Tools of Choice

Wow I can't believe this is our last blog. This semester has just flown by.

What?

This week was a little bit of a mess. All last weekend I kept wishing that we had had class that week so that we would have had more time to work on our final. Then we came to class this week and the computers were all down. So we talked about what a news letter, brochure and flyer were. I wasn't sure how to start any of these but when Doc. Waters asked how we could go about doing these and Jeremy said to find templates on line my fear went away and I got excited.

So What?

I new I wanted to do a flyer and a brochure but I was afraid to do the brochure. I thought it looked way to complicated but it ended up being the easiest. The first thing I did was google free brochure templates. A lot of different sites came up so I went to a few of them and played around with them but then I realized I didn't know what I wanted this brochure to be about. I thought about all the different activities my son did this year and what I wish, as a parent, I had had more info on. That's when I decided on the wax museum. My son never brought home any information on this and then one night he said " Oh mom, I need a costume tomorrow for Freddy Fender for my museum. Oh and I need to make this poster." Did I forget to mention this was at around nine o'clock at night. If he did bring home something telling me about this it must have been very plain and shuffled into the never ending pile of papers that the kids bring home. Once I decided on the theme everything else fell into place. I decided to use a template I found at office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx - I decided on this one because it was the most user friendly that I played around with and it had a template that I really liked. It is called " Old Book". I thought this was fitting since the wax museum is a history project. I didn't run into a single snag.

When it came time to do my flyer I had a little trouble. I didn't like any of the templates on the last site I used so I gave google docs a try. I found one I really liked and made my flyer. I was pleased with the way it turned out but when I saved it as a PDF it changed all the alignments. I tried everything I could think of but couldn't get it to work. I deleted the whole thing and started over. What I realized was that the template was one big box. I deleted that box then using the box with a capital T in it I was able to create many smaller boxes that I could put my text and pictures in. This time it worked. I was really exited. Then I put everything into my uen page. After that I practised getting to it from my URL instead of through UEN. I really enjoyed this assignment.

Now What?

As a teacher I know I will use these tools all the time. I will have a weekly news letter, flyers about filled trips, human development class and any other activities, and I will use the brochure I made for the wax museum. I can also use these tools for family reunions, PTA, scouts, activities and neighborhood things. The great thing is, you don't have to print them up, you can publish them and invite people to see them or you could e-mail them to everyone.

Video:

I wasn't sure if we were suppose to do the video for tools of choice, final exam intro or final exam so I will talk about them all. The video for final exam review was a day in the life of special ed. My first year as a substitute teacher I mostly did special ed. I loved it but it is not with out it's challenges. I have been slapped, spit on, scratched, head butted and bit. But the rewards for out way the challenges. At one school they were getting ready for their Christmas program. A young boy with down syndrome loved to sing. It was so fun to see his smiley face as he sang for us. another school a boy that is in a wheel chair, can't talk, has very little muscle tone and a lot of other problems would remember me and was happy to see me. Some times he would get mad at me because he loved to "dance" but I would make him use his bad hand. It would tire him out but it helped make him stronger. I had a few people try to talk me out of going back to school becoming a special ed tech. Even though I love my time with the students it was hard on me because I have a son with Aspergers. It's hard to work with special ed all day then come home and do it some more. The men and women that work in special ed. are the most amazing people I have ever met and they deserve a big round of applause.

Who doesn't like school house rock. I grew up with it. Every Saturday morning different ones were on through out the cartoons. I learn better with music and these songs really helped me. My favorites were the Preamble, Bill, and Conjunction junction. It's fun to see these on YouTube so I can share them with my kids.

Video

Wow, what a week. I am doing this blog from 36000 feet. I left freezing Utah early Thursday morning and flew to beautiful, sunny, historical Savanna Georgia. The first time my brothers and I have all been together in 11years. But know back to reality.

What: Last week we learned how to copy the URL of a YouTube or Teacher Tube video.

Now What: This weeks assignment I think was the easiest of them yet. I first went to teacher tube and found an educational presentation that really got me thinking. After that I went to You tube and found the cartoon from a song my fifth grader is always singing at home. Ones I found my videos I copied the URL and put into zamzar. After zamzar e-mailed me I down loaded my videos. That’s when I ran into problems. After I down loaded them I couldn't find them. weren't in down loads or in the first few folders that I looked in I finally had to go to start and go through all my my documents. When I finally found them then I was able to save them to a specific folder.

Now What: One of the things I learned while at my brothers wedding in Savanna is that when you down load something strait from YouTube it may not work in that format but if you use zamzar you can put it in the format that you need.

We don't know what kind of technology the schools and classrooms that we will be teaching in will have. We may find a very informative or fun video we want to share with our class. By using zamzar we can format it how ever we need to to make it work for our circumstances.

Video:

One of the interesting things about this video is I tried to watch it on YouTube and it wouldn't work, it kept buffering. So I ran it through zamzar and it worked just fine. This video was done about two years ago. Many of the things that the students mentioned for the technology of the future has recently happened. I can take my lap top and use the Internet any wear on campus. Then I can take it home and use the Internet there. If the kids get to loud I can always take my computer to the coffee shop in my town and use the wi-fi there. I can also use it on an airplane if I want to pay four dollars. My husband just got an iPod touch and can do just about anything with it. And just a few weeks ago they came out with the iPad. Soon we won't need to pay for text books and brake our backs caring them around campus. Soon all we will need is one devise and we will have everything we need; textbooks, books for leisure, computer with all the bells and whistles, credit card and things that we don't even know we need yet and can't live without. The students today will be the ones to create and invent all these amazing things.

I'm sorry if this is rambling and I'm sorry that it's not as long as usual but I am now home and the jet lag is setting in.

Podcast/Vidcast

What:

This week we learned about Podcast and Vidcast. Basically any devise that can record sound can make a Podcast and anything that can video tape can make a Vidcast. I didn't know that but I will go into that later.

Now What:

I always thought you had to have an iPod to make a podcast. I never knew that every time I record my astronomy teachers test reviews with my cell phone that I was making a podcast. The same with vidcast. Every time I use my cellphone or flip video camera and then up load the video for my family to see on line I am creating a vidcast. That's so cool. I'm ahead of the game and didn't even know it. I also didn't know how many different devise there are that can do both pod and vidcast. I already mentioned my cell phone and flip recorder but also my home computer if I have a camera on it, my lap top,my sons Zen and my husbands iPod touch ( if we were to buy the microphones) just to name a few. When I first saw what our assignment was going to be I didn't know if I would be able to do it because I don't have an iPod. But in technological world I think you would be hard pressed to find someone that doesn't have some kind of devise that would work.

So What:

I've been thinking about how I could use this new found knowledge in the classroom and more in my life. I served a mission for my church in France. My kids have always wanted to take French in school but were we live it isn't offered. The principal of our Jr. High even told me that he didn't think languages other than Spanish were important to learn. My nine year old daughter has my old french books and loves to look at them. Sometimes she will ask me how to say certain things. I could make a podcast of me saying some simple words for her to hear and practice and she could share it with her friend. When I am a teacher I could do the same thing with my ESL students to help them with English and if they have a computer at home they could share it with their other family members.

The vidcast could be a lot of fun. When I was a kid I hated missing school, especially when I knew we were going to do something interesting like a science experiment. As a teacher, when the class does an activity like a science experiment, I can tape it then upload it on my class web site so that students that are absent can still see it and know what everyone else is talking about the next day or for the students that were there, they could see it again and again and show their parents. I could also tape me showing how to do a new math concept. That way if a student is at home doing their homework and they can't remember, they could go back and watch it again. With so many working parents that can't come to assemblies and performances, I could tape those special moments and put them on the computer for the parents to see and share that moment with their child. Those are just a few ideas I came up with. I know I will think of more as I get into the field.

Video:

I found the video interesting. I have never really understood blogging. It's one thing my kids don't do. In some ways it's like a journal but anyone can read it. I do however see how it can be useful. As I have been blogging for this class I've noticed my spelling and punctuation improving some. I can see how students would like to share their ideas, thoughts, and culture with people from all over the world. I loved the movie Julie & Julia. As Julie blogged about going through Julia's cook book it was an escape for her. It helped her find her self. Children need more opportunities to express themselves and find themselves. I liked how the video showed the word empowerment. The child can feel in controle. Through blogging a student can improve their reading skills. If they are following a blog of a peer that they are really in joying then they will be more likely to ready it on a regular bases and any time we can get our kids reading is a good thing. Also they will want to respond to the blog and blog on their own. This will improve their typing skills, communication skills and writing skills. I know it has for me.

We need to try and utilize all the wonderful tools out their that we can so that our students can experience all the wonderful things this world has in it.

Power Point

What:

This week in class we learned how to save a screen shot. After that we got a new assignment. Instead of creating a power point, we are creating an assignment that our students would do using power point. The best lesson plans will be published in Doc. Waters book. I think my team has a really good idea. I hope we win.

Now What:

For this weeks assignment we are creating an assignment that are students would do using power point. My group, 5Th Element, had a great idea. We are going to create a couple of sample slides to help the students get started. It would be a slide of the solar system. Then the student that was assigned the topic of Saturn could click in my Saturn and it would show them links, that I have already approved, that they can find info and pictures for their slides. Then they would create a power point report on their topic. The first slide will be a wordle of their topic. The second slide might be a picture of Saturn, then when you click on it, it would pull up the info that the student has put in about that picture. Or if they were doing a report on Mars they could have a slide of mars. When they click on the dark spot the info about the spot would appear, then when they click on a stripe it would tell about the stripes.

I really like to use power point. One of the teachers that I sub for uses it all the time. One of the things that she does with her fifth grade class is a jeopardy game on electrical circuits.

So What:

There are so many different ideas on the Internet on ways to use power point and other technology in the classroom that I don't think I will have any problem finding a lot of different ways to use it in my classroom. My oldest son said that his favorite teacher did all of his lecturing using power point then he posted his slides on his web page. This really helped my son. He has communications disorder and it's really hard for him to take notes in class. He says he never knows what to write down and he can't write fast enough to get it all down any way. With this class he could always just go to the class web site and copy the teachers notes. This gave my son a lot more confidence in this class. I want to be that kind of teacher and take into account my students different learning styles.

Video:

I wasn't sure if we were suppose to do the video under power point or power point activities. So I watched them both and then realized that we already blogged about the one under power point activities are very first week. So "Do you believe in me" is on there twice.

This weeks video is called "I am what I learn." I loved the way the girl was able to take one topic, chickens, and connect it to so many other things that she has learned at school. Her math, social studies, language arts, science and even wood shop has helped her to develop a love and knowledge of chickens and has but her on the path to many job possibilities.

I have noticed as I have done some field work for my EDEL 1010 class that most of the teachers do a lot of connecting from one subject to the next but it's so suttle I don't think the students are realizing that's what is happening. When I teach I hope that I can find many opportunities to make connections in my lesson plans and point them out to the students. I hope I can get them to think outside the box and discover things about them selves and the world around them that they didn't already know. And most importantly I hope that I can instill in my students a life long love of learning and discovery.

Kidsperation

What:

This week we learned about kidsperation. Kidsperation is a software program that is a lot of fun for creating a number of educational things.

So What?:

We actually didn't have an assignment this week. We played around with with kidsperation in the class. It was a lot of fun. This is a program that I am seriously considering buying. In class I only checked out the picture view part of the program. I did a couple of different lessons with it. I did one on substance abuse. I put substance abuse in the middle then had a web that went out to the different substance. I gave up on that one when I couldn't find any pictures to go with it. I have since learned that you can copy pictures from the web on to your document. After that I did a lesson on healthy eating. I put" making good choice" in the middle then had a web that went out with to different pictures and their names to choose from an orange or ice cream, soda pop or water. I really liked Jeremy's idea of making a " family tree" for the Greek Gods.

I went to the kidsperation web site and watched the introductory video. I can't believe how much more there is to learn about this product. I think I will down load the free 30 day trial so I can play around with it some more and let my kids use it.

Now What?:

There are so many different ways to use kidsperation in the classroom. I Googled " Lesson plans using kidsperation and found tons of ideas and came up with a few of my own. First I was thinking that using picture view I could have the students make a replica of our solar system, labeling each of the planets and their moons. Then they could go into the writing part of the program and add more detail about the different planets. This could be a science lesson that then connects to writers workshop. I love the idea of using the math section. I have never been very strong with math but seeing it done with the blocks could help me see it visually. Back in picture view you could have a lesson were your put in a question like " Ways to make 100". Then have four different bubbles, one for adding, one for subtraction, one for multiplication and one for division ( each with an example). Then they would need to come up with their own math problems. This could also be done with roots, fractions ( with a picture of a pizza) or any other math concepts. Another fun one would be the life cycle of a plant, the water cycle, weather cycle or animal feeding cycle. There are so many ideas to explore.

Video:

We didn't have a video for this week since some of us blogged about the kidsperation video last week, but I really like to do the video section. So I went to teacher tube and looked up the most viewed videos and found one I really liked. It is called "Pay Attention". It went through Gardner's nine ways of learning and asked what ways do your students learn, then suggested that they learn in all the ways but we need to add a new way of learning, digital. The video gave a lot of statistics on how much time our students spend on computer and so why don't we use theses options to teach our students. It's true but I disagreed with a lot of what the video said. It suggested that we need to use google and a whole bunch of other sites and apps. Yes we need to use technology but we also need to be safe. Teachers don't have time to screen every signal site out there so I think I will stick to UEN. The site also said we should use cell phones and ipods in the classroom. It gave a suggestion to tell the students they had ten minutes to receive a text from some one that wasn't in the the school. That person had to answer the questions what did they eat for breakfast that morning, were where they, what was the weather like were they are and what was the last thing they purchased. The student would then get extra points if the text was from some one in another country. How would a teacher monitor this? Would that teacher then read every text at that time and what about the students that don't have cell phones, would they just get a zero for the day or would the teacher give them a different activate. And what about parent rules of not talking, texting, chatting with people they don't know? This just seems like a risky activity to me.

I do plan on using technology in my classroom but I will be smart about it. Yes students are very good at it and it is a wonderful way to learn, but what about the art of handwriting and sending a good old fashioned, hand written letter to grandma. And what about the feel of a new, crisp book in your hands, one that has never been opened and you get to be the one to feel the crack of the spine. Or even better yet the soft, possibly yellowing pages of a beloved book that has been read by many. I love technology but I also love some of " the old ways". We need to incorporate as many ways of learning as we can to keep all of our students engaged.

Web 2.0

What:

We were suppose to learn about kidsperation this week but our teacher was down with strep. There's a lot of that going around right now. So instead, Doc Waters, gave us the assignment of researching web 2.0. There is so much information about this that I finally narrowed my search to web 2.0 for teachers.

So What?:

There was a really fun application called Storyjumper. Storyjumper helps one wright their own children's book. It does cost many to actually make the hard copy of the book but I think its free to just do one on line. The web 2.0 has a ton of ways to network with people that have the same interests as you. I could find someone in another part of the country or world that is also studying to become a teacher and we could share our schooling experiences and how things are done in our different areas and also bounce ideas off of each other. A great way to do this would be by using google buz. Google buz is similar to Facebook but it isn't as popular yet. From what I can tell though, Google buz is easier to use especially when it comes to sharing photos. Also it is connected to Picasa and many other sites.

I liked what I saw for Fotobabble. I can take a picture of my kids then have them each add a vocal tag for grandma. What a great way to share photos of events in your life with family that couldn't be there. I hate scrap booking but I think I might like it doing it electronically.

Now What?:

It will take some time playing around with all the different things that web 2.0 has to offer but it will be worth it. It will make collaboration with other teachers all over the globe more easy and fun. We can share lesson plans that we can then tweak to our own state curriculum and classroom needs, we can share ideas and experiences of things that worked and things that didn't and get more ideas. It will be fun to see were the future of technology takes us.

Video:

The Connected Classroom was awsome and scary. What really hit me was China and India have more honor students than we have students. I do feel that our children are being left behind. With all the budget cuts how can we get the technology into the classrooms. At my sons high school at the beginning of the year we had to pay a book fee. It was around $100, but there aren't enough books for each of the students. My son never has home work because of the book shortage so everything has to be done at school. The teachers don't even photo copy pages for them to do because of the cost of paper and ink. How are these high school students going to be prepared for college and the amount of homework that goes along with it if they've never had to do it before? They will have no idea how to budget their time. But with technology what it is today you would think the teachers could still assign homework. They could have them do some research on a particular web site, they could scan a worksheet onto their web page for the student to do on line then submit it the same way. When I was introduced to UEN I was surprised to see how many of my children's teachers were not on there. It's disheartening. We can not let our children be left behind the rest of the world.

The one thing I really want to learn how to do is learn how to write a grant proposal for things I might need in my classroom. I've been shadowing a teacher this week at Riverview Elementary. She has six computers in her classroom. The fifth grade teacher down the hall also has several computers in her room. I just assumed that this was a school in a neighborhood that has more money than the school my kids go to but it turns out they don't. The teachers have written grant proposals or got the computers donated. Also many of the teachers have used their own personal money to buy a Document camera so they don't have to make over heads and try to schedule the over head projector for their class time. The document camera is awesome. It is one of the first things I will buy for my classroom. I can't wait to introduce my students to the wonderful world before them.

Picassa

What:

This week in my computer class we tried to learn about a program called picassa. For some strange reason the program didn't want to work for many people in my class. Lucky for my group, The 5th element, it did work on Bries computer. We had a lot of fun in class working on our group project together. I think we created a really fun lesson plan.

So What:

After class I went home and played around with picassa to see if I could get it to work. It didn't. I could only get it to down load two out of twenty six of my images. I had several other people help me with it and we could not figure it out. I was able to edit my images on photo bucket and had some fun with that. I went back to picassa and tried using it on some of my pictures that were not for my computer class. My oldest son loves to do sketch work with a number two pencil. He down loaded photos of several of his pictures on my computer that made their way into picassa. We had so much fun editing them. We changed the colors, intensity,and back grounds.

I wish I had known about this before I did my oral presentation in my Astronomy class but in two weeks I will be teaching a sixth grade class a short health lesson on the affects of tobacco use. I wanted to make a short power point. Now I know how to make it more interesting.

Now What:

I think I will use the picassa program more as I get more familiar with it. There are also lots of other programs out there that do similar things, like photo bucket. I think it's a good idea to check them all out and see which one best suits your needs at the time. This could be a really good program for making a power point slide show that would play in the background as the fifth grade students do their patriotic program. You could also take pictures of all the fifth graders dressed up in their costumes for the wax museum and burn it on a CD with music to give to parents and students as a memento. It would be fun to let the sixth grade students take several pictures of their science project and edit them into a cool slides show that could be running at their booth. I would love to take pictures of things going on in our neighborhood like the kids playing basket ball or street hockey or the women out doing their yard work and then put the pictures together and have it playing at a neighborhood party. There are so many things to do that I don't think I have even scratched the suffice. I love playing around with my computer and discovering new things that I can do.

Video:

I thought the video this week was really funny mostly because I think at one time or another we have all seen everyone of those tips of power points that were mentioned. I am completely guilty of spelling mistakes. I am dyslexic and for some reason it is harder for me to catch my mistakes on the computer, than on paper. I always need to remember to after I do spell check to print it and check again.

I have always hated listen and seeing someones oral report in a class when all they do is read what's on their slide. When I do a PowerPoint I like to put just one or two bullet points that are only a few words long. This works as note cards for me that help me remember what I want to talk more in depth about.

When it comes to color coordinating on slides, the only thing I can think is that some people are color blind. We ran into this problem while we were making our PowerPoint. We had a slide that was green and we tried to make the words gold. It was so ugly we all said no way at the same time.

I think, just like anything else in life, there is a learning curve for creating beautiful slide presentations. The more you do it the better you will get at it.