Comeeko!

An interesting site I found was comeeko.com. It is a cool and fun site where you can make a comic book strip of whatever you like. The example given is of Martin Luther King Jr. This site can be used to make a mini comic strip of any history event that happened from the Civil Rights Movements to how to pass a bill!

http://www.comeeko.com/

Listing!

Technology Projects to Enhance Classrooms

1. Powerpoint Projects: Easy, formal for various kinds of presentation
2. Movie Projects: For an English project? Act out the stories they read
3. Photos Project: Take pictures of different living things in nature for Science
4. SmartBoard: They can create their own lessons for peers
5. Game making websites: They can have fun creating crosswords and learn at the same time!
6. Make their own website/blog: Make it like a journal every week, enhance writing skills

10 Projects Ideas Throughout School year

1. September: Mixbook - Introducing themselves to their peers using Mixbook
2. October: Blogger - Start a blog to type journal every week.
3. November: Glogster - Create a poster on history of Thanksgiving.
4. December: SmartBoard - Create a math lesson out with the topic of Christmas
5. January: Google Earth - Geography lessons and projects
6. February: Photo Story - About the people they love
7. March: Yola.com - Create a website about a state
8. April: Puzzlemaker - Make a puzzle on any subjects they like, and give out to peers
9. May: Quizlet - Create a quiz that they can test each other on, either spelling or math
10. June: Fotobabble: Reflecting on their school year

500 Word Essay

How do we inspire others to change? Should we? Does the way that we teach need changing? Are students the same or are they changing? What do we want for ourselves and our own children? How are you going to use technology in the classroom? (Be specific.)

We inspire others to change by showing them the positive outcomes the changes bring. If someone allows us to let them to be inspired, we should make it a full effort to help them out. Change is not something that can be forced, but suggested. Everyone goes through life with their own style and background and that should be respected. However, in a classroom, I don not feel that the idea is to change the students, but enlighten them. Enhance knowledge and impart wisdom, but not tell someone how they need to be. I feel that the only way to do this is through more personal interaction than technology. Technology is fun to use for project and is a necessity these days to learn, but it is not the best way to give inspiration. If you want to be inspirational, you need to do something that is worth being praised for. That type appraisal is not usually found through technology but personal experiences that caused life changes.

The changing style in teaching leads to the change of students. These days, students have a different style of researching and take the easy way out versus putting a little bit of elbow grease into their work. It is exceptional to technology as tools especially with the advancements these days, but there are limitations. However, it is only natural for students to change as our society evolves and changes. There is no way to avoid it, but we can keep sanity and tradition. What is important is to not forget the essentials to teach and while new history develops; do not forget past history to teach. Every aspect as to how we have developed as a city, state, country, continent is every bit as important as the current events found in the news. Even with the change in what are accepted behaviors in society, there is nothing wrong with revisiting old styles of teaching to keep it alive. It can also inspire new thoughts and ideas to students in seeing how much times have changed and what style they prefer in themselves.

What we want is for the students to be successful and for us to be strong leaders for them. What makes us strong leaders is having us keep our heads held high and staying positive. We need to be able to admit to mistakes and try new things. In order to be inspiring we must not fear or steer away from inspiration itself. To make our students successful, we must believe in them and push them to do what they are fully capable of doing.

I will use technology in the classroom as a tool for researching and constructing projects. I feel that the best way to teach is by doing, and having more hands on experiences. Technology can shelter children from this growth and gives them only a computer to rely on. I hope to teach the children how to be technical native but not feel that they need to depend on it. Technology ultimately makes life easier in the long run, but it shelters us from being able to succeed in something with our own capability.

Wiki!

Wiki is a place where you can set up your own website. I feel like this site is very useful to making your own website about your classroom.

I would suggest this site because it was easy to figure out and very clear to read.

I made a wiki called Brittany's Classroom. I am able to post pictures and add links to what is important for my class.

Podcasting

We created podcasts to see how we could use them in the classroom. It was a fun way to record our voice to an image or alone for the kids to listen to and recite with. This could be a good way for a teacher to speak to the students without speaking to them, so they have some free time to get a project ready for the children. However, I do not feel that podcasting is all that necessary for children. I feel that is more beneficial for students to have a verbal interaction with their students. It gains a more understand and trust and builds on the student/teacher relationship more.

Newsletter

We wrote newsletters explaining to our class what to expect for the year. After writing it, we were to use youpublisher to publish our newsletter. However, while I tried to publish my newsletter, failed. I could not find a way to make it work. I feel that the youpublisher is unnecessary and instead of publishing an announcement, it can just as easily be sent out by email or a printed out newsletter for the children to take home. Here is what I said in my newsletter...

Hello Class!

I am excited to start the 2010-2011 school year! I hope you are all just as excited as I am! We will be looking at history of World War II and learn about the 3 Branches of the United States of America, studying algebra and different forms of energy. We will be exploring the solar system and several different parts of the world.

I hope you are all ready for an adventure and be sure to always bring your thinking caps to school! See you in class!

-Ms. Walter

Glogster

I had a hard time understanding Glogster. It is like another blogging site. The set up was confusing and how to work around the site was hard to follow. I would not suggest this website as a blogging tool. If someone could figure it out then I would say for them, it would be a good site to keep parents updated on classroom homework and activities. It can also be helpful in setting up field trips with parents.

Prof Game

African Safari word search game » free word search

A fun and interesting site that I went to was proprofs.com. Here you have the choice to make several different word games such as word searches and crossword puzzles. These are fun games that can help with spelling and identification of certain aspects in learning. I enjoyed making this game and had fun playing it too!