This week we explored interactivity and graphic organizers. The interactivity websites were very interesting especially “The Valley of the Shadow”. I found it easy to navigate and the information was incredible. It was amazing to be able to view newspapers, letters, journals, public records, etc. from the time of the Civil War. What a great resource.
Using webspiration for a graphic organizers was surprisingly easy. The following url will take you to my webspiration:
USING VISUALS AND IMAGE EDITING – is a way to replace words with visuals like charts, tables, information, and graphics. It is a different culture of thinking. It is visual thinking and it uses these designs to prompt and enhance thinking. I had an opportunity to explore the websites listed in our week seven assignment, it was amazing to learn about interactivity and visual design and how it affects learning. I also reviewed the resource sites listed to see if I could use any of these in my Webquest. After reviewing most of them, I decided on TikaToc — http://tikatoc.com/ — it is a webiste which allows you to write, edit, illustrate, and publish a book.
Since my Webquest is going to be an author study, I thought it would be great for the students to write their own book. The author for my Webquest is Chris Van Allsburgh and one of the tasks could be to have the students be him for the day and write a book using this website. I decided to try it myself and it was fun and very easy! I was able to set up an account and add my class on the account. I set it up for 25 students so they could all create their own book. The first task was to create a book, then select a topic. Once the topic was selected, I could select a category. I selected “magic” for the topic and “talking car” for my category. I was able to design the front cover with pictures on file or I could have downloaded my own pictures. On every page there were text prompts that could be changed or added to and there were questions to help me think about what to write. On each page I was able to add pages, remove pages, add images, add text, and change the layout. Once the story was complete, I could publish or save it. I will definitely add this to my webquest!
TAPPEDIN – as mentioned in week 5.5, I participated in a TappedIn session on June 18, 2009 at 6:00. The session was on ePortfolios. LynneW led the session, BJB2 another TappedIn leader was also in attendance as was Beth from our ITEC class. We started with introductions and then a definition of ePortfolios. LynneW stated that it is a method of authentic assessment of a student’s learning, achievement, projects, and reflections. She then asked us what we thought ePortfolios was — that was very confusing. She also talked about authentic assessment – which she never clearly defined. We continued to ask questions and she continued to provide examples, information, and facts. However, she never summarized it all into a neat, clean definition. She attempted to explain the purpose, audience, and format of an ePortfolio and shared ownership. Finally she emphasized that it is a way to deeply internalize and reflect on learning and that content not tools are imports.
I was very confused by all this. I though an ePortfolio was similar to a regular Portfolio, where you have a collection of your best work, only it is in an electronic format. LynneW said that was not the case?!?!? I wanted to do this session because I know we have to do an ePortfolio for our student teaching. I was hopeful that I would actually learn what one is and how to create one, but I did not. I think in the future, I will use TappedIn for subjects that I already know and understand — subjects that I just need some guidance with.
FLICKR– I had a difficult time downloading the photos but I finally got it to work. You can view my photos of DC in the Spring from my website, home, week 6 assignment. http://sites.google.com/site/bcoppenr/
UNITED STREAMING — This was really a great lesson, I learned so much! I selected a video about parts of speech— nouns — (yes, I know this is boring and students think it’s boring – that is why I thought it would be a good idea to try to teach about nouns in a fun and different way). The video is a cartoon about a baby book worm who has an eating problem and needs to be fed nouns. It goes on to talk about what nouns are, proper nouns, and common nouns. There is a sort activity to sort the common and proper nouns. Then the book worm develops stomach issues and need to eat plural nouns. The video goes on to explain adding an ‘s’ and then adding an ‘es’ when the word ends in s, ss, x, ch, sh. At this point there is another class activity on making nouns plural by adding ‘s’ or ‘es’. Finally, the video ends with a quiz that can be done as a whole class activity or individually. This would be such a great video to aid in a lesson about nouns. I could see introducing the topic of nouns, taping into student’s prior knowledge, and then showing this video. During the video there are stops which the teacher could take advantage of to engage the class in a discussion or an activity.
I created a Power Point presentation about nouns and inserted this video. Wow, it was so easy! It only took a minute to download and it worked just fine. I have attempted to insert the file into this blog but I’m not sure if I can get it to work. learning-about-nouns3
TappedIn session on web portfolio on Thursday 6/18 — more information to follow…………….
This week in ITEC we explored Podcasting, Google Earth, and Mashups. Each of these are very interesting and can be beneficial in the classroom. The biggest problem I see is knowing what is out there and available as a learning tool and keeping unwanted sites out of the classroom.
I looked at the Podcast websites first. I had difficulty opening the UMW CGPS Podcasts. I received an error message “The file you are attempting to play has an extension (.m4a) that does not match the file format. Playing the file may result in unexpected behavior.” I tried to play it and it did not work, the messaged displayed was “Windows media player encountered a problem while playing the file”. So, I went onto Teacher Tube and everything worked fine. I love these Podcasts especially the Famous Americans. It is wonderful how the kids get to perform the parts and become the teacher for other students to learn from them. The Geography Podcasts were great. They provided fun facts, pictures, weather, and additional information about locations. The Podcasts are scripted and presented by children. There were also many Podcasts about study tips, science, math lessons, biology, PE, and my favorite science with a presentation on shaving cream in a vacuum. Each Podcast was quick and informative. I could see using the existing Podcasts to spark student’s interests in a particular subject or as a different way to present information. I could also see having the students create Podcasts for an assignment instead of a power point presentation or a written report. It is just another fun, different, and interesting way to learn and teach.
The last Podcast site I checked was K12 Podcasts. Some did not work and many were for adults. I could see this being a problem in the classroom.
I love the Google Earth website, I think it is so interesting to be able to see a location in real time from a satellite. This is a great tool in the classroom because it can give students a look at the “big picture” outside of their immediate neighborhood or community. I did not realize there were so many options when exploring Google Earth such as history and being able to go back in time to see what the earth looked like in the past; ocean and getting up close with the layers and following a shark through the ocean; flying and being able to fly from your home to anywhere in the world; and the ability to record all of these actions and journies for future use. There are also on-line quizes that could be used in the classroom for review and study.
There are sites designed that use Google Earth that already have lessons such as Google Lit and Juicy Geography. Google Lit presents literature in a fun and different way. It uses Google Earth to show where a story takes place and what the world looked like at the time of the story. Juicy Geography has a wealth of information about lesson plans, personal geographies, and games. I could see using both of these sites to enhances student’s knowledge of literature and geography.
Finally, I learned about ‘Mashups’ (something I had never heard of before). A Mashup mixes and matches content from 2 or more sites to create something entirely new. I explored Flash Earth and Bubblr. Flash Earth is a mix of Google Earth and Virtual Earth. This was really fascinating, I was able to select a location and a Map Source and zoom in to see houses, buildings, and roads or zoom out and see the outline of continents. Students could use this site for geography projects or social studies projects. Bubblr in just a fun site. It works by taking photos from flickr and adding bubbles to make a comic strip. This would be great for a yearbook project.
Week three in ITEC 501 class was about internet safety and copyright. After reviewing the information provided, our assignment was to create a Powerpoint presentation and add a voicethread. Here is the link to my presentation - Copyright- http://voicethread.com/share/530571/
It was amazing to learn how vague some of the laws and definitions are concerning copyrighting. As a teacher, I feel it is my responsibility to guide my students and parents through some of the regulations. Also, I believe I should rely on the appropriate resources to help answer questions. These resources can include technology resource teachers and staff and school administration.
The presentation is a brief overview of how the word “copyright” does NOT equal the “right to copy”. The presentation provides some facts, some guidelines for fair use, some strategies, and some resources. The information is meant for educators, students, and parents.
Please feel free to add a comment after viewing the presentation. Thanks!
This is week two of EDCI 501-02
On Saturday evening at 7:00, I attended a session on TappedIn. The session was called “Tips and Tricks”.
Creating an TappedIn account was easy however, once I entered the website I had no idea how to get to the session. I found it to be unfriendly and difficult to navigate. I called a fellow student and she helped me out. I went through the tour with the guide and about 11 other people. Many of them dropped off frequently and the guide had to wait or else go and find them. We went through changing our personal information, finding out information about others, joining a group, looking at the calendar, and adding emotion to our text. It was all very interesting. I am sure there is a lot of information and knowledge that educators can acquire. I just have a hard time believing that many teachers have time to deal with this site.
WEEK ONE
Technology Integration
This week in 501-02 we did a lot of work on searching the Internet, sifting through online information, and setting up our weblog (which I’m not sure I did correctly). I am amazed at how many websites I did not know about – I am excited to get to work Tuesday and use some of the resources available to help my students read, spell, and practice math facts.
Technology integration means incorporating technology into an existing process. For example, the classroom. There are countless resources on the Internet for teachers, parents, and students. These resources vary from worksheets, educational games, lesson plans, test study guides, etc… Teachers can also use technology by creating and maintaining a classroom website. In addition, technology can also appear in the classroom in the form of smart boards, Elmo’s, etc..
Unfortunately, it can be difficult for teachers to find the time to integrate technology into their classroom. So much of the technology requires a lot of time to learn, maintain, and it is constantly changing. The last thing teachers have is extra time.