1. Introduction Video
My first blog post was an
introduction video. For this assignment
one of our classmates filmed us. In the
video I told a little bit about myself.
I told things such as my name, my major, my family information, and why
I want to become a teacher. This
assignment meets the NETS standard 3c.
The standard says communicate relevant information and ideas effectively
to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and
formats. The introduction video meets
this standard because instead of just writing about myself I had to use the
technology of the flip camera and my blog to upload a video. This activity can be used in my future
classroom first to introduce myself to my students and parents and then the
students can also do an introduction video for themselves. This is a good activity because the students
will be more excited to introduce and tell about themselves if technology such
as the flip camera and internet are involved.
This activity may allow shy students who do not like to speak in front
of the class express themselves in a different way.
2. Concept Map
The second post for my blog was a
concept map. In class we created a
concept map on a topic of our choice. We
were required to have a certain number of subtopics and encouraged to be
creative. I really enjoyed this
assignment. Since doing this assignment
I have learned the benefits of using concept maps in different ways. This assignment meets the NETS standard
2a. This standard says design or adapt relevant
learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote
student learning and creativity. I
believe the concept map meets this standard because it gives the students a new
way to learn. The concept map organizes
information in a creative and fun way providing a great visual to any
lesson. We had to use our creative side
to complete the assignment in a way that would make the assignment appealing to
young students. I will definitely use
this assignment in my future classroom.
I will use it to review or introduce a lesson I will be teaching to
highlight the main points of the lesson.
I will also use this assignment by letting the students create concept
maps to show me what they have learned about a particular lesson. This assignment is good because it helps
bring all the main ideas together in an organized and creative way. I think it is great for any classroom and
will be used in my future classroom for sure.
3. Khan Academy
Khan
Academy was a great resource to learn about.
This is a program that allows students to work on and accomplish lessons
outside of a normal classroom. This is a great resource for students to work on
their problem areas even if they do attend a normal classroom setting. This assignment meets the NETS standard
2b. This standard says to develop technology-enriched
learning environments that enable all students to purse their individual curiosities
and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing
their own learning, and assessing their own progress. This assignment meets this standard because
it does exactly that. This website
allows the students to work on the problems they need to understand in order to
reach their goals. Students are allowed
to choose which areas they want to work in so they are managing their own
learning. Finally, the program tracks
the student’s progress for them. This is
a great way for the students to see their improvement over time. This resource could be used in my future
classroom for the students who may need extra help on certain problems. They can further their understanding at home
by practicing more of the same problems.
This program could also be used as an assessment program to be able to
see which areas my class is having problems with. I think this is a great program to see
individual progress. This assignment was
good because I had never heard of this program before the assignment. Also this assignment was good because it will
benefit me in my future classroom by having a good way to assess my students or
just as a resource to have extra practice time.
4. Voki
Another assignment
we complete in this class was a Voki.
This is an online resource which allows the creation of a talking
cartoon. I used this project to create a
classroom pet. She first introduced
herself and welcomed the class to their first day of school. In the future I would have used her to
introduce new topics or bring announcements to the class just as a fun way to
give information to the students. This
assignment meets the NETS standard 3c.
This standard says to communicate relevant information and ideas
effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age
media and formats. This assignment meets this standard because this is a great
way to send information to the students and parents creatively. I would use this in my future classroom much like
I used it in my example. I would use
this program to relay information to my students about lessons or upcoming
events creatively. This program would
catch the student’s attention better than a newsletter. This assignment was good because it taught us
another creative way to send information out and grab the student’s attention. This is a way to use technology in the
classroom for good or even to introduce yourself. This program could be used
many times throughout a school year.
5. Gapminder
Gapminder
is an online resource which allows you to see statistics around the world for a
wide range of time periods. I found this
resource very interesting because of the wide range of categories available and
time periods. The assignment meets the
NETS standards 3d. This standards says
to model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to
locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research
and learning. This assignment meets this
standard because it is a great information source for students to use in order
to analyze, locate, and evaluate data.
The possibilities on this website are vast. In my future classroom I could use this
website when teaching a history lesson.
This would be a great visual for students to understand the difference
between one part of the world and another.
I could also use this website for research about students around the
world. This assignment was good because
we learned how to work Gapminder and determine different statistics. I think this website will be very helpful in
the future. I am glad we were introduced
to this website.
6. World Peace Game
(Ted Videos)
I must
admit after watching the Ted video on the world peace game I was a little
confused on exactly how the game worked.
However, I do find it interesting that students were able to wrap their
minds around and even solve such major issues that we have in the world
today. This particular video meets the
NETS standard 1b. This standard says
engage students in exploring real world issues and solving authentic problems
using digital tools and resources. The Ted video meets this standard because in
this video and other videos students can be introduced to real world problems
and those problems can be discussed after the video. I can use Ted videos in my future classroom
because students would much rather watch videos than listen to another
lecture. I could even use this specific
video to learn ideas about the game if I wanted to play a game similar to this
in my classroom. This assignment was
good because it opened my eyes to just how much children can accomplish at such
a young age. This assignment was also
good because I had never heard of Ted videos.
After looking around on the website I found some videos that will be
helpful for me when I become a teacher.
7. Movie Maker
Movie Maker
was one of my favorite projects in this class.
For this assignment we were required to bring in pictures that would
tell a story, add music, add text, and turn the story into a movie. This project took time and creativity to make
it just right, but it was all worth it to see your final movie. This assignment meets the NETS standard 1a. This standard says promote, support, and
model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. I believe this assignment meets this standard
because we were required to tell a story in a new way. We also had to be creative in order to make
the story flow, be interesting, and appealing.
This activity can be used in my future classroom in the same way we used
it in IT 365, simply to tell a story of the student’s choice. We could also use this method to make
creative remakes of a history lesson we learn or even remake short stories we
read. Either of these would put a new
spin on the story and make it more fun and interesting for the students. If technology is involved the students are
more willing to learn. This is a good
assignment because it gives students the opportunity to express themselves in
yet another way. This assignment teaches
them to be creative and is fun at the same time. This activity is also good because it can put
a new spin on subjects such as English and history.
8. Xtranormal
Xtranormal
is a website which allows you to create conversation between characters. You can choose your own characters, setting,
motions, and voices. We used this
website to create a public service announcement for students. I thought this was a very neat way for
students to learn about a public service announcement. This assignment meets the NETS standard
4c. This standard says promote and model
digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of
technology and information. This
assignment meets this standard because we were using technology to teach about
responsible actions and behaviors. This
assignment can be used in my future classroom in the same way we used it, to
inform students about appropriate behaviors and actions. This can also be used to teach dialogue when
studying literature. This assignment was
helpful because we were able to use our creative side to tell students about
things they should and should not do.
This assignment was also good because we learned a new tool to use for
communication in our future classroom.
9. Software and
Hardware Technology
The
software and hardware technology assignment allowed us to learn what different
parts of the computer are and do. We
learned parts such as RAM, hardware, software, and CPU. Some of these parts I was not sure of what
they did. This assignment meets the NETS
standard 3a. This standard says
demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of content knowledge
to new technologies and situations. This
assignment meets this standard because it helped us to become more fluent in
the technology systems. We learned the
jobs of different parts of the computer which will help us to become more
fluent in technology all together. In my
future classroom I can use this assignment to familiarize my students with
different parts of technology. It is
important for students to know about technology because technology surrounds us
no matter where we are. This assignment
was good because it helped me to understand technology better. This is helpful because I need to be familiar
with technology because it is a large part of the world we live in.
10. Websites
Creating a
website was my other favorite assignment in this class. For this assignment we were required to
create a website for our pretend classroom.
The website had to have four different pages on it and different
required information. This was a great experience
that I know I will benefit from greatly in the future. I was glad we learned how to do this now in
preparation for the future. This
assignment meets the NETS standard 3b.
This standard says to collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community
members using digital tools and resources to support student success and
innovation. This meets this standard
because my website would have everything the students, parents, co-workers, and
anyone else would need to know about things going on inside and outside of the
classroom. This can be used in my future
classroom to keep parents informed about information they need to know. On the website they can find information
about me, contact information, assignment information, and calendars of
events. This would be my way of mass
communicating with those who need to know about my classroom. I will be using a website in my future
classroom to keep everyone informed about what is going on. This assignment was good because it helped me
prepare for my future. When I need to
create a website for my first classroom it will be easy for me to do because I
completed this assignment.
I am so glad I had the opportunity
to take IT 365. Before this class I had
very little knowledge of the many resources out there in the technology
world. Now that I have taken the class
I have learned of many resources that will be very beneficial in my future
classroom. I was able to learn many things
in this class from the basics of the computer to the advantages and
disadvantages of technology and even the many helpful resources to use in the
future as I mentioned before. I believe
this class was very beneficial to me, I really learned a lot. I feel as far as the technology side of
teaching goes I am better prepared than before.
I feel I have learned what I need to get me started in integrating
technology into my classroom. I really liked how we used blogs to turn in our
work because this can be done in any classroom and is a very useful tool I did
not think about before this class. I
believe my weakness in this class would have to be knowing the different parts
that make up the computer, however I do feel I have improved. I also seemed to
have trouble when it came to uploading the concept map and video. This is one thing I still need to improve
on. I believe I was good at
incorporating creativity into my assignments and I was very proud of the way my
movie turned out. I really enjoyed the movie
assignment. Overall, my experience in
this class was wonderful. I was able to
learn so many new things and I now have many useful resources for my future
classroom because of this class.
