Looking At My Journey

This past semester has been a non-stop whirl. This technology class specifically mixed fast paced instruction with numerous deadlines for assignments. We did not just learn about tools on the web and teaching software like ActivInspire, we were required to be hands on with each thing. We had to create artifacts and learn the ins and the outs of each new tool that we were introduced to. I would say that our generation knows technology well, but this class showed me so many things that I would have not learned otherwise. Creating a website through Google is not difficult, but it is not something I would have ever taken personal initiative to create. I think that the website and the blog that we created were the two things that I liked most about the course. The fact that I now know how to create a website and I know how to change its appearance and edit it the way that I want is frankly so cool. The other thing that I thought to be awesome is the ActivInspire software. Schools everywhere are getting more advanced and I am so excited that I now know how to create lessons that can be used with interactive white boards. This class moved so quickly, but we would have never learned as much as we did if it had not moved at that rate. I think overall, this has been the most useful and insightful class that I have taken yet in college. The knowledge that I am taking away from this course is essential for my future as an educator. All of us in this class have grown to be so tech savvy in just a few short months. I wish there were an extension of this class to grow our skills further.

Web Authoring

This entire semester, I have been working to create and perfect a personal website that reflects who I am as a student currently, and what I aim to be as an educator in the future. The website is a great extension of my classes this semester; it is a way to express and show all that I have been learning in an interactive and attractive way. At first, the site was difficult to navigate. I started by picking a "theme", which is the way that my site appears. I chose a simple layout that had a green calming background and a simple oriental flower design. I thought some of the themes to be very overwhelming with color and pattern and I did not want my site to look too busy. Creating new web pages and editing the settings of my site was at first, so foreign to me. Eventually however, all of that became second nature and putting it all together became an issue of perfection (appearance and editing), as compared to just figuring out how Google sites worked. My site has many pages including, "Meet Your Teacher" and "School Supplies". The part of my site that I enjoy the most, and that I worked the hardest on is the section titled, "Web 2.0". Each of the pages under this heading includes an explanation of a specific Web 2.0 tool and either a screen shoot or an embedded artifact to give viewers a visual of just what each of these tools are. 

This is the link to my site: https://sites.google.com/site/mscochranesclassroom/
 

This is a screen shot of one of the pages of my site.

Digital Storytelling/iMovie

This week, we learned how to use iMovie to create videos. The short video above was created to teach elementary-aged kids how to make macaroni and cheese. The program iMovie is user-friendly and it was easy to navigate. The program allows you to select photographs and/or videos and upload them. From there, you can organize the clips. You can select a theme to change the feel of the video. You can add in transitions, captions, and even change the speed at which the video plays. Once you have the video, you can select music that will play in the background. You can have one song run through the entire video or you can select specific songs for specific clips. A video can be easily created in just 15 minutes. Please, check out my video and see what you think!

ActivInspire & Inspiration

This week we had an assignment due using the ActivInspire software as well as Inspiration software. My ActivInspire flipchart followed third grade English standards for punctuation. It took such a long time to create the flipchart, but it was so interesting learning the ins and outs of the software. You can design each slide from scratch and select the background, font, and layout. One tool that was difficult to learn, but ended up being such a great asset to my flipchart is called "containers". A container is useful when dragging specific words or answers to place in their correct places. When a container is set, you can decide what word goes where. If someone tries to drag a word to the wrong spot, the word bounces back to its original position. This concept is hard to describe in text, but here is a screen shot of a slide that uses containers. 

Using the Inspiration software, I made a digital diagram that classified the world's seven biomes into different branches of the diagram. Each of the seven biomes had several branches that further explained the characteristics of that biome. I included a picture to further describe a detail of the biome. Here is a picture below of my digital diagram.

Storybird

Yesterday Tyler, Emily, and I presented the Web 2.0 tool Storybird to the class. Overall I think that the presentation went really well. In the beginning, I could not remember my password for the site (oops), but we ended up signing on to Tyler's account and I could still access my Storybird from there. We included a step by step explanation, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the site. We also discussed the various uses in the classroom. Everyone in the class seemed to be keeping up with our explanation and successfully creating Storybirds of their own. I think that we divided roles evenly and all seemed to put a similar amount of effort into the group's final project and presentation. I hope that we were as clear and thorough as I believe that we were because Storybird is a great way to create stories both individually and though a collaborative effort.

Animoto

This week in class we were introduced to the Web 2.0 tool called Animoto. This tool allows users to create 30 second videos for free. The user first chooses a theme and a song to play along with the video. Images or video clips are then uploaded and added to the skeleton of the movie. The final product is short, but can provide a good hook or opener for a lesson in the classroom. One idea that I really liked was taking a virtual field trip. The teacher can put together a video with pictures from a specific place, and students can get a feel for that place or country without really ever having to travel there. The program allows its users more options after the upgrade, but as a free tool it would be pretty fun to use in the classroom. The site itself is easy enough that kids ages 13+ could make their own movies with no problem. 

This is an example of a video I made using the site:





Make your own slideshow with music at Animoto.

Interactive White Boards

This week we were introduced to the interactive white board. Since I was in elementary school, this has replaced the good old chalkboard. Since the Fall of last year, I have seen these boards implemented in schools. The first time was in a kindergarten class; they were working with the calendar tool and they were having a blast taking turns and working with the technology. I have also seen it being used in every class that I have worked in this semester. The teachers use it for everything from math lessons to watching videos. In fact, in Knox County, their math textbooks are aligned with a program that was specifically designed for use with an interactive white board.

On Thursday we played our role as second graders and were walked through a lesson about the weather to learn how to use the tools of the board. This particular brand of board works with a program called AvitivInspire that provides instructors with the corresponding technology so that they have the ability to create lessons using the board. You can upload pre-made lessons or work to create your own using the various tools. Some really interesting things about the IWB are the layers that you can work with. In the lesson that we completed all of the correct terms to complete the activity were hidden behind the cloud and we had to drag the correct answer from behind the cloud using the interactive pen, and place the term in its correct spot. There is an option of setting up activities that allow you to use the tool to drag answers to the correct place, but then if the answer is not correct, you can set it so that it makes a sound and goes back to the original spot. If the answer is placed correctly, you can set it so that there is a cheering sound or a round of applause. I look forward to working with the technology and the IWB itself. In the classroom, I think that this technology has opened up many new doors to engaging students in productive learning.

Picasa, Pixlr, and Glogster

This week in class we completed a scavenger hunt. On Tuesday we ventured outside to find pictures of things on campus that started with the letters A-L. It proved to be harder than expected to find objects that matched the letters. Once we had all our pictures, we uploaded them to Dropbox. This was my first experience with Dropbox, but it uploaded instantly, and from there the pictures were shared to all three of us. From Dropbox, we uploaded our pictures to Picasa through Google. In Google we put them in the correct order and placed captions below each picture. 

As far as Web 2.0 tools go, this week we were introduced to Pixlr and Glogster. I found both of these tools to be useful in their own ways. In fact, Tuesday night I made a birthday card for my friend using Pixlr. I chose the collage option and went from there. Below is a picture of that birthday card.

Here is an image of part of my Glogster page in its unfinished form:

 

I decided to focus on subjects and predicates by first picking the Schoolhouse Rock movie "Mr. Mortin". Glogster allows you to add videos, text, and music to a page in order to enhance an idea. The layout can be moved around to make it look how you want to.

Wordle

Today in class the first group presented the Web 2.0 tool called Wordle. I understand this is the first presentation and we have many more to see, but frankly I was so impressed with this tool. I have seen creations like the ones created on Wordle and have always wondered what the exact process was to make one. We learned that Safari is the best browser to use when working in Wordle and that Java has to be enabled in order to make a creation. Once you have enabled Java you go to the site, www.wordle.net and click create. Basically what the tool does is take any text you place in the text box and randomizes it into a cluster of words. These words when clustered are colorful and almost like a piece of artwork. Words that are used frequently in the text end up being the biggest font in the cluster. Filler words are not use in the final product. For the Wordle I created below, I used the lyrics to one of my favorite songs. Love is in a large font because as I said, it appears frequently in the lyrics. You can also manually type in words like "love" over and over again to achieve a larger size. Once the Worlde is created, you can randomize it to change the placement of the words and the font. You can also change the colors. You can edit it on an advanced level and change the positioning of the words as well. The best way to access your creation for further personal use in the classroom beyond just publishing it on the site itself is to take a screen shot. The screen shot can be saved to your desktop and you can do what you want with it from there. In the classroom, Wordle can be used for vocabulary and in elementary grades for students' names. I will most certainly use this tool in the future to add color and complexity to my classroom, while simultaneously reinforcing vocabulary and sight words.

Web 2.0

This week we were placed into groups and assigned a Web 2.0 tool to research. My group was assigned Storybird, which is a web-based tool that allows its members to create storybooks online. The process itself is fairly simple. After creating your profile, you can browse artwork for your potential book either by looking through the posted pieces of work or clicking on key words like, "elephant" or "sunshine" that take you to a compilation of pieces of art by various artists and portray images similar to or relating to "elephants" and "sunshine". Once you have found an artist you prefer, you use their work to compile a story. On each page of your book, you select and image from the artist and write a caption. This process is easy, but you must be creative because you're only able to use the work of one artist to help illustrate your story. For example, if you decided that you needed a picture of a bird in a nest and the artist has illustrated no such picture, then you must find some other option that would be suitable for your story.

Teachers can create a specific story to coincide with a lesson, parents can create a story for their children, and even children can use the site to create a story on their own with enough instruction. The neat thing about creating these stories is that they do not have to remain online; you can order a hard copy of any story that you write and thus, can have that story in your personal library forever. I think that the site could use some improvements like the issue with the limited artwork and also the fact that there is only one template available from which you design the look of your book. Yet, I like this Web 2.0 tool because it is user friendly and FREE, which are two great features.

The link to the Storybird site is: www.storybird.com

This is an example of the book that I created using Storybird.

Inquiry-Based Lesson

This past week we worked on developing an inquiry-based lesson using the internet. We were first introduced to the concept when we completed our Rock Star inquiry that Dr. B had made for us to work on in groups and present to the rest of the class. The concept itself is simple; a worksheet is created that instructs children to explore the website given below the directions, and find the answers to the questions listed below the link to the website. To complete the inquiry takes no time at all. What is harder is creating the worksheet itself. We had to first select a subject area and a grade level to focus on. From there we had to pick a topic within that subject and follow state standards to help us create our questions. What I found most difficult was locating a website that was trustworthy, easily navigable, and was at a fourth grade level. My questions couldn't be too hard, yet they couldn't be too easy either. After locating two websites and developing six questions, I had to format my page so that it looked appealing and was easy to understand. The directions had to include all possible steps and I had to site what standards I was following. For just one worksheet, there was a lot of preparation and planning required. This however, is a great tool to have students learn by navigating the internet and not just their textbooks. Inquiry-based lessons are easiest to implement with Science and Social Studies in elementary school because they target specific topics within those subjects. Students are required to hunt for the answers themselves instead of just listen to lecture or read their textbook. I found this lesson to be very helpful and useful for the future.

This is the image that I used for my Plant and Animal Cell worksheet.

WebQuests

Last week we were introduced to WebQuests. Essentially, they are much like their name entails; they are "quests" that children can complete using the web. Using WebQuest.org teachers can search for WebQuests that match grade level and subject matter to use in their classroom to teach a topic. An example of a WebQuest is one that I found yesterday about matter and energy. It was a project children grades K-2 could complete to better understand what liquids, solids, and gasses are and how they can change from one form to the other. Every WebQuest includes these sections:


1. Introduction
2. Task                                           
3. Process
4. Evaluation
5. Conclusion
6. Credits
7. Teacher Page

As a teacher searching for a prospective WebQuest to use, you have to carefully look through the entire site. Something to pay close attention to is the amount of time that is required to complete the quest; it is possible that the project is lengthy and the class could lose interest after a period of time. Also, it is important to pay attention to how the children are to be divided into groups. Will each child play an equal role in completing the task at hand? Does the WebQuest challenge the students? Will the end result successfully enrich the classroom's learning? I have seen several sites with dead links that no longer work, or just too many links that could potentially overwhelm students. Luckily, there are many WeQuests to choose from. Unfortunately, it can be a long process to discover the right one to use to enhance the curriculum.

A Reflection on Website Evaluation

Today in class, we selected a website and evaluated it for reliability and usability. Specifically, we were searching to see if these websites would be appropriate tools to use in the future in our classrooms. To start, it was important that we identified the purpose of the site. Purpose can be divided into nine categories: interactive stimulation, primary source, project site, reference, tutorial, teacher utility, web-quest, game, or other. Obviously each category represents a type of website that serves a very difference purpose from the others. For example, primary source sites can let you examine original documents, while game sites most likely have multitudes of games that can coincide with school curriculum. It is necessary to consider if the site is for a teacher or the student and how navigable it is. Also, the reliability is very important. Professional websites like Discovery are reliable, yet there are many sites on the web that are out of date, bias, or just incorrect. It is a bonus if the website is accessible to use without having to incur any extra expense. Often times, you will have to create a user ID for the website, especially for game sites and teacher utility sites, that keep track of specific users. I will definitely consider these points when working to find appropriate websites that my both my students and I can use in the future.

Here are a few websites with tips and tricks to discern between the unreliable and reliable: 

http://journalism.about.com/od/reporting/a/Eight-Ways-To-Tell-If-A-Website-Is-Reliable.htm
http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/web-eval-sites.htm 

My Expectations for TPTE 486

This is my first experience with online blogging. I am learning so much so quickly! This course is moving at a rapid rate, but everything that we have created and covered has proved to be very useful. In the future, having the ability to create a website and/or a blog is only going to benefit my classroom. Both options would be easy ways to keep my students and their parents informed about the latest things that are going on in my classroom. I am excited to continue learning in this course and see what creative posts I am capable of producing! 

This cartoon was found on the College of William and Mary's website.