Final Wrap-ups

It has come to the end of the year, and I have to say that I am disappointed that this class is ending. I had a lot of fun, and I learned so much useful information.  All of the projects and information I learned in this class will definitely travel with me into my future career and allow me to be a more successful teacher. I did not know all of the technological capabilities that I could master. I am so proud of all of the work that I have completed in this class, and I frequently share my projects with others. My website took so much dedication and is a good way to broadcast all of the success I have had in this course. I really enjoyed this class and I wish I could take it again.

Google Sites

Creating my website throughout the semester has been the absolute best part of this course. It was challenging at some points, but was so rewarding when you finally created what you were envisioning. I loved working on my website, and I did it all the time in my spare time. There is no doubt in my mind that I will be using this again whether it be for my students to have their own websites to show off work to their parents or one for my teaching career. I worked so incredibly hard on it and I am very proud of what I have accomplished. With this tool, anything that you are thinking that your website should be, can be.

Here's a link to my website, and I hope that you like it. I have worked so hard on it, and enjoyed myself so much in making it.

https://sites.google.com/site/emoakley526/

Google Docs

Google Docs is such a wonderfully useful web 2.0 tool. It can be used in document collaboration, making a presentation, creating a survey for your students or parents at home, and probably a lot more that I do not even know about. Using this tool as a document collaboration is incredibly handy. I have already used this tool numerous times in my everyday life. It makes it so easy to communicate with people that you might not always see face to face. For example, for my history midterm this year a google doc was started and students from the entire lecture class contributed notes. It was amazingly simple and very helpful. I also used google docs in order to create a survey for my website. It was very easy to make, has so many possible uses, and is very easy to distribute. I definitely plan on using this tool in my future classroom as well as in my future life.

Storybird

I used the Web 2.0 tool story bird in order to make my own interactive story.  It was relatively simple to do, and a very good learning opportunity. Story bird really relies on your use of imagination in order to put a narrative to the art provided. It is a little difficult for a student in my future special education classroom to master, but I think that it would be a fun group activity to do. It was also mentioned that once students create their story, it can be bought by their parents and used as a fundraising tool. I really like that idea because it provides parents an example of their child's technological creativity as well as a look into the classroom. I wish that there was a larger variety of art to use because I feel as though a lot of the art can be classified as rather strange. On top of the lack of child appropriate artwork, story bird was also difficult to arrange the page into a format that you like. While it is a cool, free tool to use in the classroom, it is a little too advanced for the students in elementary school to pursue individually. My idea is to pick the art with the classroom and have brainstorming on the plot, the characters, and the layout of the little book. While this activity will still spark creativeness and knowledge on the components of a story, it is easier for the student to achieve.

Here is an example of the one that I made!


Everyone needs a best friend! by eoakley1 on Storybird

Digital Diagram

In class we learned how to use Inspiration software in order to create a digital diagram. I decided to do first grade social studies, and my topic was on the where people live such as continents, countries, and states. It was at first very difficult for me to find the correct topic to do, and I was feeling very stressed out about it. However, as soon as I had a plan of action the rest was a piece of cake. I made a very simple yet aesthetically pleasing diagram. The software was easy to use and there's a lot of tools that I did not even touch upon. In my future classroom, I think that this software would be really handy to make graphic organizers for the kids to fill in as well as presenting as a summary of material gone over in class. It is the easiest way that I have seen to create a digital diagram, and I plan on using it in my future classroom!!

Here is an example of the one I did in class!

Interactive White Board- ActivInspire

In order to complete the interactive white board activity, I used ActivInspire software. The software was very easy to navigate and ,through some practice, easy to use. I found the tool bar, browsers, and all of the other elements of the program very useful. I plan on using this software in the future since I have now worked with it. I know there is so much more that this program can do that I have not even began to uncover, and I am so excited to discover it. I hope to some day be a pro at it and be able to use it to its fullest abilities in order to make my classroom one that is full of learning and engagement of the students!

Interactive White Board- Uses in the Classroom

The interactive white board has so many uses in the classroom. It turns any only lesson into something that is engaging and so interesting for the students. Previous to this class, I have never had any experiences with this type of technology. My high school is not too keen on technological advancement.  However, I think that this tool is so useful for classes. I really enjoy the fact that students are part of the lesson and can get excited about the material that they are learning. I hope that I am fortunate enough to have an interactive white board for my future special education classroom. I see so many possibilities for it that would really help in the students growing and learning. I will definitely carry this activity with me into my future career!