Self Reflection

I learned a lot this semester! I'm feeling really good about my technology use. I learned some new technology, like ActiveInspire! That was pretty confusing at first, and I'm glad I got an instructional lesson on that, because I would not want to have been thrown into that not knowing anything. That would have been frustrating. I think I really have a good handle on how to use the technology, and how to use it in the classroom. I also learned how to use technology I already knew in the classroom, which is great! As an art major, we're required to learn things like iMovie, but I never would have been able to relate it back to my lesson plans! Or like Google Drive, I knew a little about it, but I never related it back. I feel like now that I've taken this class I'm more well rounded about how to expand my lessons into so much more. I honestly didn't even know that technology standards existed, but now I'm glad I took this class! I learned so much more about my classroom and how I'm going to direct things, and overall I'm very happy with the outcome of this class! I really enjoyed having you as a teacher because you were able to instruct us and help us without putting this insane pressure on perfecting technology. I'm really glad you worked with us until we understood, because technology is something that doesn't necessarily come easy to me! Thanks!

Digital Storytelling

I really liked the digital storytelling website. Aesthetically it was really engaging. The red, grey, and white really worked well together in a way that drew you in and made it more appealing to look at. Functionally it was very easy to use. Everything was laid out in a way that was easy to find and easy to use. I enjoyed that all the contact links and the main categories were all on the first page. from there you went farther deep into the website when you clicked on a category such as "How to" and "About Digital Storytelling". From those pages you could click on the different topics within the category. The main navigation bar at the top made it easy to use and find your way back to things. Content wise it was very interesting. It had several different categories, ones designated for education, and even how to's. It showed a step by step diagram on how to made them and even shared which softwares to use. I really enjoyed how easy it was to learn by diagram and really appreciated how many different categories there were! My only complaint is that there didn't seem to be many kid-friendly digital story examples. I wish I could see more of those to use in the classroom or model after.

I am so thankful for this book. It's going to be hard for me to talk about chapter one because that was kind of the boring chapter, but I feel like I need to say how thankful I am for this book. When making my ActivInspire lesson I will definitely be keeping it close at hand. The first chapter was kind of short but it had some good information. I remember when SmartBoards came out and I thought they were the coolest thing in the world, so I definitely think you can get kids attention with them. The book agrees. It discussed the benefits and features of the board and how it could be used in the classroom and it got me excited for them! After reading this chapter (and the rest of the book) I'm going to be really bummed if I get into a classroom and don't have one. It discussed how the student response systems, graphics and videos, and reinforcer properties helped students achieve. It talked about how it excited teachers to make things more effective and fun for children using this technology. I'm not really a tech person, but this program definitely got me excited about technology, too! I feel like you could have so many fun active learning programs and kids might get really into listening/paying attention if they get to help out!

Midterm Blog Post

So far I feel like the class has helped me a lot! I don't think the technology we're learning is too hard to learn, I just honestly didn't know any of it existed. Being able to utilize this technology is going to help me in the classroom. Things like google sites are things that aren't necessarily hard to use, it's just a matter of learning how to use it, which I like. I'm enjoying learning how to be able to utilize it. I don't really have a lot to say, because I feel like a lot of it is expanding on stuff I already know. I know how to use powerpoint, but this goes one step beyond and taught me how to use it online and implement it in different ways.

Wiki Walk Through

    I really, really enjoyed the wiki walk through because it had a ton of great ideas. I feel like I never know how to use them without just sending them on a website to play games. The wikis opened up so many new ideas. I loved the thought of making a Flat Stanley project on a wiki. This way kids can take their photos and post them on a safe website that their classmates can see. Anyone can log into and post and it's a collaborative effort. It allows students to go back and look what their classmates did in case they want a new, creative Stanley idea! Another great idea was the travelogue. You can create a fake travel plan and everyone can go in and edit their own section. This would be great for teaching about other cultures in the classroom. Each student could have their own little section to add into the travelogue on what we would be seeing and why! Then it would make it easy to present because it would take away the need to create another visual aid.

            While it had some really creative ideas for wikis, it also brought up some good points on teaching other skills, as well. It would definitely familiarize students with how to use technology and how it can help educate us. Since I’ll be working with small children, that’s fantastic. Since our world is becoming more and more reliant on technology, it’s almost like learning another language when you’re young so you become fluent when you’re older. It also helps teach writing skills. It is writing informative paragraphs or small excerpts about the topic. It can help communicate revision. I feel like I wrote most of my papers with a pen and pencil when I was in elementary school (granted that was a different time) but it definitely makes it easier to make mistakes on a computer. Since it is easier to make mistakes, it makes it easier to stress the point of revision. 

     I reviewed the blog "Lisa Nielsen: The Innovation Educator" and for the most part I thought it was a fantastic blog! There were so many features that I absolutely loved about it. One fantastic part was the "you may also like" link section. Her blog has hundreds of posts on it, which is great. but filtering through all of that is a little much and time consuming. With this feature it helps narrow it down. You

may read an article about a topic you're interested in and find the next topic right there in the row without even having to search for it. This also opens the possibility to new topics. When searching the website you can tend to narrow your search by using key words, where this may be able to suggest an article that is relevant but beyond what you put in the search bar.
     Another feature I found fantastic was the "Categories" section. It's just a sidebar feature that categorizes all of the different issues from homeschooling to ADD to facebook in the classrooms. I think this tool in incredibly effective because you can go into the blog not even knowing what to look

for and come out learning something. If you look in the image to the right, you can see all the different categories available. It covers many different issues we see in different classrooms. Especially for new teachers, or teachers new to technology this is helpful since they might not know where to start, and this offers some guidance.
     One thing I noticed was some of the topics have very strong opinions leaning one way. For example, in the SmartBoards category, her posts and her guest posts seem very, very against SmartBoards. They did not have very good things to say about this form of technology. I know this is a blog of personal opinions and experience, but I think part of being a teacher is making the best of what you have and excelling from that. In some districts they don't have access to much technology and would glad to have a SmartBoard. It just seemed a little intense to rule them out if the point of the blog is to help teachers in the classroom. It didn't happen a lot in the blog and most of the information was very good, but I did notice some negative posts.

Website Evaluation

The website evaluation was helpful in a sense, but I don't think I had that good of a website. I picked a website that was listed and it was a website full of short stories about ghosts and other haunted items. It was an interesting website but it wasn't the most established. It wasn't published by a legitimate publisher and most of the stories were submitted by readers. For what it is, it was very good, but it's not necessarily the most useful for a classroom setting. Actually evaluating the website was really easy for me, but I don't think I learned that much. Since there wasn't much established information, it was just a little FAQ section, I didn't really have to delve into the website. It answered most of my questions in the FAQ and gave me lots of questions on what was a legitimate, not that it was ever going to be a reliable source or anything. I wasn't sure if the website who published the stories were considered publishers or not. It lied on a fine line of not a personal website, but not really an established website either. I knew when I looked at it that it wasn't going to be the most reliable teaching website, but I figured I could evaluate and look at what not to do. Overall, the website evaluation was helpful even though I didn't have the best website because I at least got a sense of what to look for when making or reading a website.

Course Expectations

My course expectations are just to learn a lot! I know basic information about computers, so most stuff is new to me. I want to be able to really learn a lot about my computer and relate it back to the classroom. Being able to be the most efficient in my room is what's most important, so learning anything to help that will be very much appreciated! Learning how to work websites is a big thing for me. I can make it look pretty and design things in my mind, but I have a problem executing it on the actual computer.