Reflection on the semester

Looking back, I am very appreciative of having taken this course.  Admittedly, before the class began, I thought it was a silly idea to have a class that teaches future educators how to use technology.  I thought, "I know how to use word, excel, create powerpoints, etc."  Then during the class, I frequently got frustrated with not knowing how to use new tools that were introduced to us.  But in reflection, this class was incredibly useful.  I learned about and got experience with tools that can support teaching that I had never realized were out there before.  I was motivated and inspired to incorporate technology in my own future classroom, and truly enjoyed the experience.  I think the Web 2.0 project we did in pairs was very useful and should be continued in future semesters.  So long TPTE 486! I learned a lot and I won't forget you!

iMovie

Using iMovie was, perhaps, the absolute most frustrating thing I have ever done.  It drove me nuts that on some slides you can't change the font's color or size, yet you can on others.  You could not add another line of text if it did not already exist in the type of text slide you chose. Absolutely infuriating.  However, when I came to class I was able to help someone else out because I had fooled with it for so long, so maybe it will be easier to use in the future.  Adding and editing music was incredibly easy compared to the text, though, which I appreciated.  And in the end I am incredibly proud of the movie I made and have sent it to everyone.

Excel

I had an interesting experience completing my spreadsheet in excel. I was sick the day that we began this activity and went over direct instruction. Thus, I was really struggling to figure some of the things out required for the project. It wasn't until I was almost complete that my friend alerted me to the step-by-step explicit instructions that were available on the website. This helped ENORMOUSLY and previously I thought you had to have purchased the course packet in order to use these steps. After I had this sheet, the activity was easy were before it took me hours googling how to do specific steps. Explicit directions=GREAT

Food Chain Inspiration

Here is my image that I created using the tool Inspiration. This tool is easy to use and very useful for a lot of concepts that I will be teaching. I think it's a nice way to show connections for visual learners in a neater and more aesthetically pleasing way than if written by hand. Plus it's fun to use.

Animoto

I was not a big fan of Animoto. I made a couple of movies with it and although it is very easy to use, without paying, it does not really do what you want. Each video I made had less than 15 pictures on it and the website cut out several of the pictures. The number of templates is also extremely limited. I'm sure the things I disliked about it would be fixed in the paid version, which is probably the intent, but I am not a fan.

Scavenger Hunt Slideshow

This free picture slideshow customized with Smilebox

Smilebox Rocks

So I've had lots of time to play around with Smilebox over spring break and I have to say... I love it!  It's so easy to find an aesthetically pleasing way to send updates home to parents about things that are going on the classroom.  Plus the layouts and provided pictures are great for decor in the classroom, especially if the teacher is looking to highlight important upcoming dates, achievements, or simple lessons that need to be available to the children at all times in the classroom (such as high frequency words or vocabulary words for the week).  I love using it, it's easy to operate, and I think it inspires a lot of projects.

Slideshow

Here Is my slideshow of Boston Terriers displaying the different ways to upload images.

Glogster

I thought it was really interesting to learn about Glogster and I see it as a very useful website for the teaching career.  For children who are knowledgeable about computers, this could be used as a tool at the beginning of the semester for the children disclosing information about themselves.  However, it would also be very useful for creating projects with the children so they could display and publish information they have learning through projects.  It is fairly easy to use and still features the complexity to create very in-depth studies.

By the way...

The Rock star project we had to do where we essentially completed, yet another, webquest through the eyes of a student... was definitely busy work and not essential nor did it further my understanding in anyway.

Wordle

So, in class on February 15th, we learned about a tool called wordle.  Oh my, I am a fan.  Not only is the interface really simply and easy to use, but I just love what it does.  By putting in a body of text, it will create what is essentially word art that emphasizes the words that are most used by making them the largest.  I think this would be a really fun thing to use in the classroom so children can see if they over use any words in their papers or possibly for stories to help find some of the central ideas by seeing what words are used most.  Basically, I am a fan and will definitely add this tool to my teaching repertoire.

Evaluating a Website

The website I choice to evaluate was:  Wikipedia.org 

I choice to evaluate this website because in high school it was always frustrating and confusing to me as to why the librarians always said Wikipedia was not a reliable source.  Yet, we had always learned that websites with ".org" were reliable ones to use.  Why is Wikipedia the exception when it's so useful?

After reviewing, I see the potential for harm of the website.  Although information is usually accurate and useful, it can never be 100% reliable because anyone and everyone can edit, add, or change information.  For example, the article on "racism" had the following flags:  "The verifiability of all or part of this article is disputed" and "The neutrality of this article is disputed."  Thus, especially under such heated topics that people's opinions often differ, the website could be subject to bias and inaccurate information.

It was really helpful to me to be able to see the things that are necessary to look for in checking the validity such as author being identified, date of last edit to make information current, all pictures having alternative text to assist special learners, and how familiar you are with the organization that publishes this site. I think it's very useful to think critically about the websites both you use and ones the children might be using.

Website Evaluation Source

Because of how easily the internet is accessed and how easily someone could put incorrect information up, it is important to give the children in your classroom a resource to evaluate the integrity of a website.  Kathy Schrock provides several helpful tools for different age children including the following link to a source for elementary education:

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/evalelem.html

This tool is an easy to use checklist for the children in your classroom.  In simple yes or no questions it helps the children check for validity of the sight as well as usefulness for whatever goal they are trying to achieve.  It's also written in easy-to-understand language for a child in elementary school.  This is not to mention that it's supported by Discovery Education.

Fussing with Wiki's

Thus far, I think working with a wiki is infuriating.  I'm sure it will get easier as my experience grows, but right now I am not a fan.  I don't enjoy doing things I am not good at and right now that's wiki's.  I have yet to figure out how to change the title of my wiki.  I researched it and everyone says that you have to "move the site."  BUT I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO MOVE THE SITE!

On a more professional note, I don't think that wiki's will be nearly as useful to my classroom as a blog would.  Being as I am most likely to work with preschoolers, they certainly won't be contributing to the wiki.  Thus, any technology would be mostly for parents.  I think a blog would be a great way to show parents what the children are doing in the classroom in a fun way, but I doubt that them editing a page would be useful.

My Expectations for This Class

Through taking this class, I hope to learn several tools that I can use in both my personal and professional life.  I want to be able to share information easily with both my friends and family as well as the parents of children in my future classroom.  I would love to learn some video editing skills so that we can make classroom videos of the information children have learned.  This course does not intimidate me because I usually enjoy figuring out technology for myself and that seems to be a theme.  Obviously, the materials are provided to support my needs, but Jeff has specified that sometimes it is better to navigate around certain tools without assistance to better understand the setup.  My fingers are crossed!

First Blog Ever

My name is Elizabeth Price, but I prefer to be called Lisa.  I am originally from Memphis, TN and I attended Bartlett High School.  Currently, I am a senior at The University of Tennessee majoring in Early Childhood Education. I think I decided to be a teacher over the first summer that I spent as a camp counselor.  It was then that I realized my passion for working with the younger aged children and really seeing the fruits of my labor on a daily basis.  Personally, I am a huge dog person and have a Boston Terrier.  I work as a server at Bonefish Grill, and am recently engaged to Justin Solomon as of January 2nd, 2011.