Blog/Reading Questions:
What is your reaction to the 10 Big Shifts in Education? Which shift(s) will be easier and harder for your to integrate in your future teaching/classroom? Please explain.
Our ever-changing relationship with the internet will constantly influence the way we use technology in our classrooms. The 10 Big Shifts truly emphasize this change and how as teachers, we should understand this relationship. I will probably use this new knowledge of the Big Shifts when I add strategies to use technology to enhance my units, lessons etc. Inevitably, it is reality that this changing relationship will define the way we teach in the future.
I think the Big Shifts # 4, 8 & 9 will greatly influence my teaching.
Teaching is Conversation, Not Lecture # 4
"Ideas are presented as the starting point for dialogue, not the ending point" (Siemens, 2002)(Richardson 2010). In the English Language Arts classroom dialogue is the key to developing understanding and inspiration.
Writing is no longer limited to Text: #8
In my classroom I will have to focus some projects to include writing in the planning BUT focus more on media projects to incorporate learning. Students can 'write' in "audio and video, in digital photographs, and even in code such as JavaScript, we can publish all of it easily for extended audiences." (Richardson 2010).
Mastery is the Product, Not the Test # 9
Because of technology, assessment in the English classroom will change for the better I believe. For example, in my podcast I describe a class project that incorporates the students understanding of Latin American Authors into collaborative Myspace/Facebook pages that demonstrate their knowledge. Normally, I might give a quiz to assess their understanding of the importance of authors social context or culture and how that might influence the writing we analyze in class. Because of technology, I am able to assess this in a different manner. Consequently, in a manner that connects with students interests and youth culture. Technology allows us to master content area information in a challenging yet engaging way.
Grand Canyon
Me and my friend Sayer on our 7 mile hike through the Grand Canyon!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
EDCI 5825 Video Editing Project Reflection
Video Editing Project - 'Hellen Degeneres' Show: CyberBullying
What would you do differently if you could do it all over again? Are these changes based on feedback that you may have received from friends, peers, family members, etc? I would definitely work with music clips that worked more parallel to my clips. I loved adding the music to the video. Also, I would possibly make the slides all look a similar way instead of playing around with effects. Because I was afraid of time, I cut a lot out, in retrospect I wish that was not the first action I took when creating the video. These are changes that I decided when viewing my work. One of my girlfriends suggested the music should fade out!
What is your reaction to the video recording/editing process? Please discuss any positive and negative reactions.
Positive: Excellent project, fun, engaging and it is definitely something I would like to work into my units or lesson plans in the future!
Negative: For some reason, I felt that I did not have enough time to truly explore the application and every time I had ideas it either took to long to figure out a way to accomplish or was impossible for me to find the solution. I have a few things I did not get to try!
Do you think it would be possible to have students in your current/future classroom create a movie? Do you (will you) have the resources, time, and skills necessary to include such a project in your classroom? Please explain.
Absolutely! This is definitely something that I would love to incorporate in my classroom. I am not sure if I will have the resources but there are other ways to have students create videos for projects that I could research. Students could create videos that took their scene performance one step further. Or they could perform songs, poetry or other creative writing and put that into a video to share with classmates. That is the great thing about technology - applications are usually social and foster collaboration skills. I believe this activity would be very engaging for most students and a great way to bring youth culture into the classroom.
Did you learn anything new from the video editing/recording process? Please explain.
Well, I had never used imovie before, so - everything was new! Creating a project from scratch (to be graded on was a little daunting!) but I learned so much. I truly had fun and all of the hard work that I put into it really paid off I think! I can't wait to share it with my group and see what they think. This was my favorite project :)
What would you do differently if you could do it all over again? Are these changes based on feedback that you may have received from friends, peers, family members, etc? I would definitely work with music clips that worked more parallel to my clips. I loved adding the music to the video. Also, I would possibly make the slides all look a similar way instead of playing around with effects. Because I was afraid of time, I cut a lot out, in retrospect I wish that was not the first action I took when creating the video. These are changes that I decided when viewing my work. One of my girlfriends suggested the music should fade out!
What is your reaction to the video recording/editing process? Please discuss any positive and negative reactions.
Positive: Excellent project, fun, engaging and it is definitely something I would like to work into my units or lesson plans in the future!
Negative: For some reason, I felt that I did not have enough time to truly explore the application and every time I had ideas it either took to long to figure out a way to accomplish or was impossible for me to find the solution. I have a few things I did not get to try!
Do you think it would be possible to have students in your current/future classroom create a movie? Do you (will you) have the resources, time, and skills necessary to include such a project in your classroom? Please explain.
Absolutely! This is definitely something that I would love to incorporate in my classroom. I am not sure if I will have the resources but there are other ways to have students create videos for projects that I could research. Students could create videos that took their scene performance one step further. Or they could perform songs, poetry or other creative writing and put that into a video to share with classmates. That is the great thing about technology - applications are usually social and foster collaboration skills. I believe this activity would be very engaging for most students and a great way to bring youth culture into the classroom.
Did you learn anything new from the video editing/recording process? Please explain.
Well, I had never used imovie before, so - everything was new! Creating a project from scratch (to be graded on was a little daunting!) but I learned so much. I truly had fun and all of the hard work that I put into it really paid off I think! I can't wait to share it with my group and see what they think. This was my favorite project :)
EDCI 5825 Wiki Final Integration Project Reflection
MsAsWorldLit Wiki
Do you plan on using your classroom blog/wiki in your future classroom? If so, what types of modifications do you envision? Please explain.
Yes absolutely! The more elements that I created and used on my Wiki (Final Integration Project) the more I realized how useful that will be in my classroom. It is truly important that students have a home-base to view work and find resources. The least it does, is strengthen the classroom community and develops a stronger teacher/learner mutual enhancement. It depends on what access my future students will have to technology of course, but I think that if possible I would like to include pages that students can edit or create themselves, in addition, a page for parents so they might be involved more in their students classroom experience.
Do you plan on having your students create their own blogs/wikis in your future classroom? If so, please explain.
I am not sure about this honestly. This Wiki project was very intimidating to me and it took a while to become familiar enough with the tool to be creative. I would not want my students to feel this frustration - like their creativity was road-blocked so to speak. But if I could find a way to incorporate Blogging in my classroom - students could work with creating their own blogs, I would definitely use Blogging because I think it is closer to the social-networking tools that students might already be familiar with.
Discuss the quality and appropriateness of what you have learned and created this semester.
Once I became familiar with the Wiki tool I really let loose creatively! It was so much fun to utilize skills that I had already mastered, works from other classes and just projects in general that I am very proud of, and incorporating them into my Wiki. It sounds dramatic to say but I will truly incorporate most of it when I become a teacher. For example, Power Point Presentations can be used as a guide in the English Classroom to focus students on objectives and goals for the day. Wikispaces can provide a home base for students, SmartBoard can help ELL, Diverse learners, Auditory and Visual learners classroom activities, online activities can foster application skills and help students relate to material, podcasts and internet workshops incorporate valuable technology skills. Each instance of technology can be used in my classroom, and when I have the opportunity to do so, I plan to implement them.
Evaluation of your comfort moving forward with technology
In the beginning of this course I truly felt overwhelmed by the amount of technology we would be diving into, however the structure of the class allowed us, as students, to learn, work with, play with and develop our own skills when implementing. Technology is the perfect link between classroom management, content, context and the 'Big Ideas' we aspire our future students to learn. I have learned as long as technology is used in an organized fashion, my classroom can truly be enhanced and an interactive place for learning. Now that I am more familiar with exploring technology I believe that I will certainly explore more in the future.
.
Do you plan on using your classroom blog/wiki in your future classroom? If so, what types of modifications do you envision? Please explain.
Yes absolutely! The more elements that I created and used on my Wiki (Final Integration Project) the more I realized how useful that will be in my classroom. It is truly important that students have a home-base to view work and find resources. The least it does, is strengthen the classroom community and develops a stronger teacher/learner mutual enhancement. It depends on what access my future students will have to technology of course, but I think that if possible I would like to include pages that students can edit or create themselves, in addition, a page for parents so they might be involved more in their students classroom experience.
Do you plan on having your students create their own blogs/wikis in your future classroom? If so, please explain.
I am not sure about this honestly. This Wiki project was very intimidating to me and it took a while to become familiar enough with the tool to be creative. I would not want my students to feel this frustration - like their creativity was road-blocked so to speak. But if I could find a way to incorporate Blogging in my classroom - students could work with creating their own blogs, I would definitely use Blogging because I think it is closer to the social-networking tools that students might already be familiar with.
Discuss the quality and appropriateness of what you have learned and created this semester.
Once I became familiar with the Wiki tool I really let loose creatively! It was so much fun to utilize skills that I had already mastered, works from other classes and just projects in general that I am very proud of, and incorporating them into my Wiki. It sounds dramatic to say but I will truly incorporate most of it when I become a teacher. For example, Power Point Presentations can be used as a guide in the English Classroom to focus students on objectives and goals for the day. Wikispaces can provide a home base for students, SmartBoard can help ELL, Diverse learners, Auditory and Visual learners classroom activities, online activities can foster application skills and help students relate to material, podcasts and internet workshops incorporate valuable technology skills. Each instance of technology can be used in my classroom, and when I have the opportunity to do so, I plan to implement them.
Evaluation of your comfort moving forward with technology
In the beginning of this course I truly felt overwhelmed by the amount of technology we would be diving into, however the structure of the class allowed us, as students, to learn, work with, play with and develop our own skills when implementing. Technology is the perfect link between classroom management, content, context and the 'Big Ideas' we aspire our future students to learn. I have learned as long as technology is used in an organized fashion, my classroom can truly be enhanced and an interactive place for learning. Now that I am more familiar with exploring technology I believe that I will certainly explore more in the future.
.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
EDCI 5825 Week 5 Web site Reflection
SITE:
Amanda's English Language Arts Classroom
REFLECTION:
What is your reaction to the entire web development process? Please describe any positive and negative reactions.
Positive reactions
- I have never created a website of my own (besides a social networking site) so this was a completely new experience for me that I enjoyed very much.
- I will definitely use a website like this in my future classroom and I believe it is important to do so.
- As we were new to this online activity, our class really worked together exploring.
- The Weebly site is user-friendly and allows for creativity that some sites block.
- When we were first exposed to the different ways to use technology and online activities I wasn't sure how to incorporate all of them - but I believe that having a class website with links to sites like Diigo, Ning or others would provide a 'home-base' for students to access the different tools for classroom activities and assignments.
- Using a site like Weebly would truly engage students more to the classroom community and the material exploration as well.
Negative reactions:
- Navigating the MacBook and Weebly exploration at the same time was frustrating at times
- I had many ideas and was only able to work with a few of them - but I plan to explore further!
What was involved in the process of developing your site? What obstacles did you encounter? How did you overcome those obstacles? What successes did you encounter?
I explored tools and options first - playing around with ideas. Then I tried to imagine what students should see on the first day of school or right before then. I wanted the site to be welcoming, and definitely NOT overwhelming with information - so I kept it simple for now. As I have more experience with students, classroom setting and the teaching process I will develop the site to meet student and classroom needs. Obstacles were frustrating at times -> I had some difficulty with dragging and dropping elements exactly where I wanted them, getting links to work, creating a layout that was visually satisfying to me with my limited knowledge of site tools. I asked classmates for help and did some research at the Weebly Support Site. Overall I believe I had success with the site. I feel proud of my accomplishment and what I have learned. There is a part of me that wishes I could have done more but I think that feeling will go away when I have more time to explore and manage my creation!
Will you continue to build on/update this site after this course ends? Why/Why not? Please explain.
As I stated before, I plan to use a site like this one day in my classroom to provide a 'home-base' of sorts for my students to access tools, homework, online activities and more from one focused place. Our students will be much more information literate as the as time passes and I think a class website could be a way to make online activities and classroom activities more aligned with their interests and learning styles. I have already shared my site on Facebook for friends and teachers to comment on. So we will see...
What errors/issues did you find when you tested your web site for 508 compliance? Based on those errors/issues, what changes would you make to your site?
Example (1) [
508 (C)] [WCAG 2.1 (1)] The use of color must not be a single method for indicating important information on a web page 1
Description. Manual check. Ensure that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup.
Response: I would check appropriate standards and use a different design template or manually change items to meet standards for color.
Example (2)
[508 (J)] Flicker rate must be in the specified limits 5
Description. Manual check. Page shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz. Check gif images and objects, applets, embed elements.
Response: I would check gif images etc to change flicker effect to lower standard Hzs.
Example (3)
[508 (B)] [WCAG 1.4 (1)] Multimedia presentation and its equivalent alternatives must be synchronized 1
Description. Manual check. For any time-based multimedia presentation (e.g., a movie or animation), synchronize equivalent alternatives (e.g., captions or auditory descriptions of the visual track) with the presentation.
Response: I would change the auditory or caption descriptions of the visual track to match the presentation.
Amanda's English Language Arts Classroom
REFLECTION:
What is your reaction to the entire web development process? Please describe any positive and negative reactions.
Positive reactions
- I have never created a website of my own (besides a social networking site) so this was a completely new experience for me that I enjoyed very much.
- I will definitely use a website like this in my future classroom and I believe it is important to do so.
- As we were new to this online activity, our class really worked together exploring.
- The Weebly site is user-friendly and allows for creativity that some sites block.
- When we were first exposed to the different ways to use technology and online activities I wasn't sure how to incorporate all of them - but I believe that having a class website with links to sites like Diigo, Ning or others would provide a 'home-base' for students to access the different tools for classroom activities and assignments.
- Using a site like Weebly would truly engage students more to the classroom community and the material exploration as well.
Negative reactions:
- Navigating the MacBook and Weebly exploration at the same time was frustrating at times
- I had many ideas and was only able to work with a few of them - but I plan to explore further!
What was involved in the process of developing your site? What obstacles did you encounter? How did you overcome those obstacles? What successes did you encounter?
I explored tools and options first - playing around with ideas. Then I tried to imagine what students should see on the first day of school or right before then. I wanted the site to be welcoming, and definitely NOT overwhelming with information - so I kept it simple for now. As I have more experience with students, classroom setting and the teaching process I will develop the site to meet student and classroom needs. Obstacles were frustrating at times -> I had some difficulty with dragging and dropping elements exactly where I wanted them, getting links to work, creating a layout that was visually satisfying to me with my limited knowledge of site tools. I asked classmates for help and did some research at the Weebly Support Site. Overall I believe I had success with the site. I feel proud of my accomplishment and what I have learned. There is a part of me that wishes I could have done more but I think that feeling will go away when I have more time to explore and manage my creation!
Will you continue to build on/update this site after this course ends? Why/Why not? Please explain.
As I stated before, I plan to use a site like this one day in my classroom to provide a 'home-base' of sorts for my students to access tools, homework, online activities and more from one focused place. Our students will be much more information literate as the as time passes and I think a class website could be a way to make online activities and classroom activities more aligned with their interests and learning styles. I have already shared my site on Facebook for friends and teachers to comment on. So we will see...
What errors/issues did you find when you tested your web site for 508 compliance? Based on those errors/issues, what changes would you make to your site?
Example (1) [
508 (C)] [WCAG 2.1 (1)] The use of color must not be a single method for indicating important information on a web page 1
Description. Manual check. Ensure that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup.
Response: I would check appropriate standards and use a different design template or manually change items to meet standards for color.
Example (2)
[508 (J)] Flicker rate must be in the specified limits 5
Description. Manual check. Page shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz. Check gif images and objects, applets, embed elements.
Response: I would check gif images etc to change flicker effect to lower standard Hzs.
Example (3)
[508 (B)] [WCAG 1.4 (1)] Multimedia presentation and its equivalent alternatives must be synchronized 1
Description. Manual check. For any time-based multimedia presentation (e.g., a movie or animation), synchronize equivalent alternatives (e.g., captions or auditory descriptions of the visual track) with the presentation.
Response: I would change the auditory or caption descriptions of the visual track to match the presentation.
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