Google Earth

Today I downloaded the Google Earth application and I was astounded at this program. I think Google Earth is a very useful internet tool that can be used for Social Studies, Science and Geography. The program allows the user to navigate zoom in to view any area of the world. As a user explores a region there are links provided that show images of the area explored.
As I tinkered with the program I was able to explore the globe. My first stop was Guam. At first I used the cursor to find Guam, but then I saw an option on the sidebar that said “fly to,” so I typed in Guam. What happened was the program took me to my location and provided all the villages for me to explore. As I explored the village of Dededo, I was able to locate my school and my home. As I was doing this, I thought about how great this program would be if I incorporated it into my Social Studies lessons, since my students are currently learning about Geography. I think by exploiting this program to students they can graphically see how the island is mapped out as well as compare the landforms of Guam to other areas of the world.
For Science lessons, Google Earth would be a useful tool for teaching about the weather, animals and ocean and marine wildlife. In the program, users can view the different temperatures around the world. Users can also see cloud patterns as well monitor the development of storms. For lessons on oceans or marine wildlife there are many links provided by the World Wildlife Foundation that give tidbits of information about protecting the animals around the world the World Wildlife Foundation also allows provides links for users to find out more about an endangered species and how we can help them. You can see different areas of which endangered species live. However, the information is not only limited to being viewed as text, but also video as well. There are numerous educational videos provided by Http://www.youtube.com that can be found while exploring Google Earth.
I think this is a program that should be incorporated into the classroom more, however because our public schools lack decent internet speed, it may be difficult to use this program in the classroom. Once a user explores this program they may see that it has so much to offer. I recommend anyone to give this program a try as it is easy to use and full of information about different areas around the globe. It is free to download and can be found at this site http://earth.google.com/.

RCampus

The website Http://www.rcampus.com is an educational online management system website many of us used for our Course Management System assignment. I found this website to be very interesting because it allowed us to create an online classroom and upload assignments for our students. After using the site I learned that it can be very useful in the middle and high school levels as I know a few teachers who actually use an online management system for their classroom. In the elementary level, I believe that it would be better for a teacher use this website with parents, since an online management system may be too complex for younger children.
What I like about this website is that it allows me to create my own classrooms online and upload assignments for my students to download. I think that in the elementary level this website would be a good way to help with more parental involvement as parents can preview and download each assignment provided for the class and with each assignment, a teacher has the option of allowing the student or parent to submit assignments online.
Another interesting feature from Rcampus is the ePortfolios that can be created by students, educators and administrators. I explored the options to making my own ePortfolio on the site and learned that I can post my current classes as well as courses that I had taught previously. The ePortfolios also allow the user to add friends and colleagues to view your ePortfolio. There is a place on the ePortfolio that the user can post discussions about whatever they want to share on their ePortoflio. What I enjoyed about the ePortfolio was that the tutorial was very user friendly and gave visual examples for helping the user build an ePortfolio.
After using Rcampus I have come to the conclusion that it may be very effective for middle and high school levels as students at that age are more computer literate and more active users of the internet. In the elementary levels I would use this site to help get my parents more involved with their child’s education as I can post perhaps family activities or projects or make-up assignments. With the development of an ePortolio students, parents, peers and administrators can view what I am currently doing and what I have previously done in my classroom. The site is easy to use and comes with user friendly tutorials, it’s free and all you have to do is sign up!

Teachertube

I found http://www.teachertube.com to be an excellent online resource tool for teachers. There are interesting and informative videos a teacher can find helpful on the site such as songs, audio clips, or modeling videos. Users can also download Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point files and Adobe format files as well. What makes the site invaluable is that users can share their media clips with anyone who uses the site.

Teachertube’s library contains thousands of video files to view, I searched for videos on place value, since it is a lesson covered in the current math unit I am teaching and found a couple of interesting videos. One video showed a 4^th grader rapping about how to separate the numbers chunking by ones, tens and hundreds all the way to the hundred billions. Another video I viewed for teaching place value led me to a clip that showed how to recognize numbers in standard, word and expanded form. Many of the clips I viewed allowed me to reflect on what activities I can use for my lessons. By watching just a few clips I now feel that I would like to incorporate more song into my lessons and this site provides me with the resources.

Not only does Teachertube have video content, but it also has many files for download in Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point files and Adobe format. I downloaded a couple of files to view. One file I downloaded informed readers about the severity of the H1N1 Virus. The document informs the reader about what the H1N1 virus is and how to recognized symptoms, how the virus is spread and how to prevent oneself from getting sick. Another file I downloaded was a Power Point presentation on how to incorporate literacy into the mathematics classroom.

What makes this site invaluable is that users can upload and download files for free. Downloading videos makes it easier for teachers to prepare for lessons because some schools may lack the internet speed to view the videos featured on Teachertube. Once I save up enough for a projector, I plan on using many of the videos as part of my lessons. I believe that the videos and files provided on Teachertube can help make learning fun in the classroom.