This has been a seemingly long and frustrating journey at times, but overall is definitely worth it. I considered myself pretty tech-savvy, but this project has taught me that I still have plenty of things to learn. This was a good wake up call for me- technology is growing and changing all the time, and as a life-long learner, I need to be open to the changes and embrace them.
One of my new favorite discoveries is the Animoto site. As soon as I started working with it, my mind was going a million miles an hour with ideas for its use in my classroom. It is so simple and fun. Another of my favorite tools is LiveBinder. I did get frustrated with this one, but now that I can use it properly, I am a big fan. For some things, like putting all of my ideas for a class project in one place, LiveBinder is a much better option than Pinterest, GoogleDocs, etc.
The fact that I found these two programs so applicable to my future career was slightly surprising. I really wasn't sure what to expect from this program, but I can say my knowledge has expanded and I am grateful to take that away from this project. I plan to take many of these tools with me to my classroom, especially my favorites, LiveBinder and Animoto. I think this course has reminded to keep an open mind to using more technology in teaching. Further, I plan to keep up with all the new technology coming out for use in education by following the education blogs, education technology blogs, and simply searching for education 2.0 in news articles. I really liked the RSS feed for this purpose- I can just log on and see what's new in all the education blogs, sites, and forums.
The program was pretty easy to follow. The only issue I had was trying to find others' blogs to follow. The instructions state that they show in the sidebar, but I didn't realize that it takes a while for them to show up after we register. I was worried I had done something wrong and my blog wasn't connecting to those of my classmates.
I do plan to re-purpose my blog. I really like the idea of a classroom blog. I haven't decided what I want to do exactly, but I have some ideas. I may use it to continue to document all of my work throughout grad school, like a personal portfolio that I can access easily. I've also thought about turning it into a source of information for parents of my students. I'll just write a short blog every day or every week about how the class is doing, what we are studying, and giving some tips and reminders. Finally, I could use it as my personal account of my journey to becoming a teacher. Clearly, I have many different directions in mind as to where to go next, but I think any one that I choose will be very helpful to Mrs. K the teacher one day!
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Thing 23: Creative Commons
The APSU 23 things blog was created under a creative commons license. This is evident by simply exploring the websites it is based off of:
Learning 2.0- 23 things
K-12 Learning 2.0
Understanding Creative Commons licensing is a very special tool for educators. We can "borrow" ideas from others, but we don't have to re-create it exactly like the original. We can still add some of our own creativity, as long as we follow the rules of the CC license. This is much more ideal compared to how you would normally reference someone else's work, since sometimes the original doesn't exactly fit our needs as teachers. Just like in this project, the APSU site keeps the same "backbone" but is very different, so that it fits APSU's students' needs more appropriately.
Learning 2.0- 23 things
K-12 Learning 2.0
Understanding Creative Commons licensing is a very special tool for educators. We can "borrow" ideas from others, but we don't have to re-create it exactly like the original. We can still add some of our own creativity, as long as we follow the rules of the CC license. This is much more ideal compared to how you would normally reference someone else's work, since sometimes the original doesn't exactly fit our needs as teachers. Just like in this project, the APSU site keeps the same "backbone" but is very different, so that it fits APSU's students' needs more appropriately.
Thing Twenty-Two: LiveBinder
I created three different binders today: Classroom Management, Second Grade Science, and Color Schemes. I chose these three because I think they will all be useful in the future. Well, Color Schemes is just for fun- I think decorating my classroom will probably be one of my favorite parts of a new school year!
My Classroom Management binder will probably be the most useful, and one that I can see myself expanding on: http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=1017911
At first, Live Binders was somewhat overwhelming to me. It seemed like limitless information and I felt the need to rush to organize everything immediately. I do realize that is ridiculous, but I can thank my type A personality for crazy things like that. However, after I tried it out with my Second Grade Science binder, I became more comfortable with how the program works. I think making plenty of different tabs, or even many different binders would be the key. Starting with a really broad topic for a binder is what makes it overwhelming. However, just focusing on color schemes or just focusing on organization ideas for one binder would be very helpful. Now that I am comfortable with the program, I am very happy with it, and would definitely consider using it in the future. Although I am still a loyal pinner (on Pinterest), I like LiveBinder for teaching purposes as I can combine things from Pinterest and many other sources in one location.
I think the binders I have already created are great examples for use in the classroom. However, this could be used for a large number of other things:
I could make a binder of short stories, with tabs on topics. Then, students could choose a story to read from the binder.
I could place math activities in a binder, with tabs on different lessons, so students could choose which activity they want to do or game they want to play that day.
I could expand on other areas of science, placing experiments in the tabs for students to look through and help decide which experiment they want to do in class.
Clearly, there are plenty of ways to use LiveBinder in the classroom, and I may have a new addiction!
My Classroom Management binder will probably be the most useful, and one that I can see myself expanding on: http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=1017911
At first, Live Binders was somewhat overwhelming to me. It seemed like limitless information and I felt the need to rush to organize everything immediately. I do realize that is ridiculous, but I can thank my type A personality for crazy things like that. However, after I tried it out with my Second Grade Science binder, I became more comfortable with how the program works. I think making plenty of different tabs, or even many different binders would be the key. Starting with a really broad topic for a binder is what makes it overwhelming. However, just focusing on color schemes or just focusing on organization ideas for one binder would be very helpful. Now that I am comfortable with the program, I am very happy with it, and would definitely consider using it in the future. Although I am still a loyal pinner (on Pinterest), I like LiveBinder for teaching purposes as I can combine things from Pinterest and many other sources in one location.
I think the binders I have already created are great examples for use in the classroom. However, this could be used for a large number of other things:
I could make a binder of short stories, with tabs on topics. Then, students could choose a story to read from the binder.
I could place math activities in a binder, with tabs on different lessons, so students could choose which activity they want to do or game they want to play that day.
I could expand on other areas of science, placing experiments in the tabs for students to look through and help decide which experiment they want to do in class.
Clearly, there are plenty of ways to use LiveBinder in the classroom, and I may have a new addiction!
Thing 21: Animoto
I created a video that I could use as an introduction to my class, called "About Mrs. K". It's just a short get-to-know-your-teacher film:
Intro Video
I am so happy I have discovered Animoto. It walks you through the process step-by-step, so is very easy to use. I pulled pictures from Facebook and Instagram because I had more personal pictures about my life saved on those accounts, but I could also use many other sites, or just upload from my computer. Even rearranging the pictures into the order I wanted was so simple. I can't think of a complaint with this program at all!
This project was just one of my many ideas for use of Animoto in the classroom. Really the possibilities are endless! I could also use it to make slide shows with pictures much faster than in Microsoft Powerpoint, which could be applied to just about every subject. I could use it as a creative writing prompt, as a visual aid while telling stories, to help visual learners understand concepts better, and so much more!
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Thing Twenty: You Tube
I am a big Youtube fan. I found the above video very easily, and started following the channel I pulled it from. I chose this video because it could be used as a fun introduction to the solar system at an early elementary level. I really like that Youtube also gives plenty of suggestions for other videos to watch in the sidebar.
I could also use EpixHD in my classroom to show them clips of movies relating to the current subject area. Most of the time, I will probably use Youtube, but occasionally, I could find an appropriate movie for my class.
Thing Nineteen: More Social Networks
Educators can best use social networking to connect to others in the field to share ideas. This can be done through Facebook pages, blogs, Pinterest, and many others. I am now a member of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and I have a blog. I do not want to join any more networks at this time, considering I clearly am involved in plenty already. However, I do like IMDB to look up information from movies and television. I also really liked many of the cooking sites I learned about in this assignment, and would be open to using them in the future.
Thing Eighteen: Social Networks
I already have a Twitter account: https://twitter.com/callieedavis but I don't use it very often. Even those most reluctant to joining social networking will eventually have to admit that it is useful, and probably one of the most powerful tools we have available to us today. Educators need to understand that ours students are immersed in a culture full of social media, and all the negative hype it brings doesn't always tell the whole story. Further, we can be very effective educators by using these tools appropriately.
I can't say I really gained any new insights into twitter. I am comfortable using it, as I have had an account for over a year. What I liked about hashtag searching on twitter is that it brings up more relevant information to me, and surprisingly was more appropriate than Delicious. Delicious brought up all kinds of things that I have no interest in and would never use. Twitter may not bring up everything that is necessarily classroom worthy, but it at least fits my search criteria. For example, when I typed in "second grade" Delicious brought up a few relevant things, but had some sites with the tags "sexy" and various other ridiculous things. Twitter brought up plenty of pictures of cute second graders and tweets about first days of school, but it also helped me find some education tweets to read and follow.
I think social media can absolutely be used in the classroom. I had a professor that created a twitter for our class and used it to tweet us homework tips, interesting articles relevant to our studies, and reminders for class. It is a great way to keep in touch with students, parents, and other teachers, as long as it is used in the right way.
I can't say I really gained any new insights into twitter. I am comfortable using it, as I have had an account for over a year. What I liked about hashtag searching on twitter is that it brings up more relevant information to me, and surprisingly was more appropriate than Delicious. Delicious brought up all kinds of things that I have no interest in and would never use. Twitter may not bring up everything that is necessarily classroom worthy, but it at least fits my search criteria. For example, when I typed in "second grade" Delicious brought up a few relevant things, but had some sites with the tags "sexy" and various other ridiculous things. Twitter brought up plenty of pictures of cute second graders and tweets about first days of school, but it also helped me find some education tweets to read and follow.
I think social media can absolutely be used in the classroom. I had a professor that created a twitter for our class and used it to tweet us homework tips, interesting articles relevant to our studies, and reminders for class. It is a great way to keep in touch with students, parents, and other teachers, as long as it is used in the right way.
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