Final Reflection

I feel like I did meet all of my goals for this semester in this class.  I got to figure out how to use a Smartboard and different ways to present information for students on the Smartboard.  This is really important to me because I am going to be an Elementary school teacher and we use this technology often.  I am in different elementary schools right now and all of the teachers I have been in their classrooms with use their interactive white board and like using it.  I believe my favorite project was the iMovie one because it had a personal meaning to me.  I am glad we are required to take the TPTE 486 class because we learn many things that are important to use in the classroom.  I also got a lot of really good online resources to use in my classroom through the Resource Wiki pages we did in groups.

Blogging in the Classroom

Blogging in the classroom is important because we need to reflect on our work we have done.  It allows us to go back and reflect on what we did, what we used, and what we thought about it.  Sometimes, it was hard to remember to blog about something since we have class only once a week.  I have never blogged for class before so this was a different experience and I really liked it.  It allowed me to slow down, focus on what I had just completed, and reflect on my feelings of the project as a whole. I like the concept of blogging because I had never blogged before and now I know how to.

Safety Minute

I thought some of the Safety Minute topics were more interesting than others.  For instance, the being aware of your surroundings is probably the most important one for me.  Safety is important, but some of it was boring and I felt like we could have used the class time to do more productive things.  The topics that were more familiar and relatable were the ones that I paid more attention to than some of the other topics.  But all in all, it was a good thing to bring up in class because so many of us have almost been run over by a car on campus or run into people when we were not paying attention of where we were going or driving while on the phone and texting.

Blog extra: shortcuts

I really learned how to use an Apple computer this semester.  I have a Macbook Pro and did not realize how many different things I could do on it.  The shortcuts on the keyboard are awesome and so very helpful to know.  I have had this computer for 4 years and did not have any idea that I could do half the cool things on it as we learned in our TPTE 486 class.  I have been showing my friends who have an Apple computer all of the shortcuts and they are just as amazed as me.  So, again I am very thankful and glad I learned these useful shortcuts.

Interactive White Boards

Making the Interactive White Boards was at first frustrating because I would click on the wrong thing and mess up my page.  But once I figured it out, I liked it and all of the things a teacher can do with the Smartboard.  I most likely will have a Smartboard in my classroom. So, I needed to know how to use it and to be able to do different pages on to make it interactive for the students.  The ActivInspire Software is easy to use. I did my project on Living and Non-Living things for Science.  It was fun finding pictures and playing around with the software.  I will utilize this software in my classroom to keep the students engaged.

Digital Storytelling

I really liked the digital storytelling.  I got to be very creative and I learned how to use iMovie.  I have an Apple computer and had never used iMovie before.  Once I figured out how to use it, it was really easy and fun to use.  I did mine on Dr. Seuss' Oh, the Places You'll Go!  I picked out pictures from Google or my own photos. I recorded my voice reading the book with the words on the page I was reading with a photo to go along with the words.  I think this was my favorite project because this project held the most meaning to me.  This book was given to me by my parents on the day they moved into the dorms for college my Freshman year.  I did not know they had left it until I got into my bed and  found it under my pillow.  I am glad we had an opportunity to use iMovie and do a project on pretty much anything we wanted to.  I will definitely try to use this in my classroom as a project for my students.

Inspiration Diagram

Once I figured out where everything was and how to use it properly, Inspiration was easy to maneuver around.  I like how we learned to make a diagram and teachers can teach their students how to make one as well for a project instead of the teacher making one.  It would take some time for a teacher to make one and finding the time may be hard.  But perhaps the more one uses Inspiration the easier and faster one would be to make different diagrams.  I would definitely use Inspiration in the classroom to have different representations of things in different subjects.  I would also incorporate it into my smartboard so that the students could fill in the blanks or interact with the diagrams.

Midpoint check

I have been doing really well with the new things that I we have learned in this class.  I have learned new terminology and ways to utilize technology within the classroom.  I really like the inquiry based activities and knowing how to properly critique a website to see if it is good enough to use in a classroom.  I always thought that uploading, sharing, making presentations, and slideshows would be difficult to do.  However, it is not and I am glad that I know this because I now know how to do it and how easy it is.  I believe I am going to get my family on to Google to upload pictures, videos, and share with each other so that we can keep in touch.  I am excited to see what we learn next in our second half of our class. I hope to learn how to use more websites and things on the web that I do not know how to use.

Scavenger Hunt

I had fun taking the pictures with my group.  I got to know my group more.  We decided to do colors for our scavenger hunt.  It was fun and easy finding different colors to post.  Trying to figure out how to share all of the pictures, was very frustrating and confusing.  However, we did figure it out.  Uploading the pictures to Picassa was easy and so was making the slideshow on our classroom website.       Also, making Google Presentation was easy and I am glad that I know how to use that as well.  I would definitely like to do a scavenger hunt again and perhaps try to incorporate that into the classroom.

Wiki Reflection

I like using the wikis to communicate back and forth.  In my Special Education class we were working on a group project and we talked about making a wiki so we could communicate and to make sure we did not all use the same sources.  I also like how we can edit each others entries.  I would still prefer to talk face to face with my group, but when we cannot all meet at the same time, I can understand why wiki is more convenient. I also like that each member can steal locks from each other instead of waiting to be able to access the page to edit it.  Especially if the person that is already logged on has fallen asleep and forgot to log off.  Wikis are a good idea for group communication when everyone has such busy schedules.

Inquiry Based Activities

I like the Inquiry Based Activities.  It is a nice way to change up the classroom's routine.  I would not use it all of the time because it would take longer and teacher's deal with tight schedules already.  Surprisingly it did not take me as long as I was expecting to make it and to find resources.  I was expecting this project to take a lot longer.  The longest part was trying to decide what to do my IBA on.  And when I am a teacher and already have lesson plans, this will be way easier to create hopefully.  I like how it gives the students a chance to learn something that they can choose, like mine was about elements on the periodic table.  The students learn something interesting and applicable to the lesson that they are learning in class. I am a little OCD so it took me forever to get everything lined up the way that was acceptable to me.  Anyways, I will definitely use IBA in my classroom.

About WebQuests

I think that WebQuests are a great idea in the classroom if they teach the students different aspects such as working together, different perspectives, and they learn something from the project.  The WebQuest cannot be something that is pointless like the ice-cream one we looked at in class. I am sure students would love to make their own ice cream, but I am not quite sure what they learn.  It must be educational and teaches the students to apply something and learn from it.  It also has to be pretty realistic with time because teachers only have so much time in a day to cover different subjects.  It should also allow students to be creative, analytical, and take a stance on something.  Also, working in a group assists in the learning of communication, compromise, and collaboration.

Webquest Annotation

http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/grant/mitten/index.htm

This webquest is created for kindergarteners that practice reading, working together in a group, and learn about different animals, snow, and perspectives.  It is a lot for students to complete, but if you give them perhaps a month to complete it I believe that it is possible.  The students can learn several things such as the winter setting, animals, roles, and working together to put on a play.  I think this is a good idea to do for a reading project.  And the students will enjoy putting on a play for their friends and family.

Web Evaluation

I did a web evaluation for Discovery Education website.  I really liked this website because it has resources for parents, teachers, and students.  Discovery has resources pertaining to math, science, english, and social studies.  It has lesson plans and puzzle maker applications for teachers. It has videos about different things and games for the students.  It does not cater to students with special needs.  I liked this project because it allowed to thoroughly evaluate a website to see how reliable, current, and user friendly it is.  I will definitely be using this website in my classroom to make my classroom more interactive for the students.

Course Expectations

I am glad that education students must take this class because it is important to know and understand how to utilize all of the resources out there for us to use. I expect to learn a lot about different websites and the technical terms that I do not understand.

I would like to know how to blog, which we are currently learning.  Also, how to do hyper links. And other websites and resources that I can use in my classroom in the future.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. I am a first time blogger. So, I apologize in advance. I will be blogging about my  Theory and Practice in Teacher Education (TPTE) 486 class throughout the semester. I hope you enjoy my posts along the way!