mixture of both would make for a very good education for today's students.

All About Kelly

I am really excited about getting started on this blog and writing about topics about education! My name is Kelly Robertson and right now I am in my sophomore year at Appalachian Bible College. I am in the elementary education program and I absolutely cannot wait to graduate and become a teacher. Ever since I was a little girl I have dreamed about becoming a teacher. I loved to go out in our garage and set up my stuffed animals and teach them whatever I had learned at school that day. I had never really given a lot of thought as to what kind of school that I want to teach at. Last year I spent a week at at a Christian school and I loved it. I would like to teach either second or third grade. The kids are just so sweet and so ready and eager to learn something so I think that it would be so much fun to teach one of these grades.
I can look back to my elementary school years and remember some of the best teachers that I had in school. They are the teachers that I want to be like in some way when I teach. They explained things really well and it seemed like they really cared for their students. They spent so much time making sure that we understood what they were teaching about. One of my main goals for when I become a teacher is for my students to know that I am always available and willing to be there for them whenever they need help or anything at all. I think that there are a lot of teachers out there that do not really want to help their students with anything and therefore the students just do not learn anything.