Semester Reflections

Well the semester has finally come to a close. Reading through my previous posts I can say I enjoy what I am taking from this class. Especially after looking through my initial blog post on my expectations for the class. I went in to this class wanting to be better acquainted with technology and the different tools available to be used in the classroom. Prior to the class I had never created a website or used any of the Web 2.0 tools we worked with in class (excluding a very primitive form of Google Docs). This blog right here is the first time I have done anything with any sort of blog.

At the conclusion of this class I feel very confident in my ability to use a variety of web based tools to further enhance learning in the classroom. IBA's, IWB's, wikis, movies and so on will be great ways to keep learning fun and interesting for students. Without this class I would have zero preparation for the challenges the future classroom faces with the growing role of technology.

Teachers who have little experience with technology will face numerous challenges as the years pass. So many things have become easier or replaced thanks to technology. Now, after a semester in TPTE 486, I feel confident that as technology's role in classrooms continues to grow I will be fully prepared to adapt and work with it. I have a feeling that I will often be remembering the lessons learned in this class during my time as a teacher.

Wait, I made a website?

By far the thing we worked on the most throughout the semester was the website. Each one of us created our classroom websites as if we were preparing to spend a year teaching. It was a pretty cool task that incorporated everything we did throughout the semester. The sites themselves have information about ourselves the authors, resources taken from our awesome subject area wikis, our technology projects and some of the artifacts we created using Web 2.0 tools. The websites are almost complete and will be a cool little remnant of the class to use in the future when showing off technology skills while job hunting. It was definitely something that you couldn't completely slack on because it needed constant updates throughout the semester. You've bothered to keep up with this blog for this long, so why not give this whole website thing a look as well? Check it out!

Making Movies

The digital story project was a lot of fun. We chose a topic relevant to our subject matter and using pictures, either our own or those we got off the internet (free of copyright), we created a digital story with iMovie. The iMovie software was really simple to use, especially if you followed the directions from our packet. Once all the pictures were put into the sequence we waited all that was left was adding captions, a title, credits and a soundtrack. Again all of this was pretty easy if you followed the directions and there were plenty of websites provided to get royalty free music.

The topic I chose was our 32nd President, Franklin D. Roosevelt. I'm a big FDR fan and his presidency covers a time really interesting to me so I was excited to do this project. I think that it all turned out well and that I have a solid short movie (about two and a half minutes long) talking about FDR's 12 years in office from the Great Depression through Pearl Harbor and World War II.

I liked this project a lot. It wasn't too hard to do, it was fun, and has plenty of uses in the classroom. Making several of these videos for class presentations or to have as an introduction to topics would not be difficult to accomplish and I think would be fun for the students. Below is the video I made.

Getting Digital with Diagrams

Most of the hands on activity this week in class revolved around the Inspiration software which is used to create digital diagrams and outlines. This software allows you to create a web diagram linking different subtopics and themes to a major topic. The software comes full of pictures that can be used to enhance your digital diagram, as well as a way to add notes to each "bubble" that provides further information on the topic. In the software you can also hyperlink phrases or themes to take the user to a website with further information on the subject. Of course when this is done it is important to make sure the website is reliable. Here is a screenshot of the digital diagram I created on World War II:

This was probably one of my favorite programs that we have used this year. It was simple and easy to use and with a little tinkering, could be spaced to look really good. Each "bubble" only contains a couple words maximum, but the note feature alleviates this. This tool is super useful in my opinion. In a classroom with an interactive whiteboard the digital diagram can be displayed and notes and links within the web can be accessed as the subject is approached. In instances where students have computers with them they can use the diagram as supplement to instruction following along and using the extra information given while studying. Even without the software the screenshot of the image is a successful basic study tool, linking topics and subtopics together. I see a lot of uses that can come out of the Inspiration software. 

Interactive Flip Charts

The majority of class this week was spent working on our flip charts for the Interactive White Board assignment. I find the project extremely useful because many classrooms today have Smartboards or Promethean boards. There is definitely a learning curve trying to figure out how to work the software and get the flip chart to do exactly what you want. I've found that as I have gone along and gotten better with the different aspects of the program I've had to tweak the outline of my flip chart. One thing I don't like is that while ActivInspire can be used on my home laptop, it doesn't seem to cooperate as well as it does in the classroom. This is more likely a problem with my laptop itself as opposed to the software, but it is nonetheless frustrating. Thankfully there have been plenty of hours where the lab is open and can be used. This is probably one of the more fun assignments that we've done in the class and I'm excited to learn more about Promethean and ActivInspire as time goes on to perfect use in the classroom.

Classroom Teaching, IWBs and More

This was a very busy week in the classroom. On Tuesday my group, TimeToast, presented our Web 2.0 along with Google Forms. We also spent a decent amount of time working with the Interactive White Boards and our flip charts, as well as learn about Animoto.

The presentation was not as great as I would have liked and came across fairly bland. As a group we did not do a great job splitting the information up and presenting to the class in a manner that showed all of our competence with the software. We could have prepared much better, especially because TimeToast will be especially useful with subjects like history.

I am excited about the interactive white board flip charts. The Promethean board looks to be a very useful means of teaching in the classroom. Whether it be for lecture or interactive activity it is definitely something I wish I had had in the classroom as a student. The flip chart I'm working on deals with the Great Depression and the cultural and economic effects it had on the American people. I'm excited to work on it and with the ActivInspire software.

Last but not least we worked with Animoto on Thursday which was actually quite fun. The 30 second videos aren't bad and it doesn't cost too much to upgrade to have more opportunities with it. Here is the video I made in class Thursday:


Make your own photo slideshow at Animoto.

Campus Hunting

The last couple of weeks we worked on a scavenger hunt themed towards our specific program areas. The scavenger hung I participated in was social studies oriented and involved finding items around campus that had political and historical relevance. We worked in groups and used either cameras or iPhones. My group used an iPhone camera and shared them with each other via a dropbox upload from the phone.

Once the photos were uploaded we individually worked on editing the photos and creating an album in Picasa Web albums. We organized the album and named the photos according to the scavenger hunt list. Once the album was complete we created a slideshow and uploaded it to our websites. We did a similar process with photos we found online to create a google presentation. The photos I used were of U.S. Presidents from the 20th century.



Scavenger Hunt

View all

Get your own

U.S. Presidents of the 20th Century

Wonderful Word Clouds with Wordle

This week began the web 2.0 presentations. The first group up was Wordle, which is a program where you can make word clouds. The program was interesting but I didn't see how it could be super useful in a classroom. The presenting group went over certain things you could use word clouds for like vocabulary lessons or listing student names. I'm sure there are more uses that I'm just missing but at first glance it Wordle didn't seem that useful. I'm sure the word clouds would be great for posters in the classroom which is helpful because I am lacking artistically. I suppose another use would be to use the word clouds to spice up assignments so that its more than just a sheet of paper with directions. I hate that this web 2.0 didn't really excite me too terribly much and hopefully I'll be more excited for the others to come.

Toasty Timelines: Using Timetoast

Timetoast is the Web 2.0 tool my group was assigned. The site is designed to help the user create timelines, which is especially useful for social science classes but also helpful with other subjects. For the Web 2.0 assignment our group split our wiki page into sections and we each completed it separately in a Google Doc. Once we checked each other's work and all agreed that it was complete, we transferred the data from the Google Doc to the wiki page. My part of the wiki page was the overview, as well as the strengths and weaknesses. As mentioned before, the site is designed for creating timelines and requires creating an account (a simple task). It had plenty of strengths, but also a few weaknesses. Any timelines created on the site can be uploaded to the server for all members with a publish button. Timelines can be printed off of the site by placing them into text view, a feature provided by Timetoast.

Creating an Inquiry Based Assignment

Once I switched the topic for my IBA I really enjoyed this assignment. The initial topic i chose, Federalism, was difficult since I couldn't really find a website that went with the topic whatsoever. Relying solely on the textbook really ruined the assignment since it was technology based. The topic I did use, the Constitution, worked much better. I was able to find an interactive website that followed the textbook really well. The assignment wasn't that hard once it got going and was very useful for learning how to do an assignment like this in the future.

IBA's would be useful in the classroom because they promote NETS•S standards and can encourage collaboration depending on how the assignment is done. It's also a nice way for students to learn about a topic by doing the learning and research themselves as opposed to having it lectured to them, which personally I think works much better. Also I feel that students would remember things better if they did the actual research themselves and would benefit from the hands on experience.

Rocking Wikis About Rocks

The rockstar trading assignment was really interesting to me. The assignment itself was not an arduous task. It was easily completed in class and really just involved finding the information provided on the website that was given. The point behind the assignment is what I found to be really neat. After each group had finished the class had the ability to study and learn about each different gemstone right there on the wiki. This would be especially useful in a classroom in preparation for tests and exams. Instead of a teacher putting together a study guide for students, wikis allow the students to create their own study guides with each others easily accessible information. As a prospective history and government teacher I see many uses for this technology. For example, when studying topics like U.S. Presidents, or Constitutional Amendments, or Supreme Court cases, students can be grouped and assigned individual topics and then through the wiki study the subjects as a whole. This also benefits the teacher because it easily shows what information or topics the students are struggling most with based on what pages are viewed the most, or aren't entirely complete with the necessary information.

Blog Post about Webquests about Webquests

Learning how to use a webquest was not a trying or difficult task. But it did involve taking the time to sit down and analyze all the different aspects of a webquest. It was important to make sure that the webquest emphasized the use of technology and actually functioned (i.e. had working links). The best webquests promoted students collaborating together and thinking critically. Nothing is fun or interesting if it is so simple that it becomes tedious and boring. Most importantly though a good webquest is efficient. There is no point in assigning students a lengthy webquest that will tire them out and need several classes to complete if nothing useful is going to be attained. Long webquests should conclude with a full and complete understanding of the covered topic. 

Webquests can be very useful in the classroom, especially with social studies. The example from the assignment on the Nixon-Kennedy debates was fantastic. The topic was interesting, it involved students working together and did not consume more time than was really needed for the subject. In the end students had an understanding of the role the visual media (television) has had on politics over the last five decades. The conclusion was also thought provoking because it leaves open the question would certain Presidents have been elected if there was the same television coverage then compared to know. 

Evaluating Websites

Evaluating a website for use in a classroom is crucial. If the website is too difficult to use, the students won't learn anything. And if the website is too inappropriate then you'll find yourself in hot water with the parents and likely school administrators. The website I evaluated for this assignment was www.ushmm.org. This is the website for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum located in Washington D.C. I visited this museum when I was on a field trip in 8th grade and it was a unique experience. The museum thrusts you into the world that Holocaust victims experienced and it truly weighs on you. It was quite informative and powerful. However planing trips to the nation's capital isn't always easy so the website makes a good substitute for a virtual field trip.

Before it could be used for this purpose however, it must be evaluated for classroom use. The process of evaluating the website was not terribly difficult, but it did require searching through the numerous areas of the site. It was important to make sure that the site was easily accessible for students and that the information provided was actually accurate. In this case I was searching a site that is regarded as one of the premier locations for Holocaust information, so accuracy wasn't too much of a concern. Once the evaluation was completed, and its usefulness and effectiveness determined, it was really easy for me to highly recommend its use for not just students but also teachers in the classroom.

This exercise was highly helpful in meeting the learning objectives associated with it. I was able to understand that using a website for the classroom was more of a process than logging into Goggle and searching. I had to make sure that everything on the site functioned, could be easily accessed, used by a wide variety of students and most importantly was appropriate. I am now confident in my ability to evaluate websites in the future for classroom use.

My Expectations for the Course

My expectations for this course are to become better acquainted with using technology and web 2.0 tools. Thus far things haven't been too difficult since many of the programs we have used are pretty user friendly. By the end of the course I hope to be able to effectively use things such as websites, blogs and wikis to communicate with students and parents. 

Since my education program will involve me working with high school students it is crucial that I learn, understand and master these programs and concepts. My generation is already technology dependent and the use of computers in the classroom and as part of the education experience will only grow. Students and parents being able to access information from class will make the learning experience more fun in my opinion if done properly.