Final Reflection

Taking this course has been a very beneficial thing for me! I have really enjoyed learning about all of these programs, web tools and different websites that will be great to use when I have my own classroom. I have discovered that even though I am not the most technically savvy person, I have been able to do many of these programs and web tools without too much trouble. The one program that I believe would provide some trouble for me would be Excel. I think that it is very tricky and some of the formulas would be hard to figure out. I have discovered through this class many great tools that I will use in my class. I plan on using all of the tools that we used in some way to have my students work collaboratively together. I am glad that I took this class because I believe that it helped open my eyes about the future generations and what learning style works best for them. It also provided me with a chance to see how  I can provide the best learning experiences for the children  I will be teaching.

iMovie/Digital stories

I think that using digital stories as a tool in the classroom could be extremely beneficial. I think that it is great for visual learners who may need that little bit extra to help them comprehend a subject. It is great for engaging students in the subject and making it creative and fun. Since I will be teaching younger children, I would probably create the movies myself, or have the class collaboratively make a video with my help. I would use it for every subject. For example, in Science I would explain about different animals habitats, for Math, I would explain the process of addition and subtraction, and there are many other ideas. For older students, I think it would be beneficial for them to use the movies to create history projects, projects on countries, or people's personal histories.

iMovie-The five senses

Animoto

Animoto is a really great tool to use in the classroom. I think that it would be more acceptable to use for older children as an individual tool, and would be better for younger children to create a movie collaboratively. It would be great to do a movie on the history of a state, a country, or the process of an event. It would be beneficial for teachers of younger children to create the movies themselves and show them to the children and base an activity off of the movie. I really enjoyed this tool, it is a fun creative way to teach not so interesting subjects.

Google Forms and Spreadsheets

Google forms was a neat tool to use in the classroom to create quizzes. It would be great to take these types of quizzes rather than the traditional pen and paper tests and quizzes that most children are given. I do not think that I would use it all the time given that I will be working with younger children, but I would use it occasionally to introduce different types of technology to them. The spreadsheet activities were really great. I had no idea that they could do that! I would definitely use these in the classroom. They are interactive and fun and would give children a chance to type in simple text words but still become familiar with this type of technology.

Wordle, Taxgedo and Inspiration

I really enjoyed using these web tools in class last week. I think that Wordle was a good beginning point to word clouds, but Taxgedo would be my choice of site to use in the classroom. I like how you could upload your own images and choose from a great amount of fonts and colors. It would be great to use for history and doing something like the Constitution or The Declaration of Independence. It would be neat for younger children to learn about words that have to do with animals and other topics of the such. Inspiration was a great tool to use especially when children are learning how to make webs and venn diagrams and other types of charts. I would use it to compare and contrast and carry on discussions with the children.

Inspiration

I really enjoyed using the tool Inspiration. I had not been introduced to this tool before tonight and I had a great time creating a web based on Kindergarten Tennessee State Curriculum Standards. I think it would be a great tool to use for the classroom especially for younger students who may still be learning to read. The pictures and mix of text provide a great balance for younger children, but still provides a great educational experience. I think it would be great for introducing weather, landscapes, space/planets and many other novel topics to young children.