Saturday, April 16, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Thing 22
The idea of PD online is an excellent idea! It has lots od advantages such as it is convienient, can be done at your own pace and can be done at home or where you feel more comfortable. With advantages there also come disadvantages such as not having a face to face instructor, having required programs on your computer, or not feeling comfortable using or doing things that maybe required without someone physically showing or teaching you.
I think that learnport is very easy to use and have had experience with using it in the past. I have used it to complete bloodborn pathogens and first aid and safety in the workplace. I have also used it to view the pilot of Teacher's Role in Marketing in the Classroom which was very interesting.
After searching around there were a few things I saw that would be on interest of my taking. First I saw many classes offered on Achieving Reading Success,Building Literacy, Exploring Digital Books and Reading in Content Areas just to name a few. These classes would help to enhance my learning of reading which will be the focus of my master's program.
As far as my experience with this on-line class I am thrilled I took it! I learned about so many new tools that I plan on using in my classroom. I was nervous at first but everything was easy to follow, very user friendly and free! There is so much out there I don't always discover and it is great to have a class like this that will show you where to go and just what to do. My students are going to be so excited to use these new tools. They are already commenting on the cluster map and live traffic feed on my wiki. They think it is amazing that peoplel from all over the world would visit our wiki. Again thank you for all of this great information and for making this class another success!
I think that learnport is very easy to use and have had experience with using it in the past. I have used it to complete bloodborn pathogens and first aid and safety in the workplace. I have also used it to view the pilot of Teacher's Role in Marketing in the Classroom which was very interesting.
After searching around there were a few things I saw that would be on interest of my taking. First I saw many classes offered on Achieving Reading Success,Building Literacy, Exploring Digital Books and Reading in Content Areas just to name a few. These classes would help to enhance my learning of reading which will be the focus of my master's program.
As far as my experience with this on-line class I am thrilled I took it! I learned about so many new tools that I plan on using in my classroom. I was nervous at first but everything was easy to follow, very user friendly and free! There is so much out there I don't always discover and it is great to have a class like this that will show you where to go and just what to do. My students are going to be so excited to use these new tools. They are already commenting on the cluster map and live traffic feed on my wiki. They think it is amazing that peoplel from all over the world would visit our wiki. Again thank you for all of this great information and for making this class another success!
Thing 21 Reflection
After viewing videos I chose a few that I plan on using in my classroom. The first video was about the rock cycle. We are currently learning this in science and it would be great to show the students. Sometimes it is hard for them to fully understand all the parts of the cycle. This would be great for aditory and visual learners. That is definatly a plus! The second video would go great with our slavery chapter in social studies. I would like my students to hear some African American songs. The students may be surprised that they may know some of these songs. It would be something neat and different to add to the lesson to enhance it.
There could be some risks however to using online video's. You would definately have to pre-view what you are going to show to make sure it is appropriate for your students to view. Also you have to make sure that it is age level appropriate as well. It could be the topic you are looking for but it may be too young or old for your students.
The rewards however are again that it appeals to visual and auditory learners. With the majority of learners being one of these two I don't think that you could go wrong with online video!
There could be some risks however to using online video's. You would definately have to pre-view what you are going to show to make sure it is appropriate for your students to view. Also you have to make sure that it is age level appropriate as well. It could be the topic you are looking for but it may be too young or old for your students.
The rewards however are again that it appeals to visual and auditory learners. With the majority of learners being one of these two I don't think that you could go wrong with online video!
Thing 20
Podcasting is a tool that could enhance any lesson in your classroom. I would love the students to create poetry in which thy could create podcasts of themselves. Also my class always participates in the young author's contest at the ISD and it would be a great way for them to share their stories. I would post them to my wiki page and that way parents or other classes could listen to their story being read. Podcasting would also be great to use for reports such as state reports or saint reports. Students would love to present their information in this way and I think they would enjoy it more then presenting infront of the class. I think that students would also enjoy using podcasting as a way of connecting with other classes. They could share their work this way. It would really help to connect their learning with others learning. Students would love to listen to podcasts. They are always so intune and listening when it is something that is new and deals with technology. If we you think about it, face it, their growing up with so many different technologies and they are very eager to use them. They would love the podcasts I visited about science and history. They would also love the NASA podcast since we just took a field trip recently to see the Hubble telescope on the Imax. I know that a lot of the staff memebers are also enjoying this tool. A teacher at our school used it to tape some poetry her class was doing. She posted them to her wiki and the students were so excited to hear thier podcast. She shared this idea with the staff and it is a great way to share ideas. Viewing the podcasts have been a huge help to me professionally. I have gotten and found some great podcasts that I will be using in my classroom. It will surely enhance my lessons and keep the students intersted in the subject! A great, easy, free tool! So amazing you can use your phone to create!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Thing 19
After viewing several podcasts I viewed many that I know the students would love to see. First, I went to Earth and Sky for Kids and was watched a pod cast on surface tension. What I thought was funny was that they were using cherrios to show this. I could easily use this in science and connect them with our weekly experiments. I also was viewing the NASA podcasts. I really like how they were broken down by age. They had a large selection to choose from and they would connect well with my space chapter. Also with the recent landing of the shuttle it would be neat to view the podcast of "NASA thing week" and see what people had to say about this exciting time at NASA. The final podcasts I took a look at were Colonial Williamsberg. They had many podcasts that the students could listen to or view. I liked the podcast titled "Freedom Bound." We talked about the underground railroad and this would fit into our chapter. It is something that the students could all view at computer class.
After viewing and exploring podcasts I definately feel that the students would prefer to watch them rather than to listen to them. It is easier for them to stay focused if they are watching rather than listening. I could post some of these podcasts on my classroom wiki page to make the students aware of podcasts. The students could also view them at computer class on the smartboard. Just by sharing podcasts with the students it will help their interest to grow and explore and seek more podcasts. The only isssue is that you have to be careful of what podcasts are out their and if they are approprate for thier age. You could manage this by always pre-viewing the podcast before showing and sharing.
After viewing and exploring podcasts I definately feel that the students would prefer to watch them rather than to listen to them. It is easier for them to stay focused if they are watching rather than listening. I could post some of these podcasts on my classroom wiki page to make the students aware of podcasts. The students could also view them at computer class on the smartboard. Just by sharing podcasts with the students it will help their interest to grow and explore and seek more podcasts. The only isssue is that you have to be careful of what podcasts are out their and if they are approprate for thier age. You could manage this by always pre-viewing the podcast before showing and sharing.
Thing 18 Discussion
After looking at the educational widgets here are a few that I really would like to add to my wiki. I think the students would really like the Word of the Day, and This Day in History. This would be great to connect with english and social studies. I also really liked the daily Bible Verse becuase this would fit into our regilion cirriculum. We often look at the the readings for the week before we attend mass and this would be something else that the students would be interested in. I would use it as like a bellwork type reflection time to get my lesson started.
Using widgets is something that the students in my class really like to do. With their young age, it is hard for the students to type in a web address without getting some of this wrong. Using widgets allows the students to just click. It is fast and easy and creates less frustration between the teacher and students.
Students could use a map widget for social studies and math assignment. They could track the places where people are visiting from and they create some type of graph to record the results. This could be a bar graph, pie graph etc. I know that the students would find it really interesting when someone from another country visits our site!
Using widgets is something that the students in my class really like to do. With their young age, it is hard for the students to type in a web address without getting some of this wrong. Using widgets allows the students to just click. It is fast and easy and creates less frustration between the teacher and students.
Students could use a map widget for social studies and math assignment. They could track the places where people are visiting from and they create some type of graph to record the results. This could be a bar graph, pie graph etc. I know that the students would find it really interesting when someone from another country visits our site!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Thing 17
A wiki is different from a blog in that I feel a wiki is more of a community/collaborative site. From my experience I feel that more thoughts and ideas can be shared with a wiki. If a parents or someone else wanted to leave a comment on your blog page they would have to log on. For the wiki site, they could type you an email. Again this is based off what I know. It could be different but I would rather communicate on a wiki page. Also, a wiki page can have several different pages so that the teacher could let each child have a page. Unlike a blog, a wiki has the history tab which lets you see who edited the page and when. This is a great way to see if and track students working on an assignment that they were given.
In my classroom, the students use the wiki to go to math practice sites, accelerated reader, spelling city and view class pictures. They also can go to snapgrades and view their grades in my class.
Some problems that could occur could be that I would have to monitor comments and postings of my students. It would also require lots of individual help which I'm not sure I could fit into my computer time. I could get around this by doing activities that students could follow along step by step as I do them. It may require a few computer class periods but I think I could manage and each time the students would be more confident in using wikispaces.
In my classroom, the students use the wiki to go to math practice sites, accelerated reader, spelling city and view class pictures. They also can go to snapgrades and view their grades in my class.
Some problems that could occur could be that I would have to monitor comments and postings of my students. It would also require lots of individual help which I'm not sure I could fit into my computer time. I could get around this by doing activities that students could follow along step by step as I do them. It may require a few computer class periods but I think I could manage and each time the students would be more confident in using wikispaces.
Thing 14
http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/- This wiki is loaded with links that connect you with tools for creating things in the classroom. The links are all decribed and easy to connect to.
I loved this wiki when I saw it and thought that it would be really useful. I am just learning how to to use a lot of these tools, so it would offer lots of helpful ideas and it also is very easy to navigate. This you could intergrate into any subject area. I like that used each set of tools the links to each one are already there. That makes it fast and easy to click through which is excellent when you are pressed for time in the computer lab or classroom. Also it would be nice for students to be able to click on the link. Otherwise they are often typing the html wrong. This can be very frustrating to me.
To adapt this wiki page I would add some pages that have examples of ideas that have been done using these tools. That way you can see or the students can see what they are capable of producing.
I loved this wiki when I saw it and thought that it would be really useful. I am just learning how to to use a lot of these tools, so it would offer lots of helpful ideas and it also is very easy to navigate. This you could intergrate into any subject area. I like that used each set of tools the links to each one are already there. That makes it fast and easy to click through which is excellent when you are pressed for time in the computer lab or classroom. Also it would be nice for students to be able to click on the link. Otherwise they are often typing the html wrong. This can be very frustrating to me.
To adapt this wiki page I would add some pages that have examples of ideas that have been done using these tools. That way you can see or the students can see what they are capable of producing.
Thing 13
After using dumper.com to edit my photos I came across a Christmas ordament that would be great for the students to use for the holidays. They could take their school photo and make it into an ordament for their tree. Parents would love to have this keepsake of their child! Students could also use this site to help them create and edit photos for the yearbook. This would add some interesting effects to each photo. They would have a lot of fun doing this!
Outside of the classroom it would be a great tool to use for scrapbooking. It would probably be a lot cheaper to scrapbook this way too instead of buying all the supplies to add effects they are all right there on your computer! Neat!
Outside of the classroom it would be a great tool to use for scrapbooking. It would probably be a lot cheaper to scrapbook this way too instead of buying all the supplies to add effects they are all right there on your computer! Neat!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Thing 12
I was first introduced to Flicker at the MACUL conference last year and I was amazed at how wonderful it was! I was excited to learn more about it and share it with others. I also began thinking of the ways that I could use this in my classroom. I really think that for Social Studies and Science flicker could be a great added resource for the students to visit. It would be very helpful for example for students who were doing a report on Michigan or China. Students could use this site to find several differnt photos to put into a slideshow or powerpoint. It could also be used to upload photos to share at an open house to promote your school.
Some pitfalls of this program could be that the teacher will not always know all the photos that will come up for that topic. Teachers would have to pre-search or assist students. The teachers would also have to monitor that the students were keeping their photos private if they were uploading any.
This could be an excellent site for both students and teachers and I look forward to using it in my classroom!
Some pitfalls of this program could be that the teacher will not always know all the photos that will come up for that topic. Teachers would have to pre-search or assist students. The teachers would also have to monitor that the students were keeping their photos private if they were uploading any.
This could be an excellent site for both students and teachers and I look forward to using it in my classroom!
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