The Finale

Over the semester I have learned so many things (to the point I thought at times my head would explode). I loved using picnik, Glogster, Inspriration, and Google Sites. I honestly did not enjoy the interactive worksheet and iMovie. But I will say overall, I did not mind using the Mac to try to tackle all of the Web 2.0 tools I came into contact with this semester. Somehow, I think the Mac's ease of dragging and dropping made my life easier this semester. As for Web 2.0 tools, they really opened my eyes to how many options I have in the classroom through the use of technology. I learned how to play with facts, photos, and even words (Thank you creators of Wordle!). Before the semester began, I had no idea how many fun and creative options there are for my teaching career and my students benefits. I do not expect my self to be the perfect teacher, though I do think I could better myself through the use of some of these tools. I would like to say I would take the time to use of all them, but I won't. I will say though, I am inspired to try most of them. I love being able to create an overview of a novel with Inspiration, create a digital image collection through Smilebox, and create a funky blog on Glogster. Though I did not like the confusion and irritation of iMovie with its many text and Ken Burn's affect issues, Excel interactive spreadsheet with protection, and sometimes the Wiki which was somewhat confusing to post pictures and format comments, I would like to hope that I will still attempt and conquer my fears of at least one of these tools. After all, it was just a Mac (which I think I did all right with), and after all, its just a Web 2.0 tool (can't be that hard right?----haha)

Excited About English - My Website in the Classroom

I thoroughly hope I get to have my own website for my classroom. I love the idea of creating something that the students can access any time that directly involves their select class. I love how Google has our website tool set up, however I cannot always place pictures and words where I want them to go (though this may be the users fault and not the websites:). Also, I do NOT like the limited font choices. I want to use different lettering more often, but the site will not allow me to do so. In the future, I would love to have the option of a class website, however, I do think I would enjoy having a more set template for creating one versus they way I did this website. I would love to have school colors or better a Shakespeare background!.  So I suppose it is not structure I want...its just more options. I suppose Web 2.0 tools have me spoiled. Overall though, I enjoyed this activity. I look forward to using these resources for my own benefit both personally and in my classroom.
https://sites.google.com/site/excitedaboutenglish22/

I Movie...I Stink

Below, you will find the "Introduction to Shakespeare"video I created on the iMovie application. I will say first, this is a really great application if you have the time to spend with it. I would love to do something like this as an overview in the literature classroom before embarking on a play; however there were so many things I did not like about this project. First, I did NOT like the text options. There were only certain text choices where I could choose to change the size, font, and placement/ amount of words. This is really frustrating because had I held the choice to make these changes, my movie might have been better. Also, I did not like the way the Ken Burns affect worked. Even though I'd move the boxes where I wanted the moves to be made, it was not always exact. Also, you could not stretch the boxes far enough for some photos. Third, the seconds spent on each picture or text kept changing without me changing it! I'm sure I was doing something, but I could NOT figure out what I was doing wrong. On the positive side, it was really easy to add video to the iMovie. Honestly, the video was easier than the pictures...by far. So, overall, the iMovie was really really difficult.
I would love to use it in the classroom, but it makes me too irritated to create it. So, if I have a lot of time on my hands (which I probably won't), then I may try it.

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Interactive Spreadsheet

This is a screen shot of my excel interactive spread sheet. I am going to be honest when I say this, I hated this project. Excel and I do not get along! Protecting and unprotecting, while hiding and locking gives me a headache. I know this would be a cool thing for my students to use, but I would be so cranky coming in the day after creating it that it would just not be worth it for them or for me. I like the interactive worksheet, its a good review source, but the work it takes to make an assignment that is only 10 questions long----CRAZY! So, if you cannot tel, I DO NOT LIKE  the interactive spreadsheet! If I were to use this in the future, I would have to practice ALOT in order to be really comfortable with using this tool! (and probably NOT on a Mac...no offense Apple:)

Dracula by Bram Stoker Inspiration

 I thoroughly enjoyed the Inspiration. Its especially fantastic for the overview of a novel or works of literature as a whole. For instance, I did mine on Dracula by Bram Stoker. I realized that with these diagrams you can make them look as "mature" or "cartoony" (if that's a word) as you want to. I loved it! This is something I will definitely make use of in the future if I have access to a MAC...if not, then oh well ....PC it is! The only thing I didn't enjoy was having to keep it in a certain space for the screen shot...I felt to trapped in one set area.

Scavenger Hunt Project

Slideshow design customized with Smilebox This Blog assignment was both positive and negative for me. I love the idea of taking pictures that go with a lesson (hopefully something I can us in the future) the part I did not like was uploading the photos to Smilebox, because the photos were zoomed in too much and they looked blurry. I could not get them to look the way I wanted to. However, if I can tweak the uploading portion of the photos, I can feel more comfortable with the project. Or I may allow students to be more free with how they use their pictures. By doing this, I can give the students the option of doing projects in multiple photo friendly tools....I mean, that is the advantage to choices of Web 2.0 tools!

March Blog Assignment

For the March Blog assignment, my favorite blog is The Innovative Educator by Lisa Nielson. Lisa Nielson has multiple specialties in technology tools and speaks so educatedly and bluntly about how she feels about today's education (especially since she has 10+ years experience). Lisa Nielson creates this fantastic blog where she literally states things that I think or feel daily. She speaks about the way schools, alot of the time, do not preprare students for the real world. Also, she talks about how absurd it is to ask students to remember things all the time, while in the real life you spend the majortiy of your time looking things up. Therefore, its more important to know how to find answers than knowing the answers themselves. I thoroughly enjoy her blog. She speaks against so many "stereotypical rules" in the classroom that almost ruin students when they get into college, or worse the real world. Also, her layout is really cool. She has the typical blog where you can scroll down and see earlier posts. Also, she has twitter updates constantly popping up on the right side with great links to technology for teacher links. Also, she is constantly posting helpful or explanatory videos under her blogs. Therefore her audience is for the technology teacher or the teacher tired of stereotypes.  Overall, I found Lisa Neilson's link extremely entertaining and meaningful for my futrue career as a teacher. I look forward to using other teacher's thoughts and experiences to my advantage in my own classroom. However, I will have to be careful to take the correct advice:) Its amazing the resources we have today that allow us to access so many useful tools.
http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/