iMovie

Making the iMovie will be the most memorable lesson in TPTE this semester and the tool which I think I will use again. It did start off a little rough and painful but in hind sight is easy to use. I had the most trouble figuring out how to download pictures from facebook and I also had to scan in my pictures. Sometimes I feel like specific instruction in the class is lacking and it almost feels (personal opinion) that we are expected to have prior knowledge. Individual instruction is very helpful but it can take a while for one teacher to go around to all students. So that adds to some frustration. However, all in all I really like iMovies! I am going to show mine to my class at Lonsdale on the first day and I already shared it with my parents and teacher. I think there are so many ways to use an iMovies in the classroom and also for all sorts of events! I look forward to making another iMovie and seeing what different effects I can add.

Excel Spreadsheet: Practice for State Capitals

This project posed a very different experience and challenge for me. I had worked briefly with excel on a PC doing work for my dad, however that was mainly focused on properties and calculations. I had never thought of using an excel spreadsheet for a practice quiz for my students. Due to the unfamiliar nature of this project, I encountered a great deal of frustrations. Some of the written directions were not clear or had changed slightly to what was actually required. I found myself getting lost in the directions and would complete one part before another. Our teacher helped me, which was greatly appreciated. I also noticed my neighbors getting frustrated with this project as well. I did like my end project. I thought it was crisp and looked good, however, I think my frustrations outweigh the benefits of this style of assessment. I also had difficulty when printing my rubric (answers to my questions). My image would only print very small and even my instructor could not figure out how to correct it. But as my dad told me when I did work for him on excel, they always seem to have kinks that need to be worked out when they develop a new program.

Inspiration Project: What Different Animal Groups Eat

Inspiration 9 provides teachers the ability to easily create content webs to present to the class. Text, images, linking words, and even notes visible only to the teacher are all apart of the Inspiration project. This project was useful for me to use in a elementary class because I can only write in one word keys that can be tailored to the student's age. I think that this program would be one I would use in my classroom, the only problem would be if my school district provided it for my school. I think it is a good way to give simple one word hints to the students and hopefully it will spur their knowledge. The pictures also help the students to make connections.

Mid-Course Check In

Thus far in TPTE 486, I have been exposed to numerous Web2.0 sites that promote collaborative, social learning. I have become more familiar and comfortable working with Macs and as a user on social networking sites. I have enjoyed and benefited from learning about sites such as Delicious.com, SmileBox.net, GoogleDocs (I really like having a google account), and blogging. I now see that blogging can be a good way to learn from my peers and educators in the future. I have learned how to use my flash drive to save my work, both pictures and word docs. I have also benefitted from learning how to share and edit with GoogleDocs. Brooke and I actually used GoogleDocs to write and edit a fact sheet we had to do for another class. Had I not been introduced to this program before, I would have just emailed her my work and thus, created two emails out of one document. Wikis and PBWorks are fun sites, I have gained a lot from working collaboratively with others in the elementary education program. I now have a ton of sites to reference as I begin teaching. Working on my Delicious wiki was also easy, my partner and I got to work individually on our own time and still see what they other had done. The one down fall to Wiki's is that only one person can edit a page at a time. It can be easy to kick someone off by mistakes, causing them to loose what they had written. Collaborative editing is new to me and I like it for the most part. However, I could see how some controversies could arise as people edit others work that they spent lots of time on. That part must be explained to the students, not to take Wiki editing personally. I have learned how to take a screen shot and upload pictures. There are so many different social networking tools that I find it best to pick the ones that work well for me and stick them. I like SmileBox and Wordle was very cute! I could see myself using it for a word wall in my elementary classroom. There is so much out there in terms of technology but one thing is clear, that I need to keep up with the changing times of technology. It is important for me to be able to connect with my students and this means that I will need to incorporate technology into my instruction.