Final Project: Blogfolio
1. Introduction
Video:
The very first day
we had to find a partner to record ourselves introducing ourselves. The first
thing I learned was to get over my shyness. I had to find a perfect stranger to
record me talking about myself. After I overcame that, I encountered several
issues. Being that I am not computer smart at all, this was my first chance to
figure out what I did and did not know about technology. First off, I did not
know how to transfer a video from my phone to the computer. My first attempt
was emailing the video to myself and then downloading it to the computer then
adding it to my blog. Since that did not work, I had to use a USB to transfer
it straight to my downloads then to my blog. I will use this in my classroom by
making my students get involved with one another. Since my classroom will be of a high school,
I will instead use the idea of communicating on the first day. This assignment
met the “Design and Develop Digital –Age Learning Experiences and Assessments”
by customizing a learning activity which was making the students find a partner
and communicate with your classmates to develop your introduction video. Also
we made a learning experience by completing an assignment. We use technological
tools such as our phone and USB cords to complete our assignment. But we were
not limited to how we had to upload the video, so we were able to use multiple
ways to upload the video to our blogs.
2. Concept
Map:
This assignment
tested my ability. I had to learn a new program on the desktop at first, which
that is always the hardest part—figuring out how to use new equipment. Once I
figured out the quirks of using the program, I was able to go through the
assignment pretty quickly. Another issue I had was incorporating all the
information I wanted to use but also using the Mississippi Education
Kindergarten Standards. When I got the information prepared for the layout,
creating my bubbles, adding color, lining everything up, and making sure all
the requirements were included I was able to create an entire lesson plan from
this concept map. I learned that using bubble maps and concept maps help with
learning and being more organized. This was one of my favorite because it will
be super useful in the classroom. This particular program will be used in my
classroom very often because it uses organization and a layout that helps
students learn the most important information.
While this assignment could fall under several of the standards, this assignment
particularly calls out “Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and
Creativity.” Creativity was the main aspect of this project, but also exploring
the real world activities would be by including the standards in the assignment
because being a teacher means that one must follow certain standards in all
lesson plans, as like in this assignment. I had to use resources and other
tools, yet think ahead, and plan for an assignment in my classroom.
3. Web
Tools:
Web tools was by
far the most useful tool for my career as a future teacher. Having access to
test makers and sites that create rubrics and surveys for you, is a helpful
tool to make a teacher’s job easier. This assignment taught me to create tests
and have answer keys in a simple way. Honestly, I did not know there was
anything other than a Word Document for making tests. All teachers should be
aware of these sites. I had trouble with trying to learn the steps for creating
the tests. Even though the assignment was pretty self explanatory, I wanted to
explore the sites to see what was all available that I could use in the future.
With the help from my peers, I was able to complete my project and I felt confident
that I could use it in my classroom in the future. This assignment met the “Model
Digital-Age Work and Learning” standard. This standard was met by this
assignment because we used technology as a teaching tool and learning purpose.
We used technology and digital tools to create new resources for classroom
activities such as quizzes, rubrics, and testing tools. I will definitely be
using this in my classroom. I will use the source to build all of my tests and
grading rubrics for projects. Web tools are useful and should be taught to all
future teachers. Web tools are free and anyone can YouTube tutorials on how to
get the most useful and effective information from the sites.
4. Web
Page:
The web page was
also very useful for my future in teaching. Creating a web page will help me be
a better teacher and a better communicator to my students’ parents. The web
page was probably most difficult to me. Adding pages and creating a layout was
hard for me. After a peer helped me add pages to my site, I used a basic layout
but used creativity to spruce it up. I also searched a couple of other web
pages for suggestions and idea which helped me find good examples of what I was
trying to do. I will use this in my classroom by creating a site page that
students and parents can refer back to for any information. A site page will
eliminate late night emails or having to wait for responses. “Engage in Professional Growth and
Leadership” is the most suitable standard because creating a blog site for your
classroom would be an example of growth in teacher promoting. Before technology
became popular, teachers sent home letters and sometimes these letters would
not get shown to the parents and they would be left in the unknown. With a web
page, anyone can access any information or events coming up. I learn that by
using multiple resources for parents to use, I can be the best teacher I can be
because students will be more prepared at home for school activities. Web pages
have many uses and I think all teachers and faculty should be taught to use web
pages and provide a site for anyone who needs it.
5. Google
Groups:
Along with Web Tools,
Google Groups is also very useful for anyone who needs to communicate about
projects, group assignments, events coming up, or send out any information to
specific people. We used this resource to gather a group together and discuss
questions we asked one another. Also we put together a story through Google
Groups. It was a great communication exercise and was helpful because we did
not have one another’s numbers so communicating through Google Groups helped us
with the completion of our project. We had trouble in the beginning adding
everyone to the group message; once everyone was added to the group, we
realized not everyone was getting the messages. So we had to start a new
conversation, re-add everyone, and start the messages over. It took some time
to figure out why everyone was not getting the messages and such but we finally
got it figured out. I am not sure if I will use this much in my classroom
(depending on the grade) because it may be kind of difficult for
kindergarteners to message one another. But if I were to teach an eighth grade
class, it could be useful to them for when they are in college and need to
discuss stuff with other classmates. This assignment also met the “Promote and
Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility” standard. Google Groups develops understanding
of technological learning because it requires you to use several steps of engaging
in the information needed to successfully use the system.
6. My
Movie:
My movie was my
absolute FAVORITE assignment in this class. I know I had the most problems with
it because it was a program I had never dealt with before and I was clueless
when I first started. The only way for me to figure out how to use it was to
play around on the program, mess with all the buttons, and see what everything
did. After playing with it for two days, I was able to start my movie. After
getting 90% of the project completed, I did not save it right and lost all of
my work (three times). I had to redo everything and let Dr. Beedle show me the
correct way to save it. I loved this project but if I am to use it in my
classroom I will probably use PowerPoint because it is almost the same but more
students are familiar with PowerPoint and it will be easier for them to use.
This assignment was also a great way to learn about your classmates. This
assignment best fit “Model Digital-Age Work and Learning” because we basically used
a program that many people had never used before but was very similar to a
well-known program and was able to use some of the knowledge we had of
PowerPoint for Movie Maker. The fluency in common programs helped students
complete the project without much guidance. This was a fun project and minus
the issues some people had with saving or loading, it was nice to learn and
have fun at the same time.
Overall Course Reflection:
This course provided me with multiple assignments
that allowed me to test my abilities to use technology in an educational
manner, but also helped me extend my abilities in several ways. At the
beginning of the semester, I had very little experience in computer technology
other than the basic uses such as web searches, word documents, and social
media; but this course has taught me how to get the best use of each element
available for my benefit.
My
weakness was figuring out each assignment in the beginning. Learning how to use
the techniques took longer than the actual assignment for me. Once I got the
drift of the assignment and was able to figure out how to do each aspect, it
was beneficial. My creativity was my strong point. My creativity covered the
lack of experience I had with assignments I struggled with. Also the fact that
I catch on fast allowed me to not get behind despite the extra time it took to
figure out the assignment. By using my strong points, I was able to help develop
my weak points. I was weak on certain assignments because I lacked knowledge
and experience in some of its requirements. Catching on fast kicked my weakness
and I was able to gain a lot of information from each assignment. The best way
to improve my weak areas is to exercise my knowledge in each element more
often. By using the techniques more often I can improve my skills.
I plan
to use technology in my classroom by allowing my students to use less paper and
pencil and more computer and technology. The world is so revolved around
technology today that a student cannot be too prepared for it. Being that I
will be teaching lower than college, my goal will be to prepare students as
much as possible for college level work since a good portion is computer revolved.
I will use several elements that require students to learn more affective and
useful apps that benefit themselves for future purposes.
I
believe that blogs in education are great because teachers and parents are able
to communicate with one another. Blogs allow resources to be public to anyone
whom wants to be involved in classroom plans and events. Parents can
communicate with one another also and are able to discuss their children’s work
with one another or help with assignments coming up. But blogs are also not
necessary which does not make parents feel obligated to discuss things with
others.
