Week 9 skipped

Week 9 skipped by permission

Post # 5

SKIPPED WEEK 7 BY PERMISSION

Post # 4

Reading chapter 2, I learned much about the internet, and search engines. It taught me a lot about the internet and how the internet came about. I've always wanted to know that like common knowledge. The internet has its own language called netiquette. We all speak netiquette! lol!

Since my last posting, I've learned much about how to search for things using search engines. I learned how to use words to get the most efficient search results. My favorite search engine is google because it is very simple yet its search results are very detailed. I learned about Google Scholar and I am so happy about that because that's something that I find will be useful for the rest of my life. I wish I knew about it sooner instead of Wikipedia!

For my future plans haven't changed, I still think that being a guidance counselor is so overlooked. Most people don't realize the importance that these people have in our kids' lives. A guidance counselor is the difference between a child challenging him/her self in honors classes versus slacking in regular. Guidance counselor should have a lot more resources than that which are available to them. If I end up with a PhD in education , which isn't in my plans, but who knows where we end up in the end, I'd write several great websites and book about how to be an effective guidance counselor instead of someone the students see about twice a year.

Post # 3

In chapter four of our text book, I learned a lot about the pieces of a computer and the way these pieces work and work together. It was very interesting. Digital means that a device understands two states, on and off. And the book goes on to tell about these digits that form bits, and what they represent. I learn that input is what one enters into the computer and it can be in four forms- data, programs, commands, and user repsonses. An input device is any hardware that allows you to put input into a computer, like a keyboard or a pda pen. Data that has been processed into a form that people can use and understand is called output. Four types of output care text, graphics, audio and video. Now, I am very familiar with today's storage devices because we use them for computers, cell phones, and even camera to store memory. Because I have so much experience with them, this is not brand new information.

I added a link to personality tests that I think is phenomenal. I am very interested in knowing myself because I believe that when I know myself, then I can understand others. Those tests, some by psychologists, some by the others, are designed for all sorts of purposes. Some are for fun, like, what animal are you most like, and some are serious, like, Career Interest Inventory, which tells me what types of careers would be good for me based on my personality. I encourage everyone to get to know themselves better. Be careful though, it's addictive!

Since my last posting, I've learned much about technology in the classroom. Through the Inspiration 8 Software I've learned that there are many more types of "Thinking Maps" as they called them when I was in school and they can be used for very complex in-depth ideas, or simple compare and contrast models. As a student looking forward to being a candidate for a PhD one day, even I can use a detailed map to have a graphic display of my ideas.

Post # 2

While meandering through the sites that Mr. Gentile sent me to, I found a bunch of helpful sources that will help me throughout my professional career as a Guidance Counselor. When I clicked on Counseling and Guidance, I found information on how to deal with all sorts of occurrences at schools. It was particularly interesting when I found information on how to help kids cope with issues such as bomb threats, and other serious issues that create fear in children. To me, school should be the safest place outside of a home for a kid to be. As a guidance counselor, I have the power to make that happen. I also read about peer mediation, which I think is an awesome tool for all schools to use, that way children with problems have a place to talk and get help without feeling like they are the only ones with problems. I learned a great deal from this website because every time I clicked on a link, I was jumping into a plethora of more information. That's exciting.

Since my last posting, I learned many new things about technology. I learned how to create and design a pamphlet. That will be especially useful in my career and I plan to place a really nice and creative one in my portfolio for an impressive interview. I think it will be useful to my career because teachers are super busy people already, yet they would like to have information from the school at their fingertips. Writing informational pamphlets for teachers, students, and their parents would be a way to keep the communication flowing without work overload for the teachers. Guidance Counselors are awesome people who help students with real life, and that's a big deal to some students who really don't have anyone to turn to.

One piece of assisting technology that I read about was the reading pen. Made for students with dyslexia, I find that it can be helpful to students who are better listeners than readers, or students that read too fast. Simple in form, this device can help many and that's what's unique about it. For kids with even more complicated disabilities, the Intellikeys System was one that I usually saw around schools and I think that since it's common, then it must work well.

Post # 1

In my public schools years from 4th to the 12th grade, I had some teachers who implemented the ARCS system well. Some, in their monotonous voices, would lecture for the whole day that way. I wish all my teachers tried to implement the ARCS model. When a love for learning, motivation, is instilled in a person, they seek to find out more about whatever they thirst for. So having teachers certified in the technological advances of society is very beneficial for the students. Another thing i found so interesting in the reading was the many types of technology that there actually are! Never once did I think about my brakes and gas pedal as being technological. I have always known computers to be powerful and it amazes me that this is just 2007. By 2050 the power of these machines will be too amazing.

I've learned much using the SAM program, however I wouldn't call them shortcuts. It was more like, alternatives to what I was accustomed to. If it's not broken, why fix it? That's my philosophy when learning alternatives to things I already know how to do. For example, I am very comfortable with copy and paste. Using other routes to get what I want will be a challenge for me but hopefully it will be helpful. I hope that, as we get deeper in the software, that I learn things that I never knew about. SAM doesn't know what level I am at in computer literacy, so it's only right that I begin at the beginning.

My future career will have much to do with technology. I am no stranger to it so I embrace my future as a high school guidance counselor. And later on in life, I want to be a Marriage and Family Therapist. I will use technology to stay posted with clients, perhaps get them involved with writing blogs, which, I have noticed, can be very therapeutic. I know my minor is Education because I want to learn how to gain control of a classroom. I think teachers are phenomenal people. I want their skills to educate people to flow into my everyday life.

Post One--- Introduction

Technology has been a part of my life since I first started school at St. Matthew Catholic School. It started out with Oregon Trail Day, although I still don't know the purpose of those days. Now, I couldn't go on a day without a computer, cell phone, or many of the other forms of technology I don't even think about. I'm careful not to get trapped into the all-too-easy types of technology that make me feel helpless without it, such as the Global Positioning System. There's going to be a day where every car will have it and people will depend on it like it's water.

In this class, I hope to learn how to use technology to make my life easier in the workplace, and in life in general. I want to be able to communicate with people more easily and clearly. I want my classroom to be as transparent as possible by keeping everyone interested, involved. Having the technology at my fingertips to send mass emails, and to communicate with students, their parents, and coworkers will be a big plus in my career.

In today's class, learning all these new things intrigued me very much. I fell in love with blogger.com at first sight! It's something that I can use professionally and personally. That's what I love so much about college. As far as my learning style, I know that I learn many different ways. My favorite way of learning is by observation, and naturally, the questionaire proved to be correct. The test also told me that I am a reflective thinker, which I also feel is correct. Because of my reserved personality, I don't like to sound stupid before I ever say anything so I think it through. That's also why I am a sequential learner. Ideas, theories, facts, and problems have to make clear sense and have a personal pattern that I can put to it, to make it understandable. I am a sequential learner. That's nothing too new. I take personality tests regularly on http://tickle.com/. I learn so much about my self. I wish this test was more in depth though. I'd love to learn things about myself that I don't know.