POST NINE!!!!

So here is my post number 9, and I really related to this particular post.

A 2-paragraph review of an interesting web-based tool or resource that you might use when teaching. Be sure to include a link to the tool or resource, and check out the ones that your classmates have shared as well.

A web-based tool that I will include into my English Literature or English Composition course would be the electronic library tool. This is a program that allows for a tool that a student can input what exactly they are looking for into the search fields and it filters out the different types of resources/ references the student needs. Here is the link-- http://e-library.net/. Also Encarta online and Sparknotes.com are valuable research tools and software that allow for students to better understand the material I may be teaching. Shakespeare is a difficult subject and so is poetry and thus using a tool like this could help them become better researchers and writers.

A paragraph about how you think you will use Excel and similar programs as a teacher (see Chapter 13). Be specific about your subject matter area and the grade level.

Excel is a highly valuable tool not just for students but for anyone. If I can teach my students to create budgets and graphs and questionnaires, then they will be able to incorporate these things into presentations, managing the course load and time, and in aiding them in their Senior Project which requires the use of a budget. I again would encourage them to conduct interviews and try to create meaning from their received answers by creating a graph and spread chart using excel. This is useful to an English major because it can tell a person what areas they need to shift their focus to understanding better or explaining better.

A paragraph about your final course project -- plans, challenges, etc.

For the final project, I have thought to incorporate something I actually learned during the Webhunt assignment. During the assignment, we had to research and find a link to a site that did virtual fieldtrips. I found this very concept to be amazing! What a wonderful idea! This would be great for integrating technology and fun learning with content. Students don't want to be lectured to, they want to be involved and this is one way to get them to feel fully involved. My project will be about how to incorporate a virtual fieldtrip program into a year-long lesson plan. If students actually feel a connection the the material learned about, then they might be inspired to learn for THEMSELVES! As teachers, it is not our responsibility to inspire students so much as to teach them to inspire themselves (self-motivation). You can give a man a fish and he eats for a day but if you TEACH a man to fish he can eat for life----it is the same concept with self-motivation. I think that this virtual fieldtrip being a part of the curriculum would be highly motivating.

http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/1998/09/14909

This link will let you know what I mean about the virtual fieldtrip I have in mind.