Class Reflection

     I learned a lot more in this class than I expected. I didn't realize how many different types of tools we were going to work with. I feel better about navigating my way around a computer now. I have learned that they best way to learn about different web tools is to play around with them. I loved getting to play around with all the different tools each week. I plan on using a lot of the tools we learned about in my future classroom. Some of my favorite projects were the interactive white board and the digital story project. This class was tons of fun and a great learning experience!

IMovie

     We used the imovie tool to create a digital story. I decided to create a story about myself. I thought this would be a cool way for a teacher to introduce their self at the beginning of the school year. I could create a video similar to the one I created for class. I liked using imovie and found it to be fairly easy. It was fun finding picture to use and putting captions with them! I could use this tool to create videos to introduce new material or to recap a field trip the class took. This tool will be very beneficial in my future classroom!

Interactive White Board

     The interactive white boards project was one of my favorite projects this semester! I enjoyed learning ways to create pages where students are able to come up and interact with the lesson. My lesson was a 4th grade lesson on the solar system. In my project I had pages where students could erase to reveal answers. I also had a page where students could drag the names of the planets and place them in numerical order. I think I will benefit from this tool greatly when I am a teacher.  I am excited to make more of these types of lessons to use in my own classroom one day!

Inspiration

     Above is a picture of the map I created using inspiration. Using inspiration was really fun! It was cool to create a map. I enjoyed getting to find pictures for it. I used the same lesson that I used to create my interactive white board project. The information is based off of a 4th grade science curriculum.  I think this tool would be great for older students. It could really help them connect ideas when they're studying and learning new topics. I'm not sure how well this tool would work with younger students. I am not sure that they would be able to follow all of the connections. If I were to use this tool with younger students it would have to be very basic and easier to follow.

Wikis

     Wikis are very user- friendly. Throughout this course I feel like I am gaining a decent amount of knowledge when it comes to technology and the internet. However, I feel that I would have been able to use a wiki before I took this course. Someone with very little experience of technology and the internet should be able to use wiki.

     When creating the wiki I had some difficulty adding pictures but figured it out pretty fast. I feel that using wikis is a wonderful way to have group interactions outside of the classroom. There are students who feel uncomfortable working with others in the classroom environment. Wikis allow for everyone to learn social and technological skills.

Scavenger Hunt

     I was absent the night that groups went out and took pictures for the scavenger but some students sent me copies of their pictures! By doing this project I learned a lot about Picasa. Picasa is a website that allows you to create slideshows containing narrations. Putting the pictures on the site was somewhat confusing because I missed a lot of instruction since I was absent from class. Once I figured it out it became a lot easier. I look forward to using Picasa in my classroom because it will allow me to organize images and present them in a more appropriate format.

Animoto

     We used Animoto to create a slide show. It allows you to upload different pictures and add your own captions. The site offers you music to add to your slide show as well. This web 2.0 tool was really fun to use and could be used in a classroom in a number of different ways. Below is a slide show I created using Animoto.