Wrap up

    As we prepare to have our last class, I want to take the time to reflect on the class. First of all, I think the class is a must for new teachers. Technology is ever changing and we need to be able to keep up or we will be left out.
   The things I found most helpful were the lessons on PowerPoint, the websites, the webquests and online classroom tools. I do think this class could be more of a hybrid class though. Maybe we come every other week? Just a thought. Another thing I might do is split the class up to an elementary informational tech class and a secondary informational tech class. While we are all teachers using the same technologies, there is a big difference in the way we use said technologies.
   Over all, I really enjoyed the class. Thank-you for all you do. :)

Non-linear power point

     This was BY FAR my favorite thing we did all semester. I had a blast putting the presentation together. I will actually be using this to teach my 7th, 8th and 9th graders about the different holidays. Power Points, in my opinion, have the potential to be one of our most valuable assets. 
     Creating the Power Point was was pretty easy. I actually had to scale it back to keep it at 20 minutes. I could've turned it into a two class lesson! I will be forever grateful for learning how to do a power point in such a way to keep it visually engaging and relevant. Thank-you!

Podcasts

     Before I start, I have to confess, I really didn't know what a podcast was. It sounded to technical to me. I didn't think I could ever make one. Turns out I can. And it was easy!
      I worked with Katie and we created a 30 second podcast about an app we found to learn a new language. We had some funky Latin music to open and close it out. It's so cool to be able to adjust the length, have it play over, and take out any pauses. I think I might have my students learn how to do this so they can create their own!

SMARTboard

I have to say, I aboslutely adore the SMARTboard. I love how it can be used in any and I do mean any subject in the school setting. I made a SMARTnotebook presentation with a Hallaoween theme. It was significantly easier than I had anticipated. As an older student, I appreicate the ease of use of this software. As I have been observing in my classrooms, I noticed all of the teachers utilize the SMARTboard in one capacity of another, from math to social studies. What is your favorite feature of the SMARTboard?

Online calssroom tools

We recently researched and found 40 websites that would be useful for teachers. I thought at first it was going to be impossible to find 40 different websites to fit our content area or related to teaching for that matter. I'm glad to say I was wrong. It was super easy. The hard part was narrowing it down! Here's a few of my favorites:

iCivics.org - this is a great site to play games, read articles, watch clips, etc on all things related to civics.
                    This would be a great tool in any upper level high school government or sociology class.

The Avalon Project - this is a great site for documents relating to all things social studies.

And my personal favorite - teachinghistory.org - this is a site dedicated to history teachers. We can share ideas, lesson plans, etc.

If you know of any more, please let me know!

Audacity

      Today we made pod casts. I had never done one before and it was pretty fun! Katie and I did not wan to do anything in our content area so we chose a completely different topic. It was neat to see how a little script turned into a 35 second podcast about an app to learn a foreign language. I will use pod casting a lot more now that I know what to do.

Ipad Apps

    Today I worked with Katie and found some really great apps for the iPads. First is Stack the States. You have to answer questions about the 50 states and then stack them (the states drop down in their actual shape) up to cross the finish line so to speak. Once completed, you earn a state to add to your map. This is a great app for geography and state knowledge.
    Another app that was great was Number Lines. There is a super cute frog that helps kids learn their addition, subtraction and skip counting. I actually can't wait to get this home to my son to practice his math facts.
    Apps in the classroom are great tools to help the more often than not "plugged in" student stay engaged and have fun.