Final Post

I enjoyed this class very much. I feel like I gained much more knowledge about technology, and I feel like I have more tools to work with as a professional. I guess I could say that prior to this class I was not very tech savvy, but now I know how to create blogs, navigate the web a little better, and create my own website. Most of the artifacts we created in class I thought were only things 'tech-y' people could create. I was so unaware of all the fabulous tools available to me that were so easy to use. I plan to use the majority, if not all, of the tools we learned about in this class sometime in my future classroom.
These tools are not only great for making great visuals for students, but they are also less time consuming (most are) and are free, so there is not a reason to not create a lesson, project, or handout from these tools. From this class I also learned that I really want a Mac computer sometime in the near future. I like my PC but I really liked working with Macs also. I had never really used one before this class, and now I've grown used to using one and have become more comfortable with it.

Website

The website is still something I am trying to get used to and learn to use. I am happy that I now know how to create a website if I were wanting to in the future. This is something that I think I will use. I have seen many school websites that do not require their teachers to create a website, but I like them because they are very informational and are helpful to those who may not know the teacher well. Looking at the teacher's website before meeting them for the first time on the first day of class would be a fun/cool way for the student to learn who he/she will be meeting (as well as the parent), and I like adding class work to the website. I think if students saw some of what they were doing in the classroom online and available to others to view, they would be more appreciative of their work. Hopefully I will get much more practice with using this tool and get used to it!

Blogging

The blogger tool was new to me (as was many of the tools we used in this class). I like using this tool for collaboration purposes and would be a good way for teachers to stay connected, as well as parents of students. I like how you can add pictures, videos, and links to the blogs so they kind of have an interactive aspect. I would like to use this tool in my classroom to keep connected with the community and to let parents know what is going on in the classroom.

IMovie

The IMovie activity was by far my favorite. I enjoyed creating a "how to" video, and it was fairly easy! Teachers of all technical capabilities would find this tool easy to use. Teachers can be creative in what they want to do with their video and how they want to present it. I like this tool because it is similar to the Animoto tool we used with our Web 2.0 tools, but it is much more advanced.

Timetoast

This was one of the Web 2.0 tools that I disliked the most. I can't see this being used in the classroom very often, except for a project or two. This would be interesting to use during a time unit to have the students create a timeline about themselves. I remember making a timeline in elementary school about many major events in my life. It would be cool to convert that to a Timetoast timeline for a presentation. I also dislike this tool because of the limited time frame someone is allowed to make. If a history teacher were to use this tool it would be difficult to use B.C. dates.

Glogster

This was one of my favorite Web 2.0 tools because it is truly interactive. Using this as a presentation in the classroom would be fun for students and they would have a great time creating them. There's a variety of presentations that can be made with this tool and virtually any subject can be included. I see myself using this tool often in the classroom, but I believe I'd use it more often in an older elementary class. 

Inspiration/Diagram

I really like the Inspiration tool. I think I will find myself using this tool often in the classroom to bring together ideas, present new ideas, etc. The diagram I used was to present the idea of biomes to second graders. It did not include all the biomes, but it was just a basic idea. I like how you can add pictures and notes to the diagram and it can be sort of interactive. 

 

Animoto

Animoto is a neat tool; it's kind of like Picasa but a bit more advanced. With Animoto you can put a variety of pictures together and add music to your slideshow. This is a great tool to use for like celebrations, weddings, or to show a vacation. In the classroom, this could be used to present ideas to the class or can be used after a summer, winter, or spring break to show the students what you did and give them a little information about yourself (the teacher). This is another tool that I think is cool for projects, but not a direct teaching tool.

Picasa

Picasa is a neat tool to use in the classroom, but I would only use it as an enhancement to a lesson rather than use it to teach a lesson. This tool, I don't believe, would be very effective in teaching skills. However, I think it would be something neat to do with the class. Since all students probably don't have access to a computer or the internet, this could be a few day project with a group of students. Students could be provided with a camera, just like our project, to take pictures around the school. If there are no cameras available, they could browse the web for some pictures on a specific topic. Again, I feel like this is more of a fun, interactive tool rather than a learning tool.

Wordle

I really like the Wordle tool. I think this would be great to use in the classroom for a variety of reasons. This could be used with vocabulary words, science, reading, or anything one can think of! In a fourth or fifth grade classroom this would be a good project for the children. They could create an about me Wordle to share with the class in the first week of school Since the tool is pretty simple to use, it would probably only take some time in one school day to make this quick, fun project.

Interactive White Board

I really enjoyed the ActiveInspire project. I think this tool would be great to use in the classroom and would be more interactive and fun than just paper and pencil and keeping all the students at their desks. It was difficult learning all the many tools ActiveInspire has to offer. There seems as if there is a limitless amount of things you can do with this tool. I like how the program can be used with any grade, it is not limited to older or younger children, so I can create interactive lessons even for preschoolers. I will definitely use this tool in my classroom!

Scavenger Hunt

First off, the resume activity was harder than I had expected. I already had a resume ready to use; however I did not have it in the same format that was expected for this class. It was confusing on how to get the document onto Google Drive and I had to tweek it a lot. In the end, I finally got it in the correct format with all my info. 

The scavenger hunt was one of the more fun activities we have done so far. I liked getting out of the classroom to take pictures of a variety of objects pertaining to colors. Using Picasa and Google Presentation was an interesting task. It took me a while to get used to using the Google Presentation and figuring out what all I could do with it. I still don't feel 100% comfortable with using this tool, but I hope I will be able to have more experiences with using it.

Resource Wiki

I enjoyed looking up different resources for teachers and students to use in the classroom. While it was a bit difficult at first, I finally got the hang of it. I was glad to be able to use the knowledge I gained from the website evaluation activity to use during this activity to find suitable websites appropriate for the classroom. I want to spend more time on the resource wiki and go back through and see what other helpful sites the others posted and hopefully begin building a file of resources for my future classroom!