I feel like I learned a lot in the class. I feel much more confident in my ability to learn new technologies and to figure out how to use them in my classroom. This will be extremely useful, because technology has become so important in society at large. Also, my students will be using it a lot and in order to engage my students in the class, I will need to use technology. One way that I will use technology is by using Google Earth in my classroom. This will help the students to understand issues of geography and how it affects history. I also plan on using a website to keep in touch with my students and their parents. This will ensure that we're all on the same page. I also plan on using teaching my students about internet safety, so that they will know what to do to be safe online. This class really helped me to see how adaptable I need to be in my teaching. I need to be willing to try new things in order to reach my students and help them to learn.
The video that we watched in class about the growth of technology and how important it is becoming in the world really struck me. I know that we talk about technology a lot, but all of the figures and numbers really showed me just how influential it has become in our lives. I was especially struck by the fact that many of the jobs that we will be preparing our students for have not yet even been created. This showed me just how important it is that we integrate technology into our classrooms, because our students must learn how to be creative in their use of technology and comfortable with experimenting with it. It also showed me how much the upcoming generations will rely on technology, and because of this, I must be up on the latest stuff if I am to be able to reach them and interest them in what they are learning. This means that I will need to integrated technology into my classroom as much as I can. I hope to use technology to present material to my students and get them into the lessons.
I learned a lot about internet safety through my thirty minute study. I signed up with i-Safe and went through a couple of the tutorials. One thing that really struck me was how prevalent internet bullying is in schools and how important it is that we discuss this problem with our students. When we're on the internet, we don't really think about others' reactions to what we say or do as much as if our interactions with them are face to face. It is so easy to send an unkind message or even a message that is not meant to be unkind, but is misread. As I was learning about internet safety, I was also struck by how important it is to teach young people about how they can be safe on the internet. They may not realize just how damaging and permanent something that they do, say or post on the internet can be. We need to teach them how to make wise decisions about using the internet to ensure their safety and the safety of others. I know that internet safety is not something that I have thought about much in the past, but there are some things that I would like to change as a result of my study. First of all, I would like to remove some of my personal information off of the internet and choose to be more careful about what I put up there from now on. I also feel much more prepared and knowledgeable about phishing scams and how to avoid being caught up in something like that. There were a number of things that I learned from the internet safety assignment and teaching opportunity. First of all, I learned just how much we often don't think about internet safety. I taught my fiance about internet safety and there were many things that we discussed that he said he had never heard before. One thing that he had never heard of was changing your birth day if you are going to put it on line. He had never thought to alter it by a couple of days in order to protect your personal information. He had also never heard about the free fire-walls that you can install on your computer to ensure that you don't accidentally go to any sites that are bad or have bad pop-ups on your screen. He had never heard of Canine or any of the other ones that I found out about and he thought that was a really good idea to use them. Internet safety is important and it is something that we should be talking about in our families and our schools.
There were a ton of really interesting things that could be used in the classroom that I saw at the Innovative Instruction Competition. One thing that I thought was really cool was the use of a blue-tooth keyboard and mouse in the classroom for teaching students how to write an essay. The teacher would pass around the blue-tooth mouse and keyboard and students would be able to take turns writing and editing different parts of an essay. This is a very visual and hands-on way to teaching writing to the students and helps them to learn about the writing and editing process. Another use of technology that I thought was really interesting was the use of a wikispace, primary documents, and the creation of a video to study the American Revolution. I thought that I was really neat how the presenters sought to have the students develop their own opinions about the Revolution. I also really liked how the teacher had the students defend their positions--by creating movie explaining how they felt. I also really liked the group that sought to use the asyncretous videos to perform a debate in their classroom. I liked this because I believe that it will give some students needed time to formulate an argument and responses to arguments that you don't get if you do an in class debate. This may also help students feel much more comfortable with the activity and sharing their real thoughts and feelings.
Although I had a very hard time with this project, I feel like it was useful for me to learn how to make a video. I believe that because of this project, I am much more confident in making a movie and I feel like I could do this again if I needed to. I also feel like I could construct a video assignment for my students, which could be a very useful learning tool for them. They could recreate an event in history or create a talk show to discuss a historical issue. Multimedia Project (Movie)
1. Must teach or enhance the teaching of a concept in a way that would be difficult to do without technology OR be an example of a video project a student might submit for your class (3 points) Your assessment:3/3 I believe that providing visual and video, the students will better understand just how powerful propaganda can be. My Assessment: 2. Must connect directly to teaching some aspect of the Utah Core Curriculum (see http://uen.org/core/) – (1 point) Your assessment: 1/1 It connects to the core curriculum by showing how Americans dealt with the war. My Assessment: 3. Must include a storyboard (due the first week of the project). If this storyboard is not provided BEFORE the project, then you will lose points. 4. Must include digital images or video (2 points) Your assessment:2/2 I used a couple of images for the project. My Assessment: 5. Must include meaningful narration or text (1 points) Your assessment:1/1 I narrated at the beginning, explaining what propaganda is. My Assessment: 6. Must include some background music that enhances and not distracts from your message (1 points) Your assessment:1/1 The music during the narration helped to engage the listener, making it more interesting. My Assessment: 7. Must have a credits page at the end where images, video, and music used in the video are properly cited. Note that many students lose these points because their credits are too small or move too fast to be read, or they do not describe a source exactly using generalities instead like “photo from flickr.com”. (1 point).Your assessment: 0/1 I don't think that I cited some things properly. My Assessment: 8. Must be engaging or interesting to view (4 points) Your assessment:4/4 I believe that it was very interesting and engaging. My Assessment: 9. Must teach the topic effectively in a way that could not be done as well without the technology (4 points) Your assessment:4/4 I believe that it is very important for the students to see visuals and movies to show just how propaganda works. My Assessment: 10. Must be uploaded to TeacherTube or Youtube and then embedded in your blog correctly (1 point). Your assessment:1/1 I completed this requirement. My Assessment:
Things have been going pretty well with my iMovie. I have figured out how to import movies, pictures, how to do voice-overs, and how to correct the view on images. I also have figured out how to rearrange things so that they can be in the right order. One issue that I am having, however, is that I don't know how to open a iMovie file that I have saved on my flash drive. I know that it is saved there, and that I have saved it correctly, but I am unable to open that file on a Mac other than the one that I have worked on it on. This is very frustrating. Also, I am not sure how to add a menu, an opening, or credits at the end. I am unsure as to how I can change the time limit on how long certain pictures are showing. I feel as though I am making progress, but it feels very slow and frustrating at times.
For my video topic I decided to focus on propaganda in the United States during WWII and how it go the American people to support US soldiers. To start out, I am going to have a number of propaganda posters showing. I will have a voice-over going at the same time the gives the definition of propaganda and how these particular posters were used during WWII to gain US domestic support. Then I will have a clip of a professor at a university talking about the way that Hollywood was able to gain support for our troops by portraying the war and our efforts in a good light. Then I will have a clip from a Donald Duck propaganda movie that calls on Americans to pay their taxes in order to support their troops. I believe that this will be a very effective way of teaching this concept, because propaganda is all about visuals and making an emotional connection with the audience in order to get them to do or feel what you want them to. I also believe that it will be much more engaging for the students to see propaganda rather than just hearing a definition.
Videos in the classroom can be a very useful tool. One way that they can be used is to personalize the subject for the students. I believe that this is especially true with history students. By showing clips from movies of dramatized history, the students can feel more personally connected to the material and it can help them feel that it is more relevant to their own lives. Movies can also be used to show examples of activities or demonstrations that you could not perform in the classroom. This opens a whole world of possibilities for classroom experiences. I also think that video from real life can be very useful for students when you are teaching material that is from the last 60 years. It can really help students to get a better picture of what was really happening at this time. I do think, however, that you should not simply put in a movie for an entire class period. Teachers need to engage their students in the movie, perhaps by stopping the movie and asking questions or having the students fill out a work sheet. This will ensure that they get involved rather than falling asleep.
I really enjoyed learning how to use Google Earth, especially because I believe that it will be very useful for my later teaching. There are a lot of different tools on Google Earth that I learned about as I worked on this project. One of the most useful that I found was that you can record a 'tour' on Google Earth. For my activity, the students will have a guided 'tour' of Greece. The students will be working in pairs on their own computers and we will discuss how geography effected the development of both social and cultural aspects of ancient Greece. As part of the activity, I will have students record their tours of Greece, and I will view them later, to ensure that the students were on task and understood the assignment. Another interesting aspect of Google Earth is that you can add a landmark on your person computer, so you can find it later. Also, there are a number of different features that you can view, such as 3D buildings, labels and borders, important places and landmarks, as well as images of buildings and landmarks that have been tagged onto certain sites. I will definitely be using this resource in my classroom, because it will provide students with a visual, as well as help them to become involved in learning about geography. They will also be able to connect things that they are learning in class to concrete images and resources. I feel like I have a good handle on what Google Earth is and how I can use it effectively in my classroom.
For my technology project, I want to use Google Earth to create a virtual field trip for my classroom. In this virtual field trip, we will look at Athens, Greece. As we go through this field trip together, the students will fill out a worksheet, based on what they see and what we discuss in class while we are on our field trip. Part of what I would like to focus on in this field trip is how geography affected the development of ancient Athens. We will discuss how it is on the coast, and how that led to Athens becoming a naval city. We will also talk about how mountainous Greece is, making all of the city states that developed there very separate entities. I believe that by using Google Earth, the students will be able to get a concrete idea of what Greece is like now, helping them visualize how it was thousands of years ago. I also believe that it will be much more engaging for the students and help them to tie abstract ideas to concrete images.
I think that I have mixed feelings about copyright laws. Most of the time, I find them annoying, because they require me to go to so much extra work. This is especially true as a historian, where you must cite every little source that you use or even look at. This can make copyright laws pretty annoying. However, I do see why they are good. One thing that we talked about in class last time, which I had never thought about before is that copyright laws encourage innovation and creativity. I believe that it would be very difficult for historians to make any progress in history if we were all just copying each other and saying the same thing over and over again. One other thing that I also find annoying is that we must cite all images, especially those found online. This bugs me, again, because it is such a hassle. However, I do recognize that it is important to give credit to those who do/create something.
I have finished my website and I am very excited about it. I definitely learned a lot of new things putting this site together. One of the things that I a most proud of is my Picassa slide show that I included on my "About Me" page. This includes pictures of myself and Oregon. I had never previously made a Picassa slide show before, and I feel like this is a very useful skill that I have learned. I also am very proud of my use of YouTube. I found a cartoon from the WWII period, a rendition of the Three Little Pigs which relates their story to WWII. I am using this for one of my classroom assignments and I am excited about the way I was able to find a connection between WWII and pop culture. I think that this connection will really help the students become more interested in what we are studying in class. I also feel like the website will be a very useful tool for keeping my students and their parents informed and helping them keep in touch with me. The calendar can help to keep them on track with their school work and help them to understand what is expected of them for class. I will definitely want to set up a classroom website when I am a teacher. Here is a link to my completed website: https://sites.google.com/site/jenn39class/home
Things seem to be going well with my web page set-up. I am currently working on my class calendar and my 'about me' page. The only thing that I am unsure about is how I can personalize my home page to make it more interesting and engaging. I feel as though most of my pages have the proper information, but are not very personal. Is it possible to add pictures to the home page of our website, and if so, how? I'm also unsure as to how I can upload a form or document onto my website. Learning these things would be helpful as I try to finish putting my website together.
After exploring a bunch of the resources that we discussed in class and those that are posted on the class wiki, I came to realize just how useful a lot of them will be. One that I am really excited to use in order to further my own learning is Diigo. I believe that it will really help me to keep track of important and/or useful information that I find on the internet. It can also help me remember thoughts or original ideas that I may have while perusing certain websites. This will help me to keep better track of other online resources that I find and stay organized. Another organizational tool that I plan on using is Google Calendar. I didn't even realize how useful it could be. It will be really helpful for me to keep track of school assignments when I am teaching, as well as appointments and other obligations that I have. I also really love Dafont, which will be a really great resource when I assign class projects or am making presentation materials myself. The fonts available on that website can add the fun, interesting touch to my classroom posters and presentations that can help students stay in tune. I also really like the idea of having a class blog, which can be used to help keep parents up to date on assignments, activities and other opportunities for their children. This can also help me keep track of assignment s and other class materials. Finally, I really like all of the media wed sites. Because I am going to be a history teacher, audio, visual and movie resources can play a very important role in my classroom. These web sites will provide me with options and help me to develop a more interactive and engaging classroom.
I added a number of gadgets to my blog to make it more personal. First of all, I added a slide show on the side bar, which features different pictures and scenes from Oregon, which is where I am from. I love Oregon and how green it is there. I also added a picture behind the heading of my blog, which a view of Provo from the Y. If you can't tell yet, I love nature. I also added a search this blog feature, which allows readers to search the blog by headings or labels. This will help my readers to more easily navigate my blog. Finally, I added a blog followers gadget, which allow me and my followers to see who else is following this blog.
Technology and myself have had a rather rocky relationship. I usually tell people that we have an understanding. I hate technology and technology hates me. Whenever I have a big project or I am really depending on technology, it seems like it fails me. Whenever anything goes wrong, it seems like all that I can do is throw my hands in the air and stare at the screen. Because of this I am usually very reticent to try new things with technology. This is because I'm pretty sure that it will be beyond my capabilities, and I just don't want to deal with all of the frustration and discouragement. I tend to do things the hard way rather in order to avoid using technology as much as possible. I know that I need to change, but I really do hate technology. When it finally does work for me, it's usually because someone else has done most of it for me. Hopefully this class will help to improve my relationship with technology. I hope that it will help me to feel more comfortable and confident with technology and ease some of my fears about using technology. I also hope that I will come to understand how I can best make use of technology in my future classroom in order to help my students learn.
I am currently a senior at BYU studying history education. I've always loved history and I'm excited to share my passion with others. I am the third of six children, and I love having a big family. It always keeps things interesting. 2010 is going to be a very exciting year for me, because I am currently engaged and will be getting married in April. My favorite color is green and I am in love with Indian food.
