Final Thoughts...

This class and its tools have been so helpful to me. I have a lot of work ahead of me to keep up with all of the changes and advances in technology, but I definitely feel jump-started. I have learned so much!! Most every tool I could really see myself using in my classroom in a variety of ways. My favorites were the video tools and the photo sharing, mostly because I knew the least about those, and now I feel confident in using them. My least favorite was the Excel. I wish we could have had more time on each tool, so that I could really learn the odds and ends of each, but I will just have to do this on my own time. One class can only cover so much!  I also think that a second semester in this course would have been wonderful, and I would happily do the extra work to learn so much helpful material. Something to consider...

My iMovie!!

I made my very first digital story today! I came into class with much anxiety about this project, but I am pleasantly surprised at the efficiency of this program. I really enjoyed telling my story about Ernest Hemingway, using the photos, transitions, captions, and the Iron and Wine song. I will DEFINITELY use this in the classroom, and this has been one of my favorites projects of the semester!

Interactive Excel

I just used Excel for the first time this week, and it was hard! All of the grid lines kind of stressed me out, and I did not find the end result as visually pleasing as I would have liked. I do see the academic value of the interactive component, but this was not my favorite activity this semester. However, with a bit more practice, I might feel more confident in my ability to use the program, and therefore enjoy it more.

Shakespeare Inspired!

Today I made my first graphic organizer using Inspiration. Once again, I loved this activity! I found the program to be quite easy and efficient. The ability to toggle between outline and graphic views helped me make sure that all of my information was included. This  is an original and fun way to display material, and I will use this for sure in my classroom (hopefully my future school will have the program). Also, the ability that I had to add a video right onto the graphic was cool...all I have to do is click on it and it will play. If I were a student, I would enjoy seeing this in a lesson plan about Shakespeare.

Mountains Animoto

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

So, I made my first Animoto video! It was not difficult other than uploading the music. Very fun and easy!

Scavenger Hunt!

Today was scavenger hunt day! I have not done one of these in a long time, and I really enjoyed it! I think this is a great activity for any grade level, and putting the presentation together tied the whole thing together. The themes of each group was interesting as well. I would definitely model an activity in my class after today's scavenger hunt. The only downside to this was that I did not have an opportunity to use Animoto for it, but I am sure I will get to make a video eventually.

Google Docs, again

So, I know that I raved about Google Docs in a previous post. I still really like it, but using it over the weekend to publish and turn in my LP, I came across some issues I did not like. When you upload some documents, the program will alter it. For example, I had created a handout with decorative font and a nice border around it, and when I put it up on Google Docs it was totally changed. It was simplified, and all the extra work I had put into it was eliminated, which made me mad. Knowing this will affect how and when I use Google Docs.