Module A Exercise

In the Integration Corner of the online book, I found some very interesting and fun ways to incorporate technology and computers in the classroom. Under Elementary Corner, I went to Internet4classrooms and found many different subjects and topics that were all centered around games on the computer. I loved this site because of its many different varieties of learning. It had sub-sections that were titled for different seasons, different age groups, special needs children, instructional information, teacher resources, and even a school specialists section. This site covers all the needs for everyone!

However, I would like to discuss only the Elementary Subjects section. Under this section are lists of the different subjects the students learn at this age, also including holiday and time links. After clicking on a particular subject, it takes you to games and learning centers for that subject. It is a great way to include computers inside the classroom. The children can get on the computer, play a game or two, and then the teacher can ask them a few questions about what they learned. The question asking can ensure that the children are actually learning something and are not just wasting time on the computer at school.

Another thing I loved about these games was that if a student clicked the right answer, the game made fun noises to encourage the students. Furthermore, if a student were answer wrongly, the computer would just simply and the question again or “say please try again.” I think this is great since some games will make a bad noise for a wrong answer and this could lead the child to want to give up or lose self-esteem. I think this site is great for students to use in the classroom, and the teachers too!

Module A Task

Within my curriculum I think I could have my students blog about the assignment and what they think of it. For example, if I were to do an assignment on animal cruelty, I could have my students post information they know and what their opinions are on the subject. I think a blog could help students in many ways. For example, I think for an assignment like animal cruelty, the subject is so controversial that some students may hesitate to raise their hand in class and state their own personal opinion as well as oppose to others’ opinions in the class. With the blog, students can state their opinion within the comfort of their own home and not have to worry about being called out or frowned upon. Also, a blog has a new way of students being able to express themselves. For example, a student can express themselves by picking a font and a colorful background of their choice. Another benefit of blogging is that while not only working on a class assignment, students are adding their own ideas with creative thinking, while using and learning modern technology; such as, the computer, blog sites, learning to understand browsers, and more.