Scenario

In three to five years, I see myself graduated, having a family and working the job of my dreams.  My strongest attributes are that I am a hard worker and a team worker. Some of my challenges are that I am stubborn and that I believe that yes technology is great and wonderful, but we should not forget our past and the craftsmanship that many put into it. If I was to learn a new software I would attain classes and ask other of help if I were stumped. Technology can truly help children excel by giving them billions of resource and the click of a mouse. I remember bag phones, and how we have iPads. The evolution of technology has helped students how may have a hard time reading, listen to a story without having to be taken out of class. As for my education, technology has made it more interesting, and harder and the same time.  I as having to learn these items that many of my future students already know how to use. I would encourage faculty to use technology for the betterment of the students, but let’s not forget how important working hands-on is. Tools like Animoto and comic builder sites are great for allowing my students to express themselves in a different and “cool” way.  

My Wow Moment

I cannot lie. My ah ha moment did not come in this class. It came in one of my Block 1 classes. Our teach showed us how to use our own Macs to better the students. We learned how to zoom in and out of text to help  students see better. We learned how to change the contrast of the screen to help with headaches and eye strain. We also learned how to use the text-to-speech application. I really wish we would have learned this items in class, instead of all of this other websites to use. I do not know much about running a Mac, and I believe that is where you should start out at. Funny how I took more out of a class not dealing with technology, than my own technology class.

Podcast favorites

Overall, I really only had two podcasts I enjoyed listening to. One was Kevin Honeycutt's podcasts. I feel that I have an advantage over just about everyone because I personally know him. My mom works with him at ESSDACK. He is such a nice guy and truly loves what he does everyday. You cannot call it work or a job because he loves it too much.

My second podcast I liked was EdTechWeekly. They were so laid back that it was enjoyable to listen to them. Almost all the other podcasts I listened to, I had to force myself to do so. They talked about items that I found interesting, too. I found myself agreeing with lots of what they spoke about too.

Semester favorites

One of my two favorite items we explored this semester was Kan-ed. 

Kan-ed allowed for so many opportunities. For instance, the genealogy program intrigues me. Family history is something that lots of children do not know. I found it completely amazing when I found my Great-great grandfather’s census on there. He was such an amazing person and doctor back in his time, that when I find anything about him and his history I cannot get enough of it. I want that for my future students.

The second favorite item was Animoto. It really allowed everyone to show off his or her own creativity. I liked being able to show what was must important to me, and doing it in an eye-catching way. 

Podcast, Website & Blog Mid-term Critiques

Part 1: Podcast

The two podcasts that I listened to were both very good. Giving information to people about helpful sites they could use in that classroom. You could tell that they both put time and effort into making their first podcast. Good for both of them.

Part 2: Website/Blog

The websites and blogs were both awesome. The skills of both came out in their website and blogs. It can be very difficult to create these items when having never done it better. Kudos to both of them, I give them both an A+.

Podcast Reflection #12: EdTechWeekly #186

I believe that it is quite apparent that one of my favorite podcast is EdTechWeekly. In this podcast, they talk about a program were it webs together all items that connect people. You can use your Facebook account, e-mail, twitter and just about anything. Once webbed, they create these clusters or nodes. It color coordinates the nodes so that it is easier to identify the groups. They talked about going to a first time conference where they learned about this program. He stated that 100 people were here at the conference and they listened to 15 presentations a day. It was talked about using this program at learning analytics to look at at-risk students.  The draw back from this program is that everyone using it has to use it the same. If they change how and why the use it for, it will mess up everything. The nodes will not be connected the same as before. To me, this sounds like a good program once the kinks get worked out.

Comics in my classroom

COMICS!!!! What a great idea for students to do in class. It takes an average lesson, to a great lesson. It allows the students to express their personalities. When I am wanting my students to expressed what they learned throughout the lesson, I could have them create a comic. It is seriously such a fun activity!!!! :)