End of the Semester Thoughts....

This class has taught me a great deal about integrating technology into our expansive curriculum. I have strived to incorporate technology as much as possible into math so that our school improvement goal is met. I enjoyed learning how to use Blogger and VoiceThread and am excited to incorporate these into my lesson planning. I enjoyed learning new tools with MovieMaker and ComicLife. My students are learning how to use the tools and are learning a lot from them. The PBL project was challenging but taught me a lot about what goes in to implementing this type of  project in a school and how it can help improve an area of weakness. The reflective paper allowed me some quiet time to digest all that I have accomplished and learned this semester. All of the discussions allowed me to collaborate and learn from others. It is wonderful to hear from others who come from diverse fields in education. I am excited to incorporate new concepts that I have learned in my profession and notice the benefits from doing so. I hope all to collaborate and share with my colleagues the new ways I have learned to integrate technology and hope that they use this new knowledge as well.

PBL Project

The PBL project was not my favorite for this class. I do not like group projects, as I much prefer working alone. Some of my group members had trouble getting on Googledocs and completing tasks. I did not like Googledocs. It is not something I would use ever again. A PBL project is not realistic for teachers. Number one, teachers don't have time to plan for such an elaborate project. Number two, we have such constraints in teaching to the test (CRCT), plus all the pre/post tests we have to give that I don't see it being feasible have a PBL project. Number three, I don't think most teachers have had any training or even have a clue as to what a PBL project is. Do I think PBL projects are effective? Yes. Do I think my group did create a final project to be proud of? Yes. Will I ever use it? Probably not. I am glad that I learned about PBL projects and how to create one, but it was a challenging activity.

Here is the link to our PBL website:  http://groupcpbl.weebly.com/

Movie Maker

This was my second time using Movie Maker and quite honestly, I had trouble using it both times. Having to convert the movie so it can be on YouTube or Blogger was a pain since I didn't know it had to be done. I am happy with the final product of both the movies I made. I especially think the bullying movie can be used at the beginning of each school year to show my students. I saw a lot of other good examples from my classmates as well on other issues adolescents face. MovieMaker is time consuming and really only feasible to me to use after CRCT since there is so much pressure before then. It would take a while to teach my students how to use the program too. I think iMovie is a much easier program to use and I would probably use it over MovieMaker in the classroom. Anyone else enjoy iMovie?

My Bullying Movie

Google Docs

This was my first time ever using Google Docs. It is a new way of collaborating. I like that you can share and upload excel docs and word docs. I like that others can share and edit work with permission, similar to a wiki. I don't think the communication on Google Docs is as fast as say using an instant messenger or texting but it works. I am curious to see how our PBL project goes using Google Docs.So far there isn't much progress and it seems hard to get everyone logged on and working collaboratively. I hope it isn't too challenging. Is anyone having issues so far? Any helpful tips to share?

PBL Activities

This week's discussion about PBL (project-based learning) activities gave me some great ideas for how to implement this in my classroom. PBL activities take time to plan and time to implement. They involve students having the larger role in their learning and teachers being more of facilitators. I truly enjoyed reading about everyone's different activities and can't wait to try some in the classroom. I am attaching my two activities here that I created for you to view. One is a sound choice board that integrates science, ELA, and music. The other activity is a colony choice board that integrates art, social studies, and math.


PBL activities

My First MovieMaker project

Here is my first MovieMaker project on death. Enjoy!

Death Video