Chapter 6 reflection cont..

Over the past few weeks we have been working on our digital stories in our pod. As we have been finishing up, i have made a lot of connections with the story and how i will teach my class someday. As i have stated before, digital stories are a great way to teach a topic in your classroom. With older students, you may have them create a slide show or something similar to what you are demonstrating with your digital story. Also you can really impact students lives through digital stories, such as a story on WWII or the great depression. Its a powerful way of getting information across to your students. I thing its a great tool and i am so happy i now am able to create one of my own to someday share with my students. The video did not work.. but i am sure it was about how the technology is growing and increasing at such an incredible rate. I am blessed to live in this time to where our technology is so great and we have so many resources to help us in our every day lives and as teachers someday!!

Reflection #5/6

This past week in class we were able to work a lot on our digital stories, in our pod the digital story we have been working on has been coming along really well. We have all our pictures and layout ready and are about to start transforming in onto movie maker. This assignment has been really fun and will most likely benefit us all in the future. As teachers we can create digital stories to help explain a topic we will be teaching. Also, like the videos we have been watching, they are great for trivia and facts you want to get across to your students. It worked for me! I am really glad we get to work as pods in class, not only do we get to know other students but we get to collaborate and help each other. Its good to get others opinions and ideas so we can learn and grow together!
The videos were awesome this week, it really made me realize how much our technology is growing and spreading thoughout the world. It really affects students and the age it is affecting is getting younger and younger. I think, as teachers we need to incorporate such technologies so our students will be familiar with it and prepare them for the future. Also, i feel that it is important to teach students as much as possible so that technology continues to grow because it is a great tool and ability we must use and appreciate.

Reflection #4

This week in class we were able to learn about digital stories. We learned the basics of what a digital story is and saw a few examples. We were then assigned to work with our pod on creating a digital story of our own! As a pod, we came up with a topic relating to the grade we will be teaching. We were able to discuss the possible images, music, transitions and scripting to make our digital story come to life! The benefit of learning how to create digital stories will help us as teachers to bring a certain topic we want our students to understand and relate to. This tool will also be helpful when introducing a new unit to our students. It can be something serious and emotional, or light and funny.. ether way it sparks an interest to the students. The only bad thing i see about digital stories is that i will not be teaching my students how to create digital stories because of the age group. therefore, i might go to teacher tube or somewhere else to show a video to my students instead of creating my own because of lack of time. Other than that small con, i think digital stories are a fun and creative opportunity i can use in my classroom.
The video this week was very interesting, it helped me get an even better understanding of a digital story. I payed attention to the details of the story, such as the pictures, transitions, music and script. I noticed the flow of the video, it really went a long great with the music and pictures. if i hadn't learned about digital stories in class i wouldn't have noticed the small details and surely wouldn't have appreciated it as much!!

Reflection #3

This past week we learned about youtube, teachertube and each of us learned about different technology tools that we can someday use in our classroom. I personally really enjoyed finding interactive tools. I had a lot of fun playing the activity's and deciding which ones will benefit me the most. These tools will help me introduce new units in my classroom as well as give the students hands on activities to relate and learn from. I really have learned to LOVE uen and pbs.org because they have so many resources and help just a fingertip away! As a teacher, i will try to incorporate different technologies in my classroom so they can explore on their own and gain new information of what technology resources are around them. I am learning a lot in this class and have been able to save some websites that will help me in the future as a teacher. This way, i will always have those tools at hand to help me along the way!

Technology Article #2

President for a day
I was really excited that I found this tool about United States Government. On pbs.org there is an activity telling what it is like if you were to be president for a day. I had so much fun with this activity, it made me realize that although the present has an extremely large role, they really are normal people like you and me. As a teacher, you can use this tool during your U.S. Government unit. This activity will help the students understand the role of the United States President. Also, there are so many options you can do with this activity that they can do it again and again learning new facts each time. I really feel that this activity is important because it gets your students interested about history and current events because they can each relate somehow. Also, the students can do this activity at home and show it off to their family and friends because everyone chooses different tasks so its fun for everyone! Also on this site, there is a link you can click on explaining why the government is important to everyone and why you should learn and respect it. Check it out its awesome!

Click on the picture below to become president for a day!

Technology Article #1

Story Maker: As I was searching for technology articles, I wanted to find something fun for the students but also I wanted the tool to make them think and learn something new. On UEN I searched for interactives dealing with language arts. I found an activity called Story Maker. This activity allows a lot of creativity and encourages the students to think critically for new ideas. The best methods for teaching this activity would be to introduce Story Maker to the class, give them examples of stories and get them thinking about creating their own story. This activity can be used while teaching language arts. It helps the students discover new ways of expressing themselves and new ideas. Also, as teachers, you can mix up this activity by giving more detailed instructions and have them create a story in a different time period. There are good and bad aspects to this tool, it is a great way for children to express themselves and get their thoughts and ideas out and share them with fellow classmates. It can be a difficult activity for those who have a hard time expressing their thoughts or has a hard time following instructions. Overall, this activity is a great way to teach language arts and storytelling.

Click on picture to create a story of your own!!