Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Reflections!

I cannot even begin to talk about everything I have learned in this course. I think that this course has been one of the most useful ones that I have taken in my education block. I think that technology in today's classroom is so necessary. Today's students are so technology oriented, and find using technology relevant and engaging. Throughout the course of this class I have learned many different ways in which I can can implement technology in my future classroom.

I have learned about Web 2.0 and certain Web 2.0 programs that I can use in the classroom to take the place of more mundane and out-of-date practices. For example, rather than using a poster for a presentation, I could have my students create a Glogster or Prezi presentation. Rather than a "get to know you" game at the beginning of the year, I could have my students create a Wordle "word cloud" about themselves and I could hang them up around the room.

I have also learned that projects like digital story telling, scavenger hunts, and Inspiration projects could be great ways to assess students knowledge of a concept, rather than tradition pencil and paper assessments. Games like interactive spreadsheets can be great practice for students on different topics, and are relatively easy for teachers to make. WebQuests are great ways for students to be able to explore concepts on a more in-depth level.

I can't wait to use everything I have learned in this course in my future classroom!!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Lesson Plans!!

I thought writing the lesson plan in this course was an interesting task. I have never had to write a lesson plan placing so much emphasis on technology. I had to consider which programs or activities would best compliment my lesson on ecosystems with out taking focus off of the lesson. I ended up choosing a WebQuest that had students explore various ecosystems as a main part of my plan. This lesson plan was one of the first that I had written this semester. Now, as the semester comes to a close, I have written many more. I think that if I had to write this lesson plan now, after all of my experiences this semester, I would have much more experience and my lesson plan would have been much better.

Websites in the Classroom

Websites in the classroom are an excellent idea! They can be used for a very wide variety of reasons, all which benefit the students, parents, and educators. I think the most important way that websites can be used is for communication. Teachers can post assignments for students who have missed school. Websites can also be used to keep parents informed of what is going on in the classroom. Things like class projects, volunteer sign-ups, up coming events, and other need to know items can all be put on the website to keep parents informed. Even more general things like school calendars, supply lists, and PTA information are beneficial to place on a classroom website.

Another great way to implement websites in the classroom is to post student work. A website is a fantastic way to display students work. If work is posted, parents can view their students work, and even share it with family who don't live in the area. This gives students the motivation to work hard on their work because they know it will be displayed somewhere.

As a future teacher, I am very excited about having a website for my classroom, I have already started working on one and I will post it here when it comes together more!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011



This project was both fun and frustrating at the same time. I do like that digital stories can be used across ALL grade levels. While younger students may have difficulty creating their own digital story, if you, as a teacher, are proficient in creating digital stories, they can be very beneficial in supplementing instruction on a concept. For older students, digital stories are a great way for students to demonstrate their understanding of a topic. I think that digital storytelling would be a great project for students who are very technologically inclined and enjoy working on computers. The only issue with this would be instructing students on how to work with iMovie or Movie Maker. This could be very time consuming if the students are unfamiliar with the programs.

I thought that the concept of this project was fun, however, I found it to be very frustrating to carry out. The most frustrating part of using iMovie for me, was getting the captions right. I needed them to be longer, and I could never seem to fit enough information into them. Next time, I will be sure to create my iMovie in a way that does not require as long of captions. That being said, I would like to work with iMovie more so that I can become better at it, and more capable of incorporating it into the classroom. I think there are many beneficial ways in which it can be used.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Interactive Spreadsheets


Interactive spreadsheets are awesome!! I always thought of Excel as a program that was only used by people in finance and business. I always saw my business major friends using Excel in their homework assignments and complaining about it. I never thought that it could be used to create such an exciting and interactive activity for an elementary level classroom. Interactive spreadsheets can be used for any subject and in any grade level. They make for a great review or enrichment activity in the classroom. In an elementary school classroom, I think that the teacher should be the one that makes the spreadsheet game, and the students play it. However, in upper grade levels, I think it would be a great idea to have students make the spreadsheets on their own. Given detailed, step-by-step, and some previous knowledge of Excel, I think that this activity could easily be one that requires the students make a spreadsheet game to share with the class.

I think a great way to use these spreadsheets would be to have a collection of them on the classroom website. This gives the students a place to go while they are at home to work on skills or concepts in a way that is fun and interactive, or even to play them just for fun! If an upper-grade class made interactive spreadsheets, they could all be loaded on the website so that students could explore the work of their classmates. The only downside to creating an interactive spreadsheet is that it is rather time consuming, and students who are not very tech savvy may have a difficult time.

In this project, I chose to continue the space topic I started in my Inspiration project. I decided to format my Inspiration project in a way that the questions were stated in a "I am..." clue. The first person clues are to be answered with the space object that is being described. I alternated the colors of each line and removed the grid lines in order to make it easier to read. I added graphics to make the game more aesthetically appealing, and the picture of the solar system also serves as an aid to students when figuring out which planets are which.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Inspiration


Inspiration is an excellent tool to implement in the classroom. Inspiration is a computer program that is used to make graphic organizers. I like this tool because it is great for teachers to make graphic organizers for lessons in their classroom. It is also great because, rather than using a pre-made one, a teacher can create an organizer that is more personalized to their class and what they are teaching. Once a teacher becomes relatively familiar with Inspiration, creating graphic organizers becomes very quick and easy. Inspiration is also great in classrooms because it is easy for students to use on their own. Inspiration is a program that students can use for projects and classroom assignments. An Inspiration graphic organizer would be a great option for a student choice project.

In this assignment, I chose to do my graphic organizer on objects in space. I am very interested in space and it is a subject that I am very excited about teaching. I found using Inspiration a little difficult to catch on to at first, but once I caught on I found that it came easier and I began to experiment with different options. I think that the wonderful thing about Inspiration is the unlimited things that can be done with it. It can be incorporated in any subject and any grade level. I think that it is something that every teacher should become familiar with.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Scavenger Hunt

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I think that scavenger hunts are an awesome activity to do in the classroom. I think that if you can come up with a scavenger hunt that is meaningful and relevant to \ the lesson, it is a great way to get students actively involved. They will be engaged and excited about the lesson. It gives students the opportunity to get up and move around =, possibly get outside, and collaborate with their peers- all of which are needed during the school day. I think that scavenger hunts are also a way that you, as a teacher, can reach out to kinesthetic and visual learners.

The other thing I like about scavenger hunts is that they can be used across subject areas. A math scavenger hunt may include looking for numbers, shapes, or fractions. A language arts scavenger hunt may be finding spelling words or taking pictures of verbs in action. A science hunt could be taking pictures of various natural phenomena. Scavenger hunts provide a very versatile activity and I plan to use them in my future classroom.