Amy+Gress

1201109439

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=Biography=
 * Year in School: Junior
 * Major: Secondary Mathematics Education
 * Grade Level: somewhere between 7th and 10th
 * Future School Placement: Not sure (hopefully, somewhere around Lawrence)
 * Prefered Contact Method is Email: gressaf@ku.edu
 * Level of Experience with Technology: Moderate
 * I think that technology is vital for the classroom today because there is so much information out there that it will be beneficial to your students if you are able to use it. As I want to become a math teacher, I have already found that there are tons of sites that have information and projects that can engage the students in math and hopefully make sure they are having fun.
 * I think that the worst thing that can happen in any classroom with the use of technology is when professors do not know how to work something and you waste half the class trying to figure out how it works.
 * One technology that I would like to learn more about is i-Movies because I think that it would be a good thing to know about and there is a good possibility that it will come in handy during my teaching career.

=Assignments=

Web Exemplars
Good: [|www.columbusnavigation.com] I think that the Columbus Navigation Homepage is a great website. I like that the first screen is basically a table of contents with links to other pages that are specific about aspects of Columbus’ life. I feel that the website is designed well and that my students would be able to navigate the website well. I liked that the homepage was not cluttered and gave enough information to show what the link would lead to. I also liked that there was a link in which I could send messages to the author of the page. Overall, I enjoyed this website and believe that it is well organized and would be a good website to use with my students to do a project on Columbus.

Bad: [|www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/c/columbus/shtml] I think that the Enchanted Learning website is a jumbled mess of information. I found that there were a lot of ads and too many ways of finding the information that you want in the website. As for content, the webpage is very light on information about Columbus but has a lot of links to different projects that involve Columbus. Overall, I found that the website was cluttered and disorganized. I do not think that it would be easy, or engaging, for my students to use this website. I could use some of the links to projects that could be done on Columbus Day but other than that it would not be a good website to use.

I used Google to search for Christopher Columbus. I found the good website by using his full name along with other really good websites. When I used 'explorer Columbus' to search, I found some of the worst websited about Columbus. I think that using his full name helped to better websites about him because it is more specific.

1-25-08 -- Web Exemplars -- Talk Page
After exploring the websites of my classmates, I have to say that the most important criteria for selecting a website for instructional use seem to be the quality and quantity of information, the overall design of the site, and the credibility of the site and its author.

After looking at Stephanie's websites, I would have to say that I agree with her selections. I myself thought that her bad website, the Enchanted Learning website, had an overall bad design, did not seem to have much information, and found that there was no author listed anywhere on the website. Under the overall design, some of the things that came up were the amount of ad space, the navagation of the website, and that the graphics lacked descriptions. Now, I had also looked at her good website, the Famous People site on the BBC website, but I thought that it would work better for younger students but that it was a good website, nonetheless. She found that the overall website design was great, that the information was credible, and that it was easy to navigate. I agree with her on that the website was interactive and would be great for middle school kids.

Brochure for the Wiki
[|AmyGressWikiBrochure.doc]

Good Wiki Policy
[|AmyGressWikiPolicy.doc]

Bad Wiki Policy
[|AmyGressBadWiki.doc]

Standards Assignment
[|AmyGressStandardsAssignment.doc]

Wiki Site Map
[|AmyGressSiteMap.isf]



3-5-08 – Site Design – Amy Gress
When designing the layout of an instructional website that will be used by students, the most important things to consider are easy navigation and simplicity. The links need to be clear and concise and not difficult to understand or negotiate through. If you make the links and such too hard to navigate, then it is probable that you will confuse and frustrate the students, your audience. 1) Make your link names short and they should be able to let the user know what they will find under that link. 2) You should not have too many links because that may confuse the user as to which link they need to pick to get the right information. 3) Also, you should not make it too fancy; too many pictures and too many different fonts may confuse and/or distract the user. 4) It also seems to be a good rule of thumb to have a place for parents to look to see what there child has been up to and ask questions. Morgan’s site design was well planned with short, concise names and the levels of the site were well distinguished by different shapes. I thought that she could have distinguished the levels by colors as well to make it even easier to distinguish. But overall, I thought that the site was well designed and clearly stated where everything could be found.

3-7-08 – Site Design – Amy Gress
I believe that Pynchon’s article is about the development and evolution of the term Luddite and how it has evolved with today’s society. I felt that giving the history of the term was an excellent way of introducing the concept of Luddite but then the examples of cultural history helped to tie everything together. The use of the two books entitled //Frankenstein// and //The Castle of Otranto// were used to show how the voice of the Luddites did not change to much time and gave a good background of where the Luddites got their inspiration. I found that although the Luddites of today’s society may not be against the use of computers and technology, they still have their doubts about technology, especially the nuclear kind. As stated above, I think that this was simply an article about the history of the term Luddite. If I were to use this piece in my high school classroom, I think that I would have the students read this article aloud in class so that they would be able to discuss it in greater detail and be able to, hopefully, understand it better. I would also employ the use of a graphic organizer that would highlight the important themes and topics that the students need to be aware of. I would also make sure to keep the organizer’s information in a sequential order to further help to students to understand the topic at hand.

My Wiki Site
http://gressalgebrapage.wikispaces.com/ I do not have a partner.

4-4-08 -- Universal Design -- Amy Gress
Name: Flashlights Problem: You never know when your flashlight is going to run out of batteries. So you always have to carry around an extra pair of batteries or regret it when your flashlight dies. Modification: A light on the side of the flashlight that begins to flash when the battery is low on battery. That way you can either recharge the battery right then or can know that you need to carry extra batteries with you if you plan to use it soon. Universal Design: Everyone will know when it is time to change their batteries in their flashlights, which will prevent the user from not being able to use their flashlight when they need it because their battery died. It will make the use of flashlights more enjoyable and user-friendly.

4-30-08 -- Course & Wiki -- Amy Gress
My favorite aspect of this course was creating our own wikis. I think that they are something that I would actually be able to use in my classroom as an instructional aid. I, also, found that learning the different technologies was very beneficial as well. Some of the technologies that we worked with I had never used before so it was nice to learn something that I could potentially use in my classroom that I did not already know about. Overall, I found this course to be very informative and useful because everything that we learned about and worked with could be used effectively in my classroom.