Reflection of Technology Guru ( of sorts)

This class has come to a quick end.  I am rally surprised at how quickly it ended.  When reflecting upon my brief time in TPTE I can recall a few things worked well for me. For example, the digital story was what I consider my biggest accomplishment.  Between that and the photo slide shows, those are the two most popular tools I think I will use in the classroom.  I can not stress how essential photos are to a positive and enriching learning environment. It is exciting that I can incorporate technology into this aspect.  The one thing that I struggled the most with was the Interactive Spreadsheet.  I have had little to no experience with them to begin with.  When you add in a grade, it became my most difficult task in the class.  Even though it proved to be complicated and somewhat stressful, I am glad I had a finished product.  In addition to being something I struggled with, the spreadsheet holds little value in early childhood.  Granted I could use them for record keeping, I see little use or benefit in using them.  The only thing that I would have done differently is ask more questions.  Questions about the program or tool we were learning about, and about what we were supposed to produce.  It was difficult for me personally to know what exactly was supposed to be completed for each project.  The rubrics were not always clear, and coincided with what we discussed in class.  I would have also liked to explore Piknik.  I know a few friends that use it, and I had tried in the past.  It usually ended with my getting frustrated and quitting.  I do have to say that Wordle was one of the funnest projects.  It was an experience exploring and unmasking different aspects of this web 2.0 tool, and since I knew nothing about web 2.0 tools I could be proud that I successfully went through the discovery process.  Now I have the knowledge to go out and find new tools and hopefully be able to integrate them into my future classroom!

Blogging about Blogging

This past month I have become a blogging pro using Google Blogger.  I have been able to post artifacts from classroom experiences, some have been better than others, but overall blogging has been one of the simplest tasks I have completed.  Before completing this blog I looked back at my past posts.  I have posted about by struggles, strengths and ideas about our class projects. What I really enjoyed about blogging, was the fact that I had an audience.  At first blogging was just an assignment, but I found that I was proud of what I had learned thus far and wanted to post so that my family and friends could read about my experiences.  It is helpful to write and reflect upon the knowledge that was gained, but writing for an audience gives me an extra boost to share everything.  I guess that is why I want to use a blog for my classroom.
Creating the blog was the most difficult, just because there is not really room for error.  I learned that the difficult way, changing the name of the blog is not an option, so I had to create a whole new blog on the first day.  Posting blogs, adding pictures, and links were the easy part.  I was even surprised how easy it was to embed slideshows and artifacts from Web 2.0 Tools. If I had to choose a single tool that I would use in the classroom, this would be it.  It is very versatile, but also is something that I enjoy.  Since it is something I enjoy, I think it is safe to say I would frequently update the blog and post artifacts from our classroom experiences. 

Websites with Google

Who would have thought that I would create my own website...not me! I guess I proved myself wrong.  Creating a website with Google sites was very easy, however a few aspects of it took some patience.  Creating the basic layout was very simple, Google provides you with a variety of templates.  I was surprised at my confidence I had going into this final project.  I guess this class has provided me with a higher self-efficacy in regards to technology.  I created my site, navigation bar, (which was much simpler than the wiki navigation bar) and felt very accomplished after. My biggest issue with this project was mostly about making the website aesthetically pleasing.  Creating the appropriate white space-color space ratio was difficult.  I was pleased with the fact that I was able to find where to change the colors to the background, text, links, and much more through the manage site function.  In addition I had difficulty finding royalty free photos.  I found that the sites that provide photos that are not copyrighted were mostly posed.  They reminded me of the photos that are in picture frames when you buy them.  I eventually found what I was looking for after fishing for them, using most of my class time.
This project showed me how easy it is to create and modify a website, which is a tool that I could use for my classroom.  Having a page devoted to games, and online activities that my children can use could really be useful to them and their parents.  I am really excited about this creation, and hope that I am in an environment that my families with access and utilize this website.

PB Works Wiki

Using a wiki was a complete foreign concept to me before this class.  I really had no clue what it was about, or what it event meant.  I was thinking it was more of a widget or gadget, boy was I wrong.  It took me a few tries to get it down, but by the end of this class I feel like I am pretty fluent in the wiki world.  Using PB Works was very exhausting at the beginning.  By the end of the first day I was almost in tears over the navigation bar.  I learned that copy and paste does not work very well.  It will change the page link to a website link. That particular equation is wrong!  That was my biggest issue with the wiki, and it took about two days to figure out the navigation bar.  Adding content was very easy.  I was surprised by the ease of adding text, photos, and web links (not in the navigation bar).  Next time I would like to explore a little more with the sidebar, changing the layout or something to make it look a little more creative.  This tool can really be useful in my classroom.  It is an innovative way of communicating with family members, but it also provides the families with a form of communication between each other.  I am interested to explore and find other uses for the wiki in my classroom.

A digital story about South Africa

Creating digital stories are easy to create.  I was very surprised at the simplicity of Movie Maker.  The step-by-step directions were helpful, but I am confident that I could have figured out everything eventually.  My biggest issue overall did not have anything to do with the program.  My issue was with copyright.  Since I was going a digital story about my trip to South Africa, and including the animals, history, and people I really wanted to use a song that reflected the South Africa that I fell in love with.  Shakria's song "Waka Waka (This time for Africa)." This song was the official song for the FIFA World Cup 2010, and really portrays the Africa that I love so dearly.  Unfortunately because of copyright, it would be impossible to use.  I was then directed to freeplaymusic.com and their music selection was amazing.  It took me a total of two minutes to find the perfect song. Working on the project I learned that there a variety of ways that I can use technology to share projects and field trips with families.  In addition, I learned the importance of using storyboards.  I like to have a plan, and know what I need to work on and what I need to make modifications to.  I ended up doing two storyboards, my original and revised. Creating storyboards is probably kept me clam during this process.  I can be overwhelmed by technology, but this assignment was a lot less stressful for me.  The only  change I would make  for next time, would be my time frame.  I would have liked to have longer to work and change things around.  Since I do not have the software on my personal computer I was more limited on time. Yet, overall I feel as though I completed this assignment successfully. I am excited to use these in the classroom, and possibly my personal life.  Digital stories are easy to create and can portray a variety of lessons or meanings. I almost wish I would have done a story about Nelson Mandela alone, and what he has done for South Africa, but I was happy to share the South Africa I know. 

Interactive Exel SpreadSheets

Today working on the interactive spreadsheet in Excel was the hardest thing we have completed so far. Creating one on my own seems horrifying and intimidating. I do not dispute the usefulness of it, however it is something that I have a lot of desire to use. Is there a benefit for using interactive spreadsheets for ECE? That is the question, and the answer is going to require so research and conversations with mentor teachers. Even though the process was stressful and exhausting I did feel a sense of accomplishment when the finished product was posted. Hopefully I will develop a better understanding and learn more about Exel interactive spreadsheets through the solo assignment.

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