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/

Digital Image Activity

(See previous post for my example)Images will have a huge use in my classroom. So many students are visual learners, thus, images make learning so much easier and more accessible. Also, images make learning more fun and interactive. Digital Images (pictures that I took) probably will not be used as much. I mostly only take pictures of my family or friends -- things that I do not necessarily want to show in class. Screen shots are also not things I will use to much in class, except for assignments. If I have assigned students an inquiry based learning or another assignment using the web, it would be helpful for students to see the website that they will be accessing. As for scanned photos, they can be both fun and useful. So many things from books or non digital images have to be scanned. Therefore, scanning is definitely something I will have to enlist in the classroom. Web images are probably the things I will use most in the classroom. They are actually the types of images I used most in my classrooms right now. I love searching the web for images that can coincide with my assignment or interests. These are also the easiest type of images to use in the classroom. Google images, for instance, is one of the easiest sources for images...even more so that digital images on a computer or camera. Lastly, CD collections feel a lot like clip art to me. If students need pictures like these, I believe that in the classroom or on homework assignments I will just suggest they use clip art on the Word Processor.

Digital Image Collection

Lesson Plans

Lesson Plans are always difficult when you do not have an actual class to use it on. It is alot harder to make something for nothing, though I know it is important to practice. Truly, though, depending on the learning level and personality of my class, my lesson(s) plan may not work like they are in the future. However, since they may not work, I know this will teach me heavy flexibility for later classes and later lesson plans. On the positive side, lesson plans are fun to make because it forces me to be creative. I love having the oppurtunity to be creative (at least as much as I can be). I do hope I can use these lesson plans in the future, and I hope that my students will enjoy them especially after I spend so much time creating them....but we will see!

WebQuests....Once AGAIN

I found another webquest today based on Romantic literature....it is extremely nice. It is very organized and self explanatory. The student's responsibilities are laid out very clearly. However, there are two things I believe I would modify before using it in my classroom. First, I would not assign the students to positions, I would either let them decide or draw names. (Considering this is geared towards 11th - 12th grade, assigning them to groups seems unnecessary).  Second, Part 3 of the project requires the students to make a CD. A CD is not a bad thing, but this does not give the students any choice of final part of the project.  Therefore, I believe I would allow the students of the choice of a combination: A (shorter) CD and short paper, or I would also give the choice of video and short paper. That way, all group members would hopefully have the appropriate outlet that they could be graded on. Some students are better at making CDs and videos rather than papers (and vice versa).

Wacky WebQuests

WebQuests are very interesting little things. They are very good tools for teachers, I think...as long as they are done correctly. There are so many of the webquests that were obviously not thought through as they were created. Especially as an English teacher, the bad grammar and lack of explanation kills me. So, if and when I use a webquest in my classroom in the future, I will definitely take loads of time on it before allowing my students to explore through the WebQuest I created. On the positive side, I think the WebQuest is perfect for big group projects. Especially in highschool, students have a hard time listening and remembering and writing their assignments down, but with a WebQuest, students can continuously go into the website and not only understand their assignment and what they will be graded on, but also weblinks to assist them along the way. All in all, I'm kind of liking this technology thing..(however with the Mac I'm still not completely convinced:)

TeachingLiterature.Org

TeachingLiterature.org is probably one of the coolest sites I've found yet on my career path to becoming a teacher. I will definitely use this site for tips on how to initiate interaction with my students and for good book choices along the way (If I am aloud to choose). If not, it does give great ideas and resources for specific books, my favorite being Harry Potter ( Oh to be so lucky to be able to teach that to a high school classroom:) That would be thrilling. On the opposite side, those books or ideas I may not be very fond of, they have (what seems like) an endless list of Media and Visual tools to help teachers. I love visual tools. They helped me the most in school (though they weren't use too often). The only thing I did NOT like about this website is that all of its weblinks have not been updated and some of the pages give me that "404" code...which I absolutely hate. Other than that... I love it. I really found myself a positive website to use for the future...Go Me! lol

Website Evaluation Site

http://www.lesley.edu/library/guides/research/evaluating_web.html

This is the link to a website posted by Lesley University. The use of this website is to list credentials for credible websites on the internet. This is a credible site for two main reasons : First, its foundation comes from a university. Universities are credible sources because they provide information for future learners. Because they are the haven for future learners, they must first prove themselves as credible before teaching their students to do the same. Also, this is a credible source because it sites its information and it gives links throughout its website for deeper information on a stated subject and examples of hoax websites for viewers to explore and understand. I actually enjoyed doing this activity, because it gave me the chance of practicing in finding correct websites for my students. Also, I can use practices like this for my students in the future to help them understand the importance of using credible websites. The only thing I did not enjoy about this activity is being disappointed by good websites not registering as "credible". I have actually found this disappoint inside and outside of this class. The next time I search for sites like this, I believe I will use the same tactics.

My First Impression of the Wiki

Personally I found the Wiki a little confusing and slightly problematic. It was hard for me to format my pictures into and also to align my paragraphs like I wanted to. All in all, however, I did arrive at the conclusion that it would be nice to use in the classroom as an English teacher. It is really a good avenue for me to use for students to write journals or small essays on. Also, I definitely know I would like the wiki better on my pc, however, I am trying my best to maneuver this Mac the best I can ....wikis and all.

Learning Expectations

In 486, I desire to, first, increase my "Mac know-how". I do not own an apple computer and the one or two times I've attempted to maneuver a Mac book, I have failed. So, needless to say, Macs hate me. However, I am willing to take on the challenge. Also I am excited about learning the endless resources to use in the classroom. I am never ceased to be amazed at all of the creative activities that are available now online. I believe it is important for me to not only be aware but become an expert at online resources. The reason behind this is, because if I can become an expert, this will help me connect to my students. I expect to learn this most of all during this class, to really learn the many online resources that my students will have access to and ones they will enjoy using rather than books at a desk every day.

The Official First Epic Post

I am from Powell, TN. I went to a small, Christian school where I graduated with 19 people. I was accepted into UT as a Freshman. I have desired to be a teacher since I was 15, and I was so excited when I was accepted into UT followed by the Education program. Since I have had a desire to teach for so long, I have been anticipating this point in my life for (what it seems like) forever. I want to work with teens, because they are so much fun and have so much positive energy (if its channeled correctly). I honestly just have a heart for them, and to teach them English (both literature and grammar). Yes, I am a Grammar geek. Though I know I will love teaching about prepositions and Jane Austen, I am most looking forward to the opportunity to instill knowledge (both in and out of school) in my students. I do not know where I am interning yet, though I know it will be in Knox County. I am a very high energy person, and I love to talk and be in front of people. I love spending time with my family, boyfriend, and little dog, Mickey. I am hoping to get married in a year and a half, so,  I may not be teaching in the state of Tennessee once I graduate. This thought is exciting and scarry:). I am looking forward to what the future holds for me!