FINAL REFLECTION

Wow!  I did it!  It took a lot of time, but it was time well spent.  I appreciate this class a lot.  We did not have busy work, and each of our activities was meaningful and different.  I did not feel like I was doing the same thing, learning the same thing, or just regurgitating information.  I got to learn about something new, and experiment with it.  Often times in a class, we learn about something by listening to a lecture or reading about it.  Then we are tested on what we learned, or have to prove it by turning in a homework assignment that ends up in a filing cabinet for years.  I love that everything we did for this class was published to our own blogs.  What an amazing way to keep track of our work along with reflections on how we were feeling throughout the process.  It really gives an accurate idea of what we learned and how we felt while using that tool.

I also like how we have all commented on 3 other projects for each activity.  At first I didn't love this aspect, but now I really know who has taken this class, who really understands some of the tools, who feels comfortable with the tools, and who else I can go to with questions or concerns about the web 2.0 tools that we have been learning about. 

Many of these assignments took a lot longer for me to complete than they appear to, or should have, because the learning occurred as the result of a process.  While there were many challenges and obstacles in some of the activities, the ultimate success of completing them all and learning in the process was worth the time and frustration.  The feeling of success is not just a short-term excitement, but it will carry through the school year as I use these tools with my students.  The continued success of time saved, increased communication, stronger assessments, more interesting presentations, and student involvement will benefit me, my classes, and my students this year, and for years to come.  

10: Free Choice

So many choices! Looking at all of the options, I was at first a bit overwhelmed.  Are there really that many more web 2.0 tools that I have not yet learned to use!?  I thought I have learned everything by now!  Then I remembered how much I have learned, and realized that if I could conquer the last 9 weeks, I can do this too.  I chose something practical, something that I had heard of, but something that I need to use more of to feel more comfortable with.  Below is a Rubistar that I will use to help score my students.

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=PrintRubricDownloadFile&rubric_id=1721573&

9: Polling and Data-Gathering

I love Poll Everywhere!  I love taking out my cell phone during meetings to text in my response to polls, whether I am providing serious feedback, or silly comments.  It is a fun way to gather information, it is anonymous, so you can be honest in how you are feeling, and you can see your feedback instantly on the screen.  You know your answer was voiced and counted in the percentages that update automatically.  You can also see how your answer compares with others who are taking the same poll.  For example, if the poll is on how well you understand something, if you are the only one who does not understand, you may need to step it up a notch, but you also know that you can ask any of the other people in the room who responded that they understand the concept well.  It is also great formative assessment for the teacher to see how many people understand, and how much more class time needs to be spent on a particular concept/subject. This was way easier than I thought! I have received google forms in my e-mail, and I have responded to several of them, but I have never created my own. I like the idea of e-mailing a form to my students to collect feedback on larger scale projects or units. I love Poll Everywhere for simple questions and quick informative assessments, but google forms gives more options for students to answer-- whether is is short answer, paragraph response, true/false or multiple choice. I also like that I can access the responses at any time though my google account. I could also post a google form questionnaire on my website for students and parents to respond to, rather than having it e-mailed to them.

8: InfoGraphics

I actually enjoyed using this tool.  Not many campers have completed this activity yet, so I wasn't able to look at a lot of them and read the reflections about using the programs, so I just went for it.  It was easy to use, and it looks professional and polished.  It was very straight forward and intuitive, and the program did what I wanted it to.  I was not sure, however, what I wanted to make an InfoGraphic for.  I know that I will be doing some advertising for the Mexico trip for next summer, so I thought I would start here.  InfoGraphics are a great way to present statistics and percentages in an interesting and attractive way, but currently I don't have any statistics to present to anyone.

I am curious to read how other teachers will use this tool in their classrooms.  It is a cool way for students to present information or data that they have gathered, but we have learned about so many great tools to do that same thing.  What does this one offer that would make it a better option than the rest?  I guess I will stay tuned and read some other campers reflections.

7: Cloud Computing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dar4ep-g5WglONFHQYtgNVMp_5PrlR8hxiacmUpNPWY/edit

 *  How would you use cloud computing with this particular example?

The document that I created in google docs is just a simple word document of things to remember once the school year starts.  It seems that I have all of these great ideas in the summer time and at the beginning and end of the year, but when school starts and I get really busy, I forget about what I wanted to do or change.   

I would love for other teachers in this class to add to this document of things that are good to remember once the school year starts and we are crazy busy, and we feel like we don't have any more time for anything.  What is most important?  What will save time in the long run?  How can we work smarter, when there are no more hours in a day to work longer?    Starting my 4th year teaching, I have figured out a lot of things, but there are still some things that I forget or still haven't learned.  

  *  Would cloud computing be a useful tool in your classroom?  What are the pros and cons?

I have commented on Teri N's blog how it is super helpful for teachers to share and collaborate, and for staff in a building to communicate with each other, but I have not talked about how students can use it to promote learning.  It would be good for group projects and papers for everyone to collaborate.   I can remember in school, someone would usually get the job of typing up the final draft and having to put the whole thing together and edit it all themselves, and sharing documents allows everyone to take a part.  There is also a lot of potential for note sharing among students, and it could provide a central study center for students to go to fill out study guides, get help, or have their questions answered.  A con could be that it might replace the need for groups of students to get together and physically and mentally work together to solve a problem or complete a task.  

6: Study Tools

I made a Tagxedo because I just had to after looking at all of the other really cool ones created by the other bloggers in this class!  I want to make them as covers to my binders for different curriculum, I want to make one and frame it in my future home, and maybe I will put one on my website!?  I am still wondering how to use this best in my classroom, and how my students could use it as a study tool.  They could use it to categorize their new vocabulary, but it may work best with cultural projects and idea.  I like that when you click on one of the words, it google searches it for you, and am wondering what other possibilities this has.  Can I change the link to one of my choosing?  Or could I have just the definition come up instead of a list of websites?  Something that I will definitely look into!  I love the colors and themes that it gives you--I feel all creative and Etsy-like.

I just spent a ton of time making a timeline on Timetoast.  It is a really cool program, and I had a ton of fun uploading pictures for each event.  This has a lot of potential for students and lots of different uses in the classroom.  I think it would be really cool for a student to start on of these at the beginning of their history classes, or even at the start of Middle School and track major evens in history as they learn about them.  The way it is organized and can easily be edited makes it ideal for on-going projects and could really give students a big picture of history, the order of events, and how they are related to each other.  My husband is in school right now to be a social studies teacher--he loves history--and I am excited to tell him about this web 2.0 tool!

5: Creating an MV Youtube Channel

Wow, that was way too easy.  Now I see why there are so many videos on Youtube.  It is simple to put anything up.  I looked at quite a few other people's channels, and they had some cool videos posted on their channels.  I love Karen's video of her vacation put to music with titles for the different places she went.  I am hoping to do something like this on my 2 week Colorado trip that I am going on later this week.  Some also just posted their activity from activity 4.  I wanted to try to record something new to see if I could do it, and also so my blog wasn't repeating itself.

I think that having a Youtube channel will help keep me more organized, with all of the video clips that I use in the same place.  I am curious to know who will have access to all of my videos, and that makes me nervous about recording myself/including my face in the videos.

4: Screencasting

When I first read this assignment, I was nervous about what I was going to do, how I was going to do it, and how I would ever get this to work.  Maybe it was also some of the buzz that I had heard about it from others in the class, or maybe just because I had never done something like this before, but I was hesitant to get started.  It seems so professional and "tech-y", therefore I assumed it would be very difficult.

However, after looking at a few of the screencasts and reading my classmates posts and reflections, not only did I realize that it is not impossible, but also that I could do a screencast about almost anything!  I choose to use SMART Recorder because it is already on my computer, I use the SMART software a lot, and all of my colleagues also have it on their computers, so I figured they would all be able to view and listen to my screencast without having to download other programs. 

I did not even have that many problems after watching the "how to" video from Mounds View Tech Resources, which preemptively caught any problems I would have with sound and recoding volume.  I would use this in my classroom--it is a way better way to post lectures, Powerpoints, and Smart Presentations because you can explain AND show what is on the screen, or how to do something.  It is way more useful than just notes, or an outline.  Think of the possibilities for plans for substitute teachers or absent students!

3: Digital Storytelling

I chose to use Zooburst to create my digital story after looking at a lot of other people reflections and stories.  Many people used Storybird, which is nice and clean, simple, I like the way it looks, but I wanted to be a little bit more creative in creating my story, and I didn't want to write a story around artwork that is already there.  I wanted to create the artwork that goes along with my narration.

After looking at Amy's story that she wrote for her grandchildren, I was inspired to write a story for my niece and nephew.  I decided to write about our day on the St. Croix River.

However, after working with the program for a little over an hour, I see why many people decided to use Storybird.  Besides writing the story and adding in captions for what each person is saying, you have to insert every single element into your story yourself.  That includes all background items and colors, scenery, people, and things.  Each element has to be searched for, inserted, and sized.  I know that this process will get easier with each story that I write, but it seems very time consuming.  For stories that I have written in the past, I like having the option of printing them (like from Shutterfly), or if they are just purely digital, I have been using SmartNotebook that has some pretty cool transitions and is very clear to see and understand.  Some of the images available here seem blurry if you change the size or angle they are viewed from.

It would be a different, fun tool for the students to use to demonstrate their understanding of a concept or theme, rather than just making and presenting a powerpoint to the rest of the class. 

I like the pop-up element, but besides that initial excitement, the basic free package doesn't excite me too much.  But like I said, maybe it is something more for the students to use rather than for me to use to design lessons and present information.  I will keep this in my mind, and find out how other staff are using this program with their classes. 

2: Pimp My Presentation

"Since the demise of PowerPoint, Prezi has been king.  Its dynamic navigation takes viewees on a journey through time and space.  Users can insert text, images or videos to allure their audience. Prezi is a free online tool that is fairly intuitive for users."

Senora Fosse on Prezi

Reflection:

After returning from my 25 day adventure in Mexico, I figured it was time to get back to work on my blogging projects.  Week 2 looked easy enough… I could crank out a poster or presentation on a simple, easy to use glogster or something I was more familiar with.  But then I thought of so many classes in the past that I have taken where I do projects (for the class) and they never get used again.  The work I put into them was for a grade, and hopefully I learned something, but the projects didn’t get much use after the class was over.  So, instead of doing just a “one and done” project just for this class, I remembered why I signed up for this class in the first place.  And how much I always wish we could work on practical, real projects for our classroom.  So I did.  It took me way too long, but sometimes that is a part of the learning process. 

I decided to take my syllabus—a dry, required, important document that I go over about 16 times each year (4 quarters, 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade), and turn it into a Prezi.  I have seen a few Prezis, but have never made one myself.  I don’t know if it was because I had been out of the country, not used to technology, tired, if I missed part of the instructions, or if it just is not that easy to use, but I struggled.  I got better at the end, but the presentation you see here took the entire two hours in the computer lab, plus some quality time at home…

I try not to do too many repeat activities in my classroom—I am always trying to mix-it-up and keep the students involved and on their toes.  Since we don’t use Powerpoint a lot, the students seem to enjoy it when we do.  I think it will be the same with Prezi.  It is an interesting way to present some information, but it could be overused and loose it’s affect.  

Blog Bling

I love using authentic materials to teach Spanish!  Anything really from a Spanish speaking country, author, artist, etc. that serves a purpose--music, newspaper, magazines, news reals, posters, books, etc.  Authentic materials are so rich compared to materials that are just made for the classroom.  Not only is this one of my favorite songs, and Juanes one of my favorite artists, the song deals with vocabulary that students have learned, and grammatical concepts that we are working with such as noun/adjective agreement and order. 

How could a blog be useful in your classroom or professional life?  If you're not sure of the potential benefits, do a Google search for something like "using blogs in the classroom".  

A blog would be useful as a teacher, because I have a large amount of students and parents to communicate with each quarter.  There is different homework for each grade level, different test and quiz dates, and different projects that we are working on.  A blog would be a great place for students and parents to get all of that information.  With the different gadgets available, I am also able to include links to useful websites, videos, lists, and other fun/informative features.  It also allows students and parents to comment and ask questions that I and others would be able to respond to. 

Go to http://mvtrainings.weebly.com/blogging-web--social-media.html and view some of the blog options.  Which do you think would be the best option for you? 

After watching all of the videos on different types of blogs, I now know that there are several options available.  Before deciding which would be the best option for me, I would have to decide on the purpose of my blog, and the age group that I intend to use them with.  For example, right now I like Google Blogger because that is what I have the most experience with so far.  However, Kidblog would be a better option if I was using blogs with my 4^th and 5^th grade students because of the safety features, and because I have to approve the comments and posts before they show up as public on the blog. 

For my older students (6^th, 7^th, 8^th grade) I like the options provided on Weebly, but most of all, I like the visual appearance and layout.  However, like with so many things, there are so many more aspects to consider than the physical appearance.  The other aspects make me think that Edimodo might be a better tool for students. 

Welcome Campers

*  What motivated you to become one of our campers?
I wanted to take this class to learn more about tools available on the Internet that I can use to communicate with students and parents.  I have over 600 students, and I spend a lot of time on the phone and e-mailing and am looking for a better way to efficiently communicate with a large amount of people.

I feel like I have a slow learning curve when it comes to using technology comfortably and this class will help/force me to practice using a lot of technology this summer and encourage me to learn more about the Web 2.0.

*  What you hope to learn about in Summer Camp 2.0?
I hope to learn more tools to help me become a more efficient communicator, more ways to grab and maintain my student attention, and hopefully become more comfortable with using them.

*  What is one cool thing you're hoping to do this summer?
 I am going to Mexico!  I want to speak Spanish all day!  I also want to do some cleaning projects around the house, since I am not working.  I like to stay busy and productive!