Second Blog Post

This week we learned about some very useful technology for the classroom. The first program that we worked on was Digital Story. I had been exposed to digital story before but I had never created one. I thought this was a great way for students to create there own books in a "green" way. I also loved that anything could be recorded - this makes it easy to turn any book into an audio book. This would also be an ideal way to send a "card" to a sick student or teacher or a meaningful thank you card. Students could draw a picture in paint and then record a message.

The next program we worked with was excel. I have worked with excel before, however I have never thought about using it in an elementary school assignment. Excel is ideal for calculating grades and attendance so I will use it for that. I am also excited to have the students use excel in the classroom. They can track types of books they have read, the temperature, and many other exciting things.

The last program we worked with was Access. I have never worked with access before. Knowing how to create a database will be very helpful in keeping track of all of my students information and making it easily accessible for myself, administration, and substitutes. In my future database I think I will add some columns for: medications, allergies, emergency contacts, and possibly IEP accommodations. Having all of this, and more, information easily obtained will help to ensure that I do not waste precious teaching time on digging through files. I have a feeling that this information will also be helpful before Parent/Teacher conferences as well as in preparing for field trips.