Week Four

            This week was another gold mine of information for technology in the classroom. The focus for the fourth week was presentation programs for teaching and learning. I of course am familiar with presentation programs, but am learning through the technology explorations that there are several new ones that should definitely be on my radar!

            This week’s reading did an excellent job at providing information on how PowerPoint presentations can be used in the classroom. As a not yet teaching student, it is so great to read all the ways that this technology can be used in the classroom. Many of the things that were provided in this lesson as ideas for the classroom were things that I had never thought of. I am so grateful that I have this list of activities for my students to use with PowerPoint!

            With this newfound information on PowerPoint presentations, I created my own presentation that I would consider presenting to my future classroom. I am not yet teaching, so I envisioned presenting my PowerPoint to fifth graders in a Social Studies classroom. I pretended that we were learning of different cultures of the world and chose to do my presentation over the French life style. I think that it is very important for students to recognize that there are other cultures besides our own of American. I also want them to discover how intriguing and interesting it can be to learn about other cultures other than our own! Once I finished creating my presentation, I presented it to my neighbor, an elementary age student who just completed the fifth grade (school is already out here). I am most proud of how my presentation reflected the French culture and lifestyle. It is often surprising for students to see how different people can live as opposed to our own lifestyles. We often eat in small increments of time, on the go and in a hurry. It is so neat to see students’ reactions to learn that French people often take hours to eat one meal! I am most proud of how interesting my neighbor, Macy, found the presentation! If I could create the presentation differently, I might take additional time to implement more effects – not sound, but more of a revealing factor so that all the information does not appear at once. I found that Macy was trying to read the information before I had gotten to it. However, Macy seemed to really enjoy the presentation. She was inquisitive about the French culture, and that made me feel like she really enjoyed the presentation and found it interesting. This experience was a great learning opportunity for me, especially since this is the first time that I have presented a presentation to elementary-aged students.

TECHNOLOGY EXPLORATIONS

            This week entailed many technology explorations, but was extremely worthwhile. I always look forward to these each week for the pure value of wonderful resources that they provide.

            The first technology exploration assigned for this week involved researching Comic Life and iSpeech. Although comics do not personally intrigue me, I know that many students are. I loved discovering this resource because I am intrigued by visuals! Comic Life offers a wonderful way for students to write and read in a fun way that truly interests them. Like many others that I have discovered in this course, this is going on my list for use in my future classroom!

            iSpeech was another wonderful find for my list! We explored a few resources last week that were similar to this one, but iSpeech blew them out of the water for me! The fact that you can select different voices, including celebrity inspired ones is just way too neat! I definitely think that this resource will catch students’ attention and greatly increase their engagement.

            The second technology exploration was again an informational gold mine! Voicethread is a resource that allows users to create recorded presentations while still allowing viewers to make comments, even though they are not watching it live. I think that this is an awesome idea that creates so many opportunities for the classroom. Whether a student is out for a day, or two months, this resource can be used to catch them up on their classes. I also think that this could be a great idea if the teacher knows that they are going to be absent. This would eliminate the wasted time of busy work and supervision from a substitute. Instead, students can spend their class time viewing a pre-recorded Voicethread presentation and continue learning the content. Genius!! The Voicethread Wiki is also a wonderful addition to this resource. It has many ideas and lessons for teachers to use when creating Voicethread presentations. It also has a plethora of ideas for teachers to assign students projects that use this resource. I cannot say enough great things about this resource!

            The third technology exploration for this week led to Storybird and Scibblar. I absolutely love Storybird. I had never heard of it before, but since discovering it, I cannot stop thinking of ways to use it! Storybird allows users to create stories with amazing pre-loaded art. It involves students in the process of writing as well as reading. Scribblar is also a wonderful resource that incorporates all users in a brainstorm activity. I think that it is so neat that technology has progressed in such a way that an entire classroom can participate in a digital brainstorming activity. I love how technology continues to grow!

            The fourth and final technology exploration introduced us to Xtranormal and Virtualmanipulatives. Xtranormal seems like an interesting resource that is used to make movies. This could be a great assignment for those students who need to express themselves creatively and see a result at the end of it. This is an awesome way to accomplish those! Virtualmanipulatives is a great resource for teachers and I, again, am so happy that I discovered this resource. There are so many times where we have all tried to illustrate something and completely failed. This solves this problem in important areas such as math education. This has every type of math resource visual imaginable. It is also a great way to incorporate technology into the classroom as well as possibly have student involvement. I am so grateful that this resource was included in this week’s lesson.

            As usual, all of this week’s technology explorations were greatly informational and remarkable. There are so many ways to use these in the classroom! 

Technology Exploration #11.1

Technology Exploration #11.2

Technology Exploration #12.1

Technology Exploration #12.2

Technology Exploration #13.1

Technology Exploration #13.2

Technology Exploration #14.1

Technology Exploration #14.2

Week Three

     This week’s assignments was again an overload of information, but it a fantastic and exciting way! There were so many things that I learned this week that I feel I need to begin a notebook just to keep all of the new and interesting resources that I discovered in the third week of Educational Technology!

The first assignment for this week began with the presentation of word processing and desktop publishing. I was familiar with half of this information, as word processing is pretty simple to understand. However, the term of desktop publishing was a new concept to me. While I knew what the items in this section were, I was interested by the new term of desktop publishing. I would have never been able to guess what that term meant!

     Word processing is defined as “an application allowing the entry, manipulations, and storage of text (Grabe and Grabe 1996). This resource has been used for many years, and it is what I am using right now! This proves how important word processing is. There are several instances where technology seems to come and go, however word processing has been and will be here for a while.

When thinking of how word processing can be used in the classroom, writing papers is probably one of the first things that pops into your mind. However, there are many other opportunities available to excite students about learning. One of my favorite examples from the text is creating alphabet books. This is something that can apply to several different subject areas and grades. Whether it be alphabet books for third graders identifying different animals that begin with each letter, or alphabet books pertaining to different architectural styles and pieces for college students, word processing can be used for both!

     It can also be used for creating web sites, which is something that both students and teachers alike can do. Although this may require some additional training, I would think that this could be a fairly simple task that everyone could enjoy. It is amazing how far technology has come!

The discussion of word processing then lead to the discussion of another technology resource, desktop publishing. The text gave a few definitions of just what desktop publishing is, but Norton and Sprague (2001) gave my favorite: “the ability to produce documents that closely resemble those produced by professional printers… through the ability to control the precise placement of text and graphics on the page”. This resource is something that I am very familiar with, but had no idea it was identified under this category. I love the idea of creating visual documents and being able to place something just where I would like it, as opposed to spacing it over to a certain position using word processing tools.

Much like word processing, desktop publishing could also be a great addition to the classroom. For those students who are mature enough to grasp the concept, this could be a very exciting and interesting tool for them. I myself love visuals, and I am sure that there are many more students who enjoy both creating and viewing them. Desktop publishing programs allow students to complete assignments in a creative way. As discussed in my discussion board post, I think that this would be an excellent opportunity for students to create various materials such as brochures, posters, ads, etc. The possibilities seem to be endless with this resource in regards to creative assignments!

     As mentioned before, visuals can be very important in the success of students learning. I am a testament to that! I feel that images are very important to those who just need to see it to get it. I, like many others, am the type of person that needs to see a visual to fully understand the content. While that can be hard sometimes, it can also be a wonderful blessing when those resources are available! I am not yet teaching, but anticipate that by the large usage amount of visuals in my personal life, visuals will be very prevalent in my classroom!

                       

     A resource that I find that I will be looking forward to using in my future classroom is Bloom’s Technology Pyramid*. I had not heard of this pyramid before, and was pleasantly surprised when I clicked on the link. This pyramid is a wealth of knowledge informing teachers what categories and steps should be used when incorporating technology. I loved seeing all of the logos in the pyramid, some of which I recognized and some that I did not. It was fun to research the ones that I had not heard of and make a note of them for future use in my classroom.

*Image included above. Source

TECHNOLOGY EXPLORATIONS

     As usual, this week’s tech explorations held a vast database of fun, interesting, and helpful resources. This may just be my favorite week of all the tech explorations! Out of the first tech exploration of GPAT and Zoho. While I found the GPAT, a Georgia program that provides use and training of assistive technology devices, to be interesting, I absolutely loved Zoho. I have used the chat feature on website for customer service an innumerable amount of times. To me, it seems quicker and less of a hassle than talking over the phone. I love the idea of being able to use this in the classroom. I think that this would be a wonderful addition to a class’ website at a designated time each week for homework help or parent questions. I love this resource!

     The second technology exploration gave 4teachers.org and Dimio. To be honest, one of these was possibly the best resource I have seen, on the other the worst. While I feel that Dimio is a great resource, the website itself seems to be a little sketchy to me and makes me feel that it may be a little unreliable. On the flip side, 4teachers.org was FANTASTIC!!!! It had so many wonderful and FREE websites that can be used by virtually every teacher. My favorite three that I found were RubiStar, QuizStar, and Classroom Architect, with the latter being my absolute favorite! I love the idea of being able to plan my classroom and will definitely use it when I have one of my own!!

     The third technology exploration provided the resource PowerTalk, a wonderful resource that presents presentations by reading the text. I am not sure where I could use this myself, but it sounds like a nice program. I feel that once I was in the classroom, I would probably see more of a need for this.

The fourth and final technology exploration for this week encompassed two resources under one umbrella, WebQuest and ReadTheWords. I had heard of WebQuest before, but never had the opportunity to find what it actually was. After researching the topic, I love the idea of creating lessons where students are required to find most (if not all) of their information on the web! It is a great way to incorporate technology into the classroom and make students both more aware and comfortable with technology. I also loved ReadTheWords in this week’s lesson. ReadTheWords allows anyone to take virtually any text and covert it to someone reading it. This could be very helpful in classrooms, allowing educators to turn their lessons into podcasts, audio files, etc. I can see this as a wonderful tool in the classroom, and is something that I will definitely consider in the future!

     Overall, this week was once again a very insightful and interesting week. I loved most all of the resources that I perused. They are definitely things that I will use in my future classroom! 

Tech Exploration #7.1

Tech Exploration #7.2

Tech Exploration #8.1

Tech Exploration #8.2

Tech Exploration #8.3

Tech Exploration #8.4

Tech Exploration #9

Tech Exploration #10.1

Tech Exploration #10.2

Week Two

          This week's assignment seemed to focus all on wikis - what they are, why they are used, and how they can be used in a classroom setting. We also dove into the world of Excel spreadsheets and how they can be applied to a classroom setting. My reaction to this week’s assignments was that they were amazing. Both of these resources were items that I was familiar with, but never knew the potential they had in a classroom setting! 

     One of the subjects that interested me the most this week was the idea of databases and spreadsheets in a classroom setting. There are of course many reasons that I can think of from a teacher standpoint, whether it be performance charts, grade books, or rosters, but there are so many more that can apply to this setting. I was most interested in finding that students can use them as well! When researching this topic, I found a blog titled "Class Chatter" (http://classclatter.blogspot.com/2011/05/spreadsheets-and-databases-in-classroom.html). The author is actually from Monticello, KY which is somewhat near me - exciting! It seems like the author Erica Casada may have done this for a course as well, as it only spans over a couple of months, yet it is still very informational. 

    I found it interesting that there were many suggestions for Excel use for students. I really liked the idea of having students create a vocabulary list for the books that they are reading. It is a great way for students to learn to use Excel, as well as apply and study their vocabulary. I know as a student, it was always better for me to write and apply my vocabulary; this way includes technology! 

     My background before pursuing an Elementary Education degree was Interior Design and Architecture. There were spreadsheets in both of these areas! The first time that I used a spreadsheet and created one using functions and formulas was in a Materials and Methods of Industrial Design. It was one of the most confusing and brain-torturing courses I have ever had - I used Excel spreadsheets to literally calculate exactly how many bricks a building would have. It was mind bending and annoying all at the same time. The second time I experienced Excel was under a more enjoyable circumstance - Merchandising. This involved formulas galore and I felt that I had a better understanding of the program. It also helped that the teacher did not make me cry!! This is something that I want to avoid all together with my future students. I do not want to make them cry. I do not want to make them despise such wonderful technology. I want them to love and appreciate it, to find it useful and accessible. 

     As a teacher, I would love to incorporate spreadsheets into my future classroom. I envision myself using it for attendance records, grade books, as well as list making. For students, I think it would be a wonderful idea to have students keep track of their own grades, participate in group projects, etc. 

     This week's Tech Explorations were marvelous to say the absolute least. There were so many programs that I discovered with these Tech Explorations that I found myself wondering how I ever lived without them!

            The first Tech Exploration included researching mind mapping. I was astounded at the simplicity of the sites as well as the just plain awesomeness of them! I am a very organized and graphic person. I cannot be organized without having some sort of visual, and I know that there are many others who are just like me. I am not the type of person that can make a “mental note”. If it is not written down, emailed to me, or set out for me to see, I am forgetting it! These websites are a lovely fix for this need. They allow you to make a visual plan from your mind and map it out. It helps you to better organize your thoughts, and I cannot think of a better environment to use these resources in than a classroom. As a teacher, we teach students how to organize your thoughts and that it is important to map them out so that they are clear. These resources, such as bubbl.us allow students to clearly create a plan that is neat and easily read. It helps them to organize their thoughts and clearly see their ideas. I loved these websites!

            The second Tech Exploration included researching Animoto, a website that allows users to create a video. I loved this one as well. Although it was not totally free, I found it to be extremely inspiring and innovative. I found that it could be very helpful in a classroom setting. I think that it would be wonderful as an introductory assignment where students were required to introduce themselves. This site uses pictures to create a video. I think that this would be a fun, yet technologically stimulating project.

            The third and final Tech Exploration for this week required us to research Google Docs and PhotoPeach. I am in love with Google Docs, and have been since January. I recently got a new computer without any Microsoft and all of my homework was done exclusively on Google Docs. I find it a wonderful and free (my favorite part!) resource for all ages. I envision it being a wonderful resource for an online portfolio that is accessible everywhere. PhotoPeach was however a new website to me, but I find it very intriguing. Creating a slideshow is important for everyone to know. I imagine this being included in a classroom setting requiring students to create a slideshow informing their peers of a country they have yet to study. This could be a very fun addition to a classroom setting for the teacher, and the students!

            Overall, I found this week to be an amazing, information-packed lesson. I loved all of the resources we were required to research and I definitely imagine myself using them in my future classroom!  

Lesson Two Technology Explorations:

Technology Exploration #4

Technology Exploration #5

Technology Exploration #6

Week One

     This week in EDOL 533 was so packed with information, I loved it! I pictured myself learning about helpful tips and software in this course, but just in the first week I have learned so much more!
     First on the list were the ISTE NETS*T Standards. I am quickly learning through my graduate degree that there are standards for everything! It was both helpful and interesting to learn what is expected of me as a teacher in regards to technology. I loved that it was short and sweet, yet oh - so insightful. I have kept record of this document, and plan on looking back at it frequently to measure my compliance and progress. The only challenges that I anticipate with this is that I will criticize myself too harshly. Easing up on myself is a lesson that I need to learn, too much of a perfectionist I suppose! I will look to overcome these challenges by simply making goals for myself - whether it be daily, weekly, or monthly. Anything is possible!
   The second set of information that I found extremely helpful and I will put into effect ASAP is eBooks. How wonderful is the thought of going to the internet to find the perfect book to fit your lesson? I think it is one of the best inventions ever! I have found that while my school library is stocked pretty well, there are also modern books that fit lessons perfectly. The resource of eBooks fills this need beautifully, and they are easily accessible!! This is something that I will definitely use in the future!  A challenge that may come with this wonderful resource is the wide choice of options. Is that really a challenge you say? I anticipate it to be, I love books and imagine myself choosing five when one would suffice. I feel that proper planning and reading reviews of books would help me to narrow down my choices!
   The third and final nugget of information that I found golden was the use of podcasts in a school setting. I have listened to podcasts before for travel information and general discussions of trips, but never before did it enter my mind what a wonderful addition they would be in a classroom. I can just imagine the excitement that my students would feel over listening to a podcast pertaining to their subject. It seems like a great way to facilitate engagement as well as excitement in the classroom. I think that it will also help those who learn best from hearing their information. It will keep them engaged, and when told from a different source, may also help the information click in their minds. A challenge that I see with this resource would possibly be the lack of credible and interesting podcasts. At the elementary age, it takes a lot for students to be fully engaged and interested. I would overcome this issue by possibly creating my own, or diving into deep research for interesting yet informational podcasts.  
   If this first week is just a preview into the information that we will obtain in EDOL 533, I am super excited! I already feel more prepared and relieved about incorporating more technology into my classroom!

***Find my Tech Exploration Worksheets attached below!***

Tech Exploration #1 - PBWorks

Tech Exploration #2 - eBooks
Tech Exploration #3 - Podcasts