TPTE 486 Course Reflection

This technology course has been very beneficial. It has provided me with many resources and tools that I likely never would have encountered otherwise. These programs, tools, and resources will be a great help to me as I start my internship and begin to teach in elementary school.

When I look back to the beginning of the semester when I was extremely excited that I could successfully set up a blog, I can see just how far I've come. And although, I am far from an expert, my comfort level with technology has definitely increased.

At the beginning of the course, I wrote in my very first blog post that I had three expectations for the course. 1. To be able to use what I learn in the course in my future classrooms; 2. To use technology to communicate with my students' parents; and 3. To have a better understanding of the technological resources available to me. I believe that all three of these expectations have been met through this course.

Every single project or assignment we completed in this course is applicable to an elementary school classroom. From wikis to WebQuests to flip charts to digital diagrams, every single project can be used either by students to actively participate in learning or by myself to create better opportunities for learning.

Two programs or tools that we worked with in this course are especially beneficial in communicating with students' parents. These two are Blogger and Google Sites. These can be used to create classroom blogs and classroom websites to provide constant access to important classroom information.

And lastly, I am most definitely walking away from this course with better knowledge of the technological resources and tool available to me. Working with such a wide variety of tools and programs and compiling them all on the classroom website will ensure that I have access to these tools and resources and examples of each of them.

Creating a Classroom Website

Over this semester, we have gradually been creating a classroom website that can be used in our future classrooms. I created my site using Google Sites. Here's a link to the website: https://sites.google.com/site/mskingsclassroom1/.

Google Sites was a very easy program to use to create my website even though some tasks required trial and error. Some of the difficulties I had included formatting text that I copied from assignments and editing major layout items such as the last date revised, but after spending some time working on these issues, I was able to make the site look just how I wanted it to. And some things that I found particularly easy to do were inserting pictures and links.

One aspect of the project that I thought was especially beneficial is that we created and compiled our websites over the whole course of the semester. And we connected each project or assignment to our website in some way.

Google sites could be used in my future classroom as a way to communicate with parents and students. Having a classroom website gives parents access to important classroom information at any time. It also provides resources and extra academic practice for students. For these reasons, I think classroom websites are a necessary part of a classroom.

Digital Story

This assignment was to create a digital story with some educational value. I created my digital story using iMovie. This was my first experience with iMovie and my second experience creating/editing a movie in any movie making program, so this was definitely a new experience for me. 

The directions in the course packet were the most helpful tool for me in completing this digital story. Without them, the process would have taken much longer and been much more frustrating.

One thing that was beneficial about the instruction of this task was that we were given plenty of time during class to create the digital story, and when we had a question, the appropriate instruction was given individually. This was nice because some of my classmates were more knowledgeable about creating movies, so they may not have needed to hear the instruction that I did. So they did not have to stop and be slowed down to listen to something they already knew. 

I really enjoyed this project, and I can definitely see myself using it in my classroom. The course packet contained a list of educational topics for digital stories. Many of these ideas could be given to upper elementary students to create their own movies. One topic that I would like to use in a classroom is to create a movie trailer for a book. I think this would help students be able to summarize a story or novel they read in class.

Here is the digital story I created. The topic is a poem about nature written by Emily Dickinson.

Inspiration 9

The current assignment in TPTE 486 is to create a diagram using Inspiration 9. This program has worked very well for me, and I can easily see myself using it in my future classroom.

My diagram's topic for this project is the writing process. The five steps of the writing process branch out from this main topic. Then I provide what is included in each of the five steps in a third level of the diagram. This diagram helps meet the third grade standard, GLE 0301.3.3 "Know and apply the steps of the writing process: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, evaluating, and publishing." It also meets the NETS-T standards 2 and 3, which are "Designing and develop digital age learning experiences and assessment," and "model digital age work and learning."

I really enjoyed creating this diagram. Inspiration 9 made the process go smoothly. Being able to easily add, delete, and connect pieces of information made this assignment easy and fun, and being able to customize the design was a great feature of the program. I also liked being able to add notes to certain boxes. This allowed me to add the information that I felt was necessary but was too long.

I could see myself creating many diagrams for my future classroom through this program. I think having visual aids is very important and helps students grasp the topic. I might also use this program in my class by having my students create their own diagrams to show relationships between various items.

Here's a picture of my diagram.

Flip Chart Instruction

Our class has begun to work on flip charts this week. I really enjoy the assignment because it allows for choice and creativity; however, there are some things that I think could be changed in the instruction given to us for using flip charts.

I think we could have combined two days worth of class into one. I feel that we spent a lot of time reviewing the basics of ActiveInspire. And although instruction of the basics is necessary, I feel that we could have gone over them in one day instead of continuing this instruction onto the next day, but I may view it this way because I like to see an example and then learn it by trying it out on my own.

One part of the instruction that I thought was the most helpful was when we got to see how to create the different types of interaction step by step and then practice it on our own. For me, it would have been helpful to have more of this type of instruction.

I also liked how we used the story boards. I usually start a project by doing one part at a time, but this helped me see the whole picture before starting to work. I also liked that we were able to change things on our story board if they didn't quite work the way we wanted them to at first. It wasn't something that we had to stick to no matter what. I saw it as more of a guideline or an outline that I might use when writing a paper.

I really like this assignment, and I can see how this would be effective in a classroom. Of all of the projects we have done in this class, I believe this is the one that I see being used the most in actual classrooms; therefore, I am all for flip charts.

Interactive Whiteboard

Over the next few class meetings, we will begin creating a six page flip chart of any subject or grade level we choose, so in preparation I have considered all the ways I have seen interactive whiteboards used and the ways in which I think they are useful. 

I recently visited a Kindergarten class that made good use of the interactive whiteboard. They used it for their morning routine. Each day the teacher draws a name to find a student who will carry out the activities on the board. They go over the date, how many days they have been in school, an activity (this day's activity happened to be about money), and a matching game to help learn sight words. I thought each activity made great use of different techniques in the activities. I'm sure this class used the interactive whiteboard in other content areas as well, but I only observed half of the day. 

I think interactive whiteboards are a great way to motivate students and make learning fun for them. From what I have seen in various classrooms, students love to get the chance to do an activity or write on an interactive board. 

Interactive whiteboards are also useful because they provide other ways to present information, other ways for students to retrieve the content, and other ways for students to show their understanding. Using an interactive whiteboard is just another step closer to having a universal learning environment. 

Digital Images

Before this section on digital images, I had a very basic understanding of digital images; although at the time, I thought I knew a lot about the topic. I knew how to take, upload, scan, screenshot, crop, and adjust contrast and color; I did not realize this was only part of the information out there about digital images.

Through this class and the projects we have done with digital images, I have learned about the different file types: JPEG, GIFF, TIFF, and PNG. By using Picasa and Google Drive to create slideshows and presentations, I learned how to adjust resolution and picture size by inches or pixels.

There is still one thing I would like to know about digital images. All the work we have done in class has been on Mac computers, but adjusting size and resolution works a little different on a PC. Since I have a PC, it would be beneficial to know how to make these changes on my own computer. I have figured out how to adjust the size in the program paint, but I have been unsuccessful in trying to adjust the resolution.

I don’t see how I could teach without using digital images. They help enhance and clarify content. I will likely use digital images in every subject area throughout instruction. 

Here is a slideshow I created in Picasa Web Album.