Semester in Review

Throughout this year, I have definitely learned a lot about technology tools. I think the most valuable aspect of the class was learning how to utilize these in our classrooms in the future. It presented various options for us to teach and involve our students. I especially enjoyed the ActivInspire software that we used for the Promethean Boards. I feel that this, above all, will be the most important information to take away because I foresee technology such as this becoming a regular part of classrooms. I now know how to utilize so many Web 2.0 tools, know about copyright laws, and even know web terms that will allow me to be a better teacher for my students. My favorite part of the class was creating the website. Because we made this as we went, I think that it is a good representative of what we have done and how far I have come this year. I also loved learning about blogging. In addition to this blog, I have created a classroom blog to model an actual blog that I might keep as a teacher. In this new blog, I welcome the students and parents to my class. I also let them know what the purpose of the blog is: to keep them informed and updated on classroom events and information.  Because all of the assignments in this class were tailored to the teaching program, we got a good feel for what kinds of lessons we could create and what standards needed to be met. Overall, the class has allowed me to increase my technological knowledge and really start thinking like a teacher.

iMovie and Web Authoring

This week, we finished up our digital stories using iMovie. I took most of the pictures myself, and my friend Andrea took the rest. I ended up finding the music from freemusicarchive.org. I have embedded it on my website as well. Now, we are just finishing up our websites. I need to make sure I have plenty of images to keep it interesting and user friendly, but not distracting. I also need to make sure my pages are completed and consistent regarding color and style.

Here is my how-to digital story:

iMovie

This week, we finished up our Digital Diagrams and our ActivInspire flipcharts, both of which are now on my website. Now, we are starting to work on our iMovie projects. I decided to do a "How to Follow a Recipe" movie. This would be applicable for students in how to closely read and follow directions, as well as dealing with measurements. I have now gotten all of my photos collected for the project. There are a lot more steps than I had anticipated! I took pictures of Kroger, a brownie box, all of the ingredients, and the process itself. I need to find some music to put in the video and enter in the captions that will coincide with the pictures. After the project is finished, I will upload it to YouTube and link it to my website.

Digital Diagrams

This week, we finished up our Interactive White Board projects. The file is now attached to my website. The link is titled "ActivInspire Flipchart" under the Technology Projects tab.

We also finished up our digital diagrams using the Inspiration 9 software. I had trouble getting the software downloaded to my personal computer; it said it was incompatible with my computer's software. I ended up doing my diagram on the water cycle. We were required to have 3 subtopics and then 3 more subtopics off of the first subtopics.

This is a screen shot of what the final product looks like. It is also linked on my website under the Technology Projects tab as "Digital Diagram." The original project also includes a link to a Magic School Bus YouTube video about the water cycle.

Now, we are starting to work on our digital storyboard videos. I have chosen to do mine on "How to follow a recipe." I will go around the grocery store picking the proper ingredients in the correct sizes and then make the recipe step by step.

Interactive White Board and Storybird

This week, we continued working on our Interactive White Board projects using ActivInspire for Promethean. I have honestly had a lot of fun creating my flipchart on counting coins, but I am still working on it because it is fairly time consuming. I wish that it had templates like a PowerPoint instead of having to create the header and text box separately each time. Even though it is time consuming, it is very cool! All of the functions that are available make it a potentially very interactive resource for the classroom. For example, my students would be able to come up to the board and complete activities rather than doing worksheets or having manipulatives in front of them. I will have my flipchart completed by Tuesday, so I will then post it to my website. Here is what the front page looks like!

We also learned about another Web 2.0 resource called Storybird. This is a website where you can choose artwork based on theme or artist and add words to each page to make a small book! I thought it was fascinating and loved looking at the artwork. This resource would be more for older children or teachers because it would be too complicated for most younger children. Each Storybird that you create must be approved before it can be embedded, so here is the link to mine for now! 

Our next project will be working with Inspiration 9, which they call visual mapping software. We will be creating essentially a flow chart for a particular subject area that corresponds with a textbook. Luckily, Inspiration offers a free 30-day trial, so we could use the program on our home computers. I haven't decided what lesson I want to do yet, but I think I might try science since I haven't done a science lesson so far. 

Interactive White Board and Web 2.0

This week, we continued learning about Interactive White Boards (IWBs). There are literally so many uses for it, and there are so many actions that you can use in a flipchart. I have decided to do my lesson for first grade on money. My lesson will involve naming the different coins and maybe some bills, knowing the value of each coin, being able to combine different coins to produce a certain value, and applying these skills to real-life situations. All of these correspond to TN state standards, which I will include after I have completed the project.

 We also learned about Timetoast and Animoto this week, which are two more Web 2.0 tools. Timetoast is a way to produce timelines, which could be used in various ways. The example that I created (seen below) was just a timeline of my life. An older elementary schooler would be able to produce one of these for a potential project.




We created videos using Animoto. This tool allows you to select certain photos and videos to put in a video/slideshow. Unfortunately, the free version doesn't allow you to select the time span of the pictures or which clips of any videos to use. It also only allows you to make a 30 second video. I think this tool would be very interesting to use, but I would prefer the version in which you would have to pay for the extra tools. This is my video:


Make your own slide show at Animoto.

Google Presentation and Interactive White Board

This week, we finished up our Google Presentations. I made a slideshow of mammals using photos from Pics4Learning. It is embedded below.




The interactive white board is an amazing resource that we have just started learning about. There are so many actions and lessons you can do with it. "Interactive white board" is also the generic term for the resource. Some brand names are the "Smart Board" and the "Promethean Board." We were shown one lesson from many that can be downloaded from Promethean Planet, which has tons of FREE resources for teachers. Basically, they give you a free bank of resources to make you want/pay for the board, which can be very pricey. The only thing you have to be careful about is any teacher can upload a lesson they've created, so some of them may be great, but some may be pretty bad also. For our class, we will be downloading a software program called ActivInspire to develop our lessons. This software is free if you have a code that comes with a board. I am really excited to develop skills with the interactive white board, but I will be disappointed if I end up not having one when I start teaching, ha!