Rachel's Jing Video!

Ahh I love Weebly too and this was also my first time creating a website! I think Weebly has so many great features, it's always fun to make, and watching your screencast makes me want to create another one! haha, too bad you can only make two before having to pay :(

I thought your Weebly looked great and your "About Me" page was excellent. It seems like you really care about your audience gaining an understanding of who you are as a person and as a teacher. I also liked how your Jing video is like an informational video for Weebly. If someone didnt know how to use Weebly before they could just watch your video and learn about all the great features!

I also liked how you explained to your audience how to go about the different pages at the top of Weebly and what information you used for those pages. Your lesson pages look great and I had never heard of Photo Peach before now but now I'll have to try it out. Also I think it's a great idea for you to put a link to your blog on the webpage because I know as a fact that you enjoy writing and you keep up with all your blogs :) Parents are going to love a teacher who updates their blog frequently about information and activities happening in the classroom. Overall, awesome job, and I really hope you do stay updated with your blogs next year while student teaching. I'll definitely be following you and commenting!

Jenica's Showcase!

Great job! I thought your showcase highlighted some great things you learned throughout the semester and I especially liked how you talked about making a Wiki (this was one of my low areas). I have been frustrated with Wikis ever since I first learned about them a couple years ago and I just havent had a good experience with them since :( It's good to know that you really enjoy this style of technology because maybe I just need to spend more time using it. I thought it was an AWESOME idea for you to put your 301 project into a Wiki.. that's something I would have never thought to do. That project of mine is huuuge and I definitely wouldn't want to carry that around either. I will have to keep in mind next semester while student teaching that your "Ten Components of Literacy" Wiki is available to the public!

One of my favorites technologies from this semester was also Google Docs. I think you did a great job informing your audience about all the wonderful (and not so wonderful) aspects of Google Docs and how it's great for accessing and editing one document from any computer. Like you said, especially for college students this is such a great technology that allows us to work from our own homes and our own computers while still doing something TOGETHER (which is what group projects are about). I definitely agree with you that group members should schedule a time and also use Facebook or Skype while working on their projects from their own home. The purpose for a group project is to work together, which doesn't work out well if people just add their own thoughts and ideas at random times.

Overall, great job and I hope you stick with your Wiki! Like I said, I will keep in mind your available resource that I might resort to next year!

Kristy's Voicethread

Kristy,

I thought you did a great job with your Voicethread presentation! Reflecting on your blogs was a great idea and I felt as if I was learning new things while listening to you! I too felt very overwhelemed with this course in the beginning of the semester but once things started progressing I definitely felt better about the class. Being introduced to so many new technologies in a small period of time is not easy, even for teachers! You sounded very fluent in your presentation and you really proved to your audience how much you learned and love blogging. I was also forced to use new technologies in my 402 classroom and I couldnt have been more excited to use something I was recently introduced to in CEP.

I thought it was a great idea for your first graders to use blogging but I might be a little hesitant at first because they are SO young. Having them all put their thought down on a blog would be really beneficial for the class especially if you have the resources available. I also thought it served a great purpose for children who may have missed that day. Like you said, instead of them miss the material they can jump right onto the blog to see everything!

Overall, great job this semester and with your presentation. I hope you stick with blogging because you seem like you really enjoy it and it is a great place for us to voice our opinions. I hope I can keep up with it but I feel so overwhelemed from other classes. I think once things slow down I'll be able to update/add some new posts but not right now :)

Integrating Technology

Well, now that I've learned tons about technology it's time to put it to use. I will be starting my student teaching this fall and now that I have experience creating lesson plans with technology I should probably start creating more!

I am beyond excited to start student teaching and I hope my mentor teacher enjoys the ideas I bring to the table. Now, many of these ideas are going to include technology, and being placed in Waterford Public Schools I think I just might have the opportunity to explore some of these resources (I didnt get to in Lansing). Technology integration has become really important to me, and just recently I was asked how I am going to differentiate instruction to my students. You know what I said? Yup! I am going to use technology to enhance my lessons and differentiate a lesson that might usually be dull and boring. I have witnessed several times the ability of technology to make a lesson more interesting and meaningful. Students at any level are going to connect more with a lesson that involves auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners, and thats exactly what technology does!

Google Docs

Of course the week after we discuss Google Docs I find a great website which goes through some of the features of Google Docs. The article starts out by saying "As college students, we survive by collaborating. We work together on group projects, form study groups, and share advice about the toughest professors. Despite all this, it occurred to me that nobody really works together to take notes. I'm not talking about sharing notes with your buddy who was too hungover to make it to class, I'm talking about actually working simultaneously on the same set of notes during a lecture. Some of us are slow typists, others have moments where we tune out the teacher to daydream (or check Facebook), most of us struggle to keep us with fast-talking professors. So why limit our class notes to what we as individuals are capable of writing down? Aren't two brains better than one?"

Check out this link: http://www.hackcollege.com/blog/2011/3/30/use-google-docs-to-tag-team-class-note-taking.html to get some extra tips when using Google Docs. It's such a great tool!

Wiki Vs. Weebly

I was never fond of wiki’s because when I was first introduced to them there was too much content and I felt very overwhelmed. I think I was first introduced to a wiki (besides wikipedia) last year when I took another online class. It was a lot more difficult for me to find what I was looking for because I felt like I had to click through a lot of other stuff to get to where I wanted to be. Now, after using wiki for this class I feel a lot more confident and I enjoy it more than I used to. The material for CEP is more organized and straightforward than what I was used to.

Recently, another class had us use wiki for a project, and again, I was overwhelmed with content. There was too much stuff for us to click on and I could never find the instructions or the information I wanted. Good thing we only had to use the wiki for a week because it was too much for me to handle.

After making my own wiki and comparing it to Weebly I think I still enjoy Weebly more. Because of CEP I have had a lot of experience with Weebly and I still have fun creating and editing websites. I also introduced Weebly for the class project I mentioned above. Weebly is very self-explanatory and it’s not hard to add content to the page. I also like how you can choose your own colors and template which makes every website look completely different. When I tried adding a template to wiki there were only a few choices, and the one I chose was still plain and boring. Although I thought it was quite easy to make a wiki I would still choose to use Weebly in the classroom.

Twittterrr!

My love for twitter has grown tremendously and I’m so glad I was introduced to this wonderful tool. I still follow many educators and they tweet about the most amazing things that are happening in their classrooms and in the education world in general.

I try to tweet a few times each day because I like updating my followers with interesting information. Usually I tell people where I am, what I’m doing, I’ll post a picture, or I’ll tweet about a link that’s caught my attention. I think I understand the basics of twitter but I am excited to learn more in the following years.

There is one question I have and it’s about retweeting. Sometimes I retweet others but I don’t know how to add my own comment into the same tweet, and then retweet it. If someone were to say “I’m going to the Tigers game!” I would like to retweet it and say “Me too!” but I’m not sure how. I’d appreciate it if someone could explain this to me  Either way, I’m happy I learned about Twitter because it’s keeping me updated about more important stuff that Facebook doesn’t cover.

Screenshot

Since I couldnt find a way to embed my Google Presentation into my blog I decided to take a screenshot so you could get an idea.. This shot shows the zoomed out view so you can see multiple slides. If I had zoomed in then you would be able to see the first slide, and to see more you would scroll down.

Google in the classroom..

Google Docs and presentations would be great for integrating into the classroom because it provides students with a new and interesting way to share their ideas, view and edit their peers work, and they can access these from any computer. Because I am an elementary education major I would have to integrate this into the classroom of young students, but because Google makes it especially easy I would feel comfortable introducing this tool to my students. Like the blog I had previously posted, I uploaded a presentation that I could share with my students. I would show this presentation before my class went to the zoo for a field trip. Instead of carrying my computer everywhere I would be able to make this presentation from home, upload it to a Google presentation, and then access it from the classroom computer.

If I were to introduce this to my students I think one of the first tasks I would have them do is to edit their peers work. After students upload a rough draft document, share it with their group members (that I would assign) the students could work on editing their group members documents, similar as what we did with our resumes. After a couple days of strong peer editing, the students could finalize their papers and submit them. I think this serves as a great introduction because the students get the feel for exactly what a Google Doc is and how it helps us share our ideas to everyone.

Google Docs/Presentation

I spent awhile trying to embed this google presentation into this blog but for some reason I cant get it to work. After copying and pasting it into my blog like it told me to I'm not sure why it won't come up. This presentation is of a PowerPoint I made last year for TE401. The presentation is a beginners guide that I would show my students before going on a field trip to the zoo. It was very simple to create this in Google because I previously had this presentation so all I had to do was upload it. Google docs/presentations/spreadsheets make it very easy for someone to create one. Not only could I type in my own information at the time but I could also upload anything I previously had (like my resume). When I did this for my resume my house members could easily access this from anywhere, help me quickly edit it, and we're good to go!

If anyone knows how to get this working properly I would appreciate the help :) As you can see below it keeps saying 'Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage'.

Detroit Public Schools in Trouble..

I just think its crazy how state education officials have ordered Detroit Public Schools to implement a financial restructuring plan. This plan will cause half the schools in Detroit to close which in turn will make class sizes as big as 60 students! Robert Bobb, the districts emergency financial manager is preparing a list of recommended school closures and is also discussing layoffs. He is focused on the deficit elimination plan, but his last day with Detroit Public Schools is June 30th, and then another financial manager must continue to implement Bobb’s plan. This plan is supposedly shrinking the district to 72 schools with about 60,000 students in 2014. In the last decade Detroit has lost about 84,000 students, leading to a loss in state aid of more than $573 million.

Overall, Detroit (and the state of Michigan) needs a long-term solution that will resolve these issues. Unfortunately, no one has a better solution than to close schools, lay off teachers, and increase class sizes.

It’s difficult enough for a teacher to manage a class of 30 students so what makes them think that this increase in class size will work? I feel as if they’re only digging a deeper hole..

Twitter in the Classroom

Through the educators I follow on Twitter one of them posted a tweet with this article in it: http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/03/5-ways-twitter-has-changed-education/

"5 Ways Twitter Has Changed Education" is a great read which helped me view Twitter in a different way. In summary, it lists that Twitter gives students access to information, helps communicate between school and home, it gives educators real-time professional development instead of waiting around for their schools to set something up, creates a personal learning network, and it captures conversations that used to be deemed 'disruptive'.

Looks like I'm going to be using Twitter as an educator! Check out the link and read for yourself why Twitter is ever evolving in our classrooms.

Prezi

http://prezi.com/mzjpkudk1elw/visual-literacy/
Check out this link to visit my Prezi (For some reason it wouldnt embed correctly).

Many of my classmates in a different class used Prezi last week as a new technology to explore. This week I chose to do the same. Prezi reminds me of a PowerPoint presentation, but more confusing. Maybe I'm used to PowerPoint more, but it was even difficult to start creating a Prezi. After watching the tutorial numerous times I decided to add my own information. Last week I made a website on visual literacy, so I decided to use that information for my presentation.

Prezi is an interesting tool because it's a new way to present information. I learned about Prezi a couple weeks ago, but never had the chance to explore it. After seeing other presentations I realized that students might like this more than a boring PowerPoint presentation. Prezi presents the information in interesting ways, making it seem like a short video.

Im still a little bit confused, but I finally figured out how to input my information into the Prezi. Instead of having a toolbar for creating and editing there is a little bubble in the corner instead. This bubble is pretty much your editing tool, and it doesnt seem to have as many features as a regular toolbar would. After putting in my information, I realized that I had to make a 'path'. This 'path' is the order in which your slides will show up (this took me awhile to figure out). Unlike PowerPoint, you dont put your information on one slide, but rather put EVERYTHING on a background grid-like page, and then you click on your information one by one in whichever order you want to present it. I thought this was super confusing. At one point I was looking for a new grid sheet for my next slide, not realizing that everything went on this one. After making my path, and watching my Prezi I had to go back and edit it multiple times because some of my other information was in the way when the slide came up. I had to make sure my information was spread out enough so that it wouldnt show in other slides. This got super frustrating and annoying because in a PowerPoint I would never have to worry about something like this. Finally, all my information was in, my path was correct, and the slides showed up okay. I wanted to add pictures but I was already annoyed and frustrated at this point.

Dont get me wrong, I like Prezi but I didnt enjoy creating one. Personally I believe that a project like this, or very similar to this, would be extremely beneficial to an entire class of elementary kids anywhere around fourth and fifth grade. I think that at this age, children are old enough to understand how to use technology in order to get a thought across and even to use technology to teach about a certain topic. Allowing the children to explore a new technology will help them out in the future, as well as their classmates because they are also getting exposed to the technology when the students present theirs.

Article about the ipad..

Another informative article about ipads in the classroom.

"This will be especially valuable for recession-hit school districts, such as Detroit, scrambling for ways to solve ballooning class sizes"

http://www.fastcompany.com/1733662/how-the-ipad-2-will-revolutionize-classroom-education

Screenshot!

I took this while I was making my project for my integrated technology lesson! Screenshots are too cool.. Instead of always having a hard copy of an example I want to show my students I can always make it online and take a screenshot!

Wow!

http://http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/02/23/ipad-no-longer-optional.aspx

This is an amzing article about a Tennessee school requiring students in grade 4-12 to have an ipad. I can't believe how much schools are evolving! Looking back when I was in fourth grade compared to now, or even compared to when I teach in the future.. It's amazing..

Integrated Tech. Lesson Plan

I really enjoyed using the tools to make a digital story, so I would like my students to use this technology to make a mini-lesson that they will present in front of their classmates. This mini-lesson will be for third grade, and will be focused around health. I will divide the class up into four groups, and give each group a topic (which I chose from the third grade GLCE's). These topics include 1) explaining the benefits of positive friendships 2) describing characteristics of safe and unsafe places 3) describe ways people help each other. With my help, each group will form a digital story that they will present to the class. The digital story should contain about 4-6 pictures and everyone in the group should be given the chance to explain or talk. This lesson would require us to have at least 3 computers in the classroom. Each group will develop a plan, research their topic on the internet using search engines, and put all their thoughts and research together into their story.

I think this technology goes well with this lesson because it gives all the students a chance to learn about developing a digital story as well as using this technology to teach others about something important. As a teacher I could easily cover these three topics, but I think it would be fun for the students to do it themselves.

My Trip to Florida at OneTrueMedia.com

For this assignment I decided to tell a story through OneTrueMedia. This story is one that carries a lot of memories with it, which I thought would be cool for students. In my classroom I could have the students create a story that informs us of who they are, something important that has happened in their life, or something that means a lot to them. This will give the teacher and students a better idea of who they are. I would like to do something like this in the beginning of the year so we can all be more familiar with each other. There are many ways a teacher can use this in their classrooms. Another idea I had was to have students tell a story about what they learned throughout the year. The students could pick a focus area and tell everything they learned about in the story. At the end of the year the teacher could use this as a form of assessment.

OneTrueMedia was super easy to use. Right when you enter the website you are already 'making' your story which means you dont have to go search for it or search for how to start making one. I really liked this about it because after using Photoshop I was confused on even how to start a slideshow. This website would make it easy for students to use in the classroom or even at home.

The only thing I disliked about OneTrueMedia was not having access to other features. Members have to pay for these features, so non-paying members only have access to the really simple tools. I wanted to put text at the bottom of each slide but I would have been charged for that. It would have made my story much better because I could have explained what was happening throughout. Im sure many sites charge their members to use special features, so as a teacher I would have to think about what to do. I definitely wouldnt make my students pay for this, so we would possibly have to look around at different tools.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Cell Phones in the Classroom?!

"Banning the tool rather dealing with the actions may not be the best option".

I like this quote from Elizabeth Green's article "The Value of Using Cell Phones to Enhance Education and Some Concrete Ways to Do So" because she's not only thinking outside the box but she's thinking about a different way to approach the problem. When we first think about cell phones in the classroom, it’s a disastrous thought. We’ve learned that cell phones are a major distraction of learning, and we’ve also learned that students use cell phones as a means of communication for coordinating drug deals, after-school fights, etc.

Green feels different about this on-going problem. She lists her ideas of using cell phones in the classroom which includes using sms for a dictionary, math equations, currency conversion, using cell phones to read books or look up research articles, or also using the cell phone as a polling device for student’s responses. Although I can see this as a great resource for students I still feel as if they will cause too many distractions and interruptions. Teachers will not know when students are actually using their cell phone to learn or whether they’re just pretending they are and they’re actually texting friends in other classes.

However, there are also some ways that cell phones could be used for classroom purposes, but not in the classroom. This may include sending a mass text to the students reminding them of homework or quizzes, having students read the classroom blog on their cell phones each night at home, or also listening to a voice text which could also remind them of assignments or any anything else.

Overall, Green lists some great ideas to begin this incorporation of cell phones in the classroom, but I respectively have to disagree with her. Technology is proving to us everyday that we can rely on it, however cell phones are just not something to rely on to enhance a student’s learning. Traditional methods such as paper and pencil, computers, and libraries provide students with great opportunities to develop their understanding, and all this comes without the distraction of cell phones. Same idea with a portable gaming device, someone might say that student might learn hand eye coordination but at the same time it’s of great distraction. Jason Levy responded and said “Just because someone CAN learn from a device doesn’t mean they WILL learn from a device”.

Photoshop.com Album: Slideshow

Testing My Screenshot

Picnik.... basket

This is a picture of my cousin that I edited in Picnik. My friend introduced me to this photo editor and ever since then I havent been able to stop. I only resized this image and added the black and white 'Holga-ish' feature but it's amazing what kinds of things you can do to a picture. Also included just in the holga-ish feature is the option to blur the edges, fade, or add grain to the picture. Numerous times I've added text, fixed red-eye, cropped, rotated, changed the color to sepia/black and white, and overall just made the picture look 10x better.

Tweet Tweet!

I couldn't seem to grasp the concept of Twitter at first but after working with it for a couple weeks im finally getting the hang of it. My friend informed me that Twitter is all 'status updates' but what I didn't realize was that I could learn so much just from everyones tweets. I follow many educators (along with lots of celebrities, of course) and I can honestly say that I was surprised that I received so many tweets from these older men and women. These tweets come in consistently and many of them are providing me with information on lesson plans, seminars, informational meetings, etc. Now, I strongly believe that Twitter is a great tool that I can use now and in the future. I am already excited to begin my teaching career and to follow other teachers from the same school so we can communicate and inform each other of everything thats going on.

There are some things I havent quite figured out yet and thats the RT. I understand that people are re-tweeting what others have said but I dont know if I like this option. It's interesting to think about RT after learning about the copyright information because I feel like these can be related. If you RT what someone else has said, and you dont have permission, does that mean you are stealing what they have tweeted? I understand that you put @ so they get credit, but that doesnt necessarily mean they have allowed you to use it.. I guess it's just something to think about..

Copyright

Before I read all the information about copyright I actually thought I knew what it was and what it stood for. Now, after reading, I didnt really know anything! Overall, copyright is an entire set of exclusive rights that the owner has after creating something. The owner can be anything from an author, an artist, photographer, one who makes music, etc. Anything that was originally created from someone, receives a copyright. Now that the owner has their product with a copyright, only the owner has the ability to distribute, recreate, or make copies of this product. If someone else were to go ahead and do one of these things, it's illegal.

Copyright is important because you get to have your own work without worrying about people 'stealing' or 'copying' what you just made. This is especially important for companies developing products everyday, authors who write their own books, directors producing movies and video clips, artists, and many more. These people have used their creativity to produce something, and their work deserves the appreciation and respect from others.

To teach young students about copyright I would begin by using recognizeable symbols and logos. These might include the big M from Mcdonalds, a Nike swoosh, or even the Silly Rabbit for Trix cereal. Using these will help children gain an understanding about the use of these logos and why copyright is important so no one else can steal the logo and use it elsewhere.

Digital Denizens

http://www.stockton.edu/~intech/spotlight-digital-denizens.htm

I never realized until reading this article that technology users were categorized. Not only are there 7 different categories but users can consider themselves a digital refugee, digital immigrant, digital native, etc. After reading the information about the digital denizens I feel like I am considered a digital native slowly progressing towards a digital addict. I grew up having a computer and being surrounded by technology. The first computer I remember having was an Apple and the only thing we could do on it was play games. When my family informed me that we were getting a new desktop computer my brother and I were ecstatic. This is also when I was introduced to the internet (dial-up of course), and being able to chat with friends and print anything I saw online. The information I read also considers a person in this category someone who uses technology to execute a wide variety of tasks, which I was becoming real familiar with. Not only was I chatting with friends but I could build my own webpage, play games with my friends, edit and post pictures I had taken, and many other things.

Because I was introduced to technology at a young age I feel as if sooner or later I will be considered a digital addict. Especially because so much of what we do is either on our laptops or our smart phones I feel as if many, many people heavily rely on technology. We’ve all experienced the one day we left our phones at home, or our laptops couldn’t access the internet, and what do we do? We freak out! I’ll admit that almost everything I do daily has some sort of relation to at least one piece of technology. Because technology has improved at rapid speeds I’m excited to see what’s in our future. Consequently, if we freak out now about losing our phones who knows what’s going to happen with this situation in 20 years.

Supporting Literacy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12366478

Well, its quite obvious, but as the article states, library users become better readers. As a kid, and to this day, I love a good trip to the library! Whether we ran in quickly to return our books and check out a new one, or if we spent a couple hours in the corner reading the back of numerous books, it always put me in a better mood. The article mentions how family plays a large role. Obviously kids arent going to go to the library without an adult, so it makes sense that the most common reason students didnt go to the library was because their family didnt go. I was lucky enough to have parents who encouraged reading.

The article also mentions that the children who didnt go to the library were lower-level readers who wouldnt choose to read outside of school. These students may have had bad experiences with books throughout the years. We talked about this a couple weeks ago in my te402 class. Past teachers and family play a large role in whether children grow up with a passion for literacy. For example, in my placement class, the fourth graders are not reading books that they're interested in. The teacher has given them choices but the material does not draw any sort of interest from them. So, as the students read, they're not actually 'reading' they are only skimming the books, pretending to read, so they can answer the follow-up questions. The students tend to read only to finish the assignment rather than for enjoyment.

Libraries prove to be a great resource for children with the growing number of books and the technology it provides. I believe that all students need to be able to read for pure enjoyment so I will make sure that library time, or silent reading is included in my daily schedules. Some students might go to the library to look at picture books or play a learning game on the computer.. Either way, they're going to walk away from the library having learned something new every time.

A Quote

"Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time" - Chinese Proverb.

Im really digging this quote because I feel as if this is not only perfect for our class but also because of all the technological advancements we are making. Numerous times my professors have told us that as future educators, we are bound to teach how we were taught. However, with all the advancements that have come we are able to use this to our advantage. Although the old traditional way of teaching and learning lacked any sort of technology, it doesnt mean that it wasnt effective. I wouldnt be disappointed if I used some of the same skills that I learned from previous teachers, however, I am really excited to incorporate technology into my classroom and I will strive for my students to learn to love these resources.

Hello World!

My name is Courtney Yee :) Before this class I thought I understood quite a bit about technology (well , sort of) but now I feel as if i know nothing! I am really glad I took this class because 2 weeks in I have already learned lots. I already had a facebook but I never had my own blog, twitter, webpage, etc. and I am excited to put those to use. Throughout the semester I am excited to learn more about building my own webpage because I think this will turn out to be a great resource for my students and their parents. I wasnt sure whether we were supposed to start a 'teacher' page but I did anyways and Im excited to add more to it later on. With all the accounts we've been creating I expect this course to use these resources throughout the entire semester and to teach us how to incorporate all of this into our classroom. Technology is growing every single day and I am excited to use it in my classroom. They say that we teach, how we were taught, but I cannot see myself teaching without any sort of technology involvement at all. My elementary classes had (maybe) one computer, a tv, and an overhead projector, but thats it! Now I go to my placements and see smartboards, hundreds of computers, numerous tv's, etc. I am super excited to start teaching and after this class I hope to have a better grasp on what technology I can use so my students will learn better.