Final Reflection!

This class sure has flown by! It seems like not too long ago I was entering the scary world of technology. But Guess what, I made it through! I've definitely had my ups and downs in this course. Some things came easier than others, but I was able to navigate through them, with some help of course. I really think I learned a lot in this course. Who knew you could use a spreadsheet for an assignment? What about all of those Web 2.0 tools? This has definitely been a learning experience for me, but I've come out of it a stronger technology user.

iMovie

iMovie was a challenge for me. I had the pictures I needed and the theme I wanted to work with, but I had never made a movie before. Everything confused me; from timimg my pictures to understanding why my entire caption didn't always show up. Luckily I finished it! And I think it shows the highlights of my life thus far pretty well. If my future class wanted to get to know me better, I definitely think this would be a good starting point! Here it is...

Storybird

Yet again, the web 2.0 tool that we learned about this week was unfamiliar to me before it was shared in class. Storybird seems like a very interesting tool that both my students and I could utilize. I like that there is a teacher version of this tool, which allows me to create assignments and give each of my students their own account to create stories. This would be a good feature for my students in 2nd or 3d grade when they are starting to write more. It may be harder for them to pick a theme, photo, and story because of all of the possibilities. However, it would be great for me to choose a photo or theme and they create their story based on that.

For my own use in the classroom, it could be fun to make my own short stories dealing with relevant topics for my class. I could create stories that deal with similar issues that may be going on within my classroom. I could also incorporate spelling words or vocabulary that the children are learning about in particular units.

I really enjoy the great art that is available for use on this site. Also, being able to view and share other peoples stories with my students could be a great time saver. I think this tool could be a good one for me to remember and use in my future early childhood classroom.

Animoto

This week I shared Animoto with the class. Until this project, I had never heard of this tool before. However, I think that it is a very useful and easy to use tool to incorporate in classrooms. The process of composing you Animoto video is fairly easy. They have tutorials and good instructions throughout the whole process. The general free version is alright for short projects, but I am glad that there is a free version for teachers to use as well.

I could see this tool being good for class website as a way to display photos from field trips or projects that your class has done, with their families. I also think this could be a nice way to review content that the students have been working on. I would tend to use these tool over having my students use the tool because my class will be very young, but they certainly would enjoy watching my creations!

Google Form

After looking at Google Form, I think that it could be a useful tool for me as a teacher. Although I am fairly new to Google Docs, I was completely unaware that there was a tool in the program that would allow me to create surveys. I think it nice that there are so many different ways to set up responses; paragraph, multiple choice, etc. At first I was a little confused on the editing of your questions, but eventually realized that you edit each question individually by clicking on it's edit button.

As a teacher of young children, my preference would be to use this tool as a means to get parental feedback. I could get information from parents about their children's interests, as well as survey them on how they think certain aspects of our classroom are working.

Inspiration Project

This is my web I created for a 2nd grade classroom, learning about the different animals that live around the world.

Podbean

I was unfamiliar with the specific web 2.0 tool, Podbean, until today. I have seen many other podcasts before. From what I have seen, this is a tool that has some pros and cons to it. I really enjoy how simple it is to use the tool. Even though there is no recording device on the site, there are many ways to record files using various other technologies. The thing that I dislike the most about Podbean is that it is an audio only podcast. I could use this tool to create audio versions of stories that my class is reading, but I would be unable to show the book to the children. It would also be a helpful way to explain project directions to my students, or share information with them and their parents. I don't feel like I would have my students use this tool to create projects because they will be very young, but it could be an interesting tool for students in middle and high school.