Interactive Whiteboards

     I feel that interactive whiteboards enhance teaching and learning by making certain aspects of presenting easier.  Interactive whiteboars allow teachers different ways to gain their student's attentions.  These whiteboards in classrooms also allow students to become more interactive with learning material in the classroom.  My favorite aspect of the SMART board is the way it allows teachers to create interactive assessments that can be seen as fun.
    The technology itsself was a little difficult for me to use.  I found it difficult to use because it was the first time I had used it.  I think that the tools from the SMART software are the most useful to use with powerpoint or on websites.  I believe that interactive whiteboards can be used to make very successful lessons but it is an extremely time consuming project which can not possibly be done for everyday.
     It is definitely a positive tool to use in your classroom, especially to have interactive lessons with students.  The most significant downfall to interactive whiteboards is the same as all technology.  The more complicated technology is the more things can go wrong.  Technology will not always be working properly so a back up plan will always be necessary just incase things would not be working.
     I would use the interactive whiteboards in my lessons to show basic information and link to videos to enhance the information i showed.  The way I would use them the most would be to assess how well my students were learning.  I find that this is a very important thing to be able to do because students should not have to be graded on everything so that the teacher can prove they have learned.

Software Skills

     We learned in my instructional technology a few different softwares such as inspiration, word, publisher, and SMART tools.  I was familiar with word when we had begun looking at it.  I was still able to learn some new tools that were available for me in class.  I found the templates in both Inspiration and Publisher the most helpful because they look professional and it is easy to plug in your own iformation.  I think that it was beneficial to learn how to use them because it could make our lives as teachers in the future more simple.
     It was nice to use the projects as a review of the softwares.  I know that I am going to remember how to use them better because I had to figure some tools out on my own after forgetting how to do them from class.  Doing is definitely the best and most memorable way of learning.  I enjoyed making my newsletter in word the most because I used tools that I had not previously and because my final product looked amazing.
     The software that is the most important for upcoming teachers to become familiar with is the SMART software.  Many schools already have or are getting SMART boards in their classrooms.  I am glad that I am being shown how to use it now, even ownly basically, because I know if I was not taught it now that I would not bother learning how to use it in the future.  One downside of the SMART software is that it takes a very long time to make a lesson on it.  It is much easier to use it like a whiteboard and project a powerpoint onto it than trying to make an interactive lesson on it.  I hope that I am able to learn how to do projects more efficiently using this new software but only time will tell.  I can not wait to try and teach my lesson this Friday!!! :)

Inspiration

     Inspiration is something that I would invest in for my classroom.  I could use it to make outlines for my class or for my own lectures.  I could also use it to create a concept map for my class to fill in or even for my class to make a map for themselves of a certain event in history.  Inspiration is very easy to use especially with some templates already set for you.  Students are also able to create graphic organizers and presentations.  It is a great software for students and teachers to brainstorm and organize ideas.  I would definitely use it in my classroom.

My favorite web resources that we looked at in class were the library curriculum and Rubistar.  They are both easy to use which is important.  Rubistar is the easiest way I have ever seen to block out a rubric.  The bad thing about Rubistar is that it is almost impossible to search for a previously made rubric that will match the project you are trying to do because there is no tagging.  The library curriculum was an amazing resource that I did not know the school had.  It is easy to find what you need and has a wide variety of subject matter.  The downside to this resource is that once I leave Albright, I will not have access to it anymore.

Social Bookmarking

     I believe that social bookmarking could have a place in my classroom.  I could use a social bookmarking site to place all the assignments for a class with directions and corresponding websites for further information.  The websites could also be used as resources for projects.  Social bookmarking could make projects more easily accessible for students because it would give them some direction without doing all the work.

     Now that I know that social bookmarking exists, I am going to use them to make easy access to different resources with project ideas and lesson plans.  It will help me stay organized with the different projects I am doing for my professor.  I will be able to save all of my web sources in a single place when doing a research project on a subject.

     I am learning to love technology a little at a time and I can not wait to learn more.

Blogs and Google Apps

     I would allow students in my classroom to use blogs by keeping a diary of an imaginary person from the time period we were discussing.  In there first post, I would have my students define their basic character, almost like an avatar, with age, name, race, and origin.  After deciding whom they would want to be, my students would blog once or twice a week to show how their characters lived through the different events that we discussed during the week.  Another way I might incorporate blogs into my classroom are as a diary or a getting to know your class activity.  I would give my students a question weekly to blog about.  Some advantages of using blogs are that it is a new way to keep students attention and that it can be accessed at anytime.  Some negatives about blogs would be being able to gain permission to use them in a classroom and getting the students to use them appropriately for the classroom.  Allowing students on a computer for class work could lead them to doing other things like surfing the net instead of the task at hand.

     The first time that I had been introduced to any Google App was last semester.  I like the idea of being able to work on a group assignment in a much easier fashion because I do not like doing group projects because of the difficulties communicating.  I feel that Google Apps are a great invention for any group project and they are free.  Some problems and limitations of Google Apps comes when taking documents back and forth between Office Apps.  The formatting will not always stay the same if information is taken from Office and put in to Google Docs and vice versa.  Google Apps also has a limited amount of powerpoint layouts compared to Office's powerpoint.  Even with these disadvantages, I still believe Google Apps could be great to use in a classroom.

First Blog

     It is so exciting to be able to actually use different forms of technology.  I have never even thought about being able to do some of the stuff that I am going to get to learn in my ed tech class.  I feel that this is actually a class that is worth taking compared to some other required courses.