My Beliefs

 I believe that technology is very important in the classroom.  As teachers, our job is to prepare the future students of the world.  This means we need to keep up with changes and advancements in the world.  We can't get stuck in our ways and methods of teachings because we might miss out on teaching our students some vital information that will help them succeed.  I always hear that we will be teaching students who will be doing jobs that haven't been invented yet, and that really shows how important it is to keep up with the times.  If people don't, or aren't willing, to adapt, very soon they get left behind.

I also think that it can be a fun way to enhance a lesson.  There are so many things that technology allows us to do that we couldn't do before.  We literally have the world at our finger tips.  If I was doing a lesson on China, or Japan, or some other foreign country I can easily pull up pictures of that place to use in my lesson.  While I was in field I created a powerpoint tour of Utah.  I was able to virtually take the students to six different locations around Utah using technology.  The students loved it!  When we had visited all 6 of the locations I had prepared, they were wanting to visit more places.  They wrote me letters at the end of my field experience, and many of them commented on the powerpoint I had made.  This is just one example of how technology can enhance a lesson.


I believe that teachers have the obligation to their students to become as tech savy as they can.  They are obligated to teach their students about the upcoming advances they will have to use one day.  Going into elementary education is a little different than high school, but I feel that it's still important that students know what a computer is, how to type, are able to write a paper, and know how to look for information on the internet.  All of this can be taught at a young age, and a early basis of this can help students later in their lives.

Lessons Learned

Technology is amazing! I can't believe how many advancements their have been since I've been alive.  What amazes me is that we are continually having new ways to communicate and interact, and I always wonder what advancements there will be in the future.  I liked the Millennial Generation video that talked about what students thought the future would hold when it came to technology.  I feel that as a young person today I am pretty tech savy, but I know that it is important to stay caught up with the times, especially as a teacher of future students.  The students I teach will have so many more jobs and opportunities based on the advancement of technology.  What worries me as a future teacher is not being able to keep up with it.  I already feel that I am behind on what technology has to offer, and as a teacher I want to be as up to date as I can.

I liked the idea the article WWW presented.  Whatever, Whenever, Wherever.  With today's world it is so easy to stay connected.  You can have the whole internet in the palm of your hand.  Technology is changing the way we will have to teach our students.  I wonder if in the future technology will replace how we do school work.  What if paper is one day replaced by computers?  What if students one day no longer have to write on paper, read an actual book, or have paper worksheets?  This will change how I will have to teach my students, and also how I will have to do assignments and homework.

Looking through all the links really made me think about the challenges of technology in school.  I had already wondered if the advance of technology would mean a decline in handwriting and proper grammar.  Texting and emails have a whole different lingo of their own, and students are becoming less familiar with how to properly write.  I loved eschoolnews.com and that it gives informational newsletters about advancement in technology.  I feel that this will be an excellent resource for me as a teacher.

Strengths and Weaknesses

According to the UNI survey and the NET standards, my weaknesses are in using technology more often.  I feel that as I read the NET standards and took the survey I was verily familiar with the different sections and processes mentioned.  I know I don't know everything, but I feel that I can at least figure it out.  One thing that I could work on is describing and implementing basic trouble-shooting techniques for multimedia computer systems with related peripheral devices.  I feel that I am a novice to apprentice in this area, because I would rather ask for help then try and fix it myself.  I know how to use the programs but if something goes wrong, I am usually lost.  I feel that I am strong in all of the other aspects.  I can figure out how to use a computer, save documents, post information online, create sites, and other things like that.


As a teacher I would like to become more familiar with Mac computers.  I am mainly a PC user, but I noticed in the elementary school I went to, and in a lot of other schools I've been in, that they are switching to Mac's.  I also want to become better at being able to troubleshoot my own technology problems, rather than having to depend on other people to solve it for me.


I found some great tutorials online to help me become more familiar with a Mac computer.  This will help me become more familiar with the interface and set up of a Mac computer.  I feel that this will help because as a teacher, if this is the type of computer I am using, I will want to know the in's and out's and where everything is.  It will also help me if I have a student who is using a Mac, I can help them on their computer.


Mac 101

I also found another great site that was for Mac's as well.  This site offered a more in depth tour of the operating system as well as specific tutorials on trouble shooting.  Most of the tutorials are free, but there are some you have to pay for.


Mac Troubleshooting


Example of a Specific Troubleshooting How-To


I feel that both of those are great tutorials and sites in helping me as a teacher navigate through a Mac.

Field Experience Summary

For my field experience I want into Mrs. Henderson’s 4^th grade classroom.  When I first found out that I was going to be in 4^th grade for field, I was disappointed because I had wanted to get an older grade, like 5^th or 6^th.  I ended up loving 4^th grade.  The students were awesome and really fun to be with.   The first week there was spent helping the teacher with tasks she needed done, observation, and helping individual students.  Learning all of the student’s names was easier than I thought it was going to be.  It was great being in a classroom and being able to see all the things we were learning applied with real students.  There were a lot of things that Mrs. Henderson did that I really liked.  I felt that she had excellent control over the class, and the students knew that she was in charge, but they still had fun as a class and with the teacher.

 I loved how Mrs. Henderson taught.  Each lesson was a little bit different, but she would ask the students and direct their thinking to the correct conclusion.  For example, when teaching about the water cycle, she would ask questions that made them think about why it would do that.  She would ask why it rained, to have the students think about what made it rain scientifically.  She would ask what they thought, and let the students answer until someone hit it, and then run with that idea.  She would never tell them their ideas were wrong, if they were a little bit off, but just say, “Ok.  What else do you guys think?”  I felt that this allowed the students to think about the process and come to their own conclusion. 

                Each day was structured almost the same, with minor variations depending on subject.  In the mornings the students would do reading.  There were reading groups, and each group would take turns going to the reading table to read with Mrs. Henderson.  The other students would finish reading assignments, work on spelling or on other assignments if they had extra time, or read.  After reading was math.  While I was there the students were working on fractions.  They started off doing basic fractions like figuring out what number was the denominator and which was the numerator, how to write them, etc., and then moved up to adding and subtracting fractions, and also to mixed numbers.  After math was lunch and recess.  After lunch, they had social studies.  When we first got there they were finishing up a unit on mountain men in Utah’s History.  The rest of the day was a little more flexible.  They would usually have a science rotation, and then have recess after that.  Then they might do spelling, art, computers, PE, or read aloud.

The lesson’s we taught were social studies, so the last week we were in charge of the content.  The teacher wanted us to focus on Standard 1 in the core.  We could pick anything we wanted to teach within that standard.  We taught lessons on longitude/latitude, archeology, erosion, and a tour of Utah showing different recreational spots in Utah.  I felt that we got a good response from the students on each of our lessons.  My favorites were longitude/latitude and the tour of Utah.  For the longitude/latitude we taught them what it was and how to find it on maps, and then let the students create their own map.  They loved it, and we got some really creative maps.  The tour involved a power point that allowed the students “to travel” to 6 different locations around Utah.  The title page had the name and picture of each destination and they could pick which one they wanted to go to.  They had little “passports” that they would take notes in after they had “traveled” to each destination.  The students loved it!  They would ask what we were going to do for social studies that day, and if we could go to more locations. 

                There were some funny/interesting experiences while I was there.  There was one girl in the class who had A.D.D.  You could tell she came from a family background that was not ideal.  She reeked of smoke every day, and you didn’t shower often.  She was a very happy girl who always had a smile on face.  One day she came up to me and said, “Miss Sands guess what I saw when I was walking to school today? There was a rat and it was dying in the gutter, so the only thing I could do was humanely kill it.” I really didn’t know how to respond to that.  I really wonder what she had seen at home to have learned about that.  There was another day she came up to me, and she looked a little different but I couldn’t put my finger on what was different.  Then she told me the story of how her sister had shaved her eyebrows off while she was sleeping.  Her grandma had tried to draw them on with a pencil, but it was really obvious they were gone.  I felt so bad for her!  On our last day in the class, the students wanted to surprise us by jumping out and yelling “We’ll miss you!” when we walked into the classroom.  The students were hiding in different spots around the classroom and they all jumped out.  One boy hid in the broom closet they had in the class, and he got locked in.  It was pretty funny. 

                I loved being able to go into Mrs. Henderson’s class and get to know these students.  It was nice to see what we were learning in class being applied in a classroom.  In class everything we learn is hypothetical and it’s a lot easier to hypothetically solve a problem, but this allowed us the opportunity to use this in real life situations.  I liked being able to watch the teacher and see how she interacted, taught, and disciplined her students.  I loved this experience, and wish it could have been longer.  Leaving was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

March 10. Digital Stories Part 3 - Creative Commons

What: We learned about creative commons

So What:  Creative Commons is important for a lot of different reasons.  It allows people who create things to put restrictions and give criteria for how their property is used.  This is important because it allows everyday people to be able to protect their ideas.  The internet makes it so easy to look up different pieces of information and sometimes people take things that aren't there's and claim it as their own.

Now What:  As a teacher I will use this when I create things for my classroom.  I want to be able to have a say on where or when the material I come up with is used, and I think credit should be given where credit is due.  I wouldn't want any one taking my ideas and calling them their own, and I won't do that to others.

March 3. Digital Stories Part 2

What:  We learned about copyright information

So What:  This information is important for students to know becaues it is a legal matter.  If students are not aware of these laws and are never taught, they will most likely break them and can run into serious problems later in their life.  I think it's important to teach them this, because it's something they will have to deal with everyday for the rest of their lives.  Today it has become so easy to take media or information, and it's important to teach students the right way to do so.

Now What:  As a teacher I would make sure that I teach them this because it's important to know.  I would do it in a way that applies it to them.  As a consumer, sometimes it's hard to see how plaigirism really effects us because we want a product, and some will do just about anything to get it at a lower price or free if they can.  I would apply it to the students, and put them in a situation where they had worked really hard on something, or invented something and then ask how they would feel if someone took that and called it their own.  I think this would really help show the importance of citing their work, and would show them the correct ways to do that.

Febrary 24. Digital Stories Part 1

What: We learned about Digital Stories and some of the ways they are used in the classroom.

So What:  I didn't really know what a digital story was before this, or what exactly it entailed for the classroom, but after learning about them, I feel that digital stories can really enhance material being taught in the classroom.  It really brings material to life, and can be an exciting intro to a unit, or a good wrap up for a unit.  I think it is an excellent way to bring history, or any topic to life.

Now What:  As a teacher, this is something that I really want to use in my classroom.  Just sitting in our class and seeing the images Doc Waters used to explain what a digital story was really impacted me.  I think that using images and music and voices really brings the subject to life.  It isn't just something that happened a long time ago to someone else, and digital stories can bring that to life.  As a teacher I would use them to introduce a subject, or to drive a point home.  Especially of things in our history that just need to be brought to life, like civil rights, the holocaust, or the revolution.  I would also use this as a form of assessment for students.  I think it would be a fun way to have them show what they know about a topic.  It's something that would get the students excited, and it could also give them something that they create that they could be proud of.

February 17. Vidcast Reflection

The podcast series we made is called Colors.  We aimed at younger aged kids, kindergarten or below.  We wanted to teach the basic colors, and that colors are seen everyday all around them.
The standard we used was for Kindergarten.  It was:
Standard 1: Students will develop a sense of self.
Objective 3: Develop and use skills to communicate ideas, information, and feelings.
Indicator (b): recognize similar colors as being members of the family of reds, blues, and yellows.

We wanted to make sure that we included as many different colors as we could in the video, and also as many different objects in those shades of colors.  The song we put the images too talks about being a rainbow and how they're are many different colors.  We wanted to show that colors are all around us, and if little kids look around they can pick out many different colors they are learning about in school.  A benefit of this video is that it shows kids different colors, and how all the colors make up a rainbow.  I also think it can help students put emotion with color.  In the song it says things like, "I am red today, Hopping mad like a playground ball" or "I am white today, Soft and quite like new snow."  This help to convey the emotions that colors can have, that red can be a mad color, and that white can be a peaceful color.  The song also says, "I am a rainbow today, All the colors of the world" which can show children that there are many colors in the world, and that a rainbow is made up of many colors, so not all objects have to be just one color.

Some drawbacks of this series is that it can only be used for younger grades at the moment.  By the time a child is in kindergarten, most already know their colors because they are taught at home.  This video would mostly be used as review of the basic colors.  It could also be used to show emotions with colors, but for the most part, children already have a basic knowledge of colors by the time they enter kindergarten.

Something I've thought about doing to expand the series is to show the different properties and characteristics of color.  There could be a video all about the primary colors and secondary colors.  This video could introduce the color wheel, and what colors are the primary and secondary colors.  Another video could go further in depth than that, and show that the primary colors make up the secondary colors, for example: red plus yellow makes orange.  We could go further and show the tertiary colors as well.  Another video could include shades and tints and explain the difference.  This video could actually be turned into a series that could carry students all throughout their elementary art experience.

February 10. Vidcast

What: We learned how to make vidcasts using Photostory, youtube, jing and/or a video camera.

So What:  Vidcasts are fun to learn about and use in a classroom setting.  They can be a really fun way of teaching a concept to a student.  I think it is an important thing to learn because it allows the teacher to be more resourceful with ways of presenting ideas.  Kids like variety, and the more different ways that a teacher can present an idea the better.  I also think that Vidcasts could be a fun project for the student if they are learning a concept or doing a report.  If they are making the movie about the concept they are learning, they are more likely to remember the information.

Now What:  As a teacher, I think this is something I would use in the classroom, but I would use it more as a project for the students rather than as a teaching tool for me.  I think it's a fun, interesting way that allows students to present ideas.  Because the students are going to be younger, it would be a simple version of a podcast, maybe using photostory, but most likely just a videocamera.  Each student could prepare their "vidcast" and we could have a class recording day.  It would also be fun to put all the vidcasts together and make a movie.  Say we are doing a unit on Ancient Rome, each student could be talking about different things from that time period, make a skit about it, and then put it all together as a movie.  This would not only be fun, but can also make the students really think about what they're doing because they will be performing and recording it, and it will also make a great study guide, because all they'd have to do is pop in the dvd and they have the information.

February 3. Podcast.

What: We learned how to make podcasts.

So What: Pod casts can be a useful tool in the classroom.  I had heard of podcasts but I didn't know what they really were or how to make them.  Knowing how to make a podcast and/or access podcasts helps me as a student as well as a future teacher.  As a student it is useful because some of my professors know how to do this and will podcast their classes.  This is way nice because it allows me access to what we talked about in class without having to leave my home. We learned how to do this because it is becoming an increasingly popular way of communicating, and it's simple and easy to do.

Now What:  As a future teacher podcast can be fun to use in the classroom.  As of right now, I don't think it's something that I would ever use as a teacher as a way to communicate with my students, but I can see me using it as a form of assignment for the students.  I liked what we did in class, where we thought of an issue and made a podcast about it.  I think older students would have fun with this.  For example, if we were in a social studies unit, and were talking about an issue or something from that time period, they could make a podcast of a "news broadcast" or "breaking news" of something that happened, ie, make a podcast of what people might have heard on December 7, 1941 (Pearl Harbor)  This gets students involved with history, and I think using a podcast would be a fun way of doing that.

January 27. Google 2

What: Today we learned about how to create a google website.

So What:  The google website can be a very helpful tool for teachers.  First off, it's free. Hello?! Who doesn't like free. It's very easy to navigate and use.  Many parents want to be involved in their students education, and a google site can be a really good way for teachers to keep their students and parents up to date with what is going on in the classroom. 

Now What:  I think that the google sites are very cool and a lot more user friendly then the UEN sites we had to use last semester.  There are so many more things you can do with a google site.  I love the layout more and it's easier to navigate.  The google site will be something I will incorporate into the classroom when I am a teacher.  It will be a nice way for parents to stay caught up and current with what is going on in the classroom.  You can have the calendar which will tell about events and homework, have homework helps, and any other information you would need parents to know about.  I think it's a great tool to be used.

January 20. Google 1

WHAT: We learned in class about Google and the different tools available to use.  We learned about Google calendar, documents, forms, and how to navigate around those different features.

SO WHAT: As a future teacher this information is very useful and helpful.  Even as a student right now, I think it's awesome and really want to take advantage of these free tools.  I loved the google calendar, and as a student and future teacher feel that this can be very useful.  It will allow me to keep things organized and remember what I have due when.  As a teacher, this will be nice because I can put class projects, due dates, activities, on this calendar and have it available where ever I am.  I am also loving the google docs.  I learned about it last semester, but didn't fully understand what a benefit and awesome tool it is.  I am using it for this class, as well as a different class.  It's very convenient and easier then having to hunt each other down to pass information along.  I also loved the translator. So cool!

NOW WHAT: I covered this a little bit in my so what, but as a teacher, google will be a very useful tool.  Some idea's I've had as I've been learning about google, is I want to have a class website where I will post all the assignments and homework helps and any other useful information that students/parents may have.  I think the google doc can be a neat tool in having students work in groups.  If I teach them how it works it can allow them to work with other students easier, because they won't have to worry about working with their parents to get rides to meet, and it will make it easier on the parents.  A class blog would be fun to keep to so parents and students can keep track of what we've been doing in class.  I'd post pictures of completed assignments, field trips, etc, so the students can feel connected.  It may even be something some of the students could take charge of, sort of like an online yearbook.  I feel that these tools we have through google will be extremely beneficial as a future teacher.

January 13th. Introduction. Special Topics

Hi, I'm Samantha Sands. Welcome to my blog for this class.  Here's a little bit about what I like to do so you can get to know me better.  I love art.  I love photography, making things, decorating, looking at art, really anything to do with art, I love.  I also love reading.  I am an avid reader and usually always have a book with me.  I read mostly for entertainment, but I love just about any kind of book.  I love movies, hanging out with friends, traveling, and music.

I am currently working on my degree in Elementary Education.  I can't wait to become a teacher and have a class!  My dream grade that I want to teach is 5th or 6th grade.  Those were my favorite grades in school, and that is the main reason why I want to become a teacher.  Although, growing up, when people would ask me what I wanted to be, a lot of the time it was a teacher.  I would even play teacher with my siblings.  I would take roll, enter grades, all that stuff.  My educational hero is my 5th and 6th grade teacher Mrs. Thompson.  She would teach us things in such a fun way, and made learning interesting and exciting.

Hope you enjoyed getting to know a little bit more about me :)