Reflecting

  When I reflect on this class I think about how much I have learned in such a short amount of time. All of the things that I have learned will help me to be a better teacher to children that are growing up in a growing technology age. I would have never imagined learning that a wiki or blogs could be useful in a classroom, but I was wrong because they are super helpful. They give children an online outlet to share what they are learning with other people. I look forward to possibly using a blog in my future classroom and see what the children do with the blog. I also really enjoyed learning about the Interactive White Boards. I think I was leaving high school just as they were becoming popular so I had never had exposure to them before this. Honestly, I did not realize how involved it was to make an activity on the IWB. I am so glad that I got the chance to work with the software in this class because I would have been so lost trying to figure it out on my own.
    I am so glad that we had to make a website, too. At first, I was not thrilled about this idea but I now see the benefits of the website. Websites can be such a useful tool for students and parents to look at throughout the year. It gives the teacher a fun way of communicating with students and parents, besides the traditional email or sending home handouts.

   Overall, I think that I have really learned a lot in this class and it has given me more confidence to know that I can do things that involve technology. It has also given me good ways of how to use technology in an elementary classroom. I am very glad that I took this class and will look back on these blogs and my website when I am a teacher for tools to use in the classroom. 

Digital Storytelling Website

     This website was set up very well and was very educational for me. I did not know anything about digital storytelling going into reading this website and it provides a lot of information on digital storytelling. I really liked that there were multiple tabs on the website so that you can explore any part of digital storytelling. If you have a question, it is probably answered on this website.
     I really liked the section where it gives you many different examples for digital storytelling. Examples are always the best way to learn and there are many examples in many different subjects. You have examples anywhere from "pop-culture" to "history". It also gives different examples of different software that you can use for digital storytelling. It is vey helpful to have links to these different uses of software.
     Not only does the website give examples but it also tells you the eight steps of digital storytelling. This was very helpful because I did not even know that there were steps of making a digital story. This would be very helpful for students to reference when they are making a story for a project. On the topic of students, this website would be easy for an older student to navigate but I am not too sure about an elementary student. Yes, it is colorful and fun but the language used might be a little bit over their heads. That would just mean maybe finding another website that best fits the children in your classroom.

IWB Chapter 1

     I am starting to write this blog post before I read about Interactive White Boards. I am really excited to learn about IWBs and want to take a moment to write out what I hope to learn from reading this first chapter. I hope to learn different uses for the IWB in a classroom and how to work them. I hope to learn how this can benefit my future students and if IWBs truly keep children more engaged than not using them. I am really intrigued by IWBs because I never saw one used during my time throughout school. I come from a very wealthy part of Tennessee and never saw one used, which is puzzling to me. Maybe it was just the timing and maybe if I went back to my high school today they would have them.
    I think anytime you introduced this new type of technology into classrooms there is going to be some sort of skepticism from people. Although, that is why it is important for teachers to be trained in using and navigating IWBs. Like the chapter said, this will help when something goes wrong and the teacher's confidence in using the IWBs might go down and students might get frustrated. If we have the training then we will know how to fix the problem. It is also important that teachers use this board for more than a projector. If I got anything from this chapter it is the fact that IWBs are meant for INTERACTION.

    Students need to have the interaction with the white board to really reap any benefits from having it in the classroom. This interaction includes: highlighting, coloring, importing pictures, shared reading, etc. The list goes on and on of possibilities of use in the classroom. All of these things get children interactive in their learning process and makes learning fun. It makes them excited to come to school or go to a certain class.
     As someone who is looking into teaching in an urban/multicultural area, that might not have IWBs, it is important to note that not having IWBs in your classroom is not a "end all be all" sort of thing. It just means that we will have to work a little harder to get our children involved in the classroom.

Midterm Post

After the midterm I feel a lot more confident in my technological skills. Since the beginning of class I have really learned a lot about technology. I really like that the things that I have learned are practical things to use in my future classroom. They are made to be easily accessible to teachers, which is awesome! Overall, I am really excited about where I am in the class and the future!

Wiki-Walk Through

    I really enjoyed doing this activity because, as a future elementary teacher, I still struggle with all of the different ways that I can use technology in the classroom. I know that wikis are a useful tool, but what purpose can they serve an eight year old? I know that wikis are important but will they really be an extra source that my students will benefit from in the future?
   After using this wiki-walk through I can successfully say that I will try to use wikis in my elementary aged classroom. I really benefitted from the specific examples that they gave us throughout the walk through. It was nice that they broke it down into different age levels and then different subjects. With them doing this it was able to give me real and tangible things that I can think about doing in my future classroom.
    The only problem that I can see running into, for myself, is computer and internet access. I am hoping to work in an urban setting as a teacher and unfortunately there just are not enough, if any, computers in the classroom to make the use of a wiki a priority. I can see how all of these different uses of technology can be put on the back-burner because of all of the different things that teachers have to worry about these days. As much as I love the use of wikis in the classroom, I just do not know how practical it will be in my future classroom. I guess something like this will be a wait and see sort of thing. If I can use it then that will be great, but if I can not then I will have to think of something else to use.
   Overall, this website was very informative and helpful. If I ever do end up using a wiki in my classroom I will definitely refer to this website for helpful tips.

Website Evaluation

   When I first started this assignment I did not really think that it would be useful, seeing as I have been using websites since I can remember. I really enjoyed looking around for the different parts of the website that I have never really thought about but as a teacher that is necessary. As a teacher I need to know what to look for that makes a website a good website. I really enjoyed getting to look around the website I evaluated, ABCYa.com, and exploring the games on this site. Also, as teachers, it is important that we are up to date with websites because more than likely our students will be very in-tune with technology and it will be very important in their future. The world is becoming more technologically driven and it is important that our students will understand how to use websites through their teachers. Thanks to this activity I no know what i should be looking for in a good website.

Changing my Mind about Blogs in the Classroom

     When I first started learning about using technology in the classroom, such as blogs and wikis, my main concern was hat I would learn all of this information for nothing because elementary students might have a hard time making a blog. This blog, "Ms. Cassidy's Classroom Blog", showed me that even six year olds can use a blog! I was certainly surprised at everything that I found on her blog from the students and from herself. This blog really opened my eyes to different ways of using this technology in an elementary school classroom.
     The best part about this blog, for me, was her use of children involvement in the blog. She has each student have their own blog page that she links to in the side bar. Every student seems to post frequently about what they are learning in the classroom. They take their own pictures of different things and even add videos in their blogs! Here is an example of one of the student's pages: 

      I also really liked the use of videos on her blog. She puts many videos up of her class or what they were learning about that day. Not only does she have to post the videos but she has to make them as well, which shows a lot of time put into her classroom. She even has her students make videos and put them on their section of the blog! I'm sure to have a six year old do that is no easy task. 

     Overall, I found this blog to be very eye-opening for me. I am really glad that I took the chance to review this blog and take the time to see that even the littlest of people can use technology for their advantage. This blog definitely gave me a new thinking into how I could use a blog in my future classroom.