Reflection on TPTE 486

Throughout the semester, TPTE 486 has taught me many different websites and tools that I will use in my future classroom. At the beginning of the semester, I considered myself to be fairly technologically savvy. However, I've learned so many useful techniques that can be taught to my future students. The use of technology is growing more and more each day and soon students will be more comfortable with  using a computer than a pen and paper. I need to address this growing trend and help my children flourish by implementing technological tools. My favorite thing that I've learned in this course is how to use a wiki. I wish that I had known what a wiki was throughout my high school and college career because it's so useful for group projects. In my future classroom I will definitely encourage the use of wikis. After this course, I know that I will be an educator that employs the use of technology in various ways.

Inspiration

Inspiration was by far my favorite program to learn about. This program allows you to make diagrams easily and quickly. There is also a lot of room for creativity and customization. I was able to upload images found on the internet in order to enhance my diagram explaining the life cycle of a butterfly. I will definitely use this program in my future classroom because I enjoyed using it so much myself. It will also be an easy program for students to learn and use throughout the school year.

Storybird

Storybird is a website in which you can create short stories in a visual way. These storybirds can be shared with family and friends. They are a great way to have students incorporate their creativity both in the stories they create as well as the visual aids they use. However, the users are extremely limited in that they can only use the images provided by Storybird rather than using one's one images.

Animoto

Animoto is a website where teachers can put a compilation of photos together and create a creative slideshow. It's a great way to take pictures from a field trip or recent classroom activity and make it into a memorable video to look back on. I found it to be extremely easy to use as well as fun. However, there weren't too many style options.

Google Forms

Google Forms is an extremely helpful program in which students could make tests or polls. This would be a great tool for quizzes. It could also be a way for teachers to see how well their students are understanding the material they're going over. Below is my example of a Google Form.

Classroom

Does our classroom have windows?

•  Yes
•  No

Is our classroom generally hot or cold?

•  Hot
•  Cold

Powered by Google DocsReport Abuse - Terms of Service - Additional Terms

Timetoast

Timetoast is a great tool for students to use. I could see this website used as a plot line for a story being read in class or a timeline of an important person's life. However, as an elementary school teacher hoping to teach 2nd or 3rd grade I could foresee this website being a problem because it seems difficult for those who aren't as familiar with technology. If I were to teach older children I would definitely use this in my classroom.

Checking In

Thus far we've gone over a lot of material in TPTE 486. I've really enjoyed learning about the different websites that can be used in the classroom. I've especially enjoyed exploring Blogger and learning the in's and out's of this application. I can definitely see myself blogging as a teacher in order to keep students and parents well-informed. So far I feel very confident in the material that we've been learning.

Picasa and Google Presentation

I really enjoyed learning about Picasa and Google Presentation. Both are very handy tools that can be used for various things in the classroom. Picasa was a very simple way to edit pictures and put them as a slideshow. Google Presentation was like Powerpoint but much easier to use with the internet. With Google Presentation I was able to get the html code of the slideshow in order to upload it on my blog, something that Powerpoint isn't capable of.

Color Scavenger Hunt

Pixlr

Pixlr is a great way to edit and manipulate photos. There are countless adjustments that can be made such as altering the color, adding text, or borders. I can't think of many ways that this website could be used in my classroom. It could be very time consuming so I don't think it would be ideal for elementary age.

Wordle

I really enjoyed learning about the website Wordle. The website was so easy to use and the end result was very neat and unique looking. I could see myself using this document for making posters in my future classroom. It's also an interesting way to show students which words they use a lot of or which words are common in particular documents.

GoogleDocs Reflection

Learning about GoogleDocs has been very helpful to me. I wish that I'd known about this way of documentation all throughout my high school and college career because it's ideal for group projects. Rather than a group sitting around one computer while one member types, it's much more efficient for each member to have the ability to add and delete whatever they'd like. I also thought using a GoogleDoc for our IBA was ideal because I worked with a partner and we both were able to efficiently use our time in class to complete the assignment.

Website Evaluation

For this assessment I thoroughly evaluated DiscoveryEducation.com. This activity taught me how to evaluate the validity and accuracy of websites that I may refer to in my future classroom. I learned how to find the author of a site and how important it is to find their qualifications and affiliations. Using information from a teacher with 30 years of classroom experience versus a computer programer could make a huge difference. I also found it interesting to find the publishing body and see if that company is a leader in the field of education. This activity also taught me to use information from a professional site rather than a personal site because it's likely to be more factual and accredited. After this assignment, I feel as though I could distinguish a legitimate website with accurate information from an inappropriate website. 

Course Expectations

My expectation for this course is to learn different ways I can use technology in the classroom. Technology is such an important and prevalent part of childrens' lives and I hope to incorporate that in my future classroom. I've always been a PC user and just recently got a Mac after my computer died this summer (R.I.P.) So this class has already helped me immensely because we use a Mac every week in class. I'm also unfamiliar with things like smart boards and blogs so I hope to become more comfortable with those so I can use them with ease in my classroom one day.

Hello there! Welcome to my blog where I will share with you my experience in TPTE 486.