Websites

Alas, we've made it to the finish line. And along the way, we have picked up much valuable skills to be the teachers of a new era of technology into the classroom.

Our final quest was to make a classroom website, where we can give the class extra exposure to using technology with classroom activities, homework and communication. I really want to have my website be an accommodation for all my students with reliable sources and quick feedback for their questions/concerns.

This has been more work trying to figure out how you want your layout to setup than the iMovie. And not to mention what specific link do you need to recolor a font on the sidebar, building your own website is a lot of hard work. I was not exposed do this stress in journalism school. But from Tuesday to Thursday, I have been able to build my website into a certain fantasy becoming a reality.

I chose the background to give it a pop affect and an attractive approach for the students to see it is not an ordinary website. Some of the details I want to include are sites for the kids to read up on news/current events, be exposed to practice tools to help them with their language skills and give different ways to expose them to communication. If they are exposed to some sort of writing, it is more than what they are used to.

At first, I was very frustrated and was not feeling the website activity because I had a bad case of creative block. I just sat in front of the computer screen for half an hour staring back at ideas I thought were great. But looking at others' screens, I hated the original concept I came up with. I also think I easily overwhelmed myself by trying to copy others and keep up with them. I began to shut down when I would pick a background and it wouldn't stick, not know how to post a picture up properly, or have a witty title for my website.

But after seeing other examples on Thursday, I began to relax a little and was not afraid to start all over again. I took pen to paper and diminished some of the original content ideas I had. I felt I can always add things later when the ideas come up, but to have a strong foundation to show what would be important for my class is what was needed first. Then I can see what they want to see or what isn't working out. When I decided to clear my head and start over is where I felt I regained my creative power and solid ideas began to form. I guess I just needed to take a deep breathe...

As I still brainstorm my not yet perfected site, I see where in some places I can even install some video, where I can interpret the writing to the students who are struggling or non-readers. So I have many ideas, but do I have enough time?

I really did enjoy this class because it gave us the knowledge we need to be able to connect better with the upcoming generation of students. They have been exposed to technology from day one with computers, the internet, mobile phones, etc. It gives us a better outlook on what trends the students are into, how can we adapt more excitement into a boring curriculum and what other ways can we relay messages to our students without it being too late.

It took me some time to understand the usefulness of technology in the classroom when it came to the internet. I remember it always being a distraction for me in high school. Our teachers never allowed us on the internet unless we had free time. So to see the development of it being from distraction to interaction in the classroom gives me a better understanding on how can I really communicate with the students.

As I continue to work on the site, I have gained a better understanding of what i want for the homepage and how to divide the content up in a creative, useful way. Providing guided hyperlinks to other sites as well as to the home site are helpful for the students and parents to explore the site without getting frustrated.
Enjoy:)

iMovie

Finally, after so much work, I feel that I have completed...70% of the work.

I loved and loathed this project, but I can see it being very valuable and useful in my class. When given much room to be creative, you can easily overwhelm yourself if you are wanting more. I was not only going for the "wow" factor, but a chance to see when would I use it.

I first enjoyed working with iMovie because I am a fanatic for movie and anything visual. It took me a long time to find a subject, which was half the battle for this project. I think I wanted to target many different topics, including language arts and social studies. I decided on how I can combine both, while incorporating more video for the pictures. Now looking back at the movie, I do not feel that it completes the story factor, the whole point of the project, but feel that it is a good start, just needs to be polished up a bit.

I loathed this assignment, although ultimately I was convinced that the next time it will be a little easier to operate the controls. The first was explaining how this was to work in the class. I feel it can be interdisciplinary approach for language arts and social studies. . I had a hard time recording the myself because of limited access to a studio for videotaping, focus of the camera, and the certain angels needed to capture the signs for proper viewing. The worst part was to really get both the captions in synced with the music properly. If you pay close attention, you notice how sometimes the timing is off, but it eventually flows well with the music from beginning to the end.

After getting over that last hurdle, I felt a little more confident in the way I had structured the project to target the main points I wanted the students to pay attention to. I will need to adjust the speed for panning over photos longer, editing up clips easier and syncing the tune better with the captions. However, I think i was off to a great start and hope to explore more ideas for the students to gain the material.

Inspiration Diagram

Above is my example for a diagram I created using the Inspiration program. This has been one of the most difficult activities we have worked on thus far in class, but I have loved working with the program.

There were not that much limitations to using the program. I enjoyed it because this is a program I would definitely use for my visual learners when we would address a subject. You can add so much character and flair to the projects, where it can lighten up the topic addressed and can help keep the students active.

What I liked most about the program was the flexibility of its use. I also enjoyed how difficult it was to learn the basics, but once I was able to manage that, it was easier to operate the program. I do not have much cons about the program, other than it being so useful can come with an expensive price. But it would be wise for any teacher to invest in this program. Can we do more projects with this in the future?

Scavenger Hunt

Here is our groups project on a scavenger hunt for geometry.




Reflection:
The hunt was on as our group was armed with two digital cameras and wide eyes. At first, we were just taking general ideas for objects aimed at certain shapes. We became more creative as we ventured around our campus full of wonderful examples of geometric shapes.
Working together was okay, I felt I had little to say because it was not my subject area. At first, honestly, I was defensive. But I realized that Alison was going with the flow. If it was directed to more of our content area, I don't know how Alison would react, but I'd make sure there was open communication. By default, i was given the position to be the presenter and was able to be prepared for the position.
As for the overall work, I put in my two cents but felt that I was not heard. I hate that, because I don't have a background does not mean I can learn and help out. I would have liked this project if I was in a different group.
I did enjoy the idea and can see where I can use scavenger hunt in different content areas. Since this is a visual activity, I can easily approach the subject using pictures for the students to receive the information in a different form of medium. I also enjoy the idea of allowing my students to also partake in their own scavenger hunt for specific subject matters. They can learn teamwork, how to communicate and how to pull their own weight when it is a group effort for one grade.

Image Collection using Picasa

Here is an example of a slideshow I would use in the classroom if we were studying the food pyramid.




Working through this exercise, I found it very convenient and difficult to master. It was complicated to make sure I set up the pictures to the right size and remembering which resources I used.
However, I know I will be able to use something like this for any lesson in the classroom. It gives it a different presentation for the students, maybe a little more entertaining. I can also set this up as an assignment or a requirement for part of a presentation for the students work on and master skills for informative speech.

"...it's not rocket surgery."

As you said about us operating both our igoogle and google docs, we have had the chance to learn different ways to keep connected with peers and students.

Looking back at the last two class sessions, we were paired up to work on an assignment concentrating on interdisciplinary content. Here, I worked with Alison who has a background in Language Arts. We decided to work on a project aiming at the Salem Witch Trials. Here, we looked into really seeing what resources we can use that can combine the Language Arts goals and the ones for Social Studies.

For the project, it was a success. Both of us were creative in making the project attractive to the students so they could get more out of the lesson than a completion grade. As for working with Alison, it was fun and I felt as if we worked on the same page in goals targeted and what kind of questions needed for the students to gain as much knowledge from this activity. Especially when it came for adjusting the activity for students with special needs, I was able to offer an insight on how the adjustment can be made to still fit the academic needs for those children who are low performers.

In the future, I hope to have more opportunities in the school system where I can collaborate with other teachers to blend the goals across content areas. When exposed to the material in more than one class, the students have a better chance of learning the material.

Webquests

Today in class, our main focus was webquests. Webquests are interactive methods of targeting a content in the curriculum where the students are to complete a task for a grade. It is an ideal method to use in the classroom because it takes the students beyond the textbooks and promote group work and effort.

We broke up into groups and reviewed selected webquests to specific grades. In the middle school curriculum, I noticed a lack of variety throughout the content areas. Most the webquests targeted English or Social Studies. In the choices given, they ranged from challenging to mediocre in presentation, the task given and overall affect of what the students will gain from the activity.

Some were appealing, but seemed overwhelming to the students with information. Others were not so attractive to the appearance and seemed not to fulfill the requirement of how the students will gain knowledge through the activity. Some ideas were good, but not well executed. But I was able to gain a better perspective of the point of webquests. I also was able to see how we as teachers can create our own webquests for our classroom, not rely on others.