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Welcome to my Electronic Portfolio!
Hello! My name is Latrice and
I am a senior at the University of Michigan-Deaborn. In December
2002, I will graduate in the field of elementary education with a major
in early childhood and two minors, one in science and the other in language
arts. Currently, I am doing my student teaching in 2nd grade at Thorne
Primary School, which is located in the Westwood School District in Dearborn
Heights. I am excited about having an opportunity to participate
in the MITTEN (Michigan Teachers' Technology Education Network) project.
I am confident that this experience will enhance the beginning of my new
career as well as help prepare me for a rapidly growing, technology
filled, society.
Thorne Primary School
Thorne Primary School is part of the Westwood
School District located in South Dearborn Heights. Although the school
enrolls many children who lives in Inkster and South Dearborn Heights,
it is a school of choice that also accepts children from other surrounding
districts in the area. The children who attend are from diverse ethnic
backgrounds and most of the families are from low to middle class social
economic backgrounds. The children come to school various learning
experiences with technology. Some of the children have personal computers
in the home and others have no resources at all.
Technology at Thorne Primary
Based on an interview with the computer
specialist at Thorne school as well as observations in some of the classrooms,
I would estimate that students spend approximately 40 minutes per week
using technology in school (25 minutes in the media lab and 15 minutes
in the classroom). In the media center, the students explore various
educational software and internet sites. Sometimes they use additional
time doing a library search. In the classroom, the students participate
in the Scholastic's Reading Counts Program, which they read a book and
independently take a comprehension examination on the classroom computer.
Overall, the students get some experience with technology however, there
is not a lot of integration with the curriculum.
For my unit, I plan to integrate technology
by creating multidisciplinary lessons that align the school curriculum
with Michigan Content Standards and Benchmarks as well as the National
Educational Technology Standards.
Technology equipment at Thorne Primary
Before planning my unit,
I wanted to investigate the resources available for me to use. During
my investigation, I found some valuable equipment which was useful
in helping me plan a variety of lessons. There is a computer lab
with a teaching screen and 32 stations of Gateway PC's all connected to
the internet. There is one laser printer and one inkjet printer.
There is a multimedia cart that can be transferred for classroom usage.
Large amounts of educational software, such as Kidpix, Kidspriration, and
Hyperstudio are available as well as 2 digital cameras. Our classroom
also has two computers and one printer. These findings were documented
on the Interactive School Technology and Readiness (STaR)
chart webpage. |
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