iMovie

This week I learned how to use iMovie, which is a tool for producing multimedia videos.  It can be used to tell stories in a digital format.  While it was very easy to interact with, I am not sure that it will be a very practical tool for my classroom.

The software itself is very self-explanatory, although it does take some time to get adjusted to it's format  I did not like that it was not very easy to move the different stills around.  I found that I also had to be very careful when I placed the subtitles onto the slides, because it would place the title for only part of the clip if I did not have the whole clip selected. I also found that it was very challenging to keep the time length of the slides consistent.  I was very disappointed that I could not save my project to DropBox so that I could work at it on my home computer.  I ended up just redoing my entire project, because I could not make it back to the lab.

Although I had some problems the program is typically very easy to use.  You can figure it out mostly by playing around with the program.  I like how simple it was to post to YouTube when I was done with my project.  If I use this tool in my classroom I will use it to post the stories that we are covering that week in class to my website.  I will use Picassa to share pictures.

Animoto

Make your own slide show at Animoto.

ActivInspire

I really enjoyed learned how to use ActivInspire and Promethean Boards this week.  I had not had previous experience with working with any kind of interactive white board prior to this class.  I found that it is a wonderful tool that I plan on using in the future if my classroom was the technology.
I found the software to be pretty user-friendly although when I decided to do one of the more complicated features I had to google step by step instructions.  The menus are very easy to locate and use.  One of my favorite features that I found was the ability to insert YouTube videos using their HTML code.  When I had wanted to insert a video into a PowerPoint I found that I had to download the video and insert it that way.
I did not like that you had to click on each object individually.  I found that this process was very time consuming, especially when there were a lot of objects on the page.  I also did not like that the clipart seemed very limited.  I know that this problem can be fixed with resource packs, but I would have thought there would have been more to begin with.
I plan to use this tool in my classroom for interactive activities.

Inspiration

I was pleasantly surprised upon working with Inspiration.  The program seemed to be a little outdated and useless when I first became acquainted with it.  While the program is a little complicated at first, it quickly became one of my new favorite resources.  I am very driven my visual organization and this program fits perfectly into just about anything that you would need to organize, whether it be curriculum or comparing apartments.
I found that Inspiration was very slow on my home computer.  It could be because I only have the free trial and not the software, but I found it very frustrating.  The program also crashed, which caused me to lose my original project due to not saving it periodically.  Despite a few annoyances, I found that the program was very useful and applicable to a wide range of projects.
This program would be wonderful for organizing any subject that I would be teaching.  It would be especially useful for Language Arts and Science where thought maps are very useful.

Scavenger Hunt

I really enjoyed this assignment. It was an opportunity to use real world examples for something that I will actually use in my classroom. I had not previously used Picassa Web or Google Presentation before this class. I found that both tools were very easy to use, and were quite helpful. My group was assigned to find take pictures of objects that demonstrated the ABC's. It was relatively easy to locate these items across campus. We took the pictures that we took on campus and placed them in a shared dropbox folder so that all the members in our group had access to the photos. I found that Google Presentation was the most useful tool that I learned through this assignment. I have access to my presentation wherever I have an internet connection. I actually used this tool for another class and it was very helpful. My presentation was very fast to access compared to my classmates who had put their presentations on flash drives or emailed them to themselves. I enjoyed using Picassa, but I don't know how much I will be editing photos for my classroom. It will be very easy to share photos of my classroom with parents and colleges.

Google Presentation

Smilebox

A digital collage by Smilebox

Hunt

Wordle

Glogster

Glogster Guru

What went right/wrong


This week I have been experimenting with Glogster, a interactive poster making tool.  I was very surprised with how dynamic this tool is, especially for the tool being free for most of it's features.  I really didn't like how the website is laid out.  I found that it was very confusing to navigate at first, and I am concerned with how lower level children will be able to utilize it.  


what would you do different next time


I wouldn't do anything different.

how will you use in YOUR classroom.


I will use it as a presentation tool.

Wonderful Wikis

I was pleasantly surprised when I was introduced to using a Wiki.  I had never used them before, but they are truly a wonderful tool!  It is so easy to make information readily available to a peer group for editing and collaborating for a group project.

I was a little skeptical when we were linking all of our pages to the home page, although it made it so much easier to navigate the page.  I am not sure how younger children will be able to navigate a page that I create for them.  The link would have to be of a very large font, and formatted in such a way that would make it easy for their little eyes to see.  I think that this would be a great tool for use with upper elementary aged children when they are working on a small scale research project.  It would be very easy to make the appropriate research tools available on one page, and have them brainstorm on their own group page.  I hope to learn more about this awesome resource!

Website Evaluation

I have used several websites dedicated towards education not only for assignments, but for my own personal growth in the past.  It was very helpful to have some sort of criteria to assess the validity of the sites. Previously, I have just gone by if I know that the publisher website is from a credible source. I  had not even thought about how compatible websites would be with special needs children, such as the tags when you scroll over a picture.  I did notice that on several of the games that are available on the website, there were several different options for instruction as well as learning levels.

Accessibility is definitely one thing that I will look more into as I begin to document more site for my future lesson planning.  I really enjoyed that PBS Teachers, the website that I evaluated, not only had games for my students, but it also had lessons plans to fit any topic that I could be covering.  Having a wide range for options for multiple learning styles will be essential for me to be able to get through to my students.

www.pbs.org/teachers

PBS Teachers Home Page

Options to Search Classroom Resources

Dino Tracks---Pattern Recognition

Class Expectations

Welcome to my blog!  I'm a student currently enrolled in Integrating Technology into K-12 Curriculum at the University of Tennessee.  I will be using this blog to document my experiences with the material that I am learning. I am looking forward to learning the different types of media that I will be able to apply to my classroom after graduation.  I consider myself a pretty tech-savvy person, although I have never used Photoshop or any of the more intense programs.  I have previously used blogs for recipes and crafting.  I expect that I am going to learn a lot about incorporating the new forms of media into my curriculum that I was not introduced to until I was in high school.  It will definitely be interesting to see how videos and other forms of media can be a positive as opposed to the negative connotations that I was brought up with.  It is really scary to think that every student in my classroom could be using an iPad for all of their assignments instead of pencil and paper.