Reflection for EDUC 552

Curriculum Video

Here is my curriculum video on bullying.

Thoughts on Twitter

What did I learn from using Twitter?

I learned that there are many educators out there that are using twitter to share ideas and thoughts with one another. I always thought that twitter was a place where celebrities or students shared what they were doing at any given time. I now know the abilities that this application has to make me a better teacher. I was very interested in the different chats that took place and how I was able to follow them using tweetdeck. There are many education professionals out there that have many great ideas and thoughts. Twitter gives them a place where they can share their ideas with others like me. I learned that when I post on twitter, other educators are very supportive of the things that I am doing in my classroom. Sometimes someone tweeting “what a great idea or project” goes a long way and makes me feel like I did something purposeful.

Who was the most interesting person that I followed?

The most interesting person that I followed was my professor Ann Feldmann (@techiefeldie). She has many interesting posts about technology and what educators are doing with it. I also enjoyed seeing the different people that she was following and mentioning. This was a great way to expose me to different people out in the twitterverse. The best part was that she would comment on my posts and enjoyed hearing about the different things that I was doing with my students.

Do you think that you will continue to use Twitter personally or professionally?

          I think that I will still use twitter both professionally and personally. I am interested in what people involved in current events are tweeting about but I am not following any of my friends that I have on facebook. I feel that I will mostly be using twitter for professional purposes. There are many great educators out there that I have been connected to me through the use of twitter. I want to be able to improve my abilities as an educator and I feel that twitter allows me to be able to accomplish this.

Follow me on twitter @BSiepker

http://www.freetech4teachers.com

This is a website by Richard Byrne titled "Free Technology for Teachers". This is a great blog where Richard posts many different and interesting websites and tools that teachers can use through the use of technology. After spending some time exploring this great blog, I found some very interesting tools that I would be able to use in my classroom. One post that I found useful was on the websiste "Explaina". This is a video sharing site where people can post information on explaining something. I watched a couple of the videos and they were very informative. I could see myself using this in the classroom when trying to explain something to the more visual learners.

I feel that the best thing about this blog is that is directed for educators and is very user friendly. The links all work correctly and it is very easy to navigate this blog. He has many useful tabs at the top of the blog, such as: free downloads, favorite resources, creating blogs and websites, and many more. I believe that when a blog is as well put together as this, it can be a great classroom tool. I want to be able to make my blog more appealing to both other educators and my students.

How to access student E-mail

Screencast on how students can access their e-mail accounts through schoolmail365.

Animoto in the classroom

Animoto can be a very useful resource in the classroom. One aspect that I found useful to me as an educator was the ease of creating the video. I thought that the site was very user friendly and even allowed for educators to get a free year with an upgrade. This allows educators to make videos that are longer than 30 seconds without paying a fee. I thought that the templates, pictures, music, and videos that the site made available for the users were very helpful. I wish that I would have been able to import videos that were longer than 10 seconds into my animoto video. The text slides also went by very fast. I could see students that struggle with reading, having difficulty reading some of the slides. Overall, I enjoyed my experience in creating an animoto video. I could see myself using this software for the many different subjects that I teach. I could also see myself teaching my students how to use the site and let them create different projects for them to present.

Animoto Video on Empathy

Article Review

Here is my article review on "Embracing Classroom Technology" Bridget McCrea. I hope you like it!

Sources

All Images retrieved from
      Google Images 2012.

McCrea, B. (2010). Embracing Classroom Technology. The Journal. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/06/17/Embracing-Classroom-Technology.aspx?Page=1

Reflection

I thought that the article was very motivating. This was a teacher that was unable to teach her students through the use of technology and was determined to find a way to get the resources necessary. I am fortunate enough to work in a school district that provides its educators with many different forms of technology. I have six computers in my classroom, a SMART board, access to video cameras, and other forms of assistive technology. I use these almost everyday and the students are very interested and motivated when using these technologies. Valerie Gresser did not have access to technology in her classroom besides a single computer. The hard work that she put in to get the grant for her classroom was very inspiring. It shows that there are many resources available to assist teachers in improving there classrooms. Once the technology was in her room, I thought that she had some great ideas in using the technology to teach her students. Valerie used the grant money to get a SMART board, video equipment, and computers. I thought that her use of the camera to teach nouns was very creative. I thought that the article was a great way to show people what the use of technology in the classroom can provide. She was willing to put in some extra work for the benefit of her students and changed the culture of her school.

Podcasts

Podcasting

I enjoyed being able to explore some of the different educational podcasts through Itunes. I have used podcasts through Itunes before to listen to different sports podcasts and talk radio. One of the educational podcasts that I really enjoyed was TED Talks. There was a particular podcast titled “18 Ideas Worth Spreading” by Salman Kahn. He discusses the uses of video to teach students material. He created a website called Kahnacademy.org. Through this website, students are able to watch videos that teach the material and complete problems at their own pace. The teacher is then able to login and look at where the student has progressed and the specific areas that they are struggling or exceling in.  Since I teach math in a special education setting to a wide range of ability levels, I thought that this would be an excellent way for students to move that their own pace. This week I set up gmail accounts for my students and logged them into this website. I had them work the last 20 minutes of math class on this site. They really enjoy this site and completing the math problems. Another interesting thing that I noticed in the education section of the podcasts was that there were a lot of podcasts teaching different languages. I listened to a couple hoping that by the end I would be bilingual. It didn’t work, but I could see foreign language teachers using these in the classrooms or as homework assignments as supplemental material. Podcasts are a great way to learn new information and material. I enjoyed listening, and sometimes watching, the different podcasts.

Cell Phone Survey

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dG4ya0Vic09ETGMzYmpIUUJYYTV6UGc6MQ

Please take a moment to fill out my survey that I created on google docs.

Thanks!

Skype and My Blog

This past week I had the opportunity to Skype with another classmate. The account was very easy to set up and it was not hard at all to find certain people through Skype. After setting up a meeting time, we logged in and had a great conversation. We talked about our different backgrounds as teachers and how we will be using things that we have learned through this class and incorporating them into the classroom. I thought that this was a great way to share information. He said that they use Skype in his classroom to talk with experts and go on a "mini field trip". How cool is that? I think Skype is a great tool and am excited to develop new ways to use it in the classroom.

I have really enjoyed developing my blog and thinking of different ways that I can use it. I often find myself sending home letters to parents about events that will be happening in my classroom or at school. I run many copies and some of the time, the letters never even make it to the parents. I wish that I could use my blog to inform parents about the different happenings that will be taking place. I could also post pictures of the events so that parents feel more connected to what is happening in the classroom. The only problem is getting parents on board and having them check the blog frequently.