As I come to the conclusion of my technology course I now have a better understanding of not only how to use technology, but also for the vital role it plays in the classroom especially with today's learners. Today's students are the first generation to be brought up from birth with the Internet and the level of technology we are at currently. It is what they know and know well! If we are not using what they are comfortable with in our teaching, I am not sure if they will be able to relate. It is important more now then ever that teachers embrace technology and incorporate it into our student's daily learning. It is the best way to reach the Net-Generation. If a teacher knows how to relate to the students and does it by using technology in the classroom it open a whole new realm of learning possibilities. There is so much that technology has to offer in the classroom that will engage students in their curriculum.
This class has taught me more than anything to not be afraid of technology. It pushed me to learn new things and to try new things that I don't know if I would have ever done on my own. I never knew that making a video with movie maker could be so easy. Now I have a whole new skill set that I could use in the classroom with students from making book reports into video's to filming group projects. I had also never used a Smart board and with a couple weeks of practice I was able to put together a lesson and learned that it's not to difficult to do and can take a lesson to a whole new level of student involvement. These are all skills that I would never have tried on my own that I can now take with me as I enter the classroom.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Electronic Portfolio Examples
http://www.techteachers.com/megportfolio.htm
I thought this example was a poor sample of a electronic portfolio. It was a lot of written examples about her and she showed her own picture everywhere. Some of the other examples I looked at they actaully showed students work from their class and made the appearance more interesting.
http://www.portfolio.rimestimes.net/
I thought this example of an electronic portfolio was very well done. It was very easy to navigate and he made it visually appealing with his graphics. I liked how he had pictures of students work throughout when he explained his lessons which gave you a good idea of how the students were responding to his lessons. It was a very well organzied presentation.
I thought this example was a poor sample of a electronic portfolio. It was a lot of written examples about her and she showed her own picture everywhere. Some of the other examples I looked at they actaully showed students work from their class and made the appearance more interesting.
http://www.portfolio.rimestimes.net/
I thought this example of an electronic portfolio was very well done. It was very easy to navigate and he made it visually appealing with his graphics. I liked how he had pictures of students work throughout when he explained his lessons which gave you a good idea of how the students were responding to his lessons. It was a very well organzied presentation.
Multimedia Presentations
I enjoyed watching the multimedia presentations from article notebook project. Everyone did a great job of putting together some form of electronic presentation that summarized the article of their choosing. I think by making the media presentation it gave us all a good way to learn what articles others may have read for their project and to give us some new ideas of who to use technology in the classroom.
I enjoyed Joe's play on the Tonight show and how he used humor to present his article. I really enjoyed the top ten list. I thought Paula did a great job of using the video and showing example on the computer of how to use technology in the language classroom. Her presentation gave some good ideas of how as a teacher we can incorporate cell phones and blogging into reading and writing lessons. Josh's song was very creative. You had a good understanding of using movies in the classroom from his song and it was very catchy. He did a great job writing. Julie Y did a nice job with the Glogster. I thought the video about how video games can be helpful in skills was really put together well with the Mario theme song and using the video game pictures in the background. Judy's presentation was cute with the animals and was a nice introduction to her article. It was very animated and she did a great job. I think every one's presentations were interesting and I learned some new things not only from their articles, but how everyone did their presentation a little differently.
I enjoyed Joe's play on the Tonight show and how he used humor to present his article. I really enjoyed the top ten list. I thought Paula did a great job of using the video and showing example on the computer of how to use technology in the language classroom. Her presentation gave some good ideas of how as a teacher we can incorporate cell phones and blogging into reading and writing lessons. Josh's song was very creative. You had a good understanding of using movies in the classroom from his song and it was very catchy. He did a great job writing. Julie Y did a nice job with the Glogster. I thought the video about how video games can be helpful in skills was really put together well with the Mario theme song and using the video game pictures in the background. Judy's presentation was cute with the animals and was a nice introduction to her article. It was very animated and she did a great job. I think every one's presentations were interesting and I learned some new things not only from their articles, but how everyone did their presentation a little differently.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Smartboards in the Classroom
My experience in class with using the Smartboard is my first encounter with using one. Learning about the features that it has to offer and putting together the lesson in multiple slides gave me a good understanding of how it works and what is involved with making lessons to incorporate the Smartboard in your classroom. After my couple weeks with using it, I think that it is a great technology key to in the classroom to keep students engaged in the lesson.
The different animated features and cool effects that are used in the Smartboard and just little things that can keep students attention during lessons. By using a Smartboard and adding some little effects to a lesson or topic that most students find dull can make a world of difference in their learning potential. Since it is based on using a computer it is something that students already know a lot about and can relate to. It is not hard to pick up. I felt semi comfortable with what I was doing on it after using it for only a week and actually practicing on it a few times so it is definitely something I could feel very comfortable using after a couple weeks of good practice.
I would love to have a Smartboard in my classroom. It would make lessons more interesting rather then showing them on power point which has very little in animation compared to a Smartboard. It would also make showing online videos easy to access and project to the class. There are probably more advantages then disadvantages to using a Smartboard in your classroom if you are willing to put in the time to design lesson on the software and to practice using it until you can teach a lesson without even having to think about it anymore. You can save lessons and add new slides or links to them each year. It is easy to add new content to a lesson that you may have already created. It is an attention getter and is interactive so students can have hands on learning by using the Smartboard during lessons. It also gets students out of their seat when they participate and makes learning fun.
The different animated features and cool effects that are used in the Smartboard and just little things that can keep students attention during lessons. By using a Smartboard and adding some little effects to a lesson or topic that most students find dull can make a world of difference in their learning potential. Since it is based on using a computer it is something that students already know a lot about and can relate to. It is not hard to pick up. I felt semi comfortable with what I was doing on it after using it for only a week and actually practicing on it a few times so it is definitely something I could feel very comfortable using after a couple weeks of good practice.
I would love to have a Smartboard in my classroom. It would make lessons more interesting rather then showing them on power point which has very little in animation compared to a Smartboard. It would also make showing online videos easy to access and project to the class. There are probably more advantages then disadvantages to using a Smartboard in your classroom if you are willing to put in the time to design lesson on the software and to practice using it until you can teach a lesson without even having to think about it anymore. You can save lessons and add new slides or links to them each year. It is easy to add new content to a lesson that you may have already created. It is an attention getter and is interactive so students can have hands on learning by using the Smartboard during lessons. It also gets students out of their seat when they participate and makes learning fun.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
PSA Video Project
I have successfully made my first video and posted it on Youtube! I am very proud of myself. I never would have thought that I would have been able make a video and have it posted online. To be honest I was actually really nervous about this project in the beginning. Editing a video on the computer sounded out of the realm of my technology knowledge and it scared me. Now that I have done it I have become obsessed with movie maker. In fact I just got done showing my Mom how it works and making a slide show from pictures from my sisters wedding in June, set it to music, and added animation to the slides all in about 5 minutes. She was quite impressed with my skills.
For our video project we started with recording out video at Grings Mill park. It took us a few takes to get everything we wanted to, but all in all it only took us about 45 minutes to record the shots that we needed. Then we downloaded our video to the computer. Since we had over 7 minutes of footage it was a large file and copied all into one chapter rather then breaking up into smaller chapters. This made it a little difficult for editing because we had to sift through 7 minutes of video each time we added a slide to the storyline. This was our most time consuming task. Once we had the movie edited down to where we wanted it we added in the music. The music we made through audacity and used royaltyfreemusic.com. The music was probably the easiest part of the project. Once we moved the music to the sound file of the video we had our work of art created. It turned from what I thought was going to be a stressful project into actually a lot of fun!
I think video making could be a great project for a classroom. Using this in the elementary level has lots of potential. One way I would use this since Elementary students may not have access too a video camera, but if the school had one we could loan, as the teacher I could do the filming for the students and then have them do the editing since that is all hands on for the computer and the video camera is no longer necessary. I think a great project would be to have the students make a DVD to send as a pen pal to either students of the same grade somewhere else in the country or some where else in the world. I could have the students make up their own stories of showing them a typical day in their school and maybe even incorporating their community around them and outside where they live. Then the students would work in groups and edit their own videos and add music and dialogue to narrate their video as they want it and then exchange them with the other school. This would not only give the students the chance to learn editing and movie making, but this may really appeal to those that are not strong at writing, but are creative to get them involved and enjoy an assignment. The end result of sharing the videos with another school would also give the students a look at a new place and how people live in other areas of the country or the world. It would open their horizons to new ideas, places and people.
For our video project we started with recording out video at Grings Mill park. It took us a few takes to get everything we wanted to, but all in all it only took us about 45 minutes to record the shots that we needed. Then we downloaded our video to the computer. Since we had over 7 minutes of footage it was a large file and copied all into one chapter rather then breaking up into smaller chapters. This made it a little difficult for editing because we had to sift through 7 minutes of video each time we added a slide to the storyline. This was our most time consuming task. Once we had the movie edited down to where we wanted it we added in the music. The music we made through audacity and used royaltyfreemusic.com. The music was probably the easiest part of the project. Once we moved the music to the sound file of the video we had our work of art created. It turned from what I thought was going to be a stressful project into actually a lot of fun!
I think video making could be a great project for a classroom. Using this in the elementary level has lots of potential. One way I would use this since Elementary students may not have access too a video camera, but if the school had one we could loan, as the teacher I could do the filming for the students and then have them do the editing since that is all hands on for the computer and the video camera is no longer necessary. I think a great project would be to have the students make a DVD to send as a pen pal to either students of the same grade somewhere else in the country or some where else in the world. I could have the students make up their own stories of showing them a typical day in their school and maybe even incorporating their community around them and outside where they live. Then the students would work in groups and edit their own videos and add music and dialogue to narrate their video as they want it and then exchange them with the other school. This would not only give the students the chance to learn editing and movie making, but this may really appeal to those that are not strong at writing, but are creative to get them involved and enjoy an assignment. The end result of sharing the videos with another school would also give the students a look at a new place and how people live in other areas of the country or the world. It would open their horizons to new ideas, places and people.
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