Final Blog Post

Over this semester I've found a lot of helpful things that I can use in my future career.  Surprisingly, I learned a lot through our presentations we gave each other.  It exposed me to a lot of new websites I would like to use in my future classroom.  My favorite project overall was probably the imovie.  Although it was really time consuming, I found it to be a lot of fun and have always wanted to use it on my personal computer - and now I can!  The only thing I had wished I had learned was how to use a smartboard because I feel like that really could have benefited from this.

iMovie - Courtney Paige Schletzer

1. What went well?
I was very surprised by how easy it was to drop in pictures in the program - and in the order I wanted!  I just saved them to my desktop (making it easy b/c I could an icon of the picture I was choosing) and drug them right into imovie!  Also, inserting the sound was very easy as well!

2. How will you use this tool in your professional practice/instruction in the classroom?
Because this project was very time consuming, I would probably only use it as an introduction about me as the teacher on the first day of school.  However, it would be very neat to make a movie at the end of the year of the class so they are able to recap what they did and how much they have learned and grown!

3. What would you do differently next time?
Well, initially it was difficult because my personal laptop had an older version of imovie.  So, I would initially suggest what versions would work for this project.  After getting this figured out, it made the process very simple!

EXCEL

1. What went well?
When I finally figured out how to work with the excel program, I was so excited because I felt like I had accomplished something I was originally really frustrated with.  I really liked how user friendly it is to students when it's there time to actually use it.  For instance, when it says "uh-oh" they know they need to recheck their answers.  When I figured out this formula, it seemed to be very helpful!

2. How will you use this tool in your professional practice/instruction in the classroom?
I don't know that I'd use this tool very much with younger children, just because I know their tendency would be to look at their friends answer and type it in, without actually learning anything from it.  But I think it would be good to use as a test review in elementary school.  This way it's something that's not graded, but helpful to them still!  Also, this would be something great to use for attendance and grading to help inspire children to do well on both big and small assignments.  For instance, I can type in what would happen if they made an A vs. a D.

3. What will you do differently next time?
I felt like some of the instructions in the packet were very vague so there was a good amount of time I had to wait to speak with an instructor because no one around me understood the instructions as well.  I feel like now that I've had experience with this though, I will be much more familiar with it next time!

The Human Body using KIDSPIRATION!

1. What went well?

Kidspiration was actually very user friendly and easy to figure out!  It was very easy to insert images from google as well as link the pictures with the arrows.  

2. How will you use this tool in your professional practice/instruction in your classroom?

I think this program is great for all ages.  This might be something that I go over with young children in a large group, but I may also put it in the computer center throughout the week for the children to click on the links and discover more information about the human body they didn't know.

3. What will you do differently next time?

I really don't have anything different I would do.  I actually had website links to more than I was supposed to, but I think this would be very helpful to the children!

Digital Images in the Classroom

1. What went well?
I loved learning the different ways to acquire images - whether it be from the web or a camera. More specifically, I had no idea of all the copyright laws. It was very helpful being made aware of this!

2. How will you use this tool in your professional practice/instruction in your classroom?
I will use digital images in all ways! It's great to use for posting children's images on bulletin boards, such as a "All About Me" board. Also, it's great for Web2.0 and IBA's. Also, just for even decorating!

2. What will you do differently next time?
I don't have anything I'd do differently. This was very informative.

Scavenger Hunt - Google Docs

1. What went well?
Actually creating the powerpoint went very well. I had no idea it was so easy to make powerpoints with free software and it was almost identical to software programs I've used in the past! It was very easy to upload the pictures and make a caption.

2. How will you use this tool in your professional practice/instruction with students?
I think this is great for children who may not have powerpoint programs outside of the classroom. Or like me, who have trouble converting MAC PPTs onto HP computers. It's also a great way to document things going on in the classroom, such as field trips and projects.

3. What will you do differently next time?
I had trouble initially embedding this document into my blog. I'm not sure if I missed the instructions in class, but I know the screenshots for embedding the picasa album was very nice! I would have loved to have had this for google docs too.

My Digital Collection of Colors Slideshow