Thing 5A

I think that we need to be more aware of kids in the school system who have food allergies. My own three children have food allergies, and as a parent it can make you very nervous while you child is away at school. Lynda Mitchell who is the president of the Kids with Food Allergies has a great blog that can help you stay updated about the food allergies. It can be very overwhelming just trying to go to the grocery store and buy something that you usually don't buy.
As educators we need to be very aware that a student can come into our classroom and have either severe food allergies or be allergic to a wasp or bee sting. At least I know what to expect and what to look for, but there are so many out there who don't know anything about allergies. All it takes is a child getting one small bite of something that they are not supposed to have and it could lead to a severe allergic reaction or death. I think that it would be a good idea for everyone who works in the school system to be prepared and be educated on food allergies.

Thing 3

http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/21300

Like Zemanta said in his article I also think that we sometimes rely too much on technology today. He gave a perfect example of what can happen if you depend on all the little gadgets. I know that they are supposed to make things easier for you and in some ways they have. But at the same time it is a good idea to have a back up plan no matter what you are doing or where you are going.

Thing 2

I really liked how in Mark Edtech's blog he was talking about how he was having a hard time getting his students to "sit down and cuddle up and read". Of course when you put any child in front of a computer they are going to want to tackle the task at hand, no matter what subject it is. The Duck with a Blog was a very cute one. It was very interesting reading the childrens comments about the Duck. I like how they said that she was going to Macy's to shop. I think that with students being able to read blogs, and then do their own blogging it will give them examples of what they need to do, and how to do it. And after they have posted a blog and received comments on it, that will give them immediate feedback on their thought process. I also liked what Morgante Pell had to say about teaching brevity, it is very hard to say everything you need to in such few words. That is the way I feel right now.

Thing 1B

Web 2.0 has changed so many things in the school systems today. It is amazing how a student can do a report in half the time that it took twenty years ago. The days of going to the library and spending hours of looking through encyclopedias is now gone. You can just get on your computer and you have everything that you need at your fingertips to complete any report, or research for your project. All the tools that you need is on the computer. Also, the communication between parents and teachers can be made easier with them just emailing each other. It can be a great asset to everyone, teachers and students alike, but it can also be a problem.
With the way the economy is today, there are so many people who do not have a computer, or internet access at their home. But at least for those who do not have access at home, those kids do get to have the chance to explore all the different things on the computer while they are at school. They have that opportunity while they are in computer lab, and a lot of teachers offer computer time in their classroom. Web 2.0 is a great thing to use in the classroom for our students. Last year we had a couple of special ed children who really loved getting on the computer. If the lesson that the other students were working on was too difficult for them, they could get on the computer and work on a modified lesson and they enjoyed it a lot more.
While working with the kindergarten students we can incorporate many lessons on the computer. They really like being able to do work on the computer. To them, they are just playing a game and having fun, but they are really learning while they're doing it. I would like to be able to utilize Web 2.0 more in the classroom because the children need to learn as much as they can as early as possible. The sooner they start learning it the better.

Thing 1A

My name is Chanda and I am a kindergarten parapro at YES. I've been at YES for 4 years now. I started out working as a Title 1 parapro, and then became a kindergarten parapro. Each year has been a learning experience for me, and I am hoping to be able to learn something from this class that will help me work better with some of our students. I wanted to take this class so that I could become more familiar with exploring the web, and doing things in the classroom that could help out.