Smart Board Lesson Plan

Click here to see me giving my Smart Board lesson plan!

Google Forms and Web Quest Reflection

         The use of Google Forms and Web Quest, are two more useful tools to tuck away for future use because they both offer easier access to informatino for both the teacher and the student. However these two tools also have other great benefits as well.
         I will start by reflecting on Web Quests. What I really enjoyed about making this Web Quest, was the ease of use. Although it was time consuming, the step by step process made making a lesson very manageable and it forced you to include all the necessary components of a successful lesson. I also like the fact that the students can access this informatin wherever they are, and can refer back to in numerous times for directions. Web Quests also gives teachers the capapbility of linking other web sites or applications to the Web Quest for students to view, without having to make much commotion about it. Web Quest however does seem quite outdated. Yes it is useful and user friendly, but in this day and age of Ipads with unlimited applications, I am afraid students would find Web Quests "boring". For example iPlan lessons. This app allows lessons to be created easily, emailed, shared, and even put in correspondance with iCalender on your computer, iPhone, or iPad, making it accessible to teachers and students from a wide variety of machines. Web Quest is a good foundation and easy to use, however I think there are even easier, advanced, and more user friendly options avaiblable for todays technological advancements.
       Google Forms was totally new to me and I was really impressed with how much information it was able to gather.  As I reflected back on how this tool could be used in a classroom, I automatically thought of tests or quizzes. This would be such a great way to give a test, compare results, grade them quickly, and save paper! I enjoy that students are able to view percentages and see exactly where they may need to keep working. I also appreciate how easy it is to use and how easy it is to regulate. If a teacher uses this, it is great how they have the ability to control what is seen, what is said, and how it is done.
        Overall I think both these tools are worth working with and exploring in my future classroom!

WebQuest

Click here to visit my lesson on questgarden.com

My second personal tale

Click here to view my second personal tale!

Playing with Media- Chapter 3 Reflection

In the third chapter of Playing with Media: Simple ideas for powerful sharing, Fryer discussed the different uses of Audio in education and the reasons this sort of technology can be beneficial to a classroom.

            The first point I want to reflect on was a thought that I had never continued. Whether you asked your students to make a video, video their friends, or publish some sort of visual work with a camera, it can be very intimidating. Although visuals are pleasing to the eye and great ways to make a point or present a topic, placing yourself or students in front of a camera can be nerve-racking and potentially ruin the experience. However capturing audio can be just as effective without the intimidation factor. A microphone or speaker is a lot less “in your face” than a camera, and the words spoken can be just as effective and capturing.  Fryer also raised other good points about the benefits of audio use. For example, audio recordings are small files an dare easy to access and upload, audio recorders are inexpensive, privacy is not as big of an issue with audio recordings, and old and new computers are compatible with most recordings (Fryer, 37).

            Another point Fryer made that caught my attention was the fact that audio can help students practice the skill of listening.  Listening is a powerful tool, however gets lost in pictures, videos and texts. When audio is the only technology used, it forces us to listen intently to learn the lesson being taught or hear the story being told. One example lesson Fryer encouraged to try with students was a read aloud audio projects. Instead of asking students to get up in front of the class and read an essay or a story, have them bring in a recording of them reading their piece or work. This gave the students the ability to share their essay with more people, via email or a class blog and it minimized the nerves that come with getting up in front of a room full of people.

            Fryer listed programs that can be used to ease the process of using audio, for example AudioBoo. All you need is a built in or plug in microphone. It is as easy as making an account on AudioBoo.com, accessing your microphone, and recording your project. You can do multiple recordings, give your project a title, adding an image and you are set. AudioBoo even allows you to share your recording with other users. Other programs like Cinch and iPadio are all free, easy to use, and more often than not, can be accessed through a Cloud.

            This chapter was jam packed with a lot of information, and all though it was overwhelming at times, it was also very interesting because when I think technology in the classroom I think Ipads, Smartborads, and computer programs, but rarely audio. It opened my eyes to the continually growing list of technology uses and their pros and cons and I am excited to play around with them in my future classroom!

Public Service Announcement- Podcast Version

Podcast

Fryer's Chapter 2 Reflection

            “Words do not have to be published in books or magazines to be both powerful and impactful (Fryer, 2011).” The second chapter of Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing, was packed full of ways to better integrate digital writing platforms into curriculum and why. As a future educator I found all of this information not only useful but also exciting! Two platforms that the chapter focused on and that I am going to reflect on primarily were class blogs and cloud computing.

            Fryer defines a blog as a digital newspaper. With blogs, articles (posts) are archived and can be accessed far into the future. Each post is stamped with a date and put into the blogs archive. This feature of a blog in particular appears to work better in a classroom setting rather than just a website because posts and blog activity can be accessed easily no matter how old they are. Fryer encourages the use of a class blog also because, “a blog can provide the fastest way to interactively share rich media”, allows the teacher to moderate the content on the page, and can control how “public” the blog is and who can access it (Fryer, 2011). Blogs are also classroom friendly spaces because they are relatively easy to use. Fryer mentioned many sites to use for a class blog but strongly encouraged the use of Posterous.com, which is a free program, easy to set-up, and easy to use. Fryer highlighted the importance of the ethic of minimal clicks which is the idea that the more clicks a site or digital platform requires often “scares away” novice learners, and that the simpler the program the better. “I am on a continuing quest for tools which support the ethic of minimal clicks and Posterous definitely fits that bill (Fryer 2011).” Posterous is a great way to create a class blog because it allows pictures and video and other digital forms to be posted to it, anyone can post to it, anyone can comment and the teacher can moderate all of things making sure only appropriate content is published to the blog. Fryer also discusses the use of googlereader, wikispaces, and other learning management systems to use as a way to share class wide material.

            Towards the end of the chapter, Fryer discusses the use of cloud computing. Many blogging systems use the technique of cloud computing, like Blogger.com (Fryer, 2011). Personally I am a big fan of cloud computing, whether in a blog form or just for personal documents. Whether it’s though iCloud, box.com or dropbox, using a cloud to store your documents has proven to be a successful and secure way to manage your documents.

            All of the resources mentioned in this chapter appear to be very useful in a classroom setting! Safe, secure, and effective tools to share information digitally!

References

Fryer, Wesley A. (2011). Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing.             

            Creativity Learning, LLC publication. 21-36.