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.

Picnik and Smilebox

I had often heard of Picnik before I took this course, but I never saw a nee to use the site. Quite honestly I do not take very many pictures except on special occasions or when I decorate cakes. After trying out Picnik, I see that it is a fun way to change up your normal pictures! I had lots of fun making a picture of a friend and myself into a Halloween photo. I think this could be a good way to customize pictures of students for holidays or to even let them customize their own to show their personality. It may be difficult for younger students to work with Picnik due to the technology aspect of it as well as the extensive choices for editing. I do think though that as students get older they will really enjoy this!

Smilebox is a tool that I had never heard of before tonight. I think that this could be an interesting tool to use in the classroom when creating newsletters or class projects. Students could help the teacher create a student newsletter to show parents, choosing the layout as well as giving input on a video or picture to put on the page. Also, this could be a fun and easy way to make a digital poster for older elementary school aged children. I am still having trouble uploading videos from the internet onto this, however it would be much easier to use videos that you have taken yourself.

Wordle & Timetoast

I think that Wordle can be a great tool to use with students to show them the prominence and importance of words. It can be a fun thing to show a class, make as a class, or have students make themselves. I have played around on Wordle before and I really enjoy the ability to tweak your word cloud by changing the layout, color, etc. However, I think the downside to this tool is that is does not take the vocabulary a step further. Other tools like WordSift allow you to see word families of the text you put into your cloud, as well as word meanings and sentence examples.
I would use Wordle in my classroom to let my young learners see how they have similar interests, favorite colors, foods, etc.




I had never heard of Timetoast before TPTE. I think that this tools sounds like an interesting resource in theory, however there seem to be several problems with it. I am not sure that young children (PreK-3) would be able to use this tool very well. It is very factual and you would need to imput specific dates into this timeline. Young children do not focues on history so it may not be a relevant tool to them. Also, the fact that three timeline points come up at once is very confusing. The way the stagger them in a column even makes it confusing for me to see which event comes first.
I think this could be a useful tool for older students for history projects, or their personal story, however it does not seem like something I would use in my classroom.

My classroom website

https://sites.google.com/site/jgregg6tpte/

Delicious & Glogster

       After learning about Delicious, I am very excited about its possible uses for me. I love to bookmark my favorite websites, recipes, etc. But when I am not on my laptop I don't always remember very site I want to view. This Web2.0 will definitely be useful to me in my everyday life and in my teaching career. I will be able to have useful links in one easily accessible place. I have already created links to all of the TPTE places I will need to visit for class(our home page, pbworks, blogger, etc.) next, I will be creating links for all of my favorite food blogs!

       After looking at Glogster, I feel that it is a great way for older students to do projects! It is like a digital poster where they can present all sorts of information in various formats about their given topic. Also, a teacher could provide a Glogster page to her students as a different way to present information to the class. I am in early childhood education and do not feel that this would be as practical for me as some other tools. I think that I could create an interactive page on a topic for my students to explore in the classroom or at home with their parents. However, I don not think that my students would really be able to create a Glogster page themselves. There are lots and lots of options to put on a glog, which could be overwhelming. Also, I would not expect 1st graders to have the technology skills to create a page like this.

A WebQuest for My Classroom

Fanatic About Fossils
http://questgarden.com/131/50/5/110919113838/index.htm

In this WebQuest 4th graders have the very important role of Paleontologist. They are working with Doctor Mikelson in opes of going back in time. Before he takes them, they must show him that they have seen many different fossils and know about them and their formation. They have a Diary to fill out during the 4 day process and different tasks to discuss every day. There is an interactive fossil dig link as well as a video, links to questions, etc.
This WebQuest would go along with a study of fossils or dinosaurs. It seems like a fun way to present the tasks to the children, through the use of this paleontologist story, while making sure that what they are learning in the classroom is reinforced.

WebQuest, It's a Journey

Through our examination of WebQuests, I think that this can be a great tool to use with older kids. You can set up a project through a WebQuest, explaining every student's role in the project and providing links on the internet they can use. I like this because, rather than providing a handout for each child that has suggested websites on it, you can set up your WebQuest to take the students directly where they need to go for research, etc. The thing that I dislike about them the most is probably their relevance to my field. I am PreK-3, and feel that using a WebQuest would be silly and inaccessible for the majority of the age groups I will be able to work with. WebQuests can be useful, but i believe they are better for older students.

Website Evaluation Tool

This is the site that I found that gives good criteria for evaluating a website. I liked this example because it asked good questions for each of the 5 criteria. Also, it provided a PDF of the evaluation handout that goes with the items discussed on the site. This site and form would be something that I would use to access a website. I also think that his could be used with older kids as a guide while they are doing research in the classroom.

Blog Recomendation & My Evaluation of the Evaluation Form

Overall, I think that I would recommend PBS Teacher to others. It has great lesson plans and other media for a huge range of topics and age groups. It’s easy to search for what you are looking for based on your desired age group and subject matter, by going through a drop-down bar. I think it is difficult to pinpoint who has written up lesson plans and articles, but it is clear that a well informed, educated group of professionals have a big say in this site. Also, I think it is beneficial to the teacher members to have discussion forums to get ideas from each other with.
I think that the evaluation form was helpful to me as I navigated through PBS Teachers. As someone who is new to teacher education pages, it was helpful to see what things I should look for in a good or bad website. I think that in my classroom, this my be a useful tool to use for assessing websites, especially before I really get a knack for evaluating them on my own.

Wikis: My Experience So Far

My first experience using wikis was actually this semester in my Reading Ed class. (We had to use one to sign for discussion leaders) The actual process of using a wiki seems fairly commen sense to me, which is definitely a relief. I have successfully created a wiki bio already and it went pretty well. I was able to successfully embed links within my wikiw, which I thought was really cool! I think the more I play aroud with them and use them, I will really get the hang of how to use them. I could see wikis as being a great way to communicate with others, just like in the "In Plain English" video we watched.

Course Expectations

I'm hoping that this course will give me a good base knowldege of how to use technology in my teaching, as well as in everyday life. I expect that overtime I will become more familiar with how to use a mac computer. Also, I hope to become more skilled at using google docs. I have never set up a blog before or a website, so I hope that this course will give me the skills necessary to do that successfully. Overall, my expectation is to become more technology savy, if even just a little, so that I can use technology to benifit me more.

Get to know me: Juli

I was born and raised in Morristown, Tennessee. There I attended Morristown Hamblen High School West. I have taken dance classes since Kindergarten and began teaching preschool ballet and tap during high school. While teaching those classes, I realized my love for little ones and my desire to work with them on a daily basis. My license will be for PreK-3, and I am not completely sure what grade I want to teach yet. As I get to experience the classroom setting for different grades, I am finding that I enjoy them all.

In my spare time I still enjoy dancing with my studio back home. I am also a very avid baker. I enjoy baking all types of sweets, but especially enjoy cake decorating. I have taken all of the Wilton Cake Decorating classes and will be making my first wedding cake this Fall. While I am good with cakes, I do not feel to confident with computers. I use a computer on a daily basis to Facebook and browse the web. However, I am somewhat computer illiterate. I feel like this course will challenge my computer skills, but I am looking forward to learning how to use and incorporate technology into my teaching.