Web Site Evaluations

I found this assignment to be very interesting and helpful. I have never really cared about who the author of a website was, until now. I learned that it truly is so important to know who is writing the information and where it is coming from. Especially as a future educator, I need to be aware of the sites that I am getting information from. The evaluation forms were a big help because they were a perfect guide of what to look for in a good site. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known what to really look for. My favorite form was the Midlink Magazine one. I liked it because I was able to rate each question from 1 to 4, while the other evaluations were simply just marking yes or no. I also liked it because it was simple and to the point. I did not discover any hidden secrets on the websites I evaluated, however some of them did not have a lot of information about the author, so I did not rate them as high. I think that using a website evaluation is very useful especially for teachers. If we are going to teach our students something from the web, we need to know exactly where it is coming from. Therefore, I will use evaluations frequently when using the web as a resource to teach my students. I have now seen the benefits of using an evaluation, and will no longer be naive about where the information is coming from on a website.

Geometric Shapes

This week Shayla and I took pictures of Geometric shapes, and then we came up with definitions for five of them. We made a book online about our shapes and it was so fun!! Kids would absolutely love turning one of their projects into a book. We used iPhoto to make our Shapes Book, but you can also use ComicLife and MS Word. We also took our pictures of shapes and made a comic. It was hilarious. I was not able to upload the comic and pictures, but will when I figure it out. Comics are so fun to make, and I know that students would do anything to make one. I think that a lesson plan that includes making an educational comic is an awesome idea, and I can't wait to do it in my own classroom. :)

Digital Photography

I had a really good time working with fotoflexer and toondoo this week. I had no idea that kind of software was available to use for FREE on the internet. It took me awhile to get used to the different tools available, but after I got used to them I had a lot of fun with them. I first started out in Picnik, and then went into Fotoflexer. I liked Fotoflexer more than Picnik just because it was more user friendly. I think it also had more tools to use.
I think the digital imaging software would be so fun to use in the classroom. I would love to take pictures of my students, and then teach them how to enhance their own photos. If I end up teaching an older grade, like 3rd-5th, I think that they would be able to enhance their photos on their own with my guidance. If I teach a younger grade, I would do it on my computer and use a class picture. I would pull the projector screen down and work with the students by having them tell me what to do with the picture. There are so many possibilities with this kind of software.

Our Video Podcast

This is our video podcast. I was not here to help with the final editing, but Shayla did a great job on her own. It is titled Oil Spills.

Graphic Organizers

Today we learned about creating and using graphic organizers. This is such a helpful learning tool. I had no idea this was available. I created a couple of organizers today. One was from a website on the internet, and the other was from some software that we used a free trial with. I can't wait to use this in my classroom. The kids will love creating graphic organizers to help them learn. The site that is free is http://www.text2mindmap.com/ The software that can be purchased is titled Kidspiration. These are amazing learning tools.

Getting the Video Ready for Editing

Yes, it says it all in the title, and let me tell you it is an easy process. Well, that is if you are not Shayla and I and have good luck. :) Ya, Shayla and my computer was the only one that did not have the imovie program on it. Surprise Surprise.. lol. We are seriously cursed!! No i'm just kidding. We were able to get our movie ready for editing on Jon's computer and I was amazed at how easy it really is. I always thought that it is a complex process, but I was proved wrong. We just pretty much copy and pasted. It was great! And now we are going to put the sound over our still images which will be cool. So, Shayla is going solo this friday because I will be gone, so who knows maybe the luck will be on her side with me gone. :) I guess we'll see.

Making A Video!

Making a video is more work than I expected. This is how it all started. Shayla and I thought that we were on top of things and ready to video our experiment on friday. Well ya see, we were initially going to video a lesson on how to teach students to tie shoes. The funny thing is that we just couldn't figure out why everyone else in our class was doing science experiments. We just thought it was a coincidence. :) So, thursday night I was reading over what we were supposed to have done for friday when I came across the small sentence that read, "Come prepared to video a science experiment." Lol.. Shayla and I obviously missed that tidbit of info, so we frantically put together an experiment the night before it was due. While filming, our experiment didn't even work. We combined oil with water and put a feather in it, and the feather was supposed to sink, well it didn't. Then a few drops of soap were supposed to clean up the oil in the water. Well it didn't either. We had to practically dump soap into the water for it to work, so we just took some still shots of what it was supposed to look like after the fact. LOL... So to sum everything up, we had a great time even though it didn't turn out how we had expected. Kudos to us Shayla!! :)

Webquests

Two weeks ago I learned about webquests. I learned that they can be very useful to teachers. I learned that they can use either project, problem, or inquiry based learning. They are cool because almost all of the information that is worked with comes from online. We actually did an activity with four or five webquests, and there are some really good ones on the web. They are student oriented and have very good projects and lessons. I am learning so much about the technology that is available to me as a student and future teacher, and webquests are definitely something that I will keep in mind.

Learning about Copyright

This week we learned about copyright and what we can and can't do. I was amazed by the things that I learned. For example, I had no idea that by googling a picture and then using it in a presentation, in a sense is copyright infringement. I did learn, however, that it does depend on how you use the information you obtain. It made me feel a little better though, when we learned that educators can use information to teach and not be infringing on the copyright. Man, that sure is a relief. I am glad that as a future educator I can use information to better my lessons and teaching. However, I realize that with copyright I still have to be careful with what I use because it can be very serious if copyright infringement occurs. So, I am really glad that I learned about copyright because before going to class I was clueless. Thanks Jon!!

Lesson Plans and Group Presentation

Last week we learned how to create and post lesson plans online. I loved it! By the way, I have already posted a lesson plan that I created and the site is http://ia.usu.edu/viewproject.php?project=ia:7094. Also, Shayla and I did our group presentation, which I thought went well. I probably could have been a little more prepared, but hey it was a miracle I was to class on-time and ready to go, so I can only do so much. I did contradict myself, however, because I think that cell-phones should not be allowed in the classroom because I think that would open up a can of worms. Well, I guess one of the slides I did was kind of for that and I was confused when Jon was asking me about it. Lol so when you hear me go off in class about not liking cell-phones as a use for technology in the classroom, do me a favor and just let it fly. I know I sound like a hypocrite, but I really am just spacey and didn't realize what I had said after it was too late. Lol Well, I hope can learn more this week and try not to get into any arguments. :)

My Lesson Plan

For my lesson plan I decided to do 5th grade science. The title of this lesson was "It's for the Birds". I just used the model lesson plan and then incorporated technology along with it. I changed a few things about the original lesson, and then added some stuff of my own. It was a time-consuming assignment, but it was worth while. I was able to find so many ideas on lesson plans that can be taught using technology. The links that I used were http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview?LPid=2357 for the model lesson plan, and http://kids.yahoo.com/animals/birds for the site that I used in in my lesson plan.

Blogs and Podcasts

Well, I am finally finished with subscribing to blogs and podcasts. That took forever! The blogs that I subscribed to are 101 cookbooks, hair stylist blog, and myterious teaching. I am interested in cooking and hair, so that is why they are in there, and the mysterious teaching is a blog for elementary teachers. The podcasts that I subscribed to are EdTechTalk.com, Speaking of History, and Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts. The Ed talk one is just about anything and anything for teachers, and the speaking of history is a weekly podcast that reviews history and such. I have to take the praxis in a month or so, and I need some help studying about history so I thought this would be a good one. The moving at the speed of creativity is just a mixture of education, technology and other stuff. So what I learned about Blogs and Podcasts are that they can be very beneficial to use. As a future elementary teacher, I now have more ideas of things I can use on the internet to aid in teaching my kids.

Hooray!

This is my very first blog! So far I am still learning how to run and manage it, but hopefully in the near future I will have everything figured out! Yay for finally creating a blog!