Final 2 Questions
Question 1:
Discuss the TWO (2) tools that were your personal favorites from the semester and why.
Adobe Spark Page
This semester we learned about an app called Adobe Spark Page. I really thought this was a neat app that could be useful for all kinds of different reasons. It is very visually appealing. You can scroll through the page and see different pictures and text overlapping each other in a really cool way. For my project I did a lesson over how to retell stories using the Three Little Pigs. This app made it really easy to show the text from the story as well as a background picture and pictures to go over top of that. The students could see the flow between the houses being built and the big bad Wolf trying to intimidate the pigs. I could see myself using this in a classroom for a history lesson. I could pick any topic that I need to teach and convey all the information in a pretty project that the students would enjoy looking at and learning from.
ThingLink
My second favorite app from the semester was ThingLink. I liked that you could pick any background you wanted to and link whatever you wanted to it. I feel like I have seen something like this on websites before so I liked that we are now able to do that. For my lesson I did State capitals of the Midwest. My background was an image that included all the different states and my links were located where the capitals are located. The students could move the mouse over the capitals and different information would pop up. Some of them had questions the students could answer, others had website links they could go to to explore, and some had images for them to look at. I would use this in my classroom to have my students explore new information in a fun engaging way. For instance I could do one over habitats. My background picture would be a different habitat and I could link all the different aspects of it so the students can learn all that goes on in that habitat. I think my students would also enjoy making one of these themselves for a project that is assigned to them. Really it is very versatile and all can enjoy learning from it and using it.
Discuss the TWO (2) tools that were your personal favorites from the semester and why.
Adobe Spark Page
This semester we learned about an app called Adobe Spark Page. I really thought this was a neat app that could be useful for all kinds of different reasons. It is very visually appealing. You can scroll through the page and see different pictures and text overlapping each other in a really cool way. For my project I did a lesson over how to retell stories using the Three Little Pigs. This app made it really easy to show the text from the story as well as a background picture and pictures to go over top of that. The students could see the flow between the houses being built and the big bad Wolf trying to intimidate the pigs. I could see myself using this in a classroom for a history lesson. I could pick any topic that I need to teach and convey all the information in a pretty project that the students would enjoy looking at and learning from.
ThingLink
My second favorite app from the semester was ThingLink. I liked that you could pick any background you wanted to and link whatever you wanted to it. I feel like I have seen something like this on websites before so I liked that we are now able to do that. For my lesson I did State capitals of the Midwest. My background was an image that included all the different states and my links were located where the capitals are located. The students could move the mouse over the capitals and different information would pop up. Some of them had questions the students could answer, others had website links they could go to to explore, and some had images for them to look at. I would use this in my classroom to have my students explore new information in a fun engaging way. For instance I could do one over habitats. My background picture would be a different habitat and I could link all the different aspects of it so the students can learn all that goes on in that habitat. I think my students would also enjoy making one of these themselves for a project that is assigned to them. Really it is very versatile and all can enjoy learning from it and using it.
Question 2:
Look back through your entire website (yes the whole thing), look at all you have accomplished and learned this semester. Reflect on what you have accomplished & learned this semester.
I am not a tech savvy person nor do I think it should take over our world. I think there are a lot of great ways technology can help us but I also see the value in using pen and paper and doing real classroom experiments. While I do not think teachers have a ton of time to play around with apps and create things for the classroom, I have come to see apps that would be very beneficial to use in the classroom. I don't think it's reasonable to say that teachers can use them all the time because of time but I do think they can be incorporated sometimes for a really fun learning experience. Also some student learn best through technology so it's important that we incorporate it for that reason as well. This class has help me learn to embrace technology a little bit better. Though I am still hesitant, I have found a few apps that I liked and I am proud of myself when I am able to accomplish making a project on one of them. I was surprised to learn that there are so many apps out there that make fun projects possible like ThinkLink. Because I was so against using too much technology, this class really made me think about ways to incorporate it without having it take over my classroom. I would have to say my wow moment was when I was having a breakdown because one of the apps was not cooperating and I was having a really hard time with it. I realized that it is not realistic to expect everything to work out fine and really it's just a matter of finding an app or two that you really enjoy and that you can implement well in your classroom. I didn't really like doing the reviews mainly because they took up too much time but I do think there was value in learning more about what other teachers are doing and trying to help share ideas so that we can all be the best teachers possible. I didn't always give my full effort with these apps for instance when we had to do one with iMovie just mainly because I was not willing to pay for it and so I had to accomplish it in just one sitting at the library. But I did try really hard on others and it was a good feeling when you finish one and it looked really cool and you know you can use it in your future classroom. While a lot of these apps drove me absolutely crazy and made me so mad that it was hard to get them done on time or at all, this class has helped me see the benefits of incorporating some technology into the classroom to help enrich learning when possible.
Look back through your entire website (yes the whole thing), look at all you have accomplished and learned this semester. Reflect on what you have accomplished & learned this semester.
I am not a tech savvy person nor do I think it should take over our world. I think there are a lot of great ways technology can help us but I also see the value in using pen and paper and doing real classroom experiments. While I do not think teachers have a ton of time to play around with apps and create things for the classroom, I have come to see apps that would be very beneficial to use in the classroom. I don't think it's reasonable to say that teachers can use them all the time because of time but I do think they can be incorporated sometimes for a really fun learning experience. Also some student learn best through technology so it's important that we incorporate it for that reason as well. This class has help me learn to embrace technology a little bit better. Though I am still hesitant, I have found a few apps that I liked and I am proud of myself when I am able to accomplish making a project on one of them. I was surprised to learn that there are so many apps out there that make fun projects possible like ThinkLink. Because I was so against using too much technology, this class really made me think about ways to incorporate it without having it take over my classroom. I would have to say my wow moment was when I was having a breakdown because one of the apps was not cooperating and I was having a really hard time with it. I realized that it is not realistic to expect everything to work out fine and really it's just a matter of finding an app or two that you really enjoy and that you can implement well in your classroom. I didn't really like doing the reviews mainly because they took up too much time but I do think there was value in learning more about what other teachers are doing and trying to help share ideas so that we can all be the best teachers possible. I didn't always give my full effort with these apps for instance when we had to do one with iMovie just mainly because I was not willing to pay for it and so I had to accomplish it in just one sitting at the library. But I did try really hard on others and it was a good feeling when you finish one and it looked really cool and you know you can use it in your future classroom. While a lot of these apps drove me absolutely crazy and made me so mad that it was hard to get them done on time or at all, this class has helped me see the benefits of incorporating some technology into the classroom to help enrich learning when possible.