Web Inspiration Layout

This is a web diagram that I have created using Inspiration 9. The content is about the Civil Rights Movement. It is designed for a high school U.S. History course. This will be a useful tool to use while integrating technology in the classroom because it is a nice visual instrument. These kinds of web diagrams will be a good visual for the students especially ones who are visual learners.

Using this program is much neater than using for example a white board or something like that. It is clear and concise, making it easier to grasp main concepts. I definitely would like to use this in my classroom. This kind of tool can be used across grade levels and content area, making it very flexible. Also, they are fairly simple to create and still look visually pleasing. These kinds of programs could be used for notes, or you could even have the student construct one as a project. I really liked making this because it was simple, quick, and useful. I think that students will really be able to understand material presented in this simple manner.

Digital Images Slide Show

This is a slide show created by using the google version of powerpoint. These are various images that we used in our 486 class. They were just uploaded in different formats, so there is no real significance to them. However, there is significance in knowing how to upload various pictures through various methods. Scanning, pictures from the web, digital photos you took, screenshots, understanding all of these different ways of getting a picture to upload is very useful to know. I think if our students do not know how to do any of this, we should teach them how to do it. It will be something useful for them both in and out of the classroom.

If there is no access to Microsoft Powerpoint, or maybe there just needs to be a quicker way to do a slide show presentation, then this google version is extremely useful. It is quick and very easy to use. In fact, I have used Microsoft Powerpoint many times, but I still think this was much easier to learn. Maybe it is not quite as fancy, but I think it will get the job done especially if their are time constraints to the project.

It would be very easy to implement something like this in a classroom. I could think of many things I could make my students do slide show projects for regarding History or Geography on the high school level. Even if they are not very computer savvy, I think they could still be able to use this program. Also, making students do these kinds of projects will allow them to engage in the material a little deeper. For example, if I require them to do a project on WWII, then I can ask them to provide all kinds of things. I may require a picture, information about it, or some kind of video or audio from the time period relating to the war. You can do all kinds of things with these presentations and make it fun and interactive.I definitely would like to try it out in my classroom and see how it would work.

This week in 486

First, I found the scavenger hunt we did to be pretty simple. I am pretty familiar with the various ways to upload pictures. However, I did learn new things about Macs and how to make those photos jpegs. I thought this would be something that I could actually use in the classroom if I wanted to show my students how to upload pictures in various ways. Since I will be a history teacher, I figured I could use historical images instead. For example, I could make them upload only images concerning the Civil Rights Movement or World War II. This activity would help them identify history as well as learn about technology. This little scavenger hunt could be an effective activity that might give students who do not have much computer access a chance to learn how to use them better.

Also, this week we covered word processing. A lot of that material I already knew because I have had a lot of interaction with programs such as MS Office. However, I didn't really know about the other processing software that helps students with disabilities. I think that those programs seem really useful and interesting. It is sometimes amazing to me on exactly how far we have come technologically speaking. So, I like knowing that technology can be used in such a way that might help students learn material they otherwise may have never been able to before. I just hope that more schools will be able to afford this kind of software because I doubt that all of it is free or easily affordable. Though, there are some processing programs available on the web, which is nice for those who cannot afford them.

Lessons

Lesson planning I have come to like pretty well, which is good since I plan on being a teacher. I think they will help keep me focused and organized, as well as be able to know what standards I am wanting to cover. As a future teacher, we have been required to make some of our own. In preparing for this lesson plan for this technology class I found it to be pretty useful. We prepared our activities prior to the actual lesson planning and I found that to be easier than the way I have been doing it. Usually, I come up with the idea and form an activity around it. I liked creating the activity first I think it made the actual lesson plan go quicker. From now on I think I will try to do that instead. I felt like I could complete it easier because I already knew what activity I wanted to do for the lesson.

As part of integrating technology the activity involved doing research on the internet based on the Rockstar activity we did making a sort of WebQuest project. I think that using these in my class will be a great way to implement technology. I think my students will be able to get somewhat more of an intimate knowledge of the material I am covering if they have to look some of it up on their own. Also, by doing this there are other resources they can look at such as images, video, and audio by actual people during different time periods. As a history teacher, I believe getting some primary sources in the lesson or other perspectives of an event are extremely important. Plus these different kinds of media can also reinforce what I have taught, am teaching, or will teach. I really look forward to doing lessons such as this one that I have prepared for! I think the students will enjoy these activities as well by getting to find material on their own, with of course some guidance by me. These web-related activities will also help me teach them how they too can properly evaluate websites on their own for future use. Therefore, they will be able to be more self-sufficient in doing research projects, which almost every student will have to do at some point in their education.

Frustrations....

The suggested topic for this week was about frustrations. I wasn't really sure if I was going to write about it or not, but then I came into some things that frustrated me and it made me think. As I was trying to convert some documents over to pdf format for WebQuests that we designed, I ran into some issues. First, my document became 2 pages when it was only supposed to be one, which really wasn't a big deal. However, the border that looked so nice surrounding my document was completely messed up on the second page. I tried adjusting the margins and playing with the border. Nothing worked, so I eventually just removed the border. It was very frustrating and the people at zamzar.com probably think I am crazy for converting that file about 7 times.

So, after that happened. It made me think about the future. While I think it is a great idea to use technology in the classroom because students can relate, and they need to know how to use it. I also realized that there will be times when things happen that I just cannot fix or solve in regards to this kind of thing. I thought about how frustrating this might be because I can't stop my lesson to try and fix a technological problem for 30 min. For example, in the class I am currently observing, they were playing a geography game using a Smartboard, but they could not get the pen to fix. The teacher had to take time out to try and fix it, but she was unsuccessful. Therefore, she had to make adjustments. These little hiccups really made me think about how I will have to always be adaptable to what is going on in the classroom with the lesson. Technology can be great, but it can definitely have some flaws.

These things will not deter me from integrating technology as much as possible. Though they did allow me to reflect on how my response would be as a teacher trying to hold the lesson together. With or without technology, I will still have to plow through those standards and lessons. Overall, these frustrations allowed me to maybe be a little more prepared about the future.

Webquests

I found a webquest this week that was in my particular subject area, which is history. The title was Causes of World War Two. It was developed by a student studying to become a teacher. The task was for students to get into groups and make a ten minute presentation on certain aspects of WWII. It provides some websites for students to use as well. I think that it would be an overall useful project to do in a U.S. History class. This point in history is important for students to grasp and understand, and this webquest would be a useful tool implemented in the class. The link to this particular quest is

I really like the idea of webquests. I had no idea what they were prior to this class. Webquests are really good tools that I will definitely want to use in my classroom. It gives me the ability to find fun projects that can integrate technology successfully into my classroom without being overwhelming or confusing hopefully. They can also be useful if I get stuck on how to plan a certain lesson or project by providing me with the tools or ideas I need. Plus, if there is a certain aspect I want to change, I still have the liberty to do that as well.

Websites and Wikis

This week I have been looking at different websites based on my content area, which is history. I found three different sources that were really interesting to look at. The best one I found was www.besthistorysites.net. They provide all kinds of sites that give lesson plans, activities, games and much more. I really think this site would be useful to any social studies teacher because it has such a wide variety of options for lessons. I added this site to our course wiki and I really think that it will be a useful one.

I believe that wikis were very interesting to learn about. I had never really knew what a wiki was other than Wikipedia. As far as integrating technology, I think it will be a very source for teachers to use. I would really be interested in this as a future teacher just like the PLNs. I think it is important for teachers to have as many resources to their disposal as possible. I am looking forward to using this more as a tool for future lesson planning.