Final Post

As I reflect on my time in TPTE 486, I am truly amazed at how much I have learned. At the beginning of the summer, I was terrified by any type of technology and believed that I was doomed to break every electronic device I touched. I did not have any experience using a Mac computer and was completely overwhelmed by many of its features for the first few days of class. Even though I was a little nervous and inexperienced, I was excited to take TPTE 486 so I could learn about the different tools I could use to incorporate technology into my classroom. At the beginning of the summer, my main expectation for this course was to learn about all the different tools that the web offered. I expected the process to be a little frustrating at times, but I knew as long as I worked hard and followed all of Ginny's directions, I would learn to be an even more effective teacher. 

Throughout this semester, this class has completely transformed how I see technology. After working on the Mac computer for almost two months, I am a lot more knowledgeable about its features and am more confident in my ability to effectively use it. At the beginning of the semester, I did not even know how to log out of the computer. Now I am able to use the Mac computer for three hours twice a week with relatively little help. Although this is not one of the major goals of TPTE 486, it was one of my personal goals. Now, if I walk into my internship and am faced with a school system that only uses Mac computers, I will not panic and have to ask my mentoring teacher a million questions. Instead, I will have a basic understanding of how to work the computer and the skills and confidence needed to attempt to figure out the things I do not understand on my own.

As I reflect on my time in TPTE 486, I am amazed at how many tools I have learned how to use in such a short amount of time. Thanks to this class, I now know how to create a website, blog, wiki, Picasa album, Google Presentation, digital diagram, digital story, WebQuest, flipchart, inquiry based activity, and wordle. Even though I expected this process to be frustrating at times, I was surprised by how easy many of these tools were to use. Even though I had to work hard to get all of my projects done in a timely manner, I was surprised how much I really enjoyed creating these assignments. This class taught me, not only that technology is essential in the classroom, but that technology can be a fun way to liven up the classroom. Now that I am more familiar with all of these tools and have used them to create my own projects, I will definitely try to incorporate them into my future classroom as much as possible. In the future, I see myself using a lot of these tools to create materials for my students, and I see myself asking my students to use these tools to complete their assignments. Now that I have taken TPTE 486, I understand that in order for me to engage my students and optimize their learning potential, I have to incorporate some level of technology into my lessons. Luckily, TPTE 486 has given me a new found love and appreciation for technology, and I know this class will help me be a better teacher. So, as I reflect on Colbi's tech travels through TPTE 486, I consider my experience to be a success!

Cautious Copyright

Throughout this semester in TPTE 486 we have learned a lot about copyright. Because I have learned so much about this topic, I decided to write about it for one of my choice blog posts. At the beginning of this summer, I was not aware that copyright laws were so strict. For example, I though if you Googled an image, copied it, pasted it on your website, and told your readers where you got the image from, it was not considered a copyright infringement. Now that I have been in TPTE 486 for a few weeks, I understand that this is not the case. I was surprised to learn that simply citing the source for the information is not enough. Throughout the semester, I have learned that there are limits to how much copyrighted material you can use. For example, I have learned you can only use ten percent or 1,000 words of text from another source without breaking a copyright law. I have also learned that you cannot use over ten percent or thirty seconds of a music clip or ten percent or three minutes of a video clip on your website without breaking the copyright law. Honestly, I am surprised I was never taught this before taking this class. In all of my English classes in high school and college, we were always taught that if we cited who the author was and where we got the information from, we were not plagiarizing someone's work. According to everything we have learned in TPTE 486, this is not necessarily true when you are publishing works on the internet. In taking this class, I have learned how to avoid copyright infringements. For example, I now understand that taking your own photographs with a digital camera or getting images from a free image database is the best way to avoid copyright issues with images. Even though there are many important things we have learned in this class this summer, I think the information we have learned about copyright laws may be one of the most important. I am glad I was taught about copyright laws during my pre-service teacher program because I think it would be very unprofessional if I were to get in trouble with my future school system for having copyrighted material on my classroom website.

Wonderful Website

Throughout this semester in TPTE 486, we have been creating a classroom website. Overall, I have really enjoyed creating this website, and I think it is a good reflection of how much I have learned in this class this summer. At the beginning of the semester, I was worried the website would be overwhelming for me because I had a very basic knowledge of technology. I did not know what information a classroom website needed to include or how to even insert pictures and text to create a home page. When we looked at the storyboard for our website, I did not even know what half of the pages were, especially the ones for the technology projects. As we have worked on projects throughout the semester, I have learned more and more about how to create a good classroom website. Now, I understand that my homepage needs to be an overall introduction to the site with links to each specific page the site offers. I also know that I need to include a teacher bio page that explains to my students and their parents who I am and what qualifications I have to be their child's teacher. I have also learned about many amazing resources that are available on the internet that I can use in my classroom and can share on my website with my students so they can work on improving their academic skills at home. I have learned what WebQuests are, where to find them, and how to share them with my students on a classroom website so they can take control of their learning and use technology to go on their own learning adventures. Throughout the process of creating my classroom website, I have also learned about numerous technology projects I can design to help my students better understand the content we cover throughout the school year. I have learned how to design online scavenger hunts, create digital diagrams,
tell digital stories, create interactive flipcharts, and design inquiry based activities. I have also learned how to put these projects on a classroom website so my students can see examples of projects we will do in class or have study materials they can use to better understand the content. In designing my own classroom website, I have also learned about additional information I can share on a website, including supply lists, classroom schedules, extracurricular activities, reading lists, and upcoming events in our school year.

Overall, I have really enjoyed learning about classroom websites, and I know the projects we have created have helped me become a better teacher who can incorporate technology into her classroom to enhance the learning experiences of her students. Throughout this process, I have learned how to construct a website and what information to include on it. I have enjoyed creating and personalizing my website, and I would definitely like to have one for my future classroom because I think it would be a great way for me to communicate with parents and students and administrators.

Telling Digital Stories

This week in TPTE 486, we learned how to create digital stories using iMovie. Overall, I really enjoyed creating the video and am proud of the final product. When I first began my project, I had a hard time planning how my video was going to be designed. At first, I considered creating a video that took students on a journey through the solar system. As soon as I started storyboarding, I realized I was having a difficult time incorporating all of the information I wanted to share with students as they traveled through space. I did not want my video to be bogged down with a lot of text, so I chose to instead create a video that listed different types of animals from A to Z. I thought it would be a great idea to create an authentic context for my video, so I designed the video as if my class was going on a field trip to the zoo tomorrow and needed a preview of some of the animals they were going to observe. After creating my story, I found free images on the internet and started designing my storyboard in PowerPoint. Reflecting on my project now, I am glad I spent a lot of time at home designing my storyboard and finding photographs because I think this planning process helped my project in the end. Because I already had a everything planned out, I was able to focus on correctly using the iMovie software instead of trying to plan and design all at the same time.

Although I was a little intimidated by the iMovie software last week, I feel a lot more comfortable with it since completing my project. I think the software is fairly easy to use once you are accustomed to where all the tools are located and all the options you have for creating your video. I really liked that many of the tools were "Drag and Drop" because this made it easier for me to figure out how to insert text or transitions into each slide. I also liked that the software had a lot of background, template, text, and color options. I really like being able to personalize my projects, and I feel like iMovie allowed me to do this. I also liked how easy it was to upload the movie onto YouTube, my website, and my blog. Since all of the platforms are owned by Google, uploading the video was extremely easy and only took a few simple steps. Each week, I am amazed at how many things I can do with my Google Account, and I am really glad TPTE 486 taught me that Google is more than a search engine.

The iMovie video I created is embedded at the top of this post. Please watch it and let me know what you think about my first video : )

Dazzling Digital Diagrams

This week in TPTE 486 we learned how to create digital diagrams using the Inspiration software. I really enjoyed this activity because I think diagrams are a great way to engage students and help them understand complex concepts. Overall, I think the Inspiration software was extremely easy to use. The first thing I really liked about the software was that it had a Rapid Fire tool. I thought this tool was great because it allowed me to jot down my ideas quickly without having to click on numerous other tools before typing another idea. The second feature of the Inspiration software I liked was the Arrange tool. I thought this was a great tool because it gave me enough options to personalize the diagram for my specific needs but not so many that I was overwhelmed by the choices. I liked that I was able to quickly look my diagram in each of the three formats and decide which one was the most beneficial for my lesson. The third feature I really liked about the Inspiration software was the Notes tool. I thought this was a great tool because it allowed me to expand on some of the sub-concepts without adding additional bulk to my diagram. I liked that this tool allowed me to define certain terms so my students could better understand what the diagram was symbolizing without having to squeeze large definitions in the sub-concept boxes under the terms.  The fourth feature of the Inspiration software I really liked was that I was able to insert text on the lines in between two concepts. I think this is a great feature of the software because being able to add in short connecting works like "example" will really help my students better understand how the information in the diagram is suppose to flow. The final feature I really liked about the Inspiration software was that it had a large database of images that I could very easily put in my diagram. For my digital diagram, I wanted to insert images of animals so the diagram would be more engaging for my students. The Inspiration software had at least ten images for every type of animal I searched, including unique animals such as ostriches, sponges, and jellyfish. Having the large database of images helped me finish my diagram in fairly little time. I liked that I did not have to find images on the internet, save them on my computer, and insert them in the diagram. The Inspiration software made inserting images very easy, and I think this really helped me personalize my diagram.

Although I really like the Inspiration software, I do have two small critiques. First, I do not like that I would have to pay for this software if I wanted to use it in my future classroom. Even though I think the software is very easy to use, I am not sure if I would be willing to pay for it. In the future, I would consider trying to use other programs, such as Microsoft Paint, to create diagrams before investing in buying Inspiration. If I could not find any other program that matched this software in ease and function, I would consider paying for it. The second feature I did not like about the Inspiration software is that I felt like I was very limited on options for choosing a background. I wish the software would have given me the option to insert an image as the background, because I think having an interesting background would help the diagram be a little more engaging for students. In summary, aside from these very minor drawbacks, I really enjoyed learning about the Inspiration software, and I will definitely consider creating digital diagrams in my future classroom.

The image at the top of this post was retrieved from http://assistivetek.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

Blogging in the Classroom

Since we have been blogging for TPTE 486, I have been thinking a lot about whether or not I will create a teacher's blog for my future classroom. Personally, I think there are many benefits to blogging but I am a little worried that keeping up with a blog will be very time consuming the first few years of my teaching career. On the one hand, I think a blog would be a great way for me to communicate with parents and students. If I end up working in a school where the majority of the families have internet access, I would like to set up a blog where I could update parents on the different activities and assignments we are working on in our class. I think a blog would be a great way for me to keep track of my classes and lessons from year to year, and I think parents would enjoy seeing what their students are learning about while they are at school. I also think a blog would be a great way for me to provide extension activities for students who want to continue learning about a topic or extra support for students who are struggling. For example, instead of sending home optional math worksheets that students can complete for extra practice, I could put a few review problems on the blog each week and tell parents that they are free to work through the problems with their children at home if they would like to.

While I think there are many benefits to having a classroom blog, I am concerned that blogging will be a little time consuming. Although I think blogging would be a great way for me to stay in touch with parents and students, I am worried I will get too preoccupied in the day-to-day life of school to consistently write blog entries. If I have a few free minutes during my planning time or after school, I think I would rather spend that time planning exceptional lessons or working on improving my teaching methods than blogging about the activities we did in class that day. I think the first two or three years of my teaching career will be some of the busiest years in my life, and I worry I may be too busy teaching to keep up with a blog. Even if my blogs only have occasional posts once or twice a month, I would still like to attempt to keep a classroom blog each year I teach. Hopefully as I gain teaching experience and become more comfortable in my role as a teacher, I will find additional time in which to write a consistent blog where I can communicate with parents. If after teaching for a few years, I feel like I have good advice or resources that I would like to share with other teachers, I would definitely consider starting a teacher's blog in which I write about my personal experiences as a teacher and pass along helpful hints to my fellow co-workers. I think blogs are a great resource for all classroom teachers, and I hope to start my own classroom blog one day in the near future.

The image at the top of this post was retrieved from http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=MwtLP5LdBenuAM&tbnid=c44KsrFIM6b60M:&ved=0CAQQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftaskgaroo.com%2Fbecome-garoo.php&ei=fRXmUdnSN_a64AOHs4HoCw&bvm=bv.49405654,d.aWc&psig=AFQjCNFmT-C15ULV5jqZcCdQPfr2GmC6vg&ust=1374119642381900

Resource Wiki

A few weeks ago in TPTE 486, we collaborated with the other Elementary Education students in Jeff's class to create a wiki that became a large database of resources. I enjoyed this resource wiki so much that I decided to write about it for one of my extra blog posts. Overall, I think the resource wiki is a great idea. I really liked searching the internet and finding great websites that my students can use in my future classroom. I also liked being able to share these resources with my fellow classmates. There have been many times in my education classes that I have found an amazing website that I really like and believe other people with minors in elementary education would like to know about but there is no way to communicate with them. This resource wiki gave me the opportunity to tell my fellow classmates about the websites I frequently use when I write lesson plans or look for interesting resources for my students. I also really liked this assignment because I was able to see all of the resources that my classmates use when they are planning lessons. Another aspect of this assignment I really liked was that each wiki included a page for Webquests. I really liked this because this summer is the first time I have been introduced to Webquests, and they are still very new to me. I am glad we included them on the resource wiki because I now have a list of great Webquests that my fellow classmates have scrutinized and deemed acceptable for use in our future classrooms. From my experience as a pre-intern, I know collaboration is a big part of being a teacher, and I am glad this assignment taught us how we can use technology to share resources. Thanks to the collaboration aspect of the wiki, we were all able to spend relatively little time finding a few resources that we were able to put together to create a huge database of helpful websites.

Although I really enjoyed these assignment, there were two small drawbacks that I noticed. First, I know a lot of people had trouble finding credible websites that were not already used by another student on the wiki. Luckily, I completed by annotations fairly quickly so my resources did not overlap with other people's. Even though it was not a problem for me, I know a lot of other people in our class were frustrated when they found a website, wrote an annotation, then saw that someone else had already created an entry for the website. The second  drawback I noticed about this wiki was that it was sometimes difficult to collaborate with people we had never met before in Jeff's class. If there were overlapping annotations or grammatical errors, no one in our class wanted to delete or edit an annotation from the other class because it simply felt rude to go in and change someone else's work without asking them. Aside from these two minor drawbacks, I really enjoyed creating the resource wiki, and I am happy I now have a long list of websites I can reference for my future classroom.

The image at the top of this page was retrieved from
http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=6JF9xvF0gp3nvM&tbnid=cZaBlmawPkup-M:&ved=0CAQQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Faflyontheclassroomwall.com%2Fcategory%2Fparents-teachers-working-together-classroom%2F&ei=yjHjUeszrcbgA_y3gPgB&psig=AFQjCNGiOVPps08FoKvW4Kpg-cJJjCpuIQ&ust=1373930266064374

Amazing Activinspire

This past week in TPTE 486 we learned how to make flipcharts using the Activinspire software. In all honesty, I found the software a little frustrating. At first when we were doing the tutorial, I thought the basic components of Activinspire were very similar to the Paint software on Windows computers. Once I started using the software on my own, I found myself hitting the “EditàUndo” buttons quite a bit. I think my biggest problem with the software was that I kept forgetting that I had to click on the arrow symbol in order to pick objects up and move them. I frequently would click on the text tool, click on the screen, type the text, try to move it, and find that I had accidently created another text box. Luckily, I stated getting more comfortable with this as I worked on my project, and by the end I mostly remembered to click on the arrow symbol when I was trying to move things on my pages.

Another problem I had with the Activinspire software was that I could not group together some of the objects on the screen. On one of the pages on my flipchart, I inserted a diagram of the solar system and drew arrows to each of the planets so my students could drag the name of the planet to the corresponding spot on the diagram. I used the arrow tool and drew lines on the diagram, but then when I tried to group the diagram and arrows and lock them down, the software would not allow me to do this. Once I asked Ginny for help, she explained I would have to use the line tool and create my own arrows in order to lock them down. I found this extremely frustrating because I had spent quite a bit of time on the diagram, and I had to delete all of my arrows and spend time creating more arrows using only lines. I was frustrated because I do not understand why the software would let me use arrows but not let me lock them down.

Even though I was frustrated at times with the Activinspire software, I really did enjoy learning about it and am glad I now have a little experience using it. I will be doing my internship at Mooreland Heights, Elementary School this fall, and when I met with my mentoring teacher, one of the first things she asked me was if I had any experience using a Smart Board. At the time, I did not have any experience but I told her I was taking TPTE 486 this summer and hoped to learn more about the software. Even though I am not completely comfortable with the Activinspire software, I am happy I was able to create my own flipchart and that I now have a basic understanding for when I walk into her elementary classroom this fall.   

This is a link to a youtube channel for Activinspire for beginners. The site contains about 30 videos that covers a variety of topics. I think this will be a great tool for me to use in the future if I ever forget how to do something in Activinspire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXVK3M-XFkY&list=PLA12ABED3C52B346A

The photograph at the top of this blog was retrieved from http://ldtstudio.coe.uga.edu/course/view.php?id=95