Week 4: UEN

What?

This week in class, we learned all about UEN and all it has to offer. There is a lot to learn about everything UEN has! It has some similar benefits and tools as Google Docs, but is much more complicated, along with many more resources for teachers, students, and parents. I'm still trying to decide which one I prefer. UEN has wonderful benefits and different kinds of support for teachers, students, and parents, but Google Docs is simpler to figure out and manage, while still providing very beneficial tools for the classroom. We are also exploring the Pioneer Library, which is included in the UEN website. It includes useful things such as eMedia, CultureGrams, SIRS, encyclopedia, news, and other resources.

So What?

Teachers can have so many tools and resources right at their fingertips if they are familiar with how to use UEN. What a time and energy saver when you can understand everything that it has! Teachers can get ideas for lesson plans, find new ways of teaching students through activities and higher order thinking, and can learn about workshops and other helpful teacher improvement tools. This would help me feel more connected and like I didn't have to struggle through everything without help. It can really help us stay in the education loop, including news and events, new resources and helpful sites, fun teaching ideas, useful technology, and how to help our students and their parents get the most out of their educational journey as possible. What a wonderful time to be in the field of education- there are so many tools to help us be the best for our students!

Now What?

As a teacher, I plan on utilizing the tools that UEN has. I was particularly excited about the lesson plans, but there were none listed under World Languages. This means that maybe I can have something to contribute. I'd like to figure out how to submit lesson plans to the UEN website, and try to get a really good ASL lesson plan up on the website. I enjoyed looking at the different Interactives, Tours, and other activities that it had for students, and would love to incorporate some of those into my lessons. I will make sure I let my students and their parents know about some of the things on UEN that they can benefit from, including seeing the curriculum and having the student and parent sites, tools, and resources available. There are some great things on there that can help parents and students at home, which would also make the classroom experience more beneficial.

Video: Did You Know?

This was a very interesting and even shocking video about the shifting that is taking place in our world. It mentioned that we are living in exponential times, which is so true. With all of the advancements in technology, who knows where we'll be years from now. It's amazing to think of the tools my kids will have in college, that I would never even think of having now. Children are learning how to use computers and other technology from a shockingly early age, and it's easy to see that their brains are conditioned to work with technology, unlike my parents or grandparents. Information is so accessible now. It's hard to think what we would do without it! It allows us to learn so much more, be more informed and aware of the world around us, stay more connected with people all over the world, buy and sell, meet and socialize with people, and be more efficient with our work and time. More and more degrees are being added in Universities and the clip also mentioned the estimation that people will have 10-14 jobs by their 38th birthday. We have so many opportunities in these amazing times!

Technology is so powerful and will really help us get further than we ever thought possible. As teachers, we absolutely can not underestimate the power of using it in our classrooms. We'll have to constantly stay on top of the latest things and work hard to keep informed on the newest and greatest things that will help our students (and us) be even more successful.