And that's all folks....

     On Friday it was the end of our technology class, and the day we had to present our movies about how we would incorporate technology into the classroom. When it all started I didn't really think about whom I wanted to work with; because I didn't think it mattered because we all get along so well. During the making of this video that was tested a few times. We worked on our video a lot outside of class, which got people a bit testy and since there were five people in our group I know we all wanted to make sure our voices were heard. In the end it worked out amazingly well. The five of us were able to laugh at each others mistakes, and group think to come up with some great ideas. We were very laid back and wanted the movie to have a very organic feel to it, thus why we tried to do much of our taping outside. I feel that laughter was a key ingredient to our success and I can see us all working together on a movie in the future.
     I had a video production class in high school, so the terms and idea about how long it would take us to make a video was not news to me. I knew that it would take us hours to get a few minutes of footage and even more to perfect it as much as possible. Everyone had a role to do: we all filmed, had camera time, voice-overs, contributed to editing, and helped developed the idea for our video. When I saw it in class there are many things that I would have done differently, but with the time constraints we had to do it in I think everyone did well.
     This was my favorite project. I was able to talk about my teaching philosophy and actually apply what we learned in class to my own classroom. I was also able to be creative with few restrictions and requirements and had so much fun making our 7 min movie. It is something I will always remember and something I can show my students when they have the opportunity to make one in my class.
 

Did someone say Google docs?

At first when we had to use Goggle docs to discuss our podcast ideas I thought it was hilarious to be writing to a person three seats away from me. Why not get into small groups and discuss? Now I see how it can be so beneficial for classes. If it's set up in a way that students can access it from home they can write to each other about homework assignments or brainstorm ideas while not together. It would also be a great tool for students to take turns taking notes and then posting them, so if a student is ever  out they can just go there for up to date class information. Just like everything else with Google it's very organized and easy to use. It is a tool I will absolutely use in the class, and I am excited to see how students react to it. 

iMovie

I took video production in high school on iMovie hd and so much has changed since then, but I still enjoy it as much at the age of 25 that I did when I was 17. Getting in front of the camera still isn't easy, but the editing is where I feel at home. I can be as creative as I would like, even in the time constraints that are given. Can you imagine only have three days to make a video about technology and teaching and have it be decent or entertaining? I just hope that it's possible. IMovie is a great tool and something that will be an option in any of my class assignments. It allows students who are more tech savvy play to their strengths. As teachers we need to make sure that we engage all students and allow them all to express their creativity whether it be a poem, or a podcast.
    My hesitations towards technology is softening a bit, I feel that I'm more connected with the web in general. When I searched my name on Google at the beginning of this technology class I could find nothing that linked me to anything, but old track & field or field hockey records. Now when I search Google, podomatic comes up as well as my blog. It's crazy that in the small amount of time we have had in this class my digital footprint has doubled. It seems to be a necessary evil in some cases. There are so many great tools, but to get those tools you need to attach personal information to it. Thus expanding that digital footprint that some of us have tried so hard to make minuscule. 

Tuesday 8/17

    When I was in school one of my favorite things to do was make videos. It would take my group five hours to get maybe five minutes of video. Now with the way technology is, and the advances in imovie, it seems endless. They can edit film like real film editors, and hand in pieces of work they can be proud of. I always hear teachers say they get sick of reading the same essay over 50 different ways. Now students can use their creativity and show what they've learned in a different approach.
    It will be very important to have a website. It will be multi-functional for parents and students. Constructing a web page was another easy tool that Google offers and I already started on one. The issue of students being out sick and not knowing a homework assignment will be something of the past. I will update myself when necessary so parents will know what's going on and administrators. I think it's important to demonstrate to our students how important technology is and the proper ways of using it. My web-page will be appropriate and tastefully done.

Monday 8/16

    We heard about it, but we didn't know it was coming, e-portfolios. We are a guinea pig group for the first e-portfolios in the MAT program. This will be helpful because many schools are moving with the times of technology and will want everything digital. It's as simple as drop files into a site. I wonder if this is something that can be used as a teacher when students have senior portfolios? It would be a very easy and efficient tool.
     Google never stops surprising me with the multitude of programs they offer. I will be using Google docs in my classroom and Google educator for myself. There are so many great resources it seems endless.  I can organize myself, keep up with trends in education, stay in touch with friends and family, and so much more in Google.

Horizons Emerging Technology

     I am an economics geek at heart, when I see something in the paper about the IMF I get excited. When a news sight is interviewing Ben Bernanke I have to watch it. The passion I have for economics I want to spread to as many people as possible. One part that I like so much is the research you can do. There is so much research that can and needs to be done, and the fact that in the next 4-5 years it will be mainstream, is very exciting. When you do research on the effects of a financial crisis in a country you have a lot of qualitative and quantitative variables to sort through, and this will cut down that process and show you the patterns that your brain already wants to make. I am very excited about this emerging piece of technology. I would love to do research and when I do, I hope to have one of these tools like Gapminder or Wordle to aid in my research. The Gapminder website is amazing and has all kinds of information on there for teachers! It's really great you should check it out http://www.gapminder.org/

PodCast

PodCast's are a bit challenging to make and will be for me because I like things to be just so. My podcast was showing the students that we are going to use podcast's during the year, and what's going to happen in the classroom. I really like the idea of podcast's and it's an easy tool to use, except when I tried to watch it. I could only listen to myself on itunes and wasn't able to watch the pictures I put up. I'm not going to lie it did take me a long time, but I enjoyed it because it's something I know I will use in the classroom as another option for an assignment.

Day 4

    We watched some good clips today of leaders in the education field, Sir Ken Robinson and Dan Pink. Both showed interesting insight into education today. Sir Ken believes, as I do, that learning is an organic process and needs to change from the "fast food" approach. We need to personalize education because every student is different and the cookie cutter approach is not working. In my classroom I will take an integrative approach to teaching, and my students voice will be heard. When students have to show me what they've learned, they will be the ones deciding how it's presented. It could be a creative movie, or an essay; anyway a student feels they can show their creativity and knowledge at the same time. Furthermore, Sir Ken says we need to tread softly when dealing with students because they are still dreaming and we don't want to take that away from them. That is something I never want to be accused of doing. I am here to support my students in whatever field they want to go in, regardless of what I think. So often teachers will give their advice when all a student needs is somebody to listen to them and not judge. That is the type of teacher I want to be and hope that I succeed.
     Dan Pink discussed motivation, which was also talked about in our child psychology class. I believe that there is no such thing as an unmotivated child; we just haven't found what motivates them. When students choose their path and have a voice in their education they will be more engaged and take a pride in their work. It's our job as educators to be their guide and take an Aussie approach and loosen our control we have over our students. I want to have a freethinking classroom where ideas are expressed with a feeling that they will be wrong. I will let students be creative and express themselves without fear. They will be self-directed learners and take charge of their own education.
     We also did a bit on digital storytelling, which is another great tool for students. It's one that will be available to my students when they do a project or presentation. I will definitely be looking into that more so I'm more of an expert than my students, if possible.   

Daily Notes

We are in this class for 10 days four hours a day and we go over a lot.


Day 1
     There was a lot that I learned on our first day because I don't know a lot about technology and how it's supposed to be implemented in the class, but here are some highlights. I learned what some acronyms mean in the the technology world, for example, PLN stands for Personal Learning Network, which I'm now building. Learning the different commands for doing various functions on the MAC was also helpful, screen shot- command+shift+4. I also learned about moodle and diigo, which is an amazing book marking tool. The readability option for online articles was also a save; that will be great  for the classroom with heavy content reading assignments. I am really overwhelmed and learned a lot in my first class.


Day 2
     It's all about the Twitter. I will not jump on that band wagon right now, but we'll see. Again I leave class with my head full of new programs. I am really enjoying it though because we got to keep up with the kids. Is that even possible?


Day 3
     Today we learned about the copyright laws and how we need to make sure we set good examples for our students. There was a lot of terminology that I'm unfamiliar with: fair use, creative commons license, attribution, non commercial, transforming videos/music, and now I know what that is. It is very good to know all of this because I know when I was in school, our teachers thought nothing about us using photos from an online source.
     It's still hard for me to believe how much technology rules this world compared to where we were 15 years ago. I just keep thinking about the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and hope that computers never take over. It's a great tool though when used correctly and has done a lot of great for the world. Especially with our international relations and the various ways we can communicate.