Prezi

Butterfly Cycle on Prezi

Here is my prezi that I created to explain the Butterfly life cycle. I thought that prezi was interesting to use. The product is very different from a power point and allows its users to be a little more creative. I think that students would find this more interesting to watch presentations. However, I thought it was a little more difficult to get used to...probably because it is new. I also thought it was kinda of a pain that you couldn't just copy and paste images from the Internet. Therefore, I used the snipping tool to snip images and save to my computer so that I could upload them. Had I not known about the snipping tool it would have been much more difficult. I did think that embedding videos into the presentation was very easy. The creation of a prezi is so much different from the creation of a power point and I don't really know how to explain it other than it was just different. However even though its different it is very much the same as you can present the same information.

This assignment easily fits under standard 2- Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, bullet a- design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity since we are adapting a learning experience to incorporate digital resources. This assignment also fits well under standard 3- Model Digital Age Work and Learning, bullet d- model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning since we as educators would be modeling effective use of current digital tools. This type of assignment could fit well under standard 2- Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, bullet d- provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching if you had students create their own prezi to illustrate the knowledge gained through a lesson or as a summative assignment.

Motion Path

Using Microsoft Power Point I was able to create my motion path assignment. Now this assignment was much easier once I had completed and fully understood the labels assignment. This was such a fun assignment to complete. It sort of allowed me to practice my new skills learned from last assignment and create a movie like atmosphere using power point.

As far as technology standards, this assignment easily fits under technology standard 3- Model Digital Age Work and Learning, bullet a- demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations. This is because I utilized my prior knowledge to complete this assignment. This activity also easily fits under technology standard 2- Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, bullet c- customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources. This assignment fits well under technology standard 1- Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity, bullet a- promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.

Since there were issues using FTP I am also embedding my motionpath via slideshare.

Education 6305 motion path

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Labels

Using Microsoft Power Point I created my label power point slide. I have to say that this was one of the more difficult assignments for me simply because I struggled understanding the directions. I was able to find a picture of a flower and label the parts with no problem. The issue came when I began trying to understand how to add the show notes and hide notes buttons to the slide and get them to function. I read and reread Dr. Pierce's instructions and researched and just could not figure it out. A couple emails and cries for help later my husband was feeling sorry for me in all my frustration as I was on the brink of a meltdown (keep in mind this is several hours later). He sits down and researches a little figures out these buttons are called action buttons and then guides me in the right direction. It is then that it all came together. LOL! Once I understood, I realized how easy this was and that this assignment should have taken 30 minutes not 5 hours. Anyway, I guess some things are like that. :)

As for the assignment it easily fits under technology standard 2- Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, bullet a- design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity. The assignment also fits very well under the same standard, bullet c- customize and personalize learning activities to address student's diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources. This assignment also fits well under technology standard 3- Model Digital Age Work and Learning, bullet a- demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.

Since there was difficulty with FTP I am also embedding my labels slide via slideshare.

Education 6305 labels assignment

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Ignite

Education 6305 afterschool

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I created this slide show suing the Ignite format. I was able to upload it using Slide Share. I thought that this was a great idea to make a presentation on something. This type of activity easily fits under technology standard 1, bullet a- promote, support and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.

This activity could be changed or students to be utilized as a formative or summative assessment for a unit of study. This type of activity would fit under technology standard 2- Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, bullet d- provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.

The activity as a whole also fits well under technology standard 4- Promote and Model Digital Age Citizenship and Responsibility, bullet b- address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources.

Power Point

Education 6305 rainforest

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I utilized Microsoft Power Point to create my slide show on the rainforest and then was able to upload it to the web using slide share. I enjoyed using power point as it is a very convenient and easy to use tool. I also enjoyed learning about slide share since I had never used it before nor did I know anything about it. This type of activity fits well under technology standard 2- Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, bullet a- design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.

This type of activity could also be used as a formative or summative assessment by asking students to create informational slide shows on topics. For example, as a formative assessment you could have students do their own research on a topic and present it to the class as an introduction to a topic. As a summative assessment you could ask students to create a slide show of main points that were taught. This type of activity would fit well under technology standard 2- Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, bullet d- provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.

This activity also fits well under technology standard 3- Model Digital Age Work and Learning, bullet a-demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations. This is due to the fact that students utilize power point and then transfer the information to new technology, i.e. slide share.

Jing #2- Screen cast

I used Jing to create a screen cast on how to download Skype for Windows and create a profile for skype. The screen cast is available through a URL link once I share it via screencast.com through Jing. Its very nice since Jing automatically saves your video and stores it in your history.

I thought that using Jing to create a screen cast was fairly easy. However, I did find it difficult when I was recording to ensure that all of the screen was viewable when i needed it to be. My screen cast is a bit "rough" since it is an amateur screen cast and I wasn't able have all of the screen viewable at all times. It would have been nice to be able to adjust the Jing outline around my screen cast at different times. However, for a first shot I think it is pretty good and as with everything the more I use it the more I will figure out and the better my screen casts will get.

I thought that this activity would be very useful in the classroom. There are many times that you might give the students directions on how to do something on the computer and then the next time they don't remember how to do it. Using Jing you could create videos fro these different activities and if a student forgets how to do something they could watch the saved video. This type of activity would fit well under technology standard 5- Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership, bullet c- evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning.

The use of Jing screen casts could also be helpful for activities when you allow the students to teach things to each other. This type of activity fits well under technology standard 1- Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity, bullet a- promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. This type of activity also fits well under technology standard 2- Design and Develop Digital -Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, bullet a- design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.

Jing #1- Image

Using Jing I was able to create this image.

I realized that when I saved this image to my computer it was a PNG image rather than a JPEG which was something I had never heard of. It was very easy to use the upload button on my blog post to upload the image from where I saved it on my computer. I also thought it was very cool that the images are stored on my computer and in my Jing history and on the Jing website.

I struggled trying to figure out how to get the picture website and thats when i figured out that I could click on the picture in my Jing history and edit it. And its very cool that when you save the image to your computer that it saves to your Jing history at the same time.

I really enjoyed using this website to create this step by step instruction. I can't count the amount of time as teachers we spend on writing out step by step instructions on boring plain paper. This allows us to "spice" it up a bit and do something different in the classroom. This activity could be used with older kids to do a directions project such as this. This type of activity easily fits under technology standard 1- Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity, bullet a- promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. This could also be used by us the educators in creating documents to illustrate directions for the students. This type of activity would easily fit under technology standard 5- Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership, bullet d- contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self-renewal of the teaching profession and of their school and community. You could also do an activity with another class where each class had a hand in adding something to the image. This type of activity would also fit under technology standard 5, bullet a- participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.

Self Assessment

When I completed the survey for the self assessment I realized I wasn't doing as well as I had originally thought. I had thought that i was pretty on top of what I was doing in this class. Then I realized there was a lot I didn't realize I should have done like all the requirements for the blog posts. I had remembered looking over the blog rubric at the beginning of semester but then I guess I had kind of forgotten about it. I also didn't realize that there was anything we should have done for the TPACK assignment. I thought that it wasn't due until the end of the semester and that we were to work on it as we went along and the survey made me realize otherwise.

I like that we had this self assessment because it gives us a chance to make any changes needed to ensure our success. However, because it was already 3 weeks in I have a lot to go back and edit. Had we had this self assessment sooner I could have caught my mistakes earlier and not had so much to go back and edit. I think it would be nice to have one every couple weeks to make sure we're on track. This would be especially helpful since this class is moving at such a quick pace.

This type of activity best fits under technology standard 2- Design and Develop Digital Age Learning and Assessments. More specifically bullet d-provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching. This activity also fits well unders technology standard 1- Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. More specifically bullet c- promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.

This activity would be great to do with a group of students to help them check thier knowledge and ensure all assignments are turned in at different times throughout the year.

Google Draw Tool

This is my drawing that I created using Google Draw which is a tool under Google Docs. I had not previously utilized any online drawing tools that I recall. However, I have utilized the Paint application on windows and drawing tools associated with Microsoft Office. I thought that this tool was very easy to use and would be easy for students to use of any age. Of course you would want to model and provide guidance but this is definitely something that would be fun and easy for students to use.

This activity could be used with elementary students as an activity at the end of the story. you could ask them to draw a picture of their favorite part. An activity like this would pertain to technology standard 1- Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity (bullet c-promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes). The activity we completed might fall under technology standard 2- Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessment (bullet a-design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity). Older students in a classroom might also work with peers using this tool to create a mini story. They might use lines to divide the page into four squares and create a mini story. This type of activity would fall under technology standard 3- Model Digital Age Work and Learning (bullet b- collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation).

Glogster

My Glog

So this was a fun and interesting activity. Again something I had no idea existed or even what it was. Glog or Gloster is a web portal where you can create interactive posters or glogs and share them with others. Again I think that Glog could be very useful in class. It could be used in the first days of the year so students could get to know each other by creating their own personal glogs and sharing with the class.This type of activity would best fit under technology standard 2- Design and develop Digital Age Learning and Assessments. More specifically bullet a- design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.

I think students could create glogs about a story they are reading that week or other such activities. This type of activity would best fit under standard 2-Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. More specifically bullet d- provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.

They could even glog about special activities such as field trips etc. This type of activity would most likely fit under standard 1- Facilitate and Inspire student Learning. More specifically letter c - promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes. Depending on how much you glogged it could end up being a sort of scrapbook.

My only issue would be that for a classroom the setting would need to be private so that not everyone could see. Otherwise I think it would be fine as long as it was closely monitored. There are probably issues I am not thinking of but I see it as useful and fun for students.

Self Portrait

This is the self portrait I created using the Picasso Head website. When I began this I thought what a cool site that would be great for elementary students. It would allow them to really work and express themselves. As I worked on creating my portrait I struggled with the shapes because they were specific. I wasn't able to really stretch their shape. I could only make them larger or smaller. This was a specific issue when it came to my hair. I had wanted to make this a realistic looking drawing but it didn't really work out that way. So I decided to embrace it and go with it. I suppose it is somewhat realistic.

As far as the technology standards I feel that this activity would be great for students to express themselves and their creativity. This type of activity best fits under Standard 2-Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, bullet a - design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity. This activity could also fit under technology standard 1- Facilitate and Inspire student learning and creativity, bullet a- promote, support and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. I think this activity works with this standard because the students have to utilize the shapes on the website to create their self portrait which requires creativity, innovative thinking and inventiveness.

Learning Styles Inventory

After completing the Vark learning styles questionnaire my results were Visual: 12, Aural: 9,
Read/Write: 9, and Kinesthetic: 8. I believe that is a very accurate synopsis of my learning style. I always prefer to have some sort of visual explanation whether it be a diagram or a picture. I prefer that there is someone that would be able to explain it to me or ask questions to should I have them. I also prefer to read about it and take notes to help with comprehension. Finally if there is a way I can practice or try something out I like to do that as well.

This is a great activity to do with classes both for the teacher and students. This type of activity allows the teacher to see the varying personalities in his or her classroom. This activity also allows students to better understand their peers. As for the technology standards this activity fits under Standard 2- Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, bullet c- customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources. This type of activity also fits well under technology standard 4- Promote and Model Digital Citizenship, bullet b- address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources. This is because it allows you to gauge the types of learners in your classroom.

Snipping Tool

I chose to snip these two images because I have learned a lot about them in the last few months. The Scholastic website I learned has a variety of resources from book lists and teacher resources and classroom ideas. I only remembered Scholastic for the little book order forms you would get in class and books I had. Then, for a class last semester I had to use this site for a project and realized the plethora of resources it had available to teachers.

The voicethread snip is because I am really excited about this both as a resource and a teaching tool. I am overwhelmed by the many ways I can use this as a resource for learning centers or a way to communicate with students or other persons. I am also excited because I had no idea that this communication device existed prior to today.

And I have to say I didn't know this Snip It tool existed and now that I do I am pretty excited about it and plan to use it more often. :)

As for the technology standards, I would say that this activity best fits under Standard 3- Model Digital Age Work and Learning, bullet a- demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations. This is because this activity allows students to discover new technology to utilize and to demonstrate how they use that knowledge. This activity could also fall under technology standard 2- Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, bullet d- provide multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching. This is because the activity would make a great formative assessment to allows students to show what they learned. The activity also fits under technology standard 1- Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity, bullet c- promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes. This is because this activity is both reflective and creative because students have to reflect on knowledge gained and creativity when snipping.

VoiceThread

So I have to tell you when I began this assignment I was thinking that this was lame. However, as I began exploring the assignment I was pleasantly surprised. This is a very cool thing that I had not ever previously heard of. As I watched the video "What is Voicethread" and it said it was a way of communicating based around media I didn't understand. However, the more I explored and understood the more fun it became and the more comfortable I got with voicethread. I thought that the "Who are you?" voicethread was a great idea and would have been a neat intro assignment to get to know everyone. It was nice to put voices with the faces we see in pictures. It sort of makes it more real and personable. :)

This is definitely something I could see using with a class or even a great way to connect your students with students in other schools or grades. I could see using this as a Pen Pal type activity but for the 21st century learner. This type of activity would best fit under technology standard 3- Model Digital Age Work and Learning, bullet B-collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation. This activity would also fit well under technology standard 1- Facilitate and Inspire student learning and creativity, bullet d- model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments. This is because students are communicating in a virtual environment. The activity would also fit under technology standard 4- Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility, bullet c- promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information. This is because the activity requires students to model digital etiquette and responsible interaction.

Thanks for enlightening me Dr. Pierce!!

Google Reader Continued

My Shared Items

I figured out how to hyperlink text I think and this should take you to my Shared links in Google Reader. Hope this works!

Also here are the links to the blogs I subscribed to:
The "Alice Project"
Pissed Off
My Happy Rainbow

As for the technology standards I would say that this activity best fits under Standard 3- Model Digital Age Work and Learning, bullet c- communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats. This is because this type of activity could be a great way to distribute information to students, parents, etc. This activity also fits well under standard 4- Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility, bullet d- develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools. . This is because thus allows students to subscribe to blogs that interest themas well as giving them the opportunity to explore what people of other cultures are doing and the differences among people. Finally this activity fits well under technology standard 5- Engage in Professional Growth and development, bullet a-participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning for many of the same reasons.

Google Reader

As I began this assignment I was again pushing my technology comfort zone. Google Reader is a program that i have no experience with nor had I even hear of. After watching the video I still felt confused but just decided to start following the steps to see where I ended up. I began by figuring out that RSS means Really Simple Syndication. Basically syndicated blogs are available from a general site so you can follow that blog and see a summary of whats new to the blog. This is different from our usual routine of hopping from site to site to see whats new. With this method you can view all the new information in one place. After figuring all this out I decided to view the Educblog website. As I looked through the site I chose three different blogs to follow using Google Reader. The blogs I chose to follow this semester are "Look at my Happy Rainbow," "Pissed Off," and The "Alice Project."

I chose to follow the blog "Look at my Happy Rainbow" because it was the journey of a male kindergarten teacher. It spoke to me as I am always intrigued to hear what males in the profession are thinking and feeling. I truly enjoyed reading through his many experiences as a kindergarten teacher. I also enjoyed reading the different strategies that he is using and whether they are helpful or not. I really enjoyed reading about some on the unique experiences and activities they are completing.

The second blog I chose to follow is "Pissed Off." This blog caught my eye for obvious reasons. It is a teacher blog site. But as I began looking on the blog I was drawn to pictures and words that reminded me of how I feel some days. I could also relate to many of the things mentioned on the blog. It seemed that she was putting into words my feelings on some various topics. This blogger just seems to vent on the day to day realities of being a teacher and I so enjoyed reading it and most often found it humorous.

The final blog I chose to follow was The "Alice Project." I chose this site because i am a big fan of Alice in Wonderland. As I was exploring the site I was intrigued at the journey the class took down the rabbit hole so to speak. I was also intrigued by the fact that the instructor really took learning to a new level and truly on a 21st century level. Everything regarding the project was online and at the students' finger tips. This allowed me to see that with a little work and my being tech savvy that students of any age could explore a concept in a similar manner.

I will enjoy continuing to follow these blogs throughout the semester and see what happens, comes up and new ideas and strategies!

Google Docs

Using Google Docs I was able to post my resume. Using Google Docs was a little odd at first simply because it was new. But once I started working with it I realized that it was very similar to Microsoft word and therefore very simple to use. I would prefer to use Microsoft Office but can see how this would be useful and beneficial to use.

This activity would best fit under technology standard number 4- Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility bullet b- address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources. THis activity also fits well under the bullet c- promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information of the same standard because students must use appropriate digital etiquette and be responsible with their posting.