Final Reflection

If there is one thing I've learned about taking this course, it is that I am not as good with technology as I thought!  I have learned so much about so many different tools that you can use inside and outside of the classroom, and I now feel much more knowledgeable about technology use. 

Overall, I really enjoyed all of the projects we have done in this class.  Most of them can definitely be used in an elementary school classroom and for personal use!  I love taking pictures with my friends and having them as memories, so the projects I enjoyed the most were Picasa, Glogster, iMovie, etc. 

For the classroom, I really liked all of the Google docs. programs, the interactive spreadsheet, and the wikis!  I didn't have a Google account prior to this class, and I am so glad I do now.  I didn't realize that there are SO many things you can do through Google - and I will definitely be using it often through my career.

I even enjoyed the simple things we did - like blogging, and inserting pictures and links into our various projects.  I feel much more comfortable with new programs now, and no longer hesitate to be creative when working with new sites.

This has been such a fun class, and it has provided me with the basic knowledge that I didn't have before about technology use.  It is becoming so important these days to incorporate technology into the classroom, and I now feel as though I have the proper tools and knowledge to do so.

iMovie/Digital Stories

I was really excited to hear that we were going to be working with iMovie this semester.  This is a program I've always seen on my computer, but never tried experimenting with.  I love putting pictures together and being able to add music and make a movie or slide show for any occasion.  I've always wanted to make slide shows on DVD for friends, and now I am glad I know how!

Although I enjoyed working with iMovie, it took me a little while to figure out how to use it.  There are no real clear directions within the program, and I had to play around with it for a little bit before I got the hang of it.  I wished some of the tasks were more clear - such as changing the length of the slide and personalizing font and text size.  Besides a few minor problems, I really enjoyed iMovie and I will definitely use it again!

Animoto

Animoto is a really neat program!!  I have actually heard about this, but have never experimented with it before until this class.  It is a very useful site used to create short movies and slide shows.  I love experimenting with slide shows and making them - they are very useful for a variety of reasons.  This program could be used in the classroom to make a slide show of your year before school gets out, or you could even make it educational and make a slide show out of a science lesson plan.  Although I really enjoyed Animoto, I think this website has more benefits for fun use than it does educational.

My UT Journey Imovie

Interactive Spreadsheet

Google Forms/Spreadsheets

I learned a lot about Google Forms in doing the research for the presentation.  It is a great resource that can be used heavily by teachers.  Google forms provides you with the opportunity to create different types of surveys, questionnaires, quizzes, or tests.  I like how it gives you the options to create any type of question - whether it be multiple choice, rating, drop down, text, etc.  I will definitely be using Google Forms in my classroom.  I plan on giving my students a "get to know you" survey the first day of class so that I can start getting to know their interests and preferences.  I will also use Google Forms when planning different types of assessment.

I definitely did not have that much experience with spreadsheets before doing the in-class activity.  The most experience I've had with them is just simply typing peoples information in - such as names and phone numbers.  I really like using spreadsheets because I like having information set in front of me in an organized manner.  I am still in the process of completing the interactive activity, but I think it is really neat - and is something I could definitely use in my classroom to make games or study aides for my students.  I am still learning how to use spreadsheets and excel and still feel like there is a lot I don't know how to do with it - but I am enjoying learning about it, and I know it's a very helpful resource for various uses.

Inspiration

I really liked working with Inspiration.  It kinda took me a while to figure out what I was doing at first, but once I got the hang of it I had a lot of fun with it!  I like how you can totally make it your own - through the layout, fonts, colors,  size, and pictures you add.  This could be a great resource for teachers when discussing topics that have more than one category, or that have a lot of different examples.  It really helps you see how things that are all related to one topic are broken up into different groups.

World and Tagxeedo

I absolutely loved these 2 sites!!  They are very similar.  They are great sites to display words in a more visual way.  In a classroom, these would be great for visual learners.  I like how Wordle shows the main idea or most important words of a text by making them the biggest.  I like how with Tagxeedo, you can form your words into amazing shapes and pictures.  I think a cool way to use this in a classroom could be with vocabulary or sight words.  It would be neat to let each student get online, type in the words they need to know, and print their own visual that they created themselves.  Or, when introducing a new lesson in math or science, it might be cool to make one big Worlde or Tagxeedo for the class to look at - using new terms they might not be familiar with. 

Here is a fun shot of a Wordle using Zac Brown Band's "Knee Deep" lyrics:

Inspiration

Using Inspiration was a lot of fun!  This would be a great resource for the classroom.

Twitter and Delicious

Twitter is a website that I was already familiar with before this class. I am not a huge "tweeter", but am getting more used to it! I personally use it to keep in touch with friends, and to follow what celebrities are doing. In a classroom, twitter can be used for many uses. It can be used as a resource for parent-teacher communication. I think it'd be cool for a teacher to keep a classroom twitter, and update it with what's going on in the classroom each day or week, and homework assignments. Some older students can use twitter too - Maybe to tweet about what they learn each day, or to communicate for group projects.

To be honest, Delicious wasn't my favorite site. I am not huge on bookmarking sites, so I don't know how much use I could get out of this. However, as we learned in class, it is very important for teachers to bookmark sites for student use. So although I probably wouldn't use this personally, it could be very beneficial in the classroom.