Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Course Reflection on Blog















I enjoyed this course. I liked creating and maintaining my own blog. I am now really comfortable with using blogs and appreciate how they facilitate interaction and discussion. I can really see how blogs could become more and more popular within the classrooms. I love the idea that students can respond at their own pace, which allows for a more realistic reflection of the content. I also found that using my blog helped me to stay on task with my readings and made me feel comfortable with responding. I could see how using blogs could encourage shy students to participate, although I do not have that particular problem. Posting my reflections on my blog and responding to everyone else along with the class discussions really helped to tie everything together.

I really learned a lot in this class including how to incorporate the technology I learned within my classroom.

Adrienne

Software Evaluation #3

Software Evaluation # 3
Riverdeep Destination Success LMS 3 Version Software
By Adrienne Padilla


Title of Software: Riverdeep Destination Success LMS 3 Version Software

Producer: 1999-2005 Riverdeep Interactive Learning Limited, and its licensors

Target students (e.g., age or grade-level of students): Language Arts K-3rd and Math K-12th grade. The software can adjust to all grade levels. It all depends on the teacher assigning the work.

Proficiency level (e.g., beginning, intermediate, advanced): beginning-intermediate –advanced depends on what the teacher assigns

Description:
Students will improve their math and reading skills by working on this software. They will interact with the software and complete tasks assigned by the teacher. All interactive activities are correlated with the Language Arts and Math elementary standards. The software is accessible through the internet for at-school and at-home practice. The students have access to both Spanish and English versions of the software. The software focuses on all Language Arts and Math TEKS with examples and practice problems. The software has pictures and interactive activities that help the learner to better understand the concept and/or vocabulary. The software also gives the learner the option to use audio and hear the text read along with the vocabulary word and or math problem or activity. The students are able to type in their answers or click to the correct one. They are given instant feedback and guided through a re-teach if they are having a hard time understanding the concept or material. The teacher can assign activities and/or tests.


















Language skills targeted: In Math the software covers addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, problem-solving, geometry, statistics, fractions, decimals, number sense, measurement, money, temperature and time. In Language Arts the main focus is on emergent literacy and phonemic awareness, building fluency and comprehension.

Evaluation:
The program’s weakness is that the practice is limited, so after the student completes the lesson there is not much else. This is a problem in case the child needs additional help. Another weakness is that since the software is internet based sometimes problems arise when the network is not running well in the school. The software’s strengths are that it provides visuals and it also provides an audio so they can hear how the words should be pronounced and see examples about how a problem should be worked. I also like that they have the exact same thing in Spanish, so Spanish speakers could start of on the Spanish software and then move on to the English as they gain confidence. I also like the language arts section because they offer the emergent reader section that would help an emergent English reader (an ELL student). I also think that this program offers help to ELL’s because it offers the support of the visuals and audios. I do use it in my classroom because of the audio and visual support.