Google Sites

Overall, I like Google Sites. It is SO easy to use - major plus. There is no steep learning curve. IT was simple and I like simple. I was disappointed with the little amount of choice, however, I felt like I couldn't fully "make it my own". I felt like anyone could make almost that exact same site. I prefer more options, fonts, colors, layouts, etc.

How do I see this being used in the classroom?

I see myself having one for students and parents at home.

I see myself having one for me and my colleagues to continue our professional education (maybe).

I see my students making one.

I would love for my students to create Our Class Website. Let everyone in the class have their own additions to the site. It could be interactive and a lot of students would really enjoy that.

My site is very classroom-y. But I like that!

Although I think the choice is limited, it is sufficient for people seeking to make their own website, for anything really, simply and easily.

Overall: good experience and will probably use again

(I also just thought about the fact that I have little to compare Google Sites to ... so maybe my reflection is a little off)

WIKI Reflection

Ahhh the WIKI ... the elementary education WIKI ... what an experience!

The good about the WIKI ..

It serves its purpose ... multiple people can be editors on the same website. I see how this can be a HUGE plus. I can see this very well in a classroom. Why not have your students create a class website on their own, where every student can add to the site? Or why not let small groups in the classroom create websites together to teach classmates things they've learned!

Also, it is fairly easy to use. Not a huge learning curve. I see upper elementary school kids being able to use the WIKI.

The BAD about the WIKI ..

In my (our) experience, the WIKI is hard because everyone has different needs, wants, desires in a website. How can everyone be pleased? They can't. Therefore, there needs to be a rubric, rules, guidelines, etc. I like the idea of assigning, or letting students pick roles, and each student having a specific role within the WIKI creation. Also, I suggest having a preset way to solve disagreements. Or at least guidelines for students to solve disagreements. As the elementary education group realized, we had knock out drag down fights. And we are college students so be prepared for WIKI disagreements.

Here is the Elementary Education Wiki for Summer 2010. Notice the image collection on the front page ... that is an example of something good that came out of a long disagreement. Goes to show good things can come out of having to solve WIKI disagreements.

Welcome to Kindergarten iMovie!

Here is my first iMovie called "Welcome to Kindergarten"

I got the idea to do this video because I am going to be interning in a Kindergarten classroom this upcoming school year. I thought as a teacher I could show this video to my students on the first day of school. The video is basically an overview of what you do in kindergarten, like an introduction video for the kids. I did not do subtitles because, obviously, most Kindergarteners cannot read. So although I have not yet narrated the video, I would narrate it explaining in Kindergarten you meet your teacher, meet your friends, learn to read, etc.

I think that making digital stories could be used in elementary school. I'm sure you could get your students to make their own movies (maybe in groups), but I almost see myself making a movie as a class, together. Maybe the class could chose a subject they have been learning about and as an end assessment the class as a whole makes a video. The students could narrate or write captions showing their understanding of the material.

I like making movies and I thought iMovie was OK. However, it is time consuming. I am kinda interested in making a movie of some personal things like Thanksgiving with my family or pictures from vacations!

Writer's Workshop Inspiration

Here is my Writer's Workshop Inspiration artifact! I really LOVE writer's workshop and maybe for that reason this was one of my favorite projects we've done. I was able to organize my thoughts (I am an organizational queen) and meet all the rubric requirements fairly easily.

Also, I included the Shelley Harwayne's book "Writing Through Childhood". She is one of the many, many authors (Donald Graves, Lucy Calkins, etc.) Her book reads like a book and not a textbook. It also gives you GREAT step-by-step ways to conference with students ... very helpful!

Making artifacts in Inspiration is fairly easy and lets you really organize your thoughts. The notes are a nice way to add things without making it messy. I like all the many fonts available as well! I really think ill use Inspiration in the future, I'm a fan.

Digital Scavenger Hunt

This is the Elementary Education's digital scavenger hunt. We did a "A-Z" and took pictures of objects that represented letters. The actual picture taking part was fun, figuring out what objects represented letters was stimulating. I was the designer. Thank goodness because resizing images is miserable, in my opinion. I had a good time making the slide show.

Assessment is very interesting and important today, therefore I spent some time wording and thinking about stimulating and higher-level questions for each slide. I like to elicit prior knowledge, let students make connections, and participate in class discussions. That is what I focused on for my questions.

I can see implementing this in my classroom one day, letting students take pictures of things around the school maybe.

My Summer Image Collection

Here in my Image Collection:


I did my Image Collection with a "Summer" theme. I decided to do the the summer theme for a couple reasons. One, its my favorite season, two my birthday is in July, three it's the season we are in, and finally its a fun season with good images. For my own personal digital picture I chose a picture from my cruise on spring break this March 2010. When at the beach I have a weird thing about loving to take pictures of feet in the sand (weird, I know). So I chose this image first, and I also chose it to be my album cover! Second, I found this pretty, tropical picture of a rocky beach with waves crashing on it. It really couldn't get anymore "summery". Thirdly, for my free web-based image I searched "summer" on Google Images. This picture of a sunflower with a beautiful blue sky came up and I really loved it. Next, I for my screen shot I found a icon image collage entitled "summertime". I took a quick screen shot of it and felt it was an OK image. And finally, I used a fun image I wrote/drew of the word "summer".

This was a fun project, seriously, I actually did like it. I think that I liked it for a couple reasons, 1 because we got to select our own theme and 2 because I enjoy pictures and scrapbooking and this is kind of like scrapbooking. What do I not like? I hate having to resize and change resolutions of pictures. I see why its better to have a selection of pictures that are all about the same size. But I'm not very good at it so it kind of takes a while! Overall, fun/interesting project.

Collaboration

Lately I have been thinking about the importance of collaboration, yes for our students but specifically for us teachers as well. What sparked this thought about collaboration is when we were working on our guide sheet actually. Amanda and I created a guide sheet and we both (or maybe just me) thought it was perfect and didn't need anymore editing! But then Jennifer looked at our guide sheet and made some comments that made perfect sense to me after reading them. What this sparked for me is the thought that it is probably very important that I don't become a teacher that doesn't work with my colleagues, talk with my colleagues, and essentially team teach together! I realized that sometimes when you work on something yourself, your brain only sees it that one way. But if you share it with others a fresh point of view it can be very helpful for your lesson or whatever you're creating. I have noticed that peer/colleague/teacher editing can give your work a real boost!