TPTE 486 made a difference!

Before taking TPTE 486, I thought I knew quite a bit about the technology world. After I began working in class I soon realized that there was so much I didn't know especially in the little details about pixels and things of that nature. I also noticed I knew even less about educational technology and software. 

Now when I work with technology I notice if small details are wrong or if the pictures aren't named. These things matter when you get your own class and there is crazy and hectic things going on all at the same time. I will be grateful I learned how to essentially make my life easier through this class. I can also say that I learned how to be a better future teacher through creating technology that my kids will learn from and enjoy. With how much technology is integrating into our society, it is necessary to become equipped with the tools to keep you current. 

So yes, interactive white boards and flipcharts were the death of me, but I gained so much experience and I would much rather do that now then when I am stressed out in my own classroom with 20 other kids. 

Making Movies Matters!

I have a macbook so I have definitely seen the imovie application before, I have always seen it as hard to use and I never really needed to use it. I thought all you could do was make a movie load it onto the program. While taking TPTE 486, I was able to learn how to use the program and that it could have many potential uses in my future classroom.

I created an imovie about traveling to New York so that children could take a virtual tour of sorts. This could be used in Geography studies, cultural, or even exploring differences in where we live. The application, imovie, could also be used for instructional videos, classroom videos of projects the students have done, or even meet the teacher videos. Students could have a lot of fun putting together slideshows of pictures to music to explore their artistic side. 

Digitally Done Right!

As far as digital diagrams go, the most experience I have ever had with that is on a sheet of paper my teachers printed called a concept map. It is not surprising though, that with the digital age morphing into a technology giant there would be digital and eye popping versions of these. In school I wish I had this version of a diagram like we created in TPTE 486 on Inspiration Software.

There are so many possibilities and ways to really draw a students attention. Children learn differently so talking through lessons, while having a mapped out version of the concept in an attractive and enriching way can really make a difference for a child who would not have gotten the concept with just reading about it. Going the extra mile to make sure every student gets their needs met is hard work, but when a child finally sees the connection within a topic due to your digital diagram it is very much worth all the tool manipulation, color changes, and font selections. 

Using these in my future classroom would be super easy. I could use them on complex topics with sub levels so that students could visually identify relationships. I could also let the kids help me fill out some of the levels on the topic by leaving some blank to see if they have synthesized the information correctly. In addition, having the internal link to an extra website is helpful to give students a supplemental angle to look at the subject. 

Research Really Does Matter!

As a professional in this field staying current and up to date on research out there is imperative to being an effective teacher. You want to make sure you know the latest and greatest information so your students receive the best education they can. In TPTE 486, we are learning about Interactive White Boards and how to use them properly. However, understanding how effective and the best uses for them is crucial so you can make the most out of such a great tool. 

I found many things interesting in the article on the research done on these white boards. Something that stood out to me was how ineffective they were on lower level students. I previously thought that something with great visuals and interactivity would be really helpful to them. Having this knowledge though, will allow me to find other ways to teach those that are struggling, instead of using something that won't help them that much. It was also great to learn that using clickers to "poll" the class on quizzes/informative assessment or if we are learning math, making graphs on favorite items, is really the best use of the white boards. As a teacher, you want the best for your students so reading this type of research ensures that you enhances your students learning experience, but in the best way possible.

Wonderful World of Websites

I am so excited about how my website is turning out! In the past I have designed websites on free sites for organizations that were chaotic and unorganized, but I had not used Google sites yet. The interface is simple to use and allows you to create to a decent amount of specifications. 

As a preservice teacher, having the tool already to communicate with my class and their families is a huge time saving step that I am so glad to work on in TPTE 486. Going through and creating all the tabs like web tools, supplies, and content subjects is so useful for my future classroom to capitalize on the internet run community we live in. It is also great to have everything my students need all in one reliable place. 

I know that I will utilize this in the future once I get my own classroom by expanding on the tabs and really creating and becoming the accessible teacher to my class and the community. One example I thought of was homework posts just in case students forget or their parents can understand the assignments given that day. They will be more successful because of it and the parents can really feel apart of the class as well and know what is going on daily. 

Digital Images Done Right!

Look up, copy, paste, and re-size are the steps I used to follow to use a digital image in my documents. I looked up the image on Google images and simply re-sized it using the corners to drag and stretch or shrink it to the desired size after I copy and pasted it into the program I was using. Practicing this skill the right way in TPTE 486 has allowed me to understand that there is so much more to digital images than I previously thought.

I had no idea about pixel number and why some images look blurry when you stretched them. Reading about the Raster and Vector really made it clear. Another thing that I hadn't considered when using digital images before was copyright  laws. There are tons of sights where you can get free un-copyrighted digital images instead of Google. Once you got the photos and want to share them, I learned how many tools there are for sharing them! Tools like Flickr, SmugMug, and Photobucket are great tools, along with the main one we have used in class called Picasa.

Teaching students to make their work more exciting by adding images, but not telling them the proper way is like playing a game without the instructions for the first time. You just won't get the most out of it even though you may be able to figure out how to play. Turning the lesson on digital images to a scavenger hunt similar to the one we did in class, by finding the objects in real life and then making an album where we have to re-size and rename was a good exercise that students could have fun doing by being the photographer. You could also have the students make collages of different things you are trying to teach and see what different perspectives you get and it lets students collaborate together as well.

Resources are really useful!

Even though I am just starting out in my endeavor as an educator, I have heard many times that collaborating and getting ideas from other teachers is a great way to get meaningful work to your students and it can build your repertoire as a teacher as well. Until I had taken TPTE 486, I had only considered sharing worksheets or project ideas. Of course with the shift in focus to technology, it only makes sense that I would learn about how to share valuable websites, webquests, and resources.

Using my prior knowledge of website evaluation and understanding how the basis of wikis work really made the process of sharing and creating pages in wiki really easy. I could really hone in on great tools for students. While searching for different content areas in Elementary Education I got to see what is out there and and pick the best for my future students to help them build skills, have fun with what they are learning in the classroom, or learn about a new topic we have yet to cover in my classroom. However, the internet is a vast portal of unlimited resources so it was great to create a wiki with more valuable resources from other pre-intern teachers that I wasn't able to find, but are just as wonderful. Working together gives the best outcome to our students in the future and hopefully they will use the tools I am finding now. Obviously, I will be using the resources I have found for many years to come and hopefully I can build onto more resources and maybe create a collaboration type wiki at my future school so that my colleges can share in the future.