Final Reflection

Wow! I can't believe this course is over already! Although it went fast, I learned a great deal. I learned a lot of new technology gadgets and websites to use, but I think the most important thing I learned in the class is that in order to truly understand technology, you have to practice it on your own. I must say, it was frustrating at times when i couldn't figure something out, but I felt great when I finally did figure it out. A few things I especially enjoyed were the Web 2.0 projects. I didn't know that such tools existed, I had never used any of them before. I especially liked Wordle and Taxgedo, those are fun tools that can be used in class and out of class. The website was especially helpful because I am going to do create eon for my classroom when I get a teaching position. This has to be one of the most informative classes I have yet taken.

My Digital Movie

Animoto

Animoto is an easy-to-use website for creating slideshow videos. I had never used or created videos or slideshows (other than Powerpoint). I think it's very creative and fun. I could see uses in the classroom for this, but find that it would be very time consuming. I think if I offered students to use this as a presentation tool, I would assign most of the work to be done at home in their spare time so they are not distracted in class. I dislike that if you want the best benefits of the site you have to pay a fee. This could get quite expensive for the classroom, in this case I would instruct students to use the free version for basic functions.

Interactive Spreadsheet

This interactive spreadsheet is a very convenient and easy way for teachers to assess their students or create practice worksheets for students to do at home. I found this a helpful source for parents to help their children with at home. I really enjoyed creating this spreadsheet because it's a simple activity to create in Excel.

Wordle and Taxgedo

The "word bubble" art that can be created from Wordle and Taxgedo is AMAZING! I did not know that such websites existed. Not only do I plan on using these in my classroom, but I will use these for personal tasks. I like Wordle because the tool that can be used to create customized word art for any occasion. It can be used in the classroom as an educational tool, at the office to present information in a fun and creative way, or at home just because!   Wordle allows for personal editing by providing users with a wide array of colors, fonts, and styles. Print them out to create fun posters or t-shirts, post them to your personal online profiles or blogs, or use it as a fun background.

Taxgedo is very similar to wordle except that website is themed and their customizations are more unique that wordle's. Tagxedo can be used in the classroom as a tool to get children interested in spelling words, poetry, history lessons pertaining to historical figures, and familiarize children with words in a song. They can also be used to teach about things such as animals, plants, nature, historical events, people, and math.

Both of these sites are very fun and can be used in many aspects of the classroom.

The following website is helpful in using creative, fun and educational tools for lesson planning and activities:


http://486sum11web20.pbworks.com/w/page/41418050/Web

Web Project- Inspiration

 

With Webspiration Classroom, students use visual thinking and outlining techniques to develop writing skills and analyze, synthesize and comprehend information. Applying proven learning methods such as webbing, concept mapping, and graphic organizers, students learn to write and think more effectively, increasing their achievement in Language Arts and across the curriculum.

Twitter and Delicious

I found both Twitter and Delicious to both be more for personal use than for educational use. Twitter would be a better communication tool than myspace or facebook, which are currently popular forms of communication.  I think twitter would be more useful for older grades such as high school, not so much for middle school and elementary school students.

Delicious is a great resource for teachers or older grades in high school. This would be an excellent tool for research projects. Since the site is a social bookmarking site, I don't know how credible I'd consider the sources. I would use this site for personal use and not for education purposes.

Smilebox and Storybird

I enjoyed learning about smilebox and storybird. I found smilebox a fun and creative photosharing site. It would be useful in creating scrapbooks, slideshows, greeting cards, birthday cards and more. Smilebox would be useful in the classroom as a fun and creative way to edit photos and more for projects. I find it to be more useful for personal use than for educational use. 

I found storybird to be more for educational use that smilebox. Students can create many literacy projects or personal projects with this site. The stories that could be created can vary from elementary school us to high school or even college use. This would be a really good alternative project for the creative students.

Cruise

Scavenger Hunt

Digital Collection

Picnik and Glogster

I found Glogster to be exceptionally helpful! I can't wait to introduce this into my classroom, it's much more conventional than the old poster board. I actually made one for a presentation that I have to give. It was easy to use and fun to create!

I didn't especially like picnik, I found it confusing. I get that you can edit pictures and add things to them, but I don't see how it would be helpful in the classroom, other than making name tags. I guess since I have never been into photo editing, I don't find it particularly interesting. Of coarse I won't let my interests deter my students, I plan on introducing all of the new technologies and websites.

Here is a glog I made:

http://shay25.glogster.com/reed-430/

http://shay25.glogster.com/reed-430/

WebQuest Activities

The following are collaborative activities that can be used in the classroom.

Where is my hero?

Grow School Greens

Unraveling the Underground Railroad

We all Scream for Ice Cream

Ancient Egypt WebQuest

Wiki's

 Learning about wiki's has been helpful in learning and understanding various ways I can use technological resources to help students in the class. I learned that wiki's can be used by students as well as teacher. In early elementary school it's probably better to just have teachers and parents use wiki's.

The following are websites that are helpful in understanding wiki's better.



http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutWikis/156807

http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/50-ways-to-use-wikis-for-a-more-collaborative-and-interactive-classroom/

Website Evaluation Part II

Reflection on Evaluating Websites

The website I evaluated was apples4theteacher. 

This was a very interesting and informative activity. I can't even begin to discuss how many sites I have used in researching in which I didn't consider the accuracy of the site.

This site is useful for some educational purposes. The games are education and could be used by students if they choose to use the computer as their free-time activity. I wouldn’t necessarily use this site as a teaching tool, but possibly for worksheets and other educational printouts the site offers. The site would also be useful for certain geography lessons because it provides interactive lessons.  These lessons include an electronic talking book with very educational pictures and maps. The site wouldn’t be useful for parents because the site only offers articles for parents. If I use a site in my classroom, I would like to be able to share that with parents. Since there is no verifiable information on the site, such as biographical information about the author, I cannot be sure that all the information on the site is accurate, an important characteristic teachers need before teaching a topic or subject.

Website Verification

The following site is very helpful in determining whether a website is legitimate. There are step-by-step instructions to follow that help guide you in determining the validity of the site. One of the great features of this site is that it recommends testing a website against the Better Business Bureau's website to see if there are any claims against the site.

I found the article here.

Bio and Expectations

Biography and Expectations

Short Intro

My name is Shannon McCool. I am a senior majoring in elementary education. I want to teach 3rd grade because it was my favorite and I like that students are still new to the school environment, yet know what to expect and how to behave in the classroom. I enjoy reading, no favorite book, but I like to read various books that people recommend me.

Informal Introduction to Class

I was born and raised in Michigan. I moved to Tennessee about 4 years ago with my best friend. She wanted to attend UT’s criminal psychology program. I moved just because. I currently work at Loomis, an armored car company, so I work with millions of $ everyday. Pretty cool job to have while a student. I just got engaged (like a week ago). I’m very excited, but have no clue where to start as far as planning a wedding. In my spare time my fiancee and I travel back and forth to Memphis (his hometown) and Michigan. I enjoy outdoor activities, such as hiking, swimming, and camping. I just discovered ziplining, it’s amazing! As far as technology, I know very little. I check my facebook and e-mail often as well as write papers on Word documents. My fiancee is exceptionally well with computers, so when I have an issue he fixes it. I am looking forward to finally learning about computers and technology.

Course Expectations

I am hoping that this class gives me a better understanding and use for technology in the classroom as well as out. I have very little knowledge of computers and technology, but I hope this class changes that. I hope to discover shortcuts to doing basic documents and profiles. I hope to feel confident enough to create a website that I can use to communicate with my students and parents.



http://shay25.glogster.com/edit/glog-4290/