Tech TIme

Well this is the last blog of my Tech Time. All in all I learned a lot in this class. There are definitely things that I learned that I will use in my classroom, but there are also things I do not think I would use. some of my favorite tools that I use even now are prezi, smilebox, Adobe Photoshop, and Imovie. There are many more. I loved being able to use all the tools and not just being lectured to. This class allowed us to experiment with all the tools to see how they work and how we would use them with our classes. It was fun and I loved the people in my class. We had a blast learning everything about technology in the classroom.

Blogs

Blogs are an amazing tool that can allow students to post what they think or even post assignments. the teacher can then go visit the blogs and see what information they have put on them. This is a good way to to track learning and see how they have comprehended the information and translated it into a personal matter, how they created a connection with the information. It can also be very good as a resource for students to be able to see what is going on in the class. They can also create a blog for certain topics that everyone can add to or comment on others blogs. It is a fun way for students to be able to express themselves and share what they are learning. This is also something that can be shared between classes so they can see what others are doing with the material that is being learned. It is a very fun tool that can be used in any class.

Prezi

Prezi is a web 2.0 tool. It is probably one of my favorite tools. I absolutely love it. It allows you to make extraordinary presentations. It also stores them on the server so there is no need to save them to a thumb drive or remember to take your computer, you can access them from any computer. You do have to sign up for this tool, though it can be free, there is also a paid version. It allows you to change the background, the fonts, the size, and even add pictures or video. There are a lot of possibilities with this tool. The first one I created I found things I would do differently. Things about aligning and sizing. The next one I made I was able to adjust that and create an even better one. Every prezi I do I am able to make them better and better. It is a tool that can be used for a lot of different things. Students can use them to create presentations, teachers can do the same. They can be used for any subject and it is easy to use. I would recommend this to anyone and I have.

adobe photo shop

We have used many tools throughout this course. One of my favorite tools has been photoshop. It is an amazing tool. I do not think I would allow most students to use it due to its complex nature, but to be able to edit photos that will be used in the class it is so useful. It can allow teachers to edit out things they do not want to be seen or things that should not be displayed. It also allows you to re size pictures so they can better be displayed in the manner that the teacher wants them to be. I love this tool.

Web site

Websites can be very useful in teaching. It allows you to share information in a simple manner and have some fun with it. When creating my own website I was surprised at how easy it was. For a tool that can make a teachers life simple, it is simple. I really like being able to add pictures and decorate it for my classroom. I would probably do a more fun background next time, so it would be a little more fun for the students. There is a lot that can be done with it though. It can be used for a lot of different things not just class updates. It can be designed for a topic that is being discussed. It can be an awesome learning to and place to explore for the students. there are really just a lot of opportunities to utilize this for a class and it is made extremely easy.

Movies

This is a video I was able to make using Imovie. It is about my life growing up and moving a lot.
I had a blast making this video and I think this would be an awesome way to let students learn about a subject. I do not think there is something that I really would have done differently. I would like to make another movie. Students could use this to not only tell about themselves, but also about something they have been learning. Teachers could also use this to make a video that would be more interesting than them just teaching the whole time. all in all I think this is an awesome tool that can be use in a lot of ways.

Using excel spread sheets can be nice. it allows for immediate results and for easy access. It also can be nice to not have a lot of paper to care around or grade. I really liked creating a spreadsheet quiz and it was not extremely hard, but I have used excel many times. This may be something that a lot of teachers are not good at and it would be a lot of work to create this and may be more trouble than it is worth. I had fun making it and I may use it occasionally, but it will not be very often. I probably would have made it a little more friendly for elementary students. I did learn a lot from doing this and am now a lot more comfortable with using excel and the formulas involved. It was fun, but not sure how much it would be used in the classroom.