Reflection #6

Digital stories will help me communicate with my students through fun active learning and a different way to present topics, or even information about myself. I think it would be fun to communicate to my students about who I am, what I like to do, how I got where i am, and special things about me though digital stories. It would be different than just talking and a biography, it would catch their attention and help them remember who their 3rd grade teacher was. It will also help the communication go the other way by also having the students present who they are and what they are about. It can help me as a teacher to have that different form of communication to remember things about each and every one.

Digital stories will help me communicate with my students' parents in a similar manner also. I will have a chance to also let the parents see what I'm about, which is good for the parents to know who is teaching their precious children. It is also great to have the teacher and students communicate with the parents, by allowing them to see the work that is or has been done in class, and to also allow the parents to experience what goes on in class.

This program will help me as a teacher communicate with my colleagues by introduces this to them, showing them the ideas I have done with them, how we use it in the class, and how effective it has been. It's another chance to share ideas and help other teachers make their teaching skills and curriculum better. It would also be fun to present class digital stories at the end of the year, of the whole school year of each class. It is a great way to share moments and memories. You can also let you colleagues about you also and who they are working with.

Using digital stories to achieve class objectives is endless with ideas. It allows students to think outside of the box, which is a great technique for students to do with all their activities. It makes projects and topics a lot more fun and definitely more interesting. It also allows students to use the available technology in homes and in schools for school objectives and to make them different and to help them become more familiar with the impact technology has. Digital stories are another way to help integrate technology into our students education. This project also helps them to practice a lot of skills to accomplish one goal. They need to plan, prepare, research explore, use their imaginations, learn technology, and so much more. It is also a great way for teachers to present to students in a memorable and effective way.

Some pros of digital stories are the technology it uses and the opportunity it gives children to use the technology available. It also gives the teachers a chance to become acquainted with technology and use it in the classroom. Digital stories are also great for teaching important objectives in the classroom, and also a great way to communicate. Some cons of digital stories is the time, work and effort that is needed to put into these projects which is very consuming for some. Some may also not be as familiar with technology as others, which can be very frustrating and overwhelming to do so many new and different concepts with technology. Digital stories at times can also be very confusing, because of everything they consist of, but in the end they are worth the time, learning, and effort. They are a great teaching and learning source.

Video
Millennial Generation

This video clip is about media mobility, the ability to have tv, music or any type of mobility on the go. It's basically taking you computer with you always and having easy access to it anywhere you are located. There is no limitations to media mobility, but it makes me wonder if we really have that type of power of technology to actually be able to do all these things, for every single person, of every second. This clip is also stating that they think technology devices are continually going to be getting smaller, just as they have through the years. Things just keep ugrading and keep getting better, it's just up to us to keep up with it all.

My Beliefs

In my personal opinion I think that technology in the classroom is a great thing, but only to an extent. I love how our society is getting so advanced in this area, there are so many opportunities available at our finger tip that our parents and grandparents did not have. I think that it is a great way for students to be able to stay caught up in the classroom and keep in touch with the class even if they have to miss a class period. There is a down side to this also, I believe that a teacher can make it extremely difficult for parents and students alike to stay involved in the class by the use of too much technology. We have to remember that there are many parents out there who did not have this kind of stuff when they were in school and so they will still be expecting an update to come home with their child of what is happening so that they can stay in touch. I think that you could have some upset parents, should you choose to make accessing their child's syllabus and grades too difficult. I also think that if the child is overwhelmed by the teacher's web site that they can also be overwhelmed and demeanored at the fact that they are not able to do such a simple thing as access their grades or see what they are doing the next day in class, this could have a lasting effect on them throughtout their entire experience at school. It could simply deter them from having any interest in the technological side of education, and also make things a lot harder for them.
I like the old saying, "Everything in moderation." I think that it is no different in this area also. A little technology can go along way if used correctly and it could have an extremely positive impact on future generaltions to come.

Lessons Learned

This assignment has been very informative and interesting. I have enjoyed learning about all the different things technology can be used for, especially in the classroom setting. It was also made known to me through all the reading, how important it is to become familiar with the latest technologies, and to help students also become familiar. Technology is being used more and more now days, and will just continue to grow as the years go by. Technology has made education better and more effective, but shouldn't be made overwhelming to the teachers, parents, or students. Technology takes patients, and a lot of instruction to learn, but it's worth the time and dedication. Technology can do so many great and helpful things for teachers and also for students and to just name a few it can support learner-centered strategies, develop students' order skills, manage learning and growth, helps with communication, increases productivity, helps with assessments and evaluations, and get engaged in the curriculum. There are so many ways technology can help us, it's just a matter of learning it, and staying current with it and there are so many tools to help with that change and transition. Through the articles it was amazing to see how much technology has improved peoples' lives and continues to create change and growth for everyone.

Strengths and Weaknesses

According to UNI survey and the NET standards I found the basic technology of operations and concepts are my strengths, and not much above that. Such as access programs and files, save, create folders, and maintain backup work. I am also very good with specific equipment such as VCR's, calculators, scanners, video cameras, and etc. I am also aware of how to access world-wide information over the web, by using online encyclopedias and dictionaries. My biggest strength would be emailing to communicate with others, but unfortunately i also have some weaknesses. I really struggle with audio or visual recordings on the web, or incorporating them into projects, or using video conferencing. I am familiar with databases or graphic organizers to organize and collect information, but I don't know the best technique to use them as efficient as possible. I am also not aware of some good resources to help assists students with disabilities, which would be so helpful as a teacher. My terminology is also pretty weak, along with dealing with trouble-shooting. I need to be aware of continual growth with technology for the students and also for myself. I also need to be more comfortable with incorporating technology into my curriculum. I need to know and be very familiar with the many technology uses out there so I can help enable and empower my students.

Some goals for myself as a beginning elementary teacher is to become as familiar as possible with technology and its involvement so I can help my students stay caught up, and better understand the way of technology life and education. I also would like to be effective with communicating with students, parents, co-workers, and others through technology. I will know how to manage the technology and use it in moderation. Another goal is to also get the audio and visual part down of technology. I think students would will really enjoy this type of learning and presentation. I will also use technology to assess my students, which will hopefully make things more effective in and outside of the classroom for my students and also myself.

I would like to take another instructional media class from Dr. Cox or Dr. Waters to help me better understand these different technology concepts. It's hands on which is a great help, and are very imformative and up to date with the latest and greatest technologies for educators.

I would also like to take some online tutorials from the UNI website. they seem to be very updated and familiar with the technology teachers need to know to be as effective as they can in the technology.

Video Reflection

Video Reflection

How Not To Use Power Point

This was a very funny and entertaining video clip, with some great power point advice. Some key points were to not put every word on the presentation, you will loose your audience very quickly and it won't be effective. Try not to put spelling errors on the slides, check for grammer and spelling errors before presenting the show. We need to also be careful to make sure we limit the bullet points, so the students don't get overwhelmed. It's important to make the presentation pleasing to the eye with good readable fonts, good color schemes, visuals, and a limited amount of animations. Don't over do the slides, especially for younger students, power points can be very effective, but also very overwhelming for the students if they are not used correctly.

Reflection #5

These last two prior weeks we have been working on and learning about digital stories, which have been so much fun and will help students with active learning, and creating. These tools will help students be able to create their own stories, about whatever they would like. It can help bring out some self discovery and make learning very fun and active. This allows students to creat their own projects, individually or with a group.



These tools with help me collaborate with my colleagues by sharing this new idea with them, sharing information, and working togehter as colleagues and students to create an awesome digital story. It is a chance to share my own story with my colleauges, or introduce them to a new way of learning and teaching.



These tool are or could be so popular among colleagues and students, because how fun and interactive digital stories are. It helps with creativity, and exploration. These tools are fun for teachers to show their students or for teachers to also have their students try something new and exciting. It allows students and teachers to take technology to a whole new level, and allows audacity in the classroom and among colleagues.



I can emply these tools in my classroom to help achieve many teaching objectives and skills. If there is some fun research or fun technology lessons I need to teach I can use the digital stories for demonstration or for a fun way of learning about things through out the world. It can also teach the students to work as a group, and create together by creating one on their own.



Some pros of digital story is the fun things it offers, the ability to use technology, it's interactive capacity, group work is available, it can help accomplish many teaching objectives, it can be a new way for presentations for the teacher and for the students.



Some cons of digital story is everyone may not have access to the internet or to the things needed for creating these types of projects. It may also be difficult for some teachers and students to use if they aren't familiar with higher technologies. it is also very time consuming but can all be worth learning it and taking the time in the end.

Did You Know 2.0

This clip was very interesting, I really enjoyed the different statistics it gave, it was all very surprising. The comparisons between the U.S., India, and Chine were also all very surprising. It was very interesting how much lower the U.S. is in the numbers when dealing with technology. It was also very fun to see the numbers of different technology uses for 21 year olds, and how high they were, which wasn't very shocking but is sad. I loved this clip cause it made a good point about how much and how fast this world is growing with its technology and as educators we need to make sure we are keeping our students on track in order to make it through the 21st century.

A Vision of Students Today

This clip was also very interesting, and was so correct for students today. There is a lot of money and time that go into school that in the long run or short run don't help students at all in life. It seems by this clip a lot of students are feeling not noticed, or learning useful information. The classrooms are too large, buy useless stuff, going into debt, tests are pointless for life but technology is a way to get through all this long term hectic hardship. It helps because there is a lot more school work, reading and association online, which helps students stay more intune. Students need technology in their lives, but need to also be interested in school and learning the information that is being taught. I would say a lot of students are using technology for the wrong this at the wrong times during school or when they could be studying.

Technology Reflection

This tool www.pbs.org/kratts is great for animal adventure, the world, the environment, garbage and recycling, air and water, and plants and animals. This site encourages children to become friends and fimiliar with animals, introduces wild life, and encourages excitement for learning about the world around them. It is such a fun site to see and explore for teachers, students and parents. It's fun cause it becomes each of the students own site and keeps them interested because of all the different things that are offered, music, and creature exploration. There are fun quizzes, games, spots lights, daily challenge, videos and shows and photo galleries. This tool is a great tool for other great pbs links. I came across pbskids.org, which is also full of so many great things for kids also. They are both so bright, fun and flashy for the children. They are great and offer so much.

With this site it provides so much educational research for the students, but also some great stuff and different links and tools for teachers and parents. It offers some great activities and games to help improve their knowledge also. It has a link for teachers and students to ask questions for their own knowledge or to help answer questions for their students. It provides very informative resources about their site to read and see why this site is so great.

This site is so great, which makes it kind of hard to find some cons, but with these sites mentioned, it may require parents help for younger children in order to use this site. Because it offers so many things it may be a bit confusing for first time users, or younger viewers. With these tools children and maybe even teachers and parents might even get distracted while being on this site, it may take longer to accomplish what needs to be done in the first place. It's a fun and adventurous website.

Technology Reflection

My objective with www.lessonplanspage.com is for teachers and also the student to be able to find fun and educational lesson plans regaurding specific subjects. As I was searching this tool I came across so many fun and interesting things I am so excited to use to better my teaching, and improve my students learning. Some special features for both teachers and students this website offers is effeciant reading, which gives great suggestions for students to be better reader and offers so many different tools to help. It also has a link for Food and Fitness, which is so important for children to understand, and also for teachers to incorporate in their classrooms. Along with all the other special features, this site also has a special feature page full of websites great for educators, students, and even parents to use for all sorts of educational purposes. Not only are there great lesson plans for teachers, but there are also so many pros for students. They can use the math section to practice their math skills, by clicking on the appropriate grade and do worksheets right there online at home. When students are struggling with ideas for Science Fair Projects or how to present it this is a great tool for them, or for the teachers to give suggestions. This site is also great for teacher and other colleauges to share different teaching ideas and suggestions all through this site. This is also a great tool for parents to help work with their children at home with reviews, research, and teaching them the appropriate material. Aside from all the pros, there are some cons concerning the students all in the fact that this tool would probably be most useful for teachers and not for students. Although this is the case students can still benefit cause teachers are using this website to make their lessons more interesting and fun for the students to learn more. There are some things also on the site that need to be signed up for which can be an inconvenience, but can also be very beneficial for teachers, such as Hot Chalk offers some great video footage for teachers and students.

REFLECTION #3

For this weeks reflection we learned so many great and fun things for the classroom, things I never knew existed. Using Teacher Tube in the classroom will help me communicate with me students through a different media, or primary source. It will allow my students to see and discover things in a knew perspective. Along with Teacher Tube there is You Tube, which does similar things, but isn't as educational as Teacher Tube. I will communicate with my students different educational objectives through the world around them, and animations.

These different materials through the media are so helpful in teaching students and allowing parents to work with their students, cause it's all found online. It's also so great that if students are absent or not understanding the material that was presented in class, they can go home or on their own time look up these different materials used by the teacher from these online sources. These tools given to teachers and students are so great for delivering instruction to students in a different and fun way for the students to learn.

Tools such as Zamzar, Teacher Tube, You Tube, National Geographic are all full of discovery for the students, other colleagues, parents, and teachers. Along with these sources of technology there are of course pros and cons. Some pros of course have already kind of been mentioned, but they are just great to help deliver the curriculum being taught in a new and different way. They help the students learn the environment, and gives variety. Some cons of these tools be the understanding of using these tools, using online sources, and basically being introduced to a new way of learning.

I can definitely see myself using these different tools to teach and insturct my students, it will be a new fun adventure for them and also myself. They are also very useful and helpful with refections or review. They are easily accessable and easy to use for students and teachers to use as a source for reflections, and to go back and look at for reviews.