What I have learned

At the beginning of the semester, we took a survey and was asked to rate what we believe our
technology skills were. I gave myself an intermediate. I felt fairly comfortable with my use of technology but I knew there was a lot that I didn't know how to do. I now feel much more competent in my ability to use many different types of technology including programs like ActivInspire, Inspire, and iMovie and websites like PBWorks and Picasa web albums. I also feel much more confident in how to incorporate these types of technology into the classroom. At the beginning of the semester, I was unsure how many of the programs we used would work well in the classroom. I also was not sure in the ability of the students to use this type of technology on their own. However, I now know there are many different ways for both teachers and students to use technology for educational purposes, and while, some of the younger children cannot use as many different types of technology on their own, they can still use some and use it with teacher aid. Overall, I feel that my technology skills and understanding of how technology can be very successful in the classroom has increased greatly. Now I can't wait to see how I can incorporate these new skills into my internship classroom next year!

Creating a Website

Prior to this technology class, I had never created a website and I was very intimidated at the thought of creating one. However, I found the process to be much easier and fun than I was expecting. The use of web 2.0 tools helped smoothly create a website. I used many of the tools such as Google presentation, Picasa web albums, and PBWorks to easily add content to my website. The website I created was a part of Google sites. I found it worked very well and was complimentary to other Google programs.

When creating a successful website, I think the key is to be organized and consistent. With these two things, viewers can easily find their way throughout your website and not become confused on where to look for certain information or how to get back to a page. If the you have good content but the website is not organized, the content will not make as much sense to the viewer.

I now feel very confident in my ability to create a website for my future classroom. I think it is a great way to keep both the students and their parents informed about their teacher, what they need for class, school events, and assignment due dates.

Blogging in the Classroom

I think blogging definitely has a place for classroom use. If your students are old enough (at least upper elementary) I think it is a great place to have them share their ideas and thoughts about what they are studying in the class. It can be a safe place for them to express themselves. Blogs can be used in a similar way as journals are typically used; however, now other students can read and comment on what their classmates think about something. Also, blogs have 24/7 access unlike journals that typically stay in the classroom. Classroom blogs can also be used for teachers to update parents on what their children are learning in class. Teachers and students can work together to create posts that inform parents on projects and units the class has worked hard on.

Picasa and Google Presentation

Earlier in the semester, as we were learning about digital images, we had to collect images off of the internet and put them into a Google Presentation. I located and formed my collection of pictures on the website http://www.pics4learning.com/. I had never used this website or other websites similar to this one that provide copyright-friendly images to use. Prior to this class, I just took pictures off of Google images. However, I now know that you can easily run into copyright images when you only use Google. After I had all my pictures, I organized them using Picasa web albums. This is also a new website for me. It is a very easy way to organize and share your pictures. Picasa allows you to add tags to your picture. By adding decriptive tags, you and others can easily locate your pictures. You can also turn your pictures into slideshows by placing them all in an album and placing comments on each picture that provide the viewer a description of the picture. You can view my slideshow I created with Picasa web albums here, Yosemite photo collection.

Digital Stories

I have never experience creating a digital story. I have used iMovie to do simple editing like cutting a video down. However, as far as the more advanced editing like adding captions, transitions, and music, I have never done up until now. I now feel very comfortable creating a digital story using the iMovie program. I discovered it is very simple and self-explanatory to use. Even if I were to try something more advanced than editing still pictures into a movie, I feel competent in my abilities to do that. I really like the idea of using digital stories in the classroom. I will be teaching in a deaf classroom, and I feel the deaf kids would really benefit from this technology. Obviously, the music added to the digital stories may not add as much as it would for a hearing student listening to it. However, having short captions paired with pictures or video is very beneficial for them. Also, it would be helpful to include a voice over. That way, students with more mild forms of hearing loss would have the auditory and written language. Here is my digital story that I created about visiting aquariums. Recently, I went to the Chattanooga aquarium and took these pictures. Many of my students have not been to the aquarium before so I think this would be a great way to build their background knowledge before reading or studying sea life or aquariums.

Digital Diagrams

This week's assignment was to create a digital diagram. In the current deaf classroom I am in, we use diagrams often. So, I was excited to learn about digital diagrams. I see some of the benefits of using digital diagrams. They are easy to save and retrieve later, hyperlinks can be included to provide more information, and pictures can be easily added to enhance understanding of the topic. However, this was not my favorite technology skill we have covered in this class. It was very easy and a quicker process than other skills, but I still feel like it is better for students to be able to draw out diagrams on their own. When I was working with the Inspiration technology, I found myself getting frustrated with it because I couldn't get the format just how I wanted it. I think the same thing can be achieved with paper and pencil in a much more efficient and faster way. The picture provided is the digital diagram I created for a 3rd grade classroom on the topic of rocks. There are two notes provided under the rock and sediment headings.

Interactive White Board

I had never worked with IWB or ActivInspire software prior to this class. I was somewhat skeptical of its benefits when I was first introduced to the technology. I was having trouble envisioning elementary kids using it in the classroom. However, once I started my own flipchart, I immediately saw all the possibilities IWB has in the classroom, especially for deaf students. ActivInspire flipcharts provide students with the content in an interactive way. It helps for the teacher to not have to only rely on expository teaching for providing a lot of content information. Deaf students receive very little from straight lecturing; they need a way to interact with the content and be hands-on. With the IWB, they can be interactive because it is very student led. It is also very visual, which any visual aid is extremely helpful when presenting new information to deaf children.

The directions provided in the packets were very helpful when creating my own flipchart. When I was using an interactive tool that was provided in the packet, the directions were very clear and step-by-step. I think there are many more ways to include interactivity with the flipcharts that were not discussed in the packet or class. I think it would be very beneficial to provide additional ideas and examples for interactive tools for those who would like to experiment more with the ActivInspire technology.

Here is a screen shot of my flipchart on the water cycle.