Saturday, October 4, 2014

Blog Post #7

Summary of Videos:

1.  How to Make an Audio QR Code:  This video Michelle Bennet taught not only how to create a QR code, but it also gave great examples of how to use it.  A QR code is a box of squares that can be scanned by an app and contains a url full of information.  Ms. Bennet presented two websites to create the code.  The first one recordmp3.org, allows you to record your voice and translate it into a url.  Once you have a url, you can copy and paste into the second website which is qrcode-monkey.com.  This site will generate the QR code.  Once you have the code, you can copy and paste it to a word document.  Ms. Bennet gave a great example of how to use the code.  She suggested recording yourself reading a book and giving it to students so they could listen to the reading at any time.

2. iPad in the Reading Center:  Ms. Tuck, a kindergarten teacher at Gulf Shores Elementary School, showed us how the iPad can be effectively used in reading centers.  She showed how a student could set the iPad up to record while they read a passage.  After they recorded the reading, they could play it back and follow along.  This allows the student to see if they made any mistakes during the reading.

3. Poplet as a Center:  In this video, Ms. Tuck showed us the use of the app Poplet.  She used it in the kindergarten classroom as a center.  This app allows you to make a web of any subject.  In Ms. Tuck's case, she had the students make webs out of books they are covering in a given week.  The subject goes in the middle box, and the student can place pictures, video, or text in the boxes surrounding it.  This also gives them a chance to use search engines.

4.  Alabama Virtual Library as a Kindergarten Center:  The Alabama Virtual Library is a free website that gives students a chance to research on their own.  Ms. Tucks used it to have students research a word from a list that was based on different topics.  She showed how the site would read to the students and also provided them with images and video.  To complete this particular center, she had the students draw a picture of their word and write a sentence about it.

5. Mrs. Shirley's 1st Grade Class: How to Use and Build a Board in DE for a Project Based Lesson:  Mrs. Shirley went through the steps of how to use Board Builder in Discovery Education.  This program is a place to put facts, pictures, and videos about subjects that a student has researched. They can do all of their research through Discovery Education and the pictures and videos will load into their board for them.  She gave a student a chance to explain her project board on the moon and how she got for resources.

6. Mrs. Tassin's 2nd Grade Class: Students Sharing Board Builders Part A:  Students in Mrs. Tassin's 2nd grade class showed us how they used Board Builder and a search engine like Safari to find information on a particular research topic.  These particular students did their project on whales.
Mrs. Tassin's 2nd Grade Class: Students Sharing Board Builder Part B:  Mrs. Tassin gave us another example of how students can use Board Builder and search engines to research and present information in a project based learning format.  The students in this example used search engines such as word hippo.com to find new vocabulary words.  They did their project on the no kill animal shelter The Haven and were more than eager to explain how they created the project.

7. Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library in Kindergarten:  This video was a fascinating discussion between Dr. Strange, Ms. Bennet of Gulf Shores Elementary, and Mrs. Davis of Daphne Elementary.  They discussed the use of iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library in the kindergarten class room.  While it was interesting to learn how the programs can be used, the really surprising information was how apt the students are at using the technology and how excited they become by having the ability to use the technology.

8. We All Become Learners:  The last video continued the conversation with Ms. Bennet, Mrs. Davis, and Dr. Strange. In this conversation, they discussed how everyone is always learning from one another.  The teachers teach the students, but at the same time, the students are teaching the teachers about different aspects of technology.


the word technology on a chalkboard


Strengths and Weaknesses:

When it comes to teaching project based learning and using technology in the classroom, I feel my strengths would be my willingness to try new ideas and the ability to adapt readily.  My weakness is that I am not up to date on what technology is available for me to use.  In the next year and a half, I feel that I will need to spend time finding resources that give examples on how to use technology along with project based learning in the classroom.  I will also need to spend plenty of time practicing the technology to make sure I have a basic understanding on how to use a program. 

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