Visual Learning and Literacy - Reflection 2
7/05/2013 03:55:00 PM Edit This 0 Comments »I never thought that a class could be challenging because it was already known information for me.
But, I'll try to stay on topic with what I learned about becoming great visually literate teacher, rather than a visual creator.
Glogster - This is a neat little site, but honestly there is more wrong with it than anything classified as good. Maybe it would be better to say that it isn't "fantastic." But then again, maybe there are more features if you pay for the site? I would rather dress up a wiki page to do the exact same thing.
There may be some margin for error. I looked over and explored as much a I can, but I left that it wasn't up to snuff. They worried more about making their layout look appealing than offering the teacher of student more technology to work with.
1. No html embed. Meaning, if my video isn't from YouTube chances are I can't do anything but up link to the video I want to play. It was nice that I could add a still from the video and then link it. The glog would stay open and all I would have to do is close it when I was done and it would revert back to the presentation glog. Like I said before there may be some error on my part. Maybe I couldn't figure out how to add the html embed.
2. Lack of layouts bothered me. I believe there were 6, and I understand that you could delete everything and start from scratch yourself, but for a teacher that has a limited amount of time (and maybe even know how) this could be a little cumbersome.
3. Instead of replacing the hot pink photo boxes, you have to delete them. They are there for a guideline rather than a replacement, and I think that is just weird. I should have been able to click the photo button and just replaced it, rather than delete and place.
There were some positives though.
1. I liked that there were layouts to choose from.
2. I liked that they gave you placement suggestions.
3. I liked the framing options. Those were really fun to play with.
Overall, I think this has a lot of potential, but for me, it was a difficult assignment because I wanted to be able to do more with my blog, but I couldn't.
Inspiration - I honestly had more fun researching my lesson than creating this design, and that is saying something because I love to design. Because I want to be a Language Arts or English teacher, this was a nice tool for character development webs and theme tables. The only issue I had with the assignment was that I had nothing that I could create a link to because of the lesson I created. I made a lesson on Sherlock Holmes, but I couldn't embed a link to a clip because of copyright with YouTube, and then I couldn't link of something else to link to. I would have liked to have shown a clip for the lesson and probably would have cut the scene from a movie or show (or both!) to emphasize the point.
I honestly probably didn't give this assignment the attention that I should have. Meaning, I could probably have done a lot more with the layout and design. But I did create a new lesson out of it, so that turned out nicely.
I would actually recommend and remember to keep this tool for teaching. This is what it means to teach for Visual Learners!
Overall, I had fun with the overall computer aspect of these assignments, and it was funny because my mom (36 years in teaching!) wanted to see my work, but I was sitting at the kitchen table, frustrated that I couldn't do more. She told me that sometimes I just need to slow down and do things simply. To an extent I think it's true. I shouldn't have to do everything in such a fancy way. So the lesson for more was more about patience.
Hello EDCI 505 - Reflection 1
6/24/2013 02:40:00 AM Edit This 1 Comment »
How is everyone liking the class so far? I've always been an active person on the internet, so it is very interesting to see some of these concepts like social media and classroom technology from an educator's point of view.
I run a blog over on Tumblr. (Fantastic site!) I have read some things that blogs like this aren't really the "fad" anymore. For Module three, I did some research on my go-to site, and found that it was the second most visited social media site back in 2011 and since has been usurped by Twitter, but is still in third place. Just from the changes with Google and what they have done to Blogger, I'm not to engrossed with the layout of this site. It could be because I'm not used to it, but I definitely like the simplicity of Tumblr better. Anyone frequent there?
Anyway, back to the point... It is interesting seeing blogging through an educator's point of view. This is my last education class before I start student teaching, so I have a lot to work with when it comes to ideas for my classroom, and since I'm pretty good with tech, I can't wait to use a lot of it with my students.
We just finished up Module 3, and it was interesting to think about some of those sites could be used for education. I remember in intro ed I really wanted to make a tumblr just for the awesome /random you could add at the end of your blog. I like the thought of having my students do bell/journal work, and I thought that the /random would really be a good way to make sure prompts were well random! I also like to think about ways for the students to be able to have materials at their fingertips, whether it be on a tablet or on a computer. They wouldn't need to be in the classroom or even at school to access the materials.
My friends and I play D&D (dungeons and dragons) and to keep all the storylines straight and character information correct, we use Dropbox. All of our character sheets and maps get put in there and then we can access them during the game or at home. After having this technology, I thought about what it would have been like if I had it back in high school, and it is something that I really want to offer my students. It would benefit kids who were absent and kids who are just forgetful.
Has anyone else come up with a really cool idea to use a technology in their classroom?