Over the last 7 weeks I have learnt so much new information, resources and programs that I will be able to take into my own future classroom. I can’t wait to apply the knowledge I have gained so far in this unit and create an inspiring 21st century classroom for my students.

I never thought that I would blog or even thought about using a blog in the classroom but it has been a great experience and I can now see the great potential of having a class blog. It allows students and the teacher to share and communicate thoughts, ideas and media content easily. Blogging also engages students who may not engage in the ‘traditional’ classroom.

 

I am slowly feeling like an expert in many areas of technology, it felt good to be sharing the information I have learnt with my teacher on placements and encouraging others to get excited about the possibilities of technology.

Excited about our next stage of learning and becoming a technology expert!

Caisha 🙂

Awhile ago I was playing around on ToonDoo a program which helps you to create cartoon strips or books. I really like this program become it is easy and fun to use. I hoped I would be able to use this program on placements but because you need to create an account I wasn’t able to use it (there was no IWB which would mean each individual student would have to create an account to use it).

I think this program could be used for a range of things, summarising main events of a story, retelling a story in cartoon strip or even showing a mathematical problem. There are so many possibilities to be creative with learning. I have created a very short strip on technology.

I have created a mind map through Popplet of everything (well nearly everything) I have learnt about over the last 7 weeks. (Unfortunately the link wont work unless you are logged into Popplet so I have added a picture of my mind map for those of you who are not signed up.)

p.s if anyone has a popplet account and would like to add anything to the mind map leave your account name and I will add you to it so you are able to contribute.

Caisha 🙂

I have been playing around using Picasa and a few other image editors I found, trying to see how you could use these programs in the classroom. My point of view is that it is more about the creation of a slideshow or collage that makes these programs useful in the classroom. Students would be able to edit images better using lighting effects and cropping but it is the application of these images that assists learning. Students would be able to create slideshows similar to Photo Story and make collages with interesting backgrounds and borders to show their process of learning in the classroom. Creating a collage of a semester of work of a group task to show the class helps to consolidate and share learning.

I found this blog which also outlines a few other ways to use image editors in the classroom, I really like the idea of creating a puzzle though I haven’t found a good program for this yet.

I looked into the Avairy program though it is not something I would generally use in a primary classroom as it is quite advanced and has a similar layout to Photoshop. Though it has many different editing programs available and it is still free. Avairy also offers an Audio Editor which from what I have had a look at is fairly easy to use.  

Caisha 🙂

While on placements I was able to teach a lesson with each of the students creating their own Wordle. It was great to see how enthusiastic and focused they were while using the program and also how quickly they picked up how to use it and edit their wordle. The Wordles they created weren’t fancy all they did was enter their spelling words for the week including a range of other words to do with book week and literacy. The one thing that I found frustrating while using Wordle in the classroom is you are not able to save the image onto your own computer straight from the website. The students weren’t able to print straight from the lab they were in so I had to teach them how to print screen and got all the students to save their image in paint. All the students were able to do this though it took a bit of time.

I do love using Wordle though so just because I can I have included a Wordle using the words from one of my blogs

Picasa is a great program, it is easy to use and allows you to create great slideshows and collages using a range of different effects. Picasa does find ALL the photos on your computer, some people will love this but if your like me and never go through and clean up the various images you have it may come back with so many pictures it will take you awhile to filter through them all.

I have edited and altered a few of my photos and collated them on a collage.

My Photo Story is up finally, I didn’t have that many photos I could find to create a story so I used a few photos I took on a family holiday.

PhotoStory1

I really like Photo Story, it really easy to use and creates great videos with all the effects for you. I think it would be great to use in the classroom for kids recording projects, tasks and even excursions or camps. Students would be able to take photos of the steps they took in their projects and record and share their learning in a fun way with the class.

Caisha 🙂

Recently while playing on my phone I found a FREE app called Historypin. After finding the app and playing around with it a bit I was able to find the program online as well, Historypin.com. The program is a fun and amazing way to get students excited about history. The program allows students to see photos in their area and overseas from the past. I was able to find a photo of the Kmart, Burwood, near Deakin from 1969. The app also allows you to take photos and post them on the website recording your own bit of history.

I think this would be a great way to encourage kids of many ages to become engaged and excited about history.

Everyone should definitely check it out!

This post is a bit late this week, I have been a very busy with placements and assignments.

It has been interesting to see in my placements the use of technology after learning many different programs and uses in the classroom. I was excited to see when I arrived that the preps at the school all have ipads. After talking to the prep teacher she explained the kids pick up using the ipads really quickly and love to use them. At the moment in the classroom the apps are mainly used to develop literacy and maths.

It was also interesting to see how a teacher used their own personal ipad. The sport teacher actually used her ipad for assessment as she was able to take video of students completing certain activities which she would later have to assess. This was really interesting as it is a quick and easy way to keep a record. It could also be used in the classroom to quickly take notes that would be easily transferred into reports as it is already electronic.

After seeing the use of ipads in the school I think it is a great resource for students and also the teacher to use.

Caisha 🙂

I have learnt alot this week about the many uses of programs such as Audacity. I started off finding Audacoty frustrating as I was mainly expecting to be able to mix and create music. Though what I have found is that in a classroom it would mainly be used to record students either talking, singing or even playing music to enhance learning rather than creating music.

As I have previously discussed there are a range of ways to use these programs to assist learning though I believe it is mainly  used to engage students in meaningful learning, ensuring their learning is shared and worthwhile.

Caisha 🙂