Week One: Technology in the Classroom

      In this first week of class I have learned so much about technology that can be used in the classroom. Technology such as wiki's, podcast, and eBooks. all great resources that can be used to enhance students learning. I am not a Teacher yet, but after researching these different types of technology I realized that there are two sources that I would use immediately in the classroom. Those two resources are Tumblebooks and a classroom web page. For those of you who don't know what Tumblebooks is it is a website available for teachers and schools to use on their computers systems. It is a site that has numerous ebooks for students to listen to and follow along with. If a teacher has students whose reading levels are low Tumblebooks is an excellent source for them.
     In my future classroom some of the ways I would implement these two resources would be to have my web page set up from day one where students would receive their username and password for access to their grades, also I would allow parents access to their child's grades and progress through out the year. The web page would also have weekly schedules, project outlines, and classroom notes available. The webpage would also be very easy to navigate through for anyone that might not familiar with the internet.
        The other resources I would use is Tumblebooks this resource is for all ages, it allows teachers to monitor students progress in reading. Tumblebooks allows teachers to create lesson plans, quizzes, and projects all on the site. In the classroom I would allow students to get on the computer daily for their literature/ reading time to read and listen to books, once they have finished a book a quiz would be available to take over the book so that I knew they read the book and understood it.
      Some challenges that I might face would be keeping the website updated as many teachers I'm sure know  there is a lot to keep up with and a website is something that takes dedication. With the one I would have I would want my students to be involved with the website, help keep it maintained through out the year and help me keep it creative. Another challenge I might face with the Tumblebooks site is students not wanting to stay focused while listening to the books, or they become bored with them, though with the quizzes they might take them more serious than just reading.