FINAL

So the semester has come to a long awaited end, I don't say this for dislike of the course, but for the satisfaction graduating and knowing "SCHOOL'S OUT FOR EVER" and "NO MORE TEACHERS NO MORE BOOKS".

I must admit i was terrified as to what type of final we would have for this class and i thoroughly enjoyed the resulting exam. Working in a group for the project to create a collaborative student activity was enjoyable and quite innovative.

Final inclass class

Today served as a day of reflection, and once I sit back and think about it, I really did learn a lot in this class. I may have not realized in the moment but now I think a lot more in terms of technology when it comes to unit planning and even when I planned my classroom for the final project. I look forward to implementing many of these tools in my own classroom.

Wow so now i can post to blogger from my phone sweet deal!!!

THIS IS COPYRIGHT INFRINGMENT

10 Big Myths about copyright explained
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

There seems to be much more than blur between black and white when it comes to copyright and knowing what can be used and what can't. There's a lot of misconceptions and confusion. As a future teacher I was interested in the rules regarding fair use. Fair use allows for the use of commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. One must remember that Fair use should always be attributed, and that it should not harm the value of the work.

Ironically after class I was watching "Family Guy" and it was an episode about copyright, and the legal issues that can be faced when information gets "borrowed" in the wrong way. I definitely agree that it is important to educate our students about what is ok to use, especially when so much emphasis is put into making sure that papers are properly cited by MLA standards, meanwhile the powerpoint presentation is full of in cited stolen images from google.

Digital works!!!!

In high school I was lucky enough to take what the english department called a video journalism class. In this class we worked on making videos using I-movie. The final project was to make a video year book with was later burned onto dvd, and sold to the senior class.

Ever since I have been obsessed with photography and video. This in turn lead into a fascination for digital story telling. I have since discovered that Mac computers aren't the only ones that allow you to create such masterpieces. The PC counterparts of Photostory 3 and Moviemaker are just as great and equally user friendly.



Today I had the honor of teaching the class a lesson on how to use Movie Maker. A concept that really excited me. I definitely wanted to do my best and show off how great these programs can be both for personal use and in the classroom.

Tuesday as a thursday

Thank goodness that we had a slow paced class today, especially after the day I've had ( spending a total of 3 hours in the health center trying to figure out what's wrong with my throat.)
I enjoyed working on my wiki and fully concentrating on it. I learned how to change the "look and feel" of the page, as well as posted some links that I like and a picture that i found to the home page. I had fun playing around with it, and I think that it's starting to look like a "real" wiki.

http://mlb-lesson-plans.wikispaces.com/

Wiki, Smartboard -> Sketch Up

Multitask, multitask, multitask...

Granted it's a 3 hour class and there's a million aspects of technology to cover, some strategies don't work very well. It seemed like by the time I figured out how to use wiki, and found a one to post, it was time to move on to the next activity... by the time i finally understood what was needed to make a chair on sketch up, it was time to move onto smart boards before I even got to finish forming my legs.
This multitask/ task rotation method may work as a review strategy; However I don't see it as effective in the learning process. Maybe it's just me, I've always been an easily distracted person and even dealt with ADHD as a kid, so maybe this method works for others but surely not for me.
I did enjoy learning about Wiki's today and looking through some of the educational ones. Its amazing how much educational potential some tools have that you wouldn't regularly think of. It seems that when you think of the internet, skype, Twitter, and Blogger, the last thing on your mind is class room application. So I definitely appreciate the different view that I'm getting on the use of these online tools.

As always; Keep it fresh:
Andrea 2.0

Yaketty Yak...

"Mr. Watson -- come here -- I want to see you."

Those were the first words spoke by telephone on March 10 1876. Now about 130 years later, we can communicate by internet, host web conferences and videos in a flash.

In today's lesson we discussed the possible uses of Skype and elluminate in the classroom. There are many possible uses, in the science class teachers can contact experts in the field to provide extra knowledge to students with out having to take the class out for an entire day on a field trip.

In my spanish classes Skype would be helpful in providing students with authentic speakers for them to practice their language skills with. They can make friends in other countries and not only practice spanish but hopefully learn some culture as well.

Technology the good the bad.

It was about time that I finally learned more about Smartboards other than they are really cool and really expensive. Above all I was totally amazed at seeing the video of how you can make a smart board using a wii remote. I finally have a use for those Wiimotes now that my boyfriend has lost his wii (yes he lost the console and not the remotes, been missing for a year now too). After showing the Youtube video to my sister, it wasn't long before she was inspired to try it out as a science project.

Besides learning about the best of school technologies, I also experienced the worst of technology. This was in the form of error messages and files misbehaving (at least in my opinion). I learned the hard way that what may seem rational and logical may not necessarily be the case once it comes to saving, transferring and uploading.


Finally got the podcast redone...
http://www.imeem.com/people/S01r-1/music/

Thinkfinity

The term Thinkfinity sounds like a Disney term, however I learned it's an awesome resource for teachers. I thought the tools and activities on the site were great. The only problem is that I was greatly disappointed in seeing that there weren't that many resources available to me as foreign language teacher. I'm sure that a lot of the activities can be adapted, or that if I keep looking I'll find something.

the audacity

Today I was introduced to a program called Audacity. The program reminded of a not -so flashy Garage Band. Once I learned my way around the program, it was fairly easy and fun to use. This would make for a great project idea in the classroom, however I feel it may be a bit complicated and unnecessary to demand that students use this program. I like the idea of having students create podcast as a type of presentation variation to power point or poster boards. However i'd probably only over it as a suggestion that they use audacity not a requirement.

How do I find...

Today's class proved to be more of a lesson on preparation. Although I'm not suggesting that Professor Murphy-Genter was unprepared. However I did learn that when preparing technology based lessons , especially those involving Microsoft, one should consider that different computers run on different versions where the same information or tool may not be available or as easy to find as in another.

I did like working with excel, it brought a new twist on the traditional spreadsheet. As a baseball fan I especially loved the idea of making a baseball card. By doing this activity using computers you save much more time than if it were done using scissors, crayons, markers etc. I think this activity could be useful in my Spanish classes as a fun way of making flash cards or to make personal descriptions. Thanks for the great idea!

Day 1 in computers

This class has definitively gone above and beyond what I had originally expected. I had originally thought that this class would be a boring HOW TO, where we'd be taught how to use certain things such as smart board. I'm glad to see that this class will also help us to find ways to use the computers and other technologies in our lessons and classrooms.