Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Inspiration

Inspiration

Making a spider web! You can start with a main idea and expand from there! Just adding different "bubbles" or sub titles to your main idea. You can add photos into the sub titles and make a picture come up where the sub title is. You can link it to a page that has information about the topic. Could try to upload a file and create  a document about that sub title or main idea. This web can be uploaded to your website for other information for viewers to read and see. This is a great new method of learning for visual learners.

Student Teaching

Well this will be my last post before I head student teaching! This time I am at a high school teaching gym to grades 9-12! I am very excited to take a few of the things I learned in this class and use them in my classroom with the students. I think having the students make a "workout" video or any type of video about gym of physical activity would be a great assignment for the students and they would enjoy making it. I definitely have a few ideas brainstorming in my head of how to use technology in my placement this time! Excited to get going and start using these tools!!



Tuesday, February 26, 2013

SmartBoard Games

Smartboard Games: I found some great games for all different aged students on this site and thought it would be great to share! You do not need a smartboard to do these games but it would be great to incorperate them into your lesson and to incorperate technology into the classroom.

SmartBoard Games at SomeSchoolGames.com


Our Video

Here is our Group video we made in class!!!

Friday, February 22, 2013

IMOVIE

This week we were asked to make a movie with our classmates. Just a short film to get us using different movie methods.
Our group filmed our movie using an ipad so we used the IMovie method on apple. Not everyone has an apple or has this system but there are many other ones you can use.
We found that IMovie was very easy to work with once we got comfortable with it. We decided that our movie would be about it the day in a life of a student.

We filmed a bunch of short clips on hitting the snooze button too long and sleeping in. Where the student has to run out of the door and is late for class. Once she gets to the school she finds a parking spot and runs to class forgetting that she still has her toothbrush in her mouth. When in class the only thing keeping her awake is COFFEE and a lot of it! During the class the teacher asks her a question but the student has no idea the answer and her guess was not right. Once the day is over the student starts heading to her vehicle to notice the parking lady writing her a ticket. She starts running to her car and as she gets there the parking lady rips the ticket off and hand sit to her. After that you will just have to watch the film and find out............

I will be sure to uplaod the video once we have it complete and handed in!

STAY TUNED!!!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Video Methods

Today Mike showed us a few ways of how to create videos with our students using an online version and an application on our computers. This first method he taught us was using the Photo Story.

Photo Story- This method is used in a lot in schools because lots of schools have Windows computers and it is a free method from microsoft. This method does not work for Mac computers but not very many schools have switched to Mac computers yet.
This method is very easy to handle and get to. Go to your start button and click all programs and under Education Apps there is "Photo Story 3".
To start making your video follow these simple steps:
-Import Pictures
-Pick your photos you would like to use (Can arrange photos at any order at the bottom of the page and can rotate, crop, add effects, Black or white, Water color)
-This program shows that you have edited your photos at the bottom of each
-Save each photo after any editing so you do not lose any thing
-You can add a title by typing in the tittle on the side textbox
-Place the tittle where ever you think it looks good (Top, Middle, Bottom)
-You can have the students record or tell a story as the photos play by
-Different music is set up on the side so you can theme it to your video
-Can test the music out before you chose it
-Save it under desktop so we can find it easier and to play it
-View your story to see what it looks like before you publish it
-Publish it when you are ready!

The next video method Mike taught us today was an online version called Animoto.com. I used this version because I found it very quick and easy to use without knowing too much about computers and the internet.
You can sign up for this FREE account by going to their website and choosing only to use the 30 second video. If you wish to make longer videos you can purchase a different method but for the students I would get everyone to sign up for the free version. Here they have different themes that you may choose for your background. The themes that have the word "Pro" on them can only be used if you have a paying account. This website had tones of different holiday backgrounds and are great for the student to make different gifts for holidays and for their paretns or guardians. Follow these steps to create your video:
-Chose theme and open it up to create your video
-Upload your own photos to save on copy write and they also provide some photos and stuff for you --Grab your images and change the order around if you need to
-Add a title and a subtitle if you would like
-Create the video and it gives you options for how you would like to share it (facebook, twitter, email etc.)
-It will let you preview the video and then hit produce

Each method was super easy to use and would work great in the classroom for students and would be very useful to use with our society being very technology advanced!!!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Multimedia

Here I made a wordle that represents what people think of when they think of Multimedia. A few things that come to mind are slideshows (powerpoint), digital pictures, animation, videos, digital books, audio, and podcasts.
You may ask what is multimedia? Well multimedia is the use of computers to present text, graphics, video, animation, and sound in an integrated way (Weopedia). Or another site says multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. This contrasts with media that use only rudimentary computer displays such as text-only or traditional forms of printed or hand-produced material (Wikipedia).
I think that multimedia is a combination of both these definitions and that together they make a full definition of what multimedia is and how we use it in our society and in classrooms.

SIDE NOTES:
In today's class I picked up a few useful hints that I would like to share with everyone;
1. When using your iphone to take videos turn your phone side ways because leaving it upright is not the correct way it was intended to take videos. (NEVER knew this, I was shocked!)
2. Today's movies are now being filmed using the "Jiggly Camera" meaning that the film looks more real and not being shot by producers.
3. Mike had a great quote up today and I took note of it, "Use your own, royalty free or creative commons materials or get permission!" In my classroom I need to encourage my students to be providing their own images and videos instead of taking them off the internet. This will be less work for them but having to site everything they use.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

LwICT

Yesterday we had John Finch come and visit our class to talk about Literacy with ICT. We first discussed what technology used to look like when we were in school. We found that technology in schools have changed drastically. When I was in school we used to have a typing class and that was when we got to use the computers. When we need to find information we needed to look it up in an encyclopaedic or dictionary for a word spelt wrong. Now students use technology with every class; Math, Science, History and English to "google" any questions they have.

We talked about allowing cellphones in school. I believe that it depends on the age, I do not feel like every child age 12 has a cellphone. Allowing every child to bring in a cellphone is punishment for the child who does not have one and embarrassing not bringing one when everyone else is. I believe that once they reach high school they can bring their cell phones but need to be respectful to the teacher and others around them. I believe that in my classroom, depending on where I am, we will have a cell phone policy made up at the start of the year and discuss the rules and what is fair and what is not.

John talked about the 5 stages used to incorporate ICT in any class. These stages were called: Plan and Question, Gather and Make sense, Produce to show Understanding, Communicate, and Reflect. I can use these stages in any class for instance; in Math we can use these stages for problem solving. We can plan the question and find the information we need to solve this problem and show an understanding of what to do to solve the this. We could find different ways of how other people solved the solution and reflect on how I would solve this problem. We could use this in Science in the same way but solving an experiment. These stages can also be used to collect research for a History class. I found that this was very appealing to me on all the different subjects that use these stages and I now have a better understanding on using the ICT program not just in English but in every subject!

With dealing with middle years I believe that we need to develop critical thinkers and we need to teach the children how to learn and create a forever track for them. I can do this by having the children always ask questions and everyone share answers and take part of discussions. I need to challenge students all the time to make sure information they gather from the internet is valid (correct information), reliable (who all agrees), and current (up to date information is given). The students need to know that not everything is true on the internet and how to incorporate their on thoughts and ideas on topics as well.

A great thing John said in his presentation was, "We have to learn, unlearn, and relearn". I found this so interesting because as a teacher I need to stay current on technology and always reteaching myself new information that has raised in technology to stay up to date with my students. I found this presentation to be very helpful and give me tones of knowledge on how to incorporate technology in every class that I teach!

I also just wanted to add the "Seven Things Everyone Needs to Know about Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum". This is on here for me to remember and always have.

1.It is a continuum, not a curriculum
2.It is infused into all learning
3.It is likely already happening in your classroom and school
4.It is not necessary for teachers (or students) to be ICT 'experts'
5.It is an on-going process – all students can be observed demonstrating their learning on the continuum
6.Its assessment is triangular: balancing Conversations, Observations, and Portfolios
7.It's the learning you assess, not the technology