Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Continuing to Blog

Although, Tech is over I will continuing blogging. This summer my goal is to blog once a week and talk about my journey towards my long term and short term dreams. I hope you enjoy watching me grow and become one step closer to my dream.



Wednesday, May 9, 2012

This is It

Wow, I can't believe Instructional Tech is almost over. I feel like I learned so much in such a short period of time. The most important thing I learned that technology is important to include in the classroom because it allows you to show your students so much more; they can explore beyond the four walls of the classroom. It also encourages work readiness because by the time my students graduate, computers and technology will be everywhere! I think some benefits of technology are the opportunities that technology opens. Instead of a boring test, you can create authentic assessments and you can also expand the lesson. For example, the text book says read about whales and write about it. Using technology, they can watch videos about whales, they can talk to scientists, they can get more information; it is crazy that with a click of a button, so many opportunities are placed in front of you.

The down side of technology is it could be a distraction as well. There is some much that could be presented that it could be overwhelming. I think it is important as teachers to know what technology you want to use and also teachers need to teach their  students how to use the equipment. I also think the down side, is technology cost so much money. In some districts, computers and Smartboards are great ideas but can they afford to add that in their budget next year?

I think the most important thing I will take from this class is that ideas are unlimited! If you have a vision with technology you can make anything happen! 

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Videos

I found the video to be a puzzle game. You have so many pieces and you have to arrange the pieces in a certain way to make an awesome movie. The different pieces are the music, the video clips, and the effects.  I found this project was time consuming because every aspect took extremely long. Cropping takes patience and a vision. The music took two hours! I honestly have more respect for movie makers because making a 1 mintue 30 second videos took abundant amount of time .

Although it was time consuming, I did gain many talents and skills like patience, creativity, and video taping skills. I also for the first time I like having group project. Everyone in my group worked nicely together and build off each others ideas.


2. I would incorporate a digital project during a Salem witch trial unit. I would assign each student a person from the Salem Witch trials and through the unit they will have time to research their person so they can develop a true understanding about the character they have. The last few days of the unit they would learn how to use cameras and then react the Salem witch trials. I think by giving each student  a person they will learn through exploration and experience. I think a challenge would be finding a way that all students could participate in editing the video. Another challenge I thought about was how could I break down making a video so 6th grade would be able to learn it because I found making a video to be extremely hard.



Unit overview

day 1 : As a class students will make predictions about what happen in the Salem witch trials.  Students will also will pick their person

Day 2 : Students will go to the computer lab to research their person.

Day 3:  Students will learn about time period and social norms of that time

Day 4: Students will go to the computer lab to research their person

Day 5-6 Students will learn how to navigate through Imovie

Day 7 Students will practice  making short clips

Day 8:  Students will watch video clips on the Salem witch trials

day 9: students will go to the computer lab again and finish their synopsis about their person

Day 10: students will react the salem witch trials

Day 10-11 : students will edit the video

Day 12: students will watch the video and take a quiz on the Salem Witch Trials.