Reflections on TPTE486

This class has been a great learning experience both as a student and future teacher. I have learned how to use technologies for my own personal use and in the classroom. Web 2.0 tools and the software we have covered can serve a variety of purposes, and I plan to use them all as extensively as possible. I've also enjoyed making my own website, and am planning to create one for my future classes as a way for parents and kids to be involved. Overall, I've learned a lot from the class and Jeff, and i'm excited to use everything I've learned one day!

Glogster

Last week in class was the group presentation on Glogster. I really liked this Web 2.0 tool and I thought it would have the most relevant use in my classroom out of all the tools. It is used to make digital posters with animations like video, words, pictures, and clip art from the site itself. It would be a great way to do a history project, the students could include so many things in reference to any material. It is certainly a great resource!

Inspiration

The inspiration software is, somewhat ironically, one of the most inspiring tools we've used this semester. I've never encountered a program that can make charts, graphs, and webs the way this one does. It's great- you can pick colors, themes, shapes, pictures, etc to make the best visual representation of material possible. I especially liked using the small clip arts that the program had available. I am looking forward to making a lot of these diagrams in the future!

IWB

The Interactive Whiteboard software is a fantastic teaching tool. Its ability to produce interactivity in the classroom is great. Students of course get the basic information through the slide shows, but they can go up to the projector and move things around, discover some hidden words or pictures, and view videos. It was fun for me to use the software and create a lesson with him- hopefully it will equally fun for my students to use it!

Mid Semester Check-In

So far, this class has been one of the most beneficial I have taken in my teacher education courses. I think learning to incorporate technology has to be taken seriously by all new teacher candidates. Unlike previous generations, using technology can no longer be optional. Students today and in the future will be increasingly technologically literate, and producing a teaching force that isn't would be a huge mistake on the part of teacher educators. Luckily, most teacher candidates today have a lot of personal experience, including myself. I look forward to incorporating as much technology as my student's needs deem necessary.

Digital Scavenger Hunt

This is a Social Studies scavenger hunt. We were required to find images that represented our list of things: a map, a calendar with an important date, a newspaper, a piece of technology created in the last five years, something showing similarities and differences, a sign showing direction, a political sign with bias, an object that has changed the world, and an inanimate object older than 40 years. It was made using a digital camera, Adobe Photoshop, and Picasa Web. I liked doing this activity. It was a nice reminder that no matter how old students are, they love to go outside and be active. I don't think I would use a scavenger hunt activity with my students,but it was a successful activity in teaching me how to use Picasa and Google presentations.

Web 2.0 Tools

Learning about Web 2.0 Tools is a good idea for this class. They are great resources: free and easy to use and easy to apply across any classroom. I recently used Wordle in one of my tutoring sessions. My student, Eduardo, had done a research paper and I copy/ pasted his essay into Wordle to assess his word use. The largest word (which is also the most used) was "I." Knowing that, I encouraged him to construct sentences in different ways to cut down on overused words. It was a fast, easy way to see his word usage very clearly. I was happy to have been assigned the Wordle presentation because I got to use it so quickly.