Inquiry Based Activities

Working on an inquiry based activity was good practice for me. I liked working on creating an assignment from top to bottom, and like including a website and thinking about what standards were relevant.
I think after working with a few assignment activities, the inquiry based activity was my favorite, and overall the most successful in term of classroom usage.

Webquests

Using WebQuests for the first time was a beneficial activity. I liked the structure of all of them, with the detailed instructions and tasks for teachers and students. In another class this week, I gave a presentation about authentic activities in Educational Psychology, and introduced the concept of WebQuests to the rest of my class. All the other students really liked the idea of "cookie-cutter" assignments they could change and use for their own benefit. They are great resources!

Activity to Evaluate Websites

The Evaluating Websites activity was very beneficial for me. I liked that it prompted us to think about where websites were coming from, who wrote them, if they were credible, or good to use. It reminds me of something the school has on display in the library. There is a skeleton of a centaur in a glass case. It looks really official and authentic, but as we all know, centuars aren't real. It basically serves the same purpose as this activity- to consider where information comes from and how that affects who reads or sees it.

Class Expectations

This semester I'm hoping to gain a better understanding of how to use different tools on the computer. I've never spend much time learning about all these things, so seeing them all in a classroom setting will be beneficial to me. I'm looking forward to learning something that I can actually use in my future classroom and communicate with students in a way they can understand.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. This will be a place for me to reflect on TPTE 486 coursework throughout the semester.