Digital Story

WHAT:
The last couple of weeks we've been working on our digital story for our final. Teresa and I are doing ours on September 11th 2001. We've been able to put pictures, video, and music on that helps show the feelings of those who experienced September 11th.


SO WHAT:
While learning how to make this digital story, I realized that I would probably have my sixth graders do one. It is definetly not that hard, and with step by step instructions my students could easily use this. I think I would do it for the begining of the year. They could do a digital story of thier own life. That way I could get to know my students, and what kind of things they like. Another thing I could do is have them make a digital story of thier favorite ancient civilization. using things they learned and pictures they could find.


NOW WHAT:
So know that I've learned so many things in the technology class, I'm going to try to implement them into my classroom. There are so many things coming out pertaining to technology and school that it's hard to keep up, but it's amazing how nice most of it is.

Lessons Learned

Most of the articles were talking about how technology was used in the classroom. One that I liked was Tools for Change, because the idea that you could put a hole textbook on a Kindle would save not only paper, but money for buying the huge expensive college books. I also like the idea from the TechWatch video that we can Social Network even more, and correlate it into our everyday classrooms. I’m excited about the technology because it gives us more and more ways to learn by using everyday activities that we can actually see and do.

I am a little concerned about the touch tables that they want to integrate into schools. I know that it's amazing technology and it is very useful, but I wouldn't want my students to just be on the touch computers everyday. I want my students to still write shorthand, even though it is going extinct (typing is taking over). I do want my student to experiment in crafts other than those they can create on a computer. I'm not putting down computers, but I do like hands on activities where students can learn other things as well.

My Beliefs

My beliefs regarding teaching are simple. I want to use technology in my teaching methods because that is what each and every student is going to have to deal with in their lives. We are here to teach to prepare them for life after high school. Right now, their life after high school is considering a lot of technology in their lives. Every profession has more and more technology advances each year. How would I be a successful teacher if I do not let those students experience what they will need to know, and learn to love.

I am a firm believer of interactive white boards and will be writing for a grant to get one in whichever school I will teach in. After my experience in field using an interactive white board it has been hard going back to a regular white board. I know that I want to use technology, and teach technology as much as I can. I'm excited to learn more, and as I teach, I know I will learn more about technology.

Strengths & Weaknesses

What were your strength/weaknesses according to the UNI Survey and NET Standards?

In my UNI survey I realized that I am pretty adept at most things, which will help me as a teacher as well as a student. Some things I know how to do but don’t participate in a lot is video conferencing. The reason I don’t use this often is because my computer does not have a camera, and I don’t know anyone with whom I would talk to frequently that uses it. Another thing I have issues with is using terminology related to computers appropriately. I have a hard time remembering and reiterating words that are not familiar to me, or that I don’t use frequently. I also have issues with graphing calculators in math. If I had a step by step memory card to remind me which buttons to use for each problem I’d be able to do it. I know a bit about equity, ethics, legal, and human issues concerning use of computers and technology, but I know there is a lot more out there that I do not know about.

MY GOALS:

My goals is to learn more technology terminology by taking this online course at university class.com. The reason I would do this is so that when my students ask me a question I can answer them correctly instead of always saying, we will look that up. The other thing i will do is work on my use with graphing calculators. I know for a fact that all of my students need to learn how to use a graphing calculator. Not only for college classes, but for high school classes as well. By taking this online tutorial by Prenhall I will be able to better instruct my students on using and understanding a graphing calculator.