Amanda+Payne

toc My name is Amanda Payne. I am from Lee's Summit, Missouri. When I graduate from the teaching program at University of Kansas, I hope to teach fifth or sixth grade. I do not know exactly where I want to teach but I do know that for the first few years it would be interesting to get some experience in urban areas.

I did take one business technology class in high school, but, like most things I learned in high school, I forgot almost all of it. Technology is extremely important in today's classrooms. It is becoming an integral part in our society. It is essential for students to be technologically advanced in today's workforce.

Last semester I took a geography class. The teacher took attendance and made us come to class to watch him read off a power point on his computer. It was extremely boring and would have been just as effective if he would have given us the power point and let us sleep in an extra hour instead of going to class.

I don't necessarily have one technology that I want to learn. My goal for this class is to get a more broad sense of technology and how to integrate it into my lesson plans in order to make learning more fun and different for my students.

The best way to contact me is through email. My email address is alpayne@ku.edu.

Website Exemplars
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/famouspeople/standard/columbus/index.shtml#focus I arrived at this website by going to www.google.com and typed in "Christopher Columbus for Kids." I typed this in because I wanted fun interactive sites. I did not want a bunch of adult sites to show up. It can be easily accessed by going to www.bbc.co.uk/schools/famouspeople/ and then clicking on Chirstopher Columbus. This site is also listed on www.4teachers.com. This site was developed for children ages five to seven so it is a good website. It is interactive in that kids can choose the learn icon and follow the story of Christopher Columbus' life. It has relevant pictures and uses simple sentences so that they are easy for young children to read. When the children are done reading about Columbus they can click on the quiz icon and take a short quiz about what they have read. This is a corporate website. It is run by BBC, so it is up to date and accurate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus This is not a very good website to use for elementary age children because it is too wordy. The reading on this site is far to advanced for younger children. There are some pictures but not enough to keep the child engaged. It is also wikipedia so there is no guarantee that the information we are giving them is completely accurate and written by trustworthy sources. This site may be fine for high school students but definately not for younger students. I arrived at this site by going to www.google.com and typing in "Christopher Columbus." It brought up a lot of sites for museums and Columbus Day when my intent was to find information that children could use for research. I should have narrowed down the search in order to get a more valid site.

Comments on Peer Web Exemplars
What make a good website: 1. There should be consisten formating through the entire site. 2. The topic should be clear and the site should be easy to read. 3. There should be relevant pictures that increase understanding of the subject, not distract from it.

Comments on Becky's web site: Bad: I agree that this website is not kid friendly. 1. The heading is above the advertisements which makes it look like they are actual links about Christopher Columbus. When you click on the first one a dating site comes up with a half naked lady. This is not good. 2. There are no pictures on this site and it is way too wordy. 3. There is not much information on this website.

Good: This website is okay for older children but it is too wordy for younger children.

1. There are not many pictures to keep the student interested. 2. This site requires a lot of scrolling and does not have a menu at the top. 3. There are a few flashy advertisements that could be distracting to learning.

PowerPoint
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