James+Ralston

__**INTRODUCTION**__**:** Hi! My name is Jim Ralston the picture above is me and my daughter Tiffany. She is hopefully graduating from the UC Nursing School this June. She recently returned from a trip to Equador with the UC Nursing Program. My wife works at the downtown US Post Office. I am in the Master's Program Curriculum and Instruction. My undergraduate is from the University of Oklahoma, and I have a Master's from the University of Arkansas. I am currently teaching as an intern at Garfield Middle School in Hamilton, Ohio. I retired from the Air Force. I have travelled and lived in many countries around the world, as well as travelled and worked in many of our 50 states. This experience has given me a deep understanding of how different cultures in other countries, as well as different cultures in our own country are similar in some ways, but also very different. These experiences have made me more tolerant and gives me valuable insight into world and national events. I prefer to be called Jim. My hobby is watching as many movies at the theater as I can. Mostly I enjoy eating the junk food at the movie theater.

__**HOPE FOR THIS CLASS**__**:** That I will be able to learn technology tools that make me a more effective and successful teacher in school. I also want to hear about experiences my fellow classmates have had in the local schools.

I have no real fears of this class. I am however lazy by nature and it takes me time to get started. I fear that a teaching degree in the current job environment will not lead to an actual teaching position. However, I guess that has nothing to do with this class.
 * __FEAR OF THIS CLASS__:**

__**EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY MEANS TO ME:**__ I choose this picture because from my experience, children are very involved in computer games, but this has not translated into being a useful tool for their education. I believe that parents are the primary influence on how children use technology, not teachers. If parents do not monitor technology, including what games and how much time their children spend on the computer, their children will not benefit from the current technology. I use technology in the classroom, and I do find this is useful, but I feel failure of parents to monitor how much time their children use this as an educational tool is the reason that children are doing so poorly in our public schools. I hope I can help children learn how to use technology in a positive way that will improve their education and make their life more interesting.

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 * EDUCATIONAL BLOG**

I found this blog by going to Google Blog Search and typing science lesson plans in the search area. I found that this blog is good because it gives me access to thousands of science lesson plans, as well as other content areas that I can adapt to my own use. It has allot of free resources to build your own curriculum. You can download audio, video, worksheets, and other teaching materials. Curriki is an open education resource movement that has inputs from educators from around the world. Educators can mix, modify, and share lesson plans.

A blog is a forum for people to share ideas and material for others to review, comment, and share similar ideas or content. People blog for the same reason people network. You can obtain more information because you are using other people to help you do research. I don't blog, or use blogs until today. I don't like reading blogs because I don't know these people personally and I am a private person.

I found this blog by going to Google Blog Search and typing science lesson plans in the search area. I found that this blog is good because it gives me access to thousands of science lesson plans, as well as other content areas that I can adapt to my own use. It has allot of free resources to build your own curriculum. You can download audio, video, worksheets, and other teaching materials. Curriki is an open education resource movement that has inputs from educators from around the world. Educators can mix, modify, and share lesson plans. I posted on this blog but it felt wierd since thousands of people I don't know can see what I wrote and comment.

I just creaed my own blog, but have not done anything much with it yet. I decided to get comments from outside about interactive white boards since that is what my on-line textbook is about. []