Final Reflection

Well, well well....TPTE 486 is over for me. This class was very helpful and a very interesting class that I'm glad I got the opportunity to take. Having this as a required class for teachers is a huge asset for them because it teaches so many different techniques to provide a more entertaining teaching style. I really liked working with inspiration and the digital stories. I feel like as a future educator I want my classroom to be fun and exciting but very hard working. The inspiration application was so interesting and would be great to use in any classroom teaching any subject. I like that is was very mobile to what the user wanted and very colorful and different than the normal powerpoint. I liked iMovie and working on the digital story because I am a journalism major and I like creating stories that have a purpose. For teaching, each movie would obviously have a purpose I could just add pictures and creative aspects that I might not be able to use in other applications. An application that I enjoy but won't use in my classroom would probably be wordle or twitter. As much as I liked both of these, twitter is more for personal use in my mind and wordle seemed confusing and I feel would be confusing to the students. Overall I learned a TON about technology and how to make my classroom more technology friendly for my students and me. It really showed me that there are easy ways to make things more interesting. oh yea and the teacher was great too!!

Digital Story and IMovie

I had worked with IMovie a little bit before but never done this much work for a story, it is probably because the other movies I created were much shorter and not worth a grade. But working on this digital story gave the opportunity to see the many benefits to working with IMovie. I like that I can import my own pictures or someone else's photos in order to complete my story. I created a story about the new My Plate. This is what has taken place of the old food pyramid in America. I liked this storyline because there are many different ways I could of done this story and IMovie lets the user do whatever they please. From the length, to the direction of the photo, to the font and style it was all up to the user. My project which should be below really helped me understand how useful this site can be. I really think I could create some very interesting stories for my students. This gives teachers the opportunity to be creative and keep the attention of students. This is so important because teachers are struggling now more than ever with so many outside distractions and providing entertainment in teaching is a new very important area. I liked creating the digital story and it took me back to my journalism days when I created stories as a reporter in my class at UT. 

My Digital Story about The New My Plate

Spreadsheets

Microsoft spreadsheets is something I have worked with before, but never with this much detail. I knew I could organize and keep things a specific way through my previous knowledge, but being able to create quizzes and practice questions through spreadsheet was new to me. I still think that entering the formulas to figure out correct answers can be rather difficult, but with practice I feel like it could easily be figured out and become something that is easy. I created a quiz about the ten largest rivers in the U.S. and it lets me type in a formula for when the student types in the correct answer. I was so amazed at how this worked and how useful this would be in the classroom. It would be helpful in any subject area to give a short quiz or for students to practice on. I like that any teacher or student can create a project with spreadsheet. Students and teachers both would benefit from this because it is very organized and easy to use.

Google Forms

Google just keeps on providing more and more materials for people to use and Google Forms is no different. I'm amazed at how much that google allows users to do now. Google forms allows users to created quizzes, practice, or other things that can be used in a variety of ways. I created a quiz that had some random questions on it about your favorite book, favorite flavor of ice cream, or favorite vacation spot. There are different types of questions that can be asked where it is multiple choice, true/false, essay form or other. After I had several of my classmates take my information survey, I was able to click on a tab that allowed me to view their results. It was great to know that my simply pushing a button I can see the response of every single person that had taken the survey. I think this would be a great resource for teachers to use throughout the year. It can be used at the beginning of the year to get to know the student or it can be used as quizzes for students to take while at home. A great resource for any age level.

Inspiration

I was really amazed by inspiration and how modern it was. I was used to normal microsoft powerpoint and having everything in a specific order and it being very plain and simple. Inspiration blew me away. I had never heard of inspiration before this class. I really liked that I was given a blank slate to do whatever I wanted with anything I wanted. I was creating a powerpoint type slide show into one big picture that could be moved. The effects, the pictures, the movement, the color schemes and overall idea of inspiration was something I really enjoyed. Creating a presenation about the different regions of the U.S. on inspiration was a lot of fun. I got to choose exactly where I wanted my information to go and the colors, size, and position. I think this would be an excellent tool for teachers to use in the classroom. Most teachers still use the same ol microsoft word which is completely fine and an excellent resource. But as a teacher, I want to spice things up and make my classroom as intereresting as possible when I teach and present information and inspiration will provide that. I can teach any subject and any idea using this because I can import pictures and colors and ideas that will blend well with my topic.

Wordle and Tagxedo

Worldle-I really enjoyed Worlde because of the unique and crazy designs that can be created. I like that I can enter any text that I choose and it can be turned into a design that would fit the needs of my students. It was not that hard to figure out either which would be very easy to use in a classroom. The color schemes, words, and designs are all up to the user. Giving the user complete access to everything that happens is excellent for a classroom setting. Students need to be able to express themselves and this is an excellent choice. The images I create with Wordle are mine to use however I like. I could give students the oppotunity to create an autobiography about themselves or give them specific material for the next day to present in a unique design to the class about that information. Another plus about Wordle is that it can be used in the younger grades. All the websites we have looked at before are not elementary appropriate but Worldle fits into that category very easily.


Tagxedo-
Tagxedo was a lot like Wordle in that the user gets to create their own design. I put the lyrics to rocky top in Tagxedo and it gave me a ton of options to use for these words. I could print them on a t-shirt, cup, or just use it on the computer for classroom use. Tagxedo also shows a gallery of pictures that other users have created that I can take and use for any type of activity I am planning to do. I can change the font, sizes, colors, themes, and then simply place it on a design that I like and it can be ordered for purchase. This would be a great site for student use because students could create a design on this site to their favorite paragraph in a book, favorite poem, favorite song, or favorite lesson we learned and create a design at home. The students could then come into class and do a presentation or have partner share time about why they chose that specific color scheme, theme, size etc. I really like that this is another elementary level website that gives students the opportunity to be creative. That needs to be stressed so much at a young age....and who knows maybe I could get class t-shirts made!

Inspiration Project-Regions of the United States