Blog Post #10

I came into this class expecting to learn very little. I went to a Technology Magnet high school for four years so I already knew how to use Microsoft products and some of the other things we used in class. However, I did learn a lot of ways to incorporate them into a classroom more effectively than most of my teachers in high school did. I kind of wish they had to take this course. I learned to make a grade book in Excel using If statements which I'd never tried before. I learned how to make an attractive newsletter using Word and how to send letters to parents more effectively using Word's Mail Merge tool, and some other useful ideas.

I felt the project was way more work than I originally thought. I was literally working for 19 hours on it the Sunday before it was due because miscommunication throughout our group caused a lot or rewriting and extra work for myself when putting the actual storybook together. I feel a bit embarrassed about the aesthetic of the book because I was unable to complete a really good slide design for it after going through all of the story, making all the pictures, and animating. It would have been much better had we had more opportunities to work together which would aide in making the work load distributed more evenly but because of the holiday that was not possible.

I plan to use things like Mail Merge extensively. I believe that to really teach effectively there has to be some involvement from the parents. While I can not force them to care, I can at least try to make knowledge about the proceedings of the class readily available. I will also use Inspiration, though I doubt I'll make the kids do anything with the program itself. I plan to make my grade book on excel and to use that to send out progress reports to the parents on a regular basis.

It seems a lot of us have common views when it comes to technology in the classroom. Many of us believe that it is important but should not be the only resource. I didn't encounter anyone who believed it should be left out entirely. I liked the blogs that we had to find something interesting on the internet to share because it was a good way to get ideas of what will work and what won't. Also it spreads the lesser known tools on the internet.

Blog Post #9

At first I felt the project would be fairly easy. There would be a lot of work involved but so long as everyone pulled their own weight we'd get through it with little stress. Then we had issues contacting the teacher and were unable to meet all together before Thanksgiving week. So my worry increased a bit as the entire project had to pretty much be done apart. The project itself sounded like a fun idea, and was for the most part. I enjoy the story we did and have read it countless times so I didn't have to do all that much research to be honest.

I spent the week writing the narrative for the Introduction and Marley. I was under the impression that Essence was working on the Future and the Ending and that Lindsey was doing the Present. The Past was up in the air this week.

During the previous week I was not in class so I'm not sure what I was supposed to learn. However, I did learn how to make Pie Crust, which is difficult in humid Florida weather. Not that it has anything to do with this course. I didn't really learn much of anything relating to the course as I was just writing most of the week for the project and that required skills in Microsoft Word which I've been using effectively for years and writing skills which I've also been using effectively for years.

Blog Post #8

Given the fact that our final project was not meant to be educational and really more of a break from the work they had been doing it is difficult to use WebQuest. However, if our project were to be used in a more educational manner, I would have the students use WebQuest to research Charles Dickens or the Setting (i.e. the Time period) of the novella. In a middle school classroom I can see WebQuest being very useful as the students would rather do research online than in libraries. However, personally, I find the search tool rather frustrating.

One interesting WebQuest I found was based on the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos. Unfortunately the site itself was poorly made. It had an unfortunate choice of colors and some of the pictures didn't work. This WebQuest was designed for high school students and requires them to imagine themselves adapting to a new culture. It challenges them to find out how they would celebrate Dia de los Muertos and how they would prepare for the celebration as well. I think it would be an excellent activity for a Spanish language class or any class studying Mexican history and culture.

I don't think I will be using WebQuest much personally. I don't really like the search tools, and while some of the lessons are interesting, I just don't think it is practical in an elementary setting. While the elementary students need to learn to use the internet, most of the WebQuests I've found are too advanced for young kids and many of the lessons will go right over their heads. Also, it is difficult to do a WebQuest if there is only one computer in the classroom as we can not assume that everyone has a computer at home.