Goodbye Post!

I can't believe the semester is over! Every semester seems to go by quicker then the last. I have to say this semester was very busy for me due to my course-load and working full time. This was my first time taking an online class, so it was definitely a learning experience. I used to think I was pretty good with computers, but this class has showed me there is always something new to learn when it comes to technology! Being a teacher and having my own classroom, I have been able to see how to incorporate the many topics we have learned into my own lessons!

WebQuest: Pet Detective

For my WebQuest, I created a "Pet Detective" assignment for students in Pre-K/Kindergarten. Since I am a Pre-K teacher this was a great opportunity to try and make a WebQuest to coincide with the early childhood curriculum. This WebQuest would obviously needed to be completed with the assistance of a teacher if used in the classroom. For some reason, my standards page is not coming up on my WebQuest and the font is a little off. Did anybody else keep getting "Alerts!" while making their WebQuest? I think that is why the font/color scheme is a little off. Anyways, here is the link:

http://questgarden.com/126/30/4/110510162007/

I will try to work on the fonts and see if I can get the standards up!

PP Project: Attempt # 2!

Okay this SHOULD work now! Here is the link:

http://www.slideshare.net/asolga/pp-smart-board-by-ashley-solga

PP Project

Not sure if I am doing this right, so here is my first attempt, I hope it works! This is the code that came up after it was embedded:


div style="width:425px" id="__ss_7780308"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/asolga/pp-smart-board-by-ashley-solga" title="PP: SMART board by Ashley Solga">PP: SMART board by Ashley Solga</a></strong><object id="__sse7780308" width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=pp-solga-110429132527-phpapp01&stripped_title=pp-smart-board-by-ashley-solga&userName=asolga" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed name="__sse7780308" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=pp-solga-110429132527-phpapp01&stripped_title=pp-smart-board-by-ashley-solga&userName=asolga" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/asolga">asolga</a>.</div></div>

Blog Post for 4/23

For this week's blog post we are to reflect on what we have learned thus far in class, as well as share our impressions of our online learning experience. For starters, this is the first online class I have ever taken, and it has taken some time to adjust to. This is also the first class I have used blackboard with, and I feel as if I am always checking it to make sure I am not missing any assignments! The biggest challenge for me while taking this course has been staying on top of weekly blogging, and learning how to use the digital drop box application on blackboard.

 In addition to taking this course this semester, I am also taking 2 more classes that meet weekly. Between the three classes and working full-time, it has been a busy semester! This class has been a lot of work, but I have been able to incorporate a majority of what I have learned into my own classroom. Going into this course, I thought I was comfortable with using technology in my classroom, but now I definitely feel more secure and have started to use it more (even with my young students!)

Class Website Assignment

Here is the main link for my website (you will need to enter the username/password I have provided once you get to the page).
 http://homepage.scholastic.com/CHBuilderWeb/jsp/StudentParentLogin.jsp?ESP=CHB/ib//acq/chb_slimnav_Parents///nav/txtl////

* When you get to the main page you will see a spot for the classroom username/password.
* The classroom username is: Saints_Prek_4
* The classroom password is: saints
* After you enter the information, you will need to verify whether you are a parent/student/other.
* This is the website's actually URL (http://homepage.scholastic.com/CHBuilderWeb/LoginAction.action)     but it will not work unless you are logged in!

I hope you enjoy the site, and that everything is working! I used Scholastic's webpage builder, and loved it. I have used some of the other sites before (such as teacherweb) but Scholastic's is the definitely the best!

Web 2.0 & Internet Resources: Google Docs

When thinking about what 2.0 website I was going to use for this week's blog post, one immediately came to mind- Google Docs (docs.google.com/). According to Wikipedia, Google Docs is defined as "a free, Web-based word processor, spread sheet, presentation, form, and data storage service offered by Google. It allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users." 


Here is some information from the Google Docs Website:

Getting to know Google Docs: Google Docs basics

Watch a video on getting started with Google Docs

Here's what you can do with documents:

• Upload and convert Word documents, OpenOffice, RTF, HTML, text (.txt), Open Office (.odt), and StarOffice Writer (.sxw) files (or create documents from scratch).
• Easily format your documents.
• Invite others by email to edit or view your documents.
• Collaborate online in real time and chat with other collaborators.
• View your documents' revision history and roll back to any version.
• Publish documents online to the world, as webpages or post documents to your blog.
• Download documents to your desktop as Word, OpenOffice, RTF, PDF, HTML or zip.
• Email your documents out as attachments.

I think one of the coolest features of Google Docs, is its "collaborative" aspect. It makes editing papers, and working in groups for projects much faster and easier. It is also a great alternative for people who are having trouble with Microsoft Word, and just need to type something up! I have used Google Docs many times, and have never had any problems with it. Check it out, I hope you find it as useful as I do!

Post for 4/5

I'm sure by now most of us have heard about the first-grade teacher from Paterson who called her students "future criminals," on her Facebook page  (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/04/paterson_first-grade_teacher_s.html). Although I have heard the story a couple of times now, I am still in shock. I am in shock that a teacher of young students said these awful comments, and I am also in shock that a teacher (a very highly educated person in my opinion!) wrote these comments on her Facebook page! We all know that social networking websites are not 100% private, and I really just don't know what this teacher was thinking!

Blog Post for 3/25: Video

Hi everyone, I really enjoyed some of the videos I have seen so far on the blogs, great job! For my video, I had originally planned to take one of myself in my classroom using my Blackberry. Currently, I am having major technical difficulties with it, but I hope I can figure it out soon. My Blackberry keeps telling me I need to insert a memory card in order to take a video, but I already have a memory card in it! If anybody is savvy about Blackberrys please let me know if I am doing something wrong!

Hope I can get the video up and running! Wish me Luck!

Virtual Field Trip: Verona, Italy

Before this class, I had never heard of "virtual field trips," and was interested to see how they could be incorporated into my own lesson plans. After exploring a few of the links on blackboard, I was amazed at all the different choices and options there are! I think virtual field trips can be incorporated into many different subject matters, and I am sure the students will love them!

The virtual field trip that I explored in detail was the city of Verona (the setting of Romeo and Juliet) on the website AROUNDER (arounder.com). According to their website, "AROUNDER gives travelers a vivid sense of what a city has to offer: historical cathedrals and works of art, museums featuring famous artists, local cafes and stores, breathtaking mountain-top views, quiet parks and gardens. Each issue contains a series of interesting panoramas giving you a full immersive view of the cities. Navigation is easy with Google maps of the city and surrounding area. Every issue also links to local merchants with virtual tours of hotels, restaurants, spas and stores." I think this field trip could be used for both elementary and high school level lesson plans.

On this field trip of Verona ( http://verona.arounder.com/) you are able to explore many of the main attractions Verona has to offer. They include: The Cathederal of Verona, the Arena di Verona, and the location of Juliet's (from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet) courtyard as well as the interior of her house! I loved this field trip and was amazed at how real it seemed. One of the reasons I choose this field trip to explore, was mainly due to the fact that I always disliked learning about History in school, and thought this could be a new way to help students learn interesting facts without being lectured and taking notes. I also think this could be incorporated into a lesson plan about Shakespeare's Romes and Juliet. It would be great to able to provide a visual aide for the students to make the story more relatable!

Assignment 2: NJ Report Card Comparison (Updated)

On my original post for this assignment, I accidentially compared two elementary schools instead of two high schools! I figured I would keep the two schools I orginally compared (Englewood and Tenafly), and compare the high school report cards for these schools as well.

Dwight Morrow High School is the public high school located in Englewood. There school day runs a little over state average, reporting a 7 hour and 45 minute school day.  In comparison, Tenafly High school reported a 7 hour school day. Although there were many similiarities while comparing the elementary schools in these towns, there high schools had some differences. For example, the enrollment in Engelwood is 1,034 students, while the enrollment in Tenafly is 1,237 students.

Unlike the elementary school report cards, where Englewood had a much greater number of computers in the school, the high school report was the opposite. Tenafly reported having 657 computers in it's school, while Englewood only reported having 425 computers. It was interesting to see how much two school in the same district can be so different!

*Original Post*
The two schools I compared  for this assignment are both located in Bergen County, NJ. The two school's report cards I looked at were the Walter Stillman Elementary School in Tenafly, and the Dr. J Grieco Elementary School located in Englewood. I am currently working at Catholic school in Englewood, so I was curious to see the statistics for the public elementary school. Tenafly is the neighboring town, and I figured it would be interesting to compare the two schools.

The two schools have many similarities including: almost the same length of school day (Tenafly- 6 hr.45 min., and Englewood-6 hr. 30 min.), aveage class sizes (around 20 students), and overall similiar school enrollment (Tenafly-401 students, and Englewood- 560 students).

One of the biggest differences I noticed while comparing the two school's report card, was the catergory labled "Internet Connectivity." This is catergory is defined as "numbers of instructional, multimedia-capable computers with a manufacture date after July 1, 2006 available for instruction at various locations and how many of those computers have a connection to the internet. Tenafly's report shows that they only have 17 computers with internet connections, while Englewood reports a very high number of computers with internet reporting 184 computers in their school. I was suprised to see such a big difference considering both school's similar enrollment and class sizes!

Introduction

Hi everyone, my name is Ashley and I am currently a preschool teacher at a Catholic school in northern New Jersey. I have been teaching for two years, and this is my second semester at St. Peter's. I am enrolled in the teaching certification program, which I hope to have completed by the end of this summer. After receiving my certification, I plan to continue to go to St. Peter's for my masters in teaching.

Although I teach young students, technology is incorporated into many areas of our curriculum. My students go to our school's computer lab twice a week, and love using the smartboard! Technology has helped me plan interactive lessons plans and create a cooperative learning environment.

This is my first online class I have taken, and the first time I have ever blogged!

Saturday's Class

First class for Computers in the Curriculum (GE555).