Blogging for the Classroom

I teach a classroom of first graders. At this point in their educational career, language learning is at the top of their priorities. Students are immersed into phonics learning to blossom into stupendous readers. Many times writing is not integrated strategically into their language learning. Teachers find it laborious and down right hard! As a result, students do not exemplify desires and a love for writing.
To assist students writing we must make it relateable, doable, and interesting for them to get pleasure out of it and try harder. Blogging which has been used to express ideas and majorly for pleasure could be one of the answers to making writing more interesting.
Teachers could assist students with creating blog pages and have them to write down their username and passwords on index cards and store the information in a safe and reachable place for students access. Teachers would assign student groups different writing times and topics for each day of the week. Students would type their ideas and post it share with their classmates. Classmates could even respond by commenting on the blog.
Furthermore, blogging could assist teachers with teaching the use of communicating when students respond to blogs and the use of expressive, narrative, sequential, writing when students create blogs.

Softchalk

Softchalk is a website designed to create web page lessons and lesson accomplices such as quizzes and crossword puzzles. After downloading and using the demo of Softchalk, I believe this is a software that could benefit my students' learning. Softchalk allows its users to upload the lessons and the various activities using the Internet, cd-rom, and the Intranet.
The various activities engages students using gaming strategies that students would find interesting. Teachers can creat quizzes as well! However, the software can be confusing when creating the various lessons and activities. Users will need time to understand and figure out how to use the software. But, when discovered, Softchalk's use is valuable and near limitless.

Ipods for the classroom

Just a thought here. What if Ipods were used for the classroom? Really. If Apple would donate used and refurbished Ipods to classrooms wouldn't that be great? These contraptions could be used for anything from audiobooks, podcasts, and tunes that correlate to a lesson that is being taught or has been taught. These Ipods could be used for the purpose of a podcast when students are studying the memoirs of various icons such as Ann Frank. They could also listen to book reviews to decide whether a book would benefit their report. Audiobooks on Ipods would be accessible and easily identified by students when they see the icon. Students could scroll to the icon and then click to listen and read along. Students could easily stop and play the audiobook in comparison to a cd playing on a radio. In addition, Ipods are the cd players of the new century, therefore students are probably are more aware how to use the advice. Ipods in the classroom for present day classroom.

Multimedia Project

I created my multimedia project using Powerpoint, Audacity, and Softchalk. The title of my multimedia project was integrating technology into teaching suffixes. In the presentation, I explained what a suffix was and introduced suffixes that will be taught. In the powerpoint presentation, I gave examples of how the suffixes can be used in words. I also gave non-examples. I included a recorded reading of a book "If You Were a Suffix". I integrated a game that called for the student to choose real words with suffixes for student interactivity. Students clicked on a word and depending on if the word was a real word or not they would be directed to a page that would give them immediate feedback. I also included links to softchalk created activities such as a quiz matching word game, creating words with suffixes drag and drop game, and a definition crossword game.
I was pleased with how my Multimedia project turned out. It was fun and interactive and I am excited to share the presentation with my students and team.

Culminating Paper part 2:Presentation with Audio

I enjoyed creating the culminating paper presentation with audio. I found it most interesting due to the fact that I was presenting a slideshow without having a visible audience. Although different, I was pleased. Later, I realized audio powerpoint presentation are the future for online classes who do not meet. Educators can upload presentations that will include the instructor's voice, which will add a personal touch, and provide information that will appeal to not only visual learners but also auditory learners. Audio presentation will highlight the educator's lecture without the student having to listen to an extended lecture.

Culminating Paper

Research papers are not one of my favorite things, but the information learned is valuable. Through the research done for my culminating paper, The Effects of Technology on Reading, I learned about the software ABRACADABRA, a reading program for fluency, phonics, and comprehension. I also learned about other software products that would not benefit students' reading growth. During the research, I also discovered that Tweeter can be used for student use for writing in the classroom and video recording can be used for fluency. Although a difficult process, the research done for the culminating paper will definitely beneficial for professional growth.

Kidspiration

I love Kidspiration! I will definitely receommend this software to educators for its many uses across subjects. Kidspiration is a software that allows its users to digitally create graphic organizers to their specific needs. Graphic organizers have been found to assist students with comprehension. Kidspiration even has grapahic organizer templates for math, reading, science, and social studies. I enjoyed creating the the synonym graphic organizer for my students because it was relatable to what I was actually teaching. I showed Kidspiration to my teammates and principal during a meeting. They all found the software completely useful and my principal wrote the name of the software down to share with the school. I will be using Kidspiration beyond this multimedia class.

Video 2 Content

I created an instructional video on how to implement PALS lessons in the classroom for intervention.This video was very important for me to create. It was not only going to benefit me for a learning experience, but it would assist my co workers with its use when they implement PALS in their classrooms. I used students from my class that used PALS and had positive results after using the program to demonstrate how to use PALS when teacher and student directed. The video was a basic how to guide that included clips on how to troubleshoot when the student is not responding properly to intervention and how to use students to teach students using PALS. After editing the video, I was very pleased with the video flow and that the video looked like an actual intructional guide. I believe other educators will find it useful as well.

Creating Videos

This was not my first time creating a video, but I new to taking video shots. When creating the video shots, I was unsure if I was taking the right shot or not. The most confusing shot was the wide shot and the very shot. On the example website, the shots looked very similar. My students were very cooperative and enjoyed being apart of the video creation as well. Learning about the video shots will definitely assist me with further video recording when I implement the various shots. The real fun began when I edited the video and implemented the transitions and the royal free music. This was also the most difficult and time-consuming for me. Teaching myself the various video editing components opened my eyes to the difference between the storyboard and timeline. I learned that music cannot be implemented in the storyboard, but in the timeline. Overall, the video creation was very beneficial for me.

The Classroom of the Future

The classroom of the future will depend on the technology available to students and teachers. In addition, it will be dependent upon teacher knowledge and skills of using the technological pieces. Students, I believe, will be more technologically savvy, but due to shortages of technology availability, there will be a technology gap that will divide students.
In classrooms where technology is available and implemented, students will probably have personal digital writing utensils. Whiteboards and chalkboards will more than likely be done away with completely and reaplaces by Elmos and overheads. The only manual material available will probably be in teacher small instruction groups. Computer to student ratio would have likely increased tremendously with computer outnumbering students. Cell phone use will be permitable and even encouraged for projects such as research report interviews and Internet use for research. Student State exams would be completed online for monitering and quick feedback on their performance. Student assignments would also be done electronically to descrease paper uses, to assist teachers with organization, and for easier grading. Fluency assessments will also be taken electronically without the assistance of the teacher. They will be more accurate and detect student prosody through voice levels in rise and falls of pitch.
If student classroom technology has not increased, students classrooms can be expected to look similar to classrooms where little technologically was previously implemented. Students in impoverished neghborhoods will continue to lag in technology capabilities. In addition, they will be less qualified for jobs and higher education.
If technology is properly advanced in the classroom, students and educators can look forward to having a more teachnologically aware students.

Audio file

I highly enjoyed creating the Audio file using Audacity. I heard of Audacity before previously enrolling in the Multimedia course and heard of its great uses. I created an audio segment on the sounds of vowels. I gave students space to practice saying the vowel sounds as well, which made the activity interactive. In the future, I will use Audacity to create audiobooks to place in my classroom's listening center. I believe by recording my own voice it will draw the student's attention when hearing a familiar voice.

District Data Strategies

Within my district, some data is unprotected. Sometimes when entering or leaving a website it notifies that the website and its information is not secured. Although when using the school's web server, certain information online isn't secure, the district information tends to remain highly secured. Certain links cannot be opened unless the user is using a district computer.

Website

I am very exciteted about my website. During the process of creating my website, I found a myriad of items to add onto the website for the benefit of my students and their parents. I found various YouTube videos that assisted students with their phonics and I also found a video of Jamie Lee Curtis reading one of my favorite books "How I Feel Today". After completing the project, I felt that this was a website that I could share with parents because of its accessibility, usefulness, and content. My students will find the games interactive and fun. Parents will be pleased to assess information about field trips and homework.

Animation

After completing the Animation project, I realized that it was not as feasible as I thought. I had experience working with Powerpoint but I was unaware that adding tools to move the characters around and adding sounds was called animation. However, after completing the project, I realized that I could use animation on powerpoint to create interactive presentations for reading and math. I could create a slide that presents questions and allow the student to click the answer and then receive an immediate response of whether the answer is correct or incorrect.