September 24, 2014 Blog 4

To whom ever it may concern,

We all may know that technology is taking over the way we educate our students. When children get the chance to use some sort of technology at school to help them learn it invites most students to want to do more. iPads are a good investment because there are hundreds of different ways that can help all types of students to learn from pre-school to college students. A reason that iPads are a good resource for learning is because many of the students may have access to them out of school which they could practice doing it at their own time. Using an iPad could help kids learn about the keyboard and make kids write more. Students would not have to keep getting up to sharpen their pencils, which distracts the teacher and students. When you make a mistake the iPad can help you with it. When people have messy handwriting, their work looks neat and is easy to read on the iPad. The iPad in the classroom brings education to life. Children have endless access to valuable information such as a dictionary and thesaurus, which previously were only available in printed format. Interactive technology makes learning more engaging and memorable. Tools such as audio and video recorders can change the way that learning takes place and homework is completed. There are unlimited amounts of free resources that are out there to help students better their education. I am hoping that you find interest in this letter and hopefully this changes your mind in ordering iPads for the school! Below I have posted a video that just shows an example of how fun and exciting it can be for students to learn how to write and learn the alphabet. Hope you enjoy! 

                                                                   Caitlin Foley

September 17, 2014 Blog 3

1.  Parents are a child's first teacher.

I say this because a child's first teacher is not when they end up going to pre-k or a day care it is that parents are a child's first teacher from the time they take them home from the hospital. Parents are always teaching their kids the difference from right and wrong and teach them manners and how to go to the bathroom, how to wash their hands. I feel that it is always important to look back and remember or try to remember at least all of the lifestyles that your parents have taught you. 

2. Be accepting and treat everyone the same.

Growing up I have always been told to treat everyone the way I would like to be treated. Ever since I could remember my parents and teachers would say that over and over again. It is important to remember you don't always know what other people are going through at home and that a smile could cheer someone up without even realizing it! I always try my hardest to make sure that everyone I am around is happy!

3. Technology is the future.

Every day technology is improved in some way, shape, or form and I have been using technology from the time I was a little girl. Many parents will not allow their children to either play video games, or a game on their phone but the truth of the matter is by the time their children are in middle school or high school mostly everything will be used through technology. It is important for our future societies to get a better understanding and knowledge of some of the basic steps about technology. 

4. Never hold back and always ask questions.

I was always told ever since I was a little girl to always ask questions when I had any. Thinking back on this now, I couldn't agree more. There have been plenty of times when I was too scared to raise my hand and ask a question about a quiz or test so I would not. Today I realized that all of your questions can be answered if you just ask. Don't ever hold back from asking a question because there is an answer for almost everything!

5. Believe in yourself.

"Follow your dreams, believe in yourself and don't give up." - Rachel Corrie. Never doubt and always believe in yourself. Tough times will always happen but it is for ourselves and others to help us push through and stay positive and know that everything will get better. "Sometimes you've hit a low, stay hopeful. Sometimes your on top of the world, stay humble." This is the meaning of the lokai bracelet and I feel that it has a very powerful meaning.

September 12, 2014 Blog 2

Hello There!
       
       Ever since I was a little girl did I always dream to one day become a teacher like my Mom. My Mom has been a first grade teacher for over 33 years now and she still loves it every day. When I was little and old enough to hold a pen and write did I pretend that I was a teacher and I would act like I was teaching my students, who in all reality were my dolls. My Mom had given me one of her old lesson plan books and I would sit next to her and fill mine out just as she had been doing. Once I had gotten a little older and was about 14 or 15 years old did I start to help my Mom grade her papers. I would tell her everyday not to grade papers at school and to bring them home so that I could help her correct them. I had such fun in grading them and seeing how every student learns in different ways. I think that it is such a joy to teach kids how to learn because especially at the young age of 5 or 6 when you are in first grade does it make it so much better because you are actually teaching them to grow into the boy or girl they are. 
    
       When I graduated from Barnegat High School in 2011 I decided to go to Ocean County College for my Liberal Arts Degree then transfer to a 4 year school to get my bachelors degree in Elementary Education. Although it took me three years to graduate OCC because I was working full time as a waitress and babysitter. I was planning on going to Kean so I could take classes up in Toms River, but my Dad kept telling me to apply to Stockton. So finally I applied so he would stop asking and when I realized and wrote a pros and cons list between Stockton and Kean did I realize that Stockton was the better option. Although this is my only semester at Stockton I am really enjoying my time here. All of my professors are really nice and my classes are interesting. The only thing that I wish I could change would for myself to forget where I parked every night I have class then at 10 o clock at night I am not searching up and down every row of cars. So, I would have to say that my overall experience at Stockton is going very good and I am looking forward to what the next two years have to bring! 

                                                                  

September 3, 2014 Blog 1

Hello!

     So I was a little nervous coming into this class only because it is my first class at Stockton and I wasn't sure if I was even going in the right direction. I asked a couple people how to get to the D wing and finally made it early. Once I got to the classroom my nerves sort of went away. We learned a lot of information the first class and I wasn't sure if I was expecting to or not. We started out introducing ourselves. We talked about why we are taking this class and also about google. We made a gmail account through google so we were able to create our website and blog.
      
     I have never made a website from scratch before besides MySpace which was already made for you just you got to change everything around to the way you liked it. Now, of course it takes a lot to get used to where the buttons are to change certain options. Once we started playing around with it I started to get the hang of it. I am really excited for this class because I haven't taken a technology class since high school and in high school I was a freshman. So I am hoping to get refreshed and learn all about the newest technology savvy ways to be able to teach my students one day. We were also told that we are going to be able to blog almost every class and I really like that idea. I am really looking forward to this class and learning new things like starting off with creating my first website. Here is the link so check it out!
                                    My Website