Goodbye !

Since I know so much about technology I believe it is time for a new computer from Apple. I wish! Ending a great class and a great summer, only gets me more excited for my internship and football season. Hopefully, all of this technology stuff will come in handy when I am teaching or trying to get organized this year at school. My favorite project in Technology 486 was definitely making an iMovie. I spent so many hours changing little details of my slideshow and coming up with great additions. I am pleased with all of my projects from this course, especially my class website. The class project took more effort and thinking than any of the others. It felt so wonderful to finish and see the finish project, even if it was not very involved. As soon as I begin my internship I would like to work with my mentor and suggest some of these great ideas we discussed in class. I would really like to help with the classroom website and blogs for my class this fall. I have learned so much and I can't want to use my new skills in the classroom! I will miss Technology 486!

Graphic organizers have always caught my interest as both student and teacher. Once I began playing with inspiration I didn't really want to quit. Surprisingly, the program was user friendly. All types of projects could benefit from inspiration. My life could also be more organized if I used inspiration. If schools could provide inspiration for teachers and students so many great ideas could be shared and presented. I will probably get another free trial with my other email address!

Halfway There

Reaching the halfway point of the summer session is very exciting. So far I have created my very own blog, a classroom website, a powerpoint presentation, a digital library, and the first parts of a multimedia video. Each day is a new adventure, and I always learn something new, especially when I first make a mistake. Luckily I have had Katie and Kayla next to me and ready to answer my questions. They always know the answers when Jeff is busy. If I could change anything I would have taken this course in the spring. With the large amount of technological information we have been given it is difficult to absorb everything. If I had more time in this course I know I would learn even more than now. I also believe that if I knew my students and their parents were checking my classroom website and my blog each day that I would be more excited and involved with my posts. Plan and simple this class has been beneficial to me as a teacher and citizen of a high technology world. I hope I continue to learn till the end of this course.

Scavenger Hunt

Searching for various shapes around our lovely campus was my favorite class activity so far. Katie, Kayla, and I worked together as scavenger hunters to find each shape. Using the digital camera to capture each image was simple. Once we found a shape, we used our digital camera to take a photo. We saved our images to Katie's jump drive. We shared the images by saving them to each of our own jump drives. I really enjoyed creating a powerpoint slideshow with the interesting images. It took a little extra time to get each slide just right; however, the end result was worth the extra effort. I believe with enough practice forming powerpoint slideshows will become a piece of cake!

Digital Collection

Embedding my digital collection onto my blog was a new experience. I had no idea how to do anything like this till TPTE 483. Sharing images through a blog is a great way to share classroom events with parents and students. I have always enjoyed scrap-booking. I guess digital collections are the technological form of scrapbooks. I'm very excited to use digital collections in my classroom someday.

Lesson Plans

Planning has never been a strength of mine. Surprisingly, I actually enjoy writing lesson plans for class. The Rockstar template was a great addition for our science lesson plan. Adding a research guide for students to use during the lesson is an easy way to include technology. Any activities that make lessons more interesting to my students are welcome by me!