Week 9

Reflections

1. What did you like? What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

I liked all of the discoveries I have made through Set Sail. It is nice to know that all of these tools are available to us. My favorite discoveries were TerraClues, Scribble Maps, and Animoto.

2. What was your least favorite thing that you discovered?

My least favorite thing was probably Word Sift. I don't quite get it or know how I would implement it in my classroom.

3. How has this journey affected your views on technology?

This journey has opened my eyes to how much technology is available for me to use in my classroom. I never knew all of this was available! I knew some of the tools existed, but before this journey I never thought of how I could integrate them into teaching. Now, I have lots of ideas.

4. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

I'd say that I'm kind of surprised how much I enjoy maintaining my blog!

5. What do you think you will be most likely to incorporate into your classroom/library?

I will probably most likely incorporate TerraClues.

6. Can you describe your learning experiences in ONE WORD or ONE SENTENCE?

Revealing

7. What suggestions would you make to help us improve this experience?

This was a very good experience for me and I learned a lot. Everything was very organized, which made it easy to follow. If this course is offered in the future, I will definitely recommend it to others.

8. Now go and comment on some of the adventure’s blogs.

Week 8

I have found 3 different lessons that I would be interested in integrating next year. The first is Blog Revolution. In this lesson, students create a blog for a fictional character and write about their daily lives. This would be a good project for students to complete while learning about colonial life or even the life of a soldier. The biggest question I have with this is, can our students create their own blogs to complete projects like this? If so, how? The second lesson I found is Legislative Branch, using Inspiration 8. Is Inspiration something that is available to us for use in the classroom? Lastly, I would like to create a PowerPoint containing questions and answer slides. The Atomic Learning lesson for this is titled Econ Game. I have used these PowerPoints in my classroom before, but they were files sent to me, already created. I would love to be able to create my own. Using the Atomic Learning resources, I believe I can do that now. This last lesson will probably have the least hurdles for me to implement.

Week 7

Kid Pix Delux is something that my past students have really enjoyed using and have a lot of fun with. After looking at Integrating Kid Pix website, I have realized there are MANY ways to use this in the classroom. I also like the Fantasy Map activity outlined on Atomic Learning.

Wordle is a lot of fun. I decided to create a wordle using the Preamble text. I tried many different texts, but I really like this one.



Terra Clues is probably my favorite out of all the tools from this week. I found a really good TerraHunt over Civil War battlefields. It is one that I may possibly use with my students.

At my school, we are responsible for planning lesson in the computer lab for our students. We do not have anyone in the lab planning for us. We have 3 labs and 2 mobile labs. I have utilized the mobile labs several times and really enjoy bringing them into my classroom. I found all of these sites to be useful and plan on sharing them with my department.

Week 6

Scibble Maps will be a great tool to use in Social Studies. Students can locate and mark different locations talked about in class, measure distances between locations, and view satellite images. I think they will get a kick out of being able to customize their own map. There are a lot ways to show off your students' creativity using this tool.

Week 5

I've always wanted to know more about Wikis. A wiki could be very useful in the classroom when doing group projects. I believe using the wiki instead of paper and pencil will be a lot more engaging for our students. There can be so much collaboration and participation from all.

I set up a personal wiki for a family vacation this summer. There are 3 different groups going and we like to all plan together. Usually, we have cruise parties and have a gathering at someone's home to discuss the excursions we would like to go on. Now, with the wiki, we can all view everyone's plans without meeting in person. Pretty neat.

Week 4

The first video that I have is my Animoto creation. This was very simple to create! I can see using this to show students historical photos.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

I have also found a Teacher Tube video titled "U.S. History in 60 Seconds". There are so many videos on Teacher Tube that can be used in the classroom. I also noticed that some of them were projects created by students. What a neat way to showcase your students' work!

My last video is very inspirational. It is titled "Pay Attention" and definitely got mine! I hope that in this coming year I can engage my students by using technology in ways that they have never used technology in class before.

Week 3

I LOVE Google Earth! This summer, I am taking the Google Earth workshop through the school district and have learned a lot about it. There is so much you can do with it. On Thursday, we are setting up a kmz file (?) that we can use in the classroom. I'm thinking of taking my students to different battlefields.

iGoogle is pretty neat too. When I read the Week 3 info I wasn't sure what it was, but after looking at it I realized I have used it before! That was a nice relief. I found some really neat gadgets. There is an educational technology blog that I added and will probably follow.

These Google tools are really neat! I'm going to keep exploring them.