Week 10

I explored some different technologies.

I found one site that plays sound effects online. I think this is useful for various things. I proposed to use it to help students learn to wash their hands with sound effects as a timer. There is a link provided on my TPACK science lesson plan.

I used stellarium for the science project, which allows people to look at the sky from anywhere on earth at any time. It's really cool.

I also decided to use tape or digital recorders to give instruction to smaller groups of students simultaneously.

TPACK Project

http://sites.google.com/site/beccaipt287portfolio/home/tpack/tpack-proj

TPACK Planning

http://sites.google.com/site/beccaipt287portfolio/home/tpack/?pageDeleted=%2Fhome%2Ftpack%2Ftpack

Three lesson plans for TPACK

Internet Safety Assignment

Article of choice:
I read "Let Our Voices be Heard," by M Russell Ballard

Describe the video resources:
They seemed to be largely focused on internet predators and the dangers children face online. There were a couple of stories of people being molested or killed by internet predators, and the video talked a lot about internet safety.

My most important "take-aways" from the readings and video:
I need to be more careful about what I watch and allow to affect me. When I pay closer attention to the media I take in, I often notice that it has a lot of sexual innuendo and such, which has a negative affect on me. I need to be more careful to only watch media that doesn't treat such things lightly, or as acceptable. I was also reminded again through the videos that I need to be sure to teach my children the importance of internet safety. I believe the internet can be a great tool to make new friends in some cases, but you have to know how to use it safely.

4. Write a paragraph or more describing the details of your "doing" experience:

My dad knows we need to get some kind of filter or something to block bad stuff. You shouldn't give out your address or name. Kids shouldn't be on the internet in a room alone. Shouldn't give out personal information. When I asked him what he thought about the media, he said that the media is immoral on the whole. It's way too sexually oriented and violence oriented. I told him to teach kids about internet safety and tell them the stuff he is telling. People can get killed by internet predators. I told him about the talk I read by M Russell Ballard about the media. I read and paraphrased parts of it. I told him the strength of youth standard, and he agreed with me that everyone should follow the standards in for the strength of the youth. I read him the 7 things Elder Ballard suggested to keep our family's experience with the media positive. I encouraged him to limit the amount of time my siblings spend playing video games and watching tv and movies somewhat. Nothing really surprised me, but he did say he wanted to use that as part of his hometeaching message, which I thought was cool. I don't know what he will do with the message otherwise. I hope he will apply it to our family.

Science Project Planning

Technology Lesson Planning

Directions: This table is intended to help you explicitly evaluate your options for selecting the best mix of pedagogy and technology to teach content. List the activity types you want to include in the lesson and 2-3 technology options that could work. Then list the affordances and constraints of each technology/activity type combination.
Step 1:
Identify Content to be Taught Step 2:
Plan Activities to do During the Instruction Step 3:
Identify Technologies that Could be Used
Identify Technology Strengths
Identify Technology Weaknesses
Students will understand that the appearance of the moon changes in a predictable cycle as it orbits Earth and as Earth rotates on its axis.
- Design an investigation, construct a chart, and collect data depicting the phases of the moon. Activity 1: Look at the moon phases over the course of the month using stellarium.

Design an investigation. Stellarium.
Interesting view of the moon and its phases.
Kidspiration



Activity 2: Research the names of the moon phases.



Collect data. Send them to: http://www.enchantedlearning.com
/subjects/astronomy/moon
/Phases.shtml
Or
http://home.hiwaay.net/
~krcool/Astro/moon/moonphase
To learn about the phases. Visuals, interactive, straight-forwad information. Time consuming, boring, easily distracted.



Activity 3: Construct a month-long moon phase chart.




Construct a chart. Microsoft Word
Clear. Not interactive, difficult to put the pictures in.
Excell

Online game: Lunar cycle challenge. http://www.sciencelinks.com/intera
ctives/moon/moon_challenge/moon
_challenge.html Interactive, creates opportunity for the students to test what they have learned. Limited access to computers for each student.
Activity 4: Depict the phases.


Model moon phases with dough. Interactive, fun. Messy.
Model moon phases on poster. Easy to construct, visual. Time consuming.
Flip book of the moon phases. See the changes of the moon, active.

Week 9

What are some ways you can tell that you have successfully integrated technology into your lesson?
Students enjoy the technology and perform better and seem to learn more than when the technology is not integrated

What do you feel technology should accomplish in order to be a legitimate addition to your lesson?
Successful integration of technology motivates students to perform better and participate in the lesson. It is not a distraction from learning, but an addition to it.

What indicators can tell you whether or not you have chosen an appropriate technology for your lesson?
Student participation, reactions, and positive performance.

Digital Storytelling Revamped

TPCK

It can be hard to integrate technology appropriately for some teachers. They have to focus on the content.
The main idea of the article is that teachers learn about different technologies and how to use them appropriately in the best way possible.
Teachers need to be able to use technology to support their content. Technology should be used to support activities.
It gives good advice as to how to integrate technology into the curriculum, as well as how to learn about it.

Virtual Tour Assignment

http://sites.google.com/site/beccaipt287portfolio/home/files

Week 7

Technology can help create dynamic experiences for students in many ways. I have seen technology used to help students interact with whatever is going on in the classroom. It gets them engaged in what the class is doing, especially if it's technology they have no access to anywhere else. It can help students hear and see things that allow them to interact, at least partially, with cultures different than their own. Some technologies help students to focus on concepts. I have seen students get excited about the opportunity to use technology.
Technology can also detract from learning. While many great things are available through technology, a virtual field trip is no substitute for experiencing things first hand. A digital story, while it may be fun, is sometimes not as good as just hearing a story read. Technology can be a distraction from learning when students and teachers get too hung up on using it and feel they need to integrate it into everything. Technology should be a tool to aid learning, not a substitute for real, quality teaching.
I have seen smartboards used very effectively in 2 different classroom settings. In one class, the teacher uses the smartboard to take role, causing students to notice their peers, and to talk about the weather and the date. These things could be done without technology, but the use of technology makes ordinary activities much more exciting to students. In the other classroom, the teacher used the smartboard to have students spell words, teaching them letters and sounds. I have also seen fun voicechanging toys used to encourage severe special ed students to talk in a severe special ed classroom. These technologies and others are used very effectively in classrooms.

Virtual Tour: Adv's & Disadv's; What sensory exp's might help

Implementing a virtual tour in the classroom can have many advantages and d disadvantages. One advantage is that the virtual tour allows students to see things they may never get to see in real life. It gives them the opportunity to learn about different places and to vicariously experience them through technology. Also, it could be a way to get students engaged in learning about new places and cultures. A disadvantage of the virtual tour is that it may be hard for some teachers to learn the software. Also, vicarious experiences are no substitute for real ones.

Many sensory experiences could assist students in a virtual tour. Having available foods specific to the culture the class is learning about is one. Listening to music from the culture is another. A teacher could have the kids make costumes that fit the more traditional dress of the area being studied. This would probably require parental involvement, which is not a bad thing. The kids could draw some of the stuff they see while watching the tour. My group's plan involves a market day in which the kids "buy" and "sell" goods and services. The sky (and the budget, in some cases) is the limit when dealing with this topic.

Google Earth

One of the basic things one can do in Google earth is look at specific locations using the "fly to" bar. Locations often have pictures or videos associated with them in the program. These things can be used in the classroom to teach students more about the world. This program is interactive, so students can get involved. They can suggest places they want to see, or perhaps the class can go exploring using one of the many navigation tools provided in the program. It seems like a great program for kids in class or just for general use.

Modifications to Wiki portfolio, way late

I added a personal objective to my Wiki. I also added a picture of myself. I put in a link to my PLE. These modifications will enhance my wiki by telling people more about me, letting them see what I look like, and sending them to my PLE, which will hopefully have lots of ideas on it.

Most difficult thing about implementing Digital Storytelling in Classroom

I think one of the most difficult things about implementing a digital storytelling project into the classroom would be learning to use the software and having to take the time to compile the story. It is difficult to put the stories together using at least moviemaker and keep all of the pictures together. I had a rather hard time with that, as the pictures are not actually saved in movie maker itself. I think it could be fun to use occasionally. However, I am a bit old fashioned, but I think there isn't a substitute for actually reading books in the classroom with the kids. The digital storytelling takes a while to compile, and while it could be a fun project to do as a class, I think it would be difficult to do it just as a teacher.

Digital Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LEjbVZoLP0

Late, Comments about other people's storyboards

I looked at the storyboard of Anne Yamashito about a fairy princess who explains signs. I thought it was fun to blend the

I looked at Brittany Beecher’s storyboard about a little boy writing. It was very cute, I thought. I love writing.

Janessa Choate, Harry Potter to teach cliffhangers. I love seeing more familiar, fun examples of things in classes. I like this idea.

Haley VandeMerwe, Princess, hat, bat, rhymes, etc…Very cute. I love the story line. It confused me a little at the end, though. Why did the rat suddenly have the hat instead of the bat?

I couldn’t find a 5th one that wasn’t ours. I like that ours uses fun characters.

Week 5

Windows Movie maker is, overall, a fairly decent movie making program. It is relatively easy to import pictures. Overall, it is a fairly simple, user friendly software. However, there are definitely some cons to it. I am finding it very difficult to import narration to the right places. It is frustrating. I can import the narration, but I'm having a hard time timing it.

Blog Week 4, Who I am teaching

I have talked to my family a little about what we have learned in class. I have taught my family a bit about tokbox. I sent them a video message. I don't know how they reacted, but it was fun to send. Also, I told my missionary about the fact that I am taking this class. We send tapes back and forth, and he slowed down the tape and recorded on fast recording thinking I wouldn't know what he was doing. He told me that he could do a lot more with technology than I could, and I told him I was taking this class and learning. It was funny.

Storyboard

Storyboard
(add as many rows below as you need) Names: Karly Allen, Rebecca Blair, DeeAnn Loveland, and Amber Smith
Scene Script/Description
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=2c34294de0&view=att&th=126539453687a4a1&attid=0.1&disp=inline&zw

Once upon a time, there was a very small giant. (The giant was small compared to the other giants..to us, he would have seemed huge). Giants are fictional characters, which means they do not exist in real life, but for this story, we will assume they are factual characters. A fact is something that is real.




One day, the giant was sitting in his cave, watching the bigger giants fight, and a beautiful, tiny, magical princess appeared to him on a motorcycle, wearing a black leather jacket and leather pants. She pulled her helmet off, shook out her long hair, and told the giant she had a job for him.




“Come on, there’s no time to waste!” the princess yelled as she revved the engine of her motorcycle. The giant picked her up with his giant hand and said, “Hold on a minute, what do I have to do?”




The princess told the small giant her story. “Prince Charming said he was going to visit his mom for the weekend, but now I know that story was fictional –fictional means it was not real – because his mom called this morning! It could be a fact – a fact means something that is real – that my Prince has been kidnapped!”




The Giant replied to the princess, “I cannot help you, because I am too small. You should find another Giant who is bigger and stronger.” The princess was not impressed with his response. She looked at him with her hands on her hips and said, “Size is not what matters! Besides you are bigger than anyone I have ever met, and BIG enough to help me, so let’s go!”




The fact was, the giant was huge. He had just forgotten because he always compared himself to the other giants for so long. The giant felt happy to be needed, and he gently lifted the princess back onto her motorcylcle and followed her to the the foggy forbidden forest in search of her prince.




As they went into the foggy forbidden forest, the princess was happy to have the giant accompany her because as she told him, “I am afraid.” Feelings are facts and her fear was real.




The giant said, “I am not afraid” (and that was a fact for him) and he carried her over the swampy patches and helped her find her prince.
Credit Page:

Becca learns about copyright law

One day, Becca was sitting on her couch with her laptop when she decided, at the prompting of her IP&T 287 instructor, to learn about copyright law. Becca learned many things she did not previously know about copyright law. The biggest thing she learned was that movies shown for entertainment purposes in the classroom violate copyright law. She now knew that her high school and other teachers who had shown movies in their classrooms for entertainment were violating international copyright law. Shame on them! She also learned that the copyright quiz for her IP&T class was only 5 questions long, which made her workload for the week seem a lot lighter. Some other things she learned were that copyrighted characters, such as Bu6s Bu99y, who will not be named due to Becca wanting to overcompensate for carefully adhering to international copyright law, is prohibited by international copyright law. She learned to her relief and happiness that she does not have to cite things in the detailed manner required by MLA formatting, but that she does have to make sure that she or another user can get to things she cites online. And Becca became much better informed about copyright law and realized that she might need to cite the pictures of the motorcycle and helmet used in the first slide type thing of her storyboard. And the IP&T 287 class lived happily...until their Special Ed program applications were due, at which point they all got really stressed out and decided that they needed to have a class pizza party and use the wonderful technology of cellphones to order the pizza. The end!

Late Blog...The Most Interesting Thing I Learned in Class

I fail. At life. Sorry. I plan to start doing better. Really.

Ok, so the most interesting thing I learned in class...well, actually it wasn't so much learned, but my favorite part of class was when we brainstormed about the different ways to teach about gravity. I loved the idea to drop the bowling ball through different substances. That was really cool. I don't remember how they wanted to use technology for that, but it was a good idea. I also liked the idea of using a slow motion camera to film things being dropped. And I really liked how we learned about how to learn and teach and whatnot. It was really cool.
And tokbox would be cool to use perhaps to let the kids send video emails home about what they are doing in class. Or to send video emails to the school if for some reason the teacher was out. It would be a great tool for many things

Week 1 PLE post (It's a blog!!!!! )

Hi. I am writing in this blog. Hurray! Are you excited? Awesome! I created this blog in class.

The answer to the week 1 question:
I have some technology background and experience. I know how to use the internet, or at least a good deal of it. I know how to use blogspot, as I have another blog. I actually worked as kind of a low level tech support during education week. That was fun. I know how to type, and use word. I know how to use powerpoint, and I like it. I don't know much about excel, though. I have used smartboards in classes in high school a little. I know how to use the internet for research.