Wrapping Things Up

I have learned a great deal in 486 and feel much more technology savvy than I did before taking this class. I am now much more comfortable in excel, powerpoint, prezi, worldle, google, and editing pictures. Most importantly I have learned how to incorporate technology in to my classroom and I will be walking away from this class with a lot of fun ideas for using technology in school! I am also grateful that we were asked to blog about everything, because now I can always go back and look at my projects to be reminded how to do it.

Digital Story

This was my first experience for making movies. I used i movie and while it was a little confusing, it ended up being easier than I thought it would be. The hardest part for me was getting the music I wanted. I would have rather used a well known song with words, but had a hard time getting a song from Youtube on my movie. You can only use 30 seconds of a song in order to stay within copyright limits. I ended up using freeplaymusic.com which worked well (just was not a well known song). As a whole, I think i movies could be helpful to present a new idea to a classroom, but I would need to get more efficient at making them in order for it not to take up so much time.

It was a fun process and I 'm grateful I now know how to make a movie on i movie.

Interactive Spreadsheet

This was my first attempt at making an interactive spreadsheet on excel. While it was time consuming and a little confusing, it was not that hard. I will consider using them in the future. I think it would only be worth making if you could not find one already made online that went with your standard. They are helpful because they are good means of quizzing your students. Interactive spreadsheets also works as another way to enforce material.

Inspiration Project

Animoto Videos

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

This was my first video on animoto and I found it very easy to make. They have a good selection of stock photos, music, and videos. I think that making animoto videos could be helpful when introducing new concepts into the classroom. The nice thing about making your own video is that you can decide specifically what goes in it and can have it tailored to your lesson plan. I also think animoto could be very useful for student reports. I could have each student make a video to supplement their  oral presentation. All in all, I think animoto is a great tool to know about and should be considered for classroom use.

Sacavenger Hunts

 Scavenger hunts can be an exciting way to introduce students to a new topic. They can also be used to engage your students in their learning and provide a context for them to show the public what they are learning. For example, if you want students to get to know their science lab you could give them a worksheet with all of the components of the lab and the tools they will be using. Then you can give them a sheet with clues to what the tools do. The students must research what the different tools do in order to find them. However, researching will be more engaging than having students just do written work. I think scavenger hunts are great, because they are appropriate for all ages and can be tweaked to work for both primary and secondary grades. I plan on implementing them in my lesson plans when I teach!

Images in the classroom

 

(Screen shot from google images) 

Using images in the classroom can help enhance your lessons. Digital images can be a great asset to teaching because they can so easily be found. For example, going to google and searching under "images" is an easy way to find pictures. Pictures help students who are visual learners visualize what they are learning about. There are several ways to find digital images for the classroom such as: Picassa, google images, scanning images, taking pictures, and CD collections.Pictures can help support notes, labels, power points and lessons. Pictures can enhance lessons and make them more interesting.