Week 7

For the best writing activities in my classroom that I would make use of is probably the, the concept maps it is  very helpful when creating ideas and planning a paper. Concept mapping is good for developing  research topics, organizing presentations, or writing bibliographies and with the help of semantic networks software's concept mapping becomes even easier and more effective. The semantic networks help plan and analyze tools that could help students generate and organize ideas for planning papers or speeches. Which is perfect for when I ask my students to do a paper about the history of a Spanish speaking country or when I ask them to give me a speech over Don Quixote. With these programs at the palm of my students hands, writing research papers, speeches, bibliographies, and any assignments that I give them  shouldn't be a problem for them.

 It is very easy to get off track when using power points one can start messing with all the adjustments to the power point and forget completely about the main idea. Don't get me wrong power points are very useful and very fun to work with but they can all be very distracting, so it's important that you keep to some rules when doing them. For when I become a teacher I will have certain rules that would keep so that my students don't get distracted when I'm doing a power point. First I will use the same font for all they slides, and make sure that the slides are readable and not to bright. Then I will have no more then three slide transitions for presentation or stick to one type of transition through it all . Have four to five different slide templates per two slides this way I don't have to much going on that could cause a distraction to my students. Last i would not have to many slides because if there is to many most students will get bored and dose off after awhile. With these "potential pitfalls" out of the way and with these rules listed distractions in my class when doing a power point shouldn't be a problem. Therefore: yes I believe I could follow the potential pitfalls from the text.

Using the concept mapping and power point will be very helpful and useful to me in my classroom and for the the papers I will assign my students. My students will have the concept maps to prepare and organize the assignments and then when they are ready they can present it to the class using power point. 


Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R.M., & Crismond, D. (2008). Meaningful Learning With Technology. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Week 6 PDA's

  Personal data assistants or PDA or hanheld  or small computers that fit in the palm of your hand. They have organization functions as, calendars, task, and memo tools, and have features like digital cameras, audio recording, USB ports, and Global Positioning Systems (GPS). These devices could be very useful in classrooms because it can store information, keep you up to date with due dates on assignments, and could help with sharing information with other classmates for group projects. It has wireless internet access, Bluetooth, and radio wave technology that can be used. And after gathering information students could use Bluetooth to beam applications and files from one handheld to another. 

We use online surveys to get an idea of how people think and feel about a certain topic. Online surveys are used to collect data about your students by giving them a survey on the computer you are asking them questions about a certain topic and how people feel about it, while also at the same time learning more about your students. This way you can be better prepare to give lectures that would best suet your classroom. In my opinion its best to make a survey that doesn't have long questions and and leading questions. If you have to long of questions your participant might not want to read it all or have the time to finish it and if your leading questions you might not get the answer that your really looking for.

The PDA's and the surveys are very helpful technologies for the class room one will help you gather up information about your classroom and the other will help you keep the information stored and then share it with the rest of the classroom. I can see myself using these technologies in my class room especially the surveys so that I can get a better understanding of my students never the less though both these gadgets are great for the classroom.

Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R.M., & Crismond, D. (2008). Meaningful Learning With Technology. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.