Voice Thread Project

This was another fun and exciting project that has many applications in the classroom.  I can see having students create their own short stories individually and in groups, as well as myself as a teacher using this tool to put a lesson on-line for a student who has missed it.  I love the fact that you can comment on what is on the screen in many different ways, and the fact that you have graphic tools available to you while you do so is a huge added bonus.  The graphic tools themselves allow for the opportunity to leave complete lessons online, examples and all, just like you were teaching real time.  

This is such an easy tool to use that you could have just about any age creating great stories using this program.  The only thing that I can see being an issue for the younger students is when you are recording voice I can see them having trouble with "dead air" unless you give the students plenty of time to practice their timing or have someone there to help them manipulate the record buttons in a timely fashion.

Overall, another great tool to add to my teaching arsenal!

Comic Life Poster

This was one of the easiest, most fun programs that I have ever used!  The possibilities for using this program both at home and in the classroom are endless.  What a fun way to recap the week in photos and print to display them in your room (one per week all year), make flashcards or have the kids create posters of historical people,places or events.  This would be a great way to post step-by-step directions for basic subjects such as reading, writing and math also.  This program is so easy to manipulate that I'm sure the kids would love to make their own poster of almost anything you'd ask them to; and just think of all the things they could learn and explore while doing research for those posters!

I was able to use this program at home also.  This weekend a friend had a baby shower, and I was able to take pictures of her newborn and place them into the templates, creating great framed posters for her to hang in her nursery.  I quickly became comfortable with this program and am confident that I could use it in almost any setting.

Once again, another great program.  I love how this class just keeps building and building.  Just when I think there is no chance there could be a better program out there for our next lesson, I'm pleasantly surprised.  This is one of the best classes I have ever taken!  The practical application, coupled with a great teacher showing us how to do lessons makes this class priceless!

Digital Video

I've really enjoyed this project. It's been a lot of fun to look through photos to use for this video and reminisce as I went along. I chose to do a video of a friends wedding that occurred this past summer. Their first wedding anniversary is coming up and I figured it would be a nice present for them and a perfect opportunity to work on something that I cared about. I had no problem importing the pictures from iPhoto. I did however have trouble fading the music in and out. It would only let me fade over the course of 2.0 seconds, which I didn't feel was enough time on a couple of the songs. I would have liked to have had the choice to fade the music out over a course of 5.0 seconds or so instead. I had fun with the Ken Burns affects. It was a lot of work to do each one, but fun none the less.

Overall, I had a lot of fun and think I took away a valuable skill from this lesson. It will be great to collect photos over the course of the year in my future classroom and put together a little video for the kids to take home at the end of the year. What a great way to preserve memories throughout the years.

PowerPoint As An Instructional Tool

I really enjoyed this project. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a chance to use Power Point, and it was nice to see how much the program has improved over the years. I haven’t done a project this way in probably over five years, so getting back into it was fun.

I really like the usefulness of GoogleDocs. I had trouble posting to it, but I think if the bugs get worked out, it could be one of the most useful tools I now know how to use. The fact that it can be posted and multiple people can edit the document at once is just amazing. I can see the how this would be very useful for team teaching, grant writing, or helping kids who are sick or on vacation keep up (minus the editing on that one).

I just can’t believe all the little things that are out there that I had no idea about. This class has really been eye opening. I have already learned far more than I had hoped for in this class, and there are still about 9 weeks left. Talk about getting more for your money!

Overall, I really enjoyed this project. It allowed me to use software that I haven’t used in years and learn new ways to use it. This project also gave me a chance to explore things that I didn’t even know existed. The mixture of the two was just perfect. I hope there are more opportunities this semester to engage in something similar.

-topic of your choice-

I was in a fieldwork class this past week and one of the students commented to me that I was the only one that talked.  It took me a second to realize that he meant that I was the only UAF student that was assigned to his class that talked.  I then took the opportunity to ask him if that was good or bad.  He thought for a second and said he thought it was good, but wasn't sure why all the rest of the people sat in the corner and just watched.  He wanted to know why I didn't just sit in the corner like everyone else.  After a moment of reflection I told him that the whole reason I actually came to his class was to learn from him and the rest of his peers, and I wasn't sure that I could do that unless I had a chance to interact with them.  I let him know that I didn't feel that I could learn as much as possible by just sitting and observing his class, but to get the most out of the experience I needed to talk with everyone and hear what they had to say.  It didn't matter what we talked about, just that we talked, and that I got a chance to know all of them, who they were.  I told him I wanted to hear what they liked and disliked, and most importantly why.

I've had a few days to think about this interaction and I still feel the same.  As students with the School of Education we are given this amazing opportunity to visit classrooms around the district, to see what they are like and most importantly a chance to interact with students of many different ages and backgrounds.  I believe that this is the most significant, enriching opportunity that we get during the course of our college education, and that it should not be wasted sitting in the corner.  We are there to learn from these students, and they are ready and willing to teach us more than our books will ever tell us, if only we will let them.

Software Resources

I have searched the web over and found three fun and exciting, educational based websites that I would like to share with you. They are:

Software Title: SpellingCity.com
Grade/Age Level: K/1
Subject Area(s): Spelling
Platform: Both Mac and PC
Review: I like the fact that this site has many activities related to spelling and they are formatted in fun ways for young children including hangman, word search, matching, alphabetizing and more. This site has games rooted in both audio and visual cues depending on what the student may need. This does however mean that you would need a pair of headphones to work on this site. It has spelling activities sectioned out also, so if you would like your student to work on only "at" works, there is a place for that. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't find a place to input your own classroom spelling list, but the variety of methods for teaching spelling outweighed that. I like that you can play without having to give any personal information and there were no prompts to do so at any time while I was on the site. There also were no ads on the site at all, which I found to be a bonus. This is a site for mostly individualized play, but with a little training students could learn to work together on a few of the games such as the match version offered. Overall, I would recommend this site for young emerging readers.

Software Title: Sight Words With Sampson
Grade/Age Level: K/1 /2/3
Subject Area(s): Reading with a focus on sight words.
Platform: Both Mac and PC
Review: There are many things that I like about this program, starting with the idea that it seems to cover a large variety of words that could be useful up until third grade depending on the level of the readers that you have in your class. The program gives the students a chance to learn the word by saying it to you (you would need headphones for this) and allowing you to then spell the word. Then you move to the section prompting you to build words which again is telling you the word and having you spell it. The third section is identifying words where they say the word, you click on the tile with the word on it and finally they give you a quiz on the words from your list. I really like the way the program slowly builds on what it is teaching you, and the idea that it really could work for just about anyone. At the end of each exercise you can print a certificate that tells you everything from the basics of your name to how long it took you to complete the exercise and how many you got correct and incorrect. If you were to print these certificates, or at the very least record the data, you could use it to track progress over the course of the year if you wanted to allow this as one of your choices during reading time. It also has added programs such as flashcards. I also like the fact that you can set up a log-in, but it is not required to use the page, and again, there are not ads present on the page. Both of these are a huge bonus. I would use this in my class in a heart beat!

Software Title: Starfall
Grade/Age Level: K/1 /2
Subject Area(s): Reading, Math
Platform: Both Mac and PC
Review: I like this site because of the variety it offers. You can find everything from counting lessons to ABC's to reading a book about Greek Myths. This site gives you the options of having the books read to you, or you reading them yourself. This would require headphones, but what a great tool for emerging readers. I particularly like the section that tells you the ABC's out-loud, then the girl on the screen makes the American Sign Language sign for the letter, then it gives you the sound for the letter. What a great inclusion tool if you had a hard of hearing or deaf student! They also have a series of seasonal and holiday related games that are available also. There is no log-in required to play, and no ads, but there is a store available to shop in if you wish. The store is not in huge letters, so would not detract from what the students see on the page. This seems like a great website for students, and would be an excellent site to offer students during computer free time.

Hope you all enjoy using these websites as much as I have!
Lisa :)

One to One Reflection

While watching the One to One video, I was amazed at how productive the classroom environments appeared.  Teaching and learning styles still seemed varied, even though each teacher and student had been given the same laptop.  Also, teachers seemed to be using this technology in different manners based on their comfort levels with the technology at hand, not the comfort levels of their students.  The learning atmospheres however, all seemed to possess high energy no matter who the teacher was.

The students all seemed to be cooperating on projects despite the distractions in the room.  All of them seemed engaged in the authentic learning atmospheres that they were provided, thanks to the laptops.  Students were also seen socializing over things that they found on their laptops, making them a learning tool on more than one level.  All of the students seemed positive about the One to One program and the work that they were able to due because of the programs creation.

One concern that I had about the classroom was whether there was still work being done the "good old fashioned way," which was not really addressed in the video.  I often wonder with all of the technology that we are exposing students to today, will they know what to do one day if the power goes out?  Will they be able to pull out a pen and paper and complete their work at a desk if they had to?  I'm sure that this will still be possible ten years from now, but what about 30 years from now?  

My hope is that students would benefit from having the world at their fingertips.  The video did address this some, and I think it's terrific.  The fact that teachers and students alike are not bound to just the information that is available to them in their textbooks and at the library is wonderful.  My hope is that having this freedom would create students with a more worldly knowledge base.

I personally would love to have a one to one classroom.  I feel that this would be the ideal environment in which to teach my students.  Many students these days are already computer savvy, and the wealth of knowledge out there to be gained by having a technology based classroom I feel is endless.  I would love to have the satisfaction of knowing that my students were learning a minimum of two skills at one time with each lesson, with technology being one of those skills.  Computers are the way of the future, and I believe the sooner that we can start students learning them, the more we are benefitting them in the long run.