Ashley+Lark



===I am Ashley Lark, a senior Elementary Education major at Clemson University. I am from Pickens, SC, and I have one older sister and two wonderful parents. I am engaged and will be getting married next May after graduation. After the wedding, I will move to North Carolina and hopefully find a teaching job. I am passionate about being a teacher and I cannot wait to lead my own classroom and my own group of students one day.===

===I think my relationship with technology is a good one. I understand all the technology that I've been in contact with and I can normally adapt quickly to new types of technology. I use technology on a daily basis with my cell phone, my computer, and the internet. There are countless other ways that I use technology of a frequent basis, as well. I cannot imagine what our world would be like without technology because it is now such an integral part of our lives.===

===There is a SMART Board in the classroom that I am in this semester at Hunt Meadows Elementary. From what I saw when I visited my classroom last week, my teacher uses her interactive white board frequently during the course of the day. There is only one computer available to the students in the classroom. I am not sure yet if there are more computers available to them in the school's library and/or computer labs.===

===Edutopia seems like a valuable site for educators for many different reasons. One aspect of the site that I really liked was the section containing different core concepts. Within this section, there were subsections for teacher development, integrating technology, project-based learning, and many more areas that I saw as being great assets for teachers.===


 * __ Math Extension Idea __**


 * https://www.everydaymathonline.com/free_resources_main.html?frnologin=1&PHPSESSID=086e44f0a41c2c7976# **

I am not in a classroom that teaches math, but I did go into the math teacher's classroom to teach a math lesson to my 4th graders. I am not completely aware of what they are covering every day, but I have seen evidence in students' work that they have been doing lattice multiplication. I found this online resource that shows students how to do lattice multiplication. There is audio of someone talking them through the process, as well as visual of the lattice multiplication. You can choose how many digits you want to multiply. I think this resource would be a great addition to a lesson on lattice multiplication. I won't be able to implement this in the classroom, but I think students would really benefit from this resource if they were having trouble with this concept.


 * __Science and Technology Instruction Information__ **

I thoroughly enjoyed the hands-on science and technology workshop. My eyes were really opened to all the doors technology can open in science instruction. Even the creative PowerPoint the ladies used was engaging and beneficial to the instruction. We have been learning in all of our methods courses about the importance of using technology in every subject area to enhance instruction. The technology the ladies used to enhance their science lesson were simple yet really effective. I liked how they had one student in each group record what the group did with a Flipcam. Then another student was supposed to take pictures of what the group was doing, which gave another angle to technology incorporation. In the end, the groups could create interesting presentations of their projects because of the pictures and videos they gathered during the activity. I am really glad I got to be a part of this lesson because it gave me new, fresh ideas to use in my future classroom. I will really strive to use hands-on activities as much as possible and I will also strive to incorporate technology into my instruction wherever applicable.

Helpful Web Resources:
 * Smithsonian Education**

[] There is so much great information on this site that would be so helpful in the classroom. There are tons of resources for students, educators, and families. For educators, there are many lesson plans and other resources to aid in planning for instruction. This site contains many activities, games, and instructional information for students that would really reinforce what they were learning in the classroom. I would most definitely use this site in my classroom in the future. **TeacherVision: Lesson Plans, Printables, and More** [] This site is a great resource for teachers. There are hundreds of lesson plans that would be so helpful to classroom teachers. The site is really easy to navigate. You can search for lesson plans and resources by grade level, theme, most popular, type of resource, and more. You can access all the resources this site has to offer by using a free trial, but if you become a member, you can receive even more benefits. All of the resources are easy to download for personal use. I will definitely visit this site in the future when I am planning for my own classroom instruction.