iMovie NETS-T 3

This is a PSA I created about the CSU San Marcos campus using iMovie. I used an assortment of video clippings and added music to the background. I added texts that described facts about CSU San Marcos. In order to demonstrate creativeness, I added and altered effects to the film clips and added my own voice to the end of the PSA.

Journal #10

100 Things That Make Me Happy

1.     The smell of the ocean.

2.     My cat Noodle’s nose.

3.     The fact that no one stole my lap top charger even though it was left in class for three weeks.

4.     Lady Gaga

5.     Spaghetti and Meatballs

6.     Danielle Salim’s large icons on our webpage that resulted in a one point grade reduction.

7.     Angry Birds App

8.     Greedy Pigs that I will destroy for taking my eggs

9.     Lavender Candles

10.  Soft cotton pants

11.  Flannel sheets in the wintertime, during summer it sucks.

12.   Listening to Pandora because it is free!

13.   Hanging out with my sisters every time I go home.

14.  Walking my dog in the rain because she hates it and it is hilarious.

15.  HARRY POTTER

16.  The multiple uses of my new phone.

17.  The fact that I am almost done with my Bachelors Degree.

18.  The fact that I the foster care child I tutor is learning a lot from our meetings.

19.  My super impressive iMovie.

20.  Learning anything new about the Civil War

21.  Helping out in elementary classrooms.

22.  Spending time at the beach with my boyfriend.

23.   Spending time with my boyfriend’s mom.

24.  Warm bread.

25.  Vanilla coffee creamer.

26.  The fact that I learned how to cook and now that’s all I want to do.

27.  Peacocks.

28.  Helping stray animals.  (especially feeding the stray cats at my apartment complex)

29.  When my dad says that he is proud of me financially supporting myself.

30.  Driving up the coast.

31.  Watching the sunset at the beach.

32.  How my dog cuddles with me in the morning

33.  Making people think that I am always angry when I’m really just joking around.

34.  The fact that J Heil does not count points off of assignments even if they are late.

35.  Seeing my sister get into college.

36.  Watching my brother maintain a steady job even though he is schizophrenic and bipolar.

37.  That I can help my sisters after my mom passed away.

38.  Being organized

39.  Making Sunday night dinner with my grandma.

40.  The fact that I give awesome advice for all my friends.

41.  I get along with almost everyone I have met.

42.  Listening to Pearl Jam in the car with my dad because it reminds me of my childhood.

43.  Going on road trips with my siblings because we always have something dramatic happen but it’s definitely entertaining.

44.  Reading the twilight series!

45.  The fact that the green pigs are cute on the angry birds game.

46.  Watching my friend to get married and her dad walking her down the aisle.

47.  Giving my maid of honor speech at her wedding that made her mom cry tears of joy!

48.  That I feel loved by my family and friends.

49.  That I have had the same job for over five years and that my boss treats me like an equal and not like an employee.

50.  That my historical methods of writing teacher told me that I was smart and good writer.

51.  That the semester is almost over.

52.  Going running with one of my sisters.

53.  Looking at the sky when there are cool shape clouds

54.  The rain when I am inside and warm.

55.  Watching movies, except for scary movies.

56.  Movie theatre popcorn and slushies.

57.   Watching lame performances on Glee.

58.  The color purple (not the movie, literally the color)

59.   Taking pictures in black and white.

60.  Making yellow cake with chocolate frosting because its delicious!

61.  Finding cool new music that isn’t popular yet.

62.  The fact that it is the holiday season.

63.  Making Christmas cards with pictures of my dog and cat dressed up as reindeer.

64.  When my grandma tells me stories in Italian.

65.  Going to the air and space museum with my brother.

66.  Cursive writing

67.   Seaworld.

68.  Warm bread and artichoke dip.

69.  Looking for bugs outside with my nephew.

70.  Hanging out with Danny

71.  When my boyfriend makes dinner

72.  When my boyfriend takes out the trash.

73.  When my cat does not use her catbox and chooses to do her business outside.

74.  Singing obnoxious songs to my dog about how beautiful she is even though she is ugly to most people.

75.  When a song that has been stuck in my head plays on the radio.

76.  When I don’t feel winded from walking up all of the stairs at school! It makes me feel in shape.

77.  To be able to sleep in

78.  Dancing!

79.  Painting my nails fun colors.

80.   I like grocery shopping.

81.   The smell of clean laundry.

82.   How my living room looks when it is clean and the sun is shining through my sliding glass door.

83.   The smell of Christmas trees

84.   Putting on cool old ornaments that were my grandfathers.

85.   Reading my daily horoscope even if its bad.

86.  Talking about living in random places all over the world with my boyfriend.

87.   The fact that I get to write about 100 things that make me happy and it counts for an assignment in my Ed422 class.

88.   Getting pedicures.

89.   Going swimming

90.  the angry birds peace treaty on youtube

91.  the idea of dressing up as an angry bird for next years Halloween.

92.   Laughing at drunk people at bars.

93.   Doing my sisters make up for dances because it always looks amazing… because I am a PRO

94.   the fact that open office and free and I don’t have to pay for Word.

95.   Having a drive thru starbucks close to my house.

96.   Going to the beach in the middle of night and sitting on the sand

97.   Making stir fry for my friends husband because he thinks its delicious.

98.   Creating random traditions with my boyfriend.

99.   Paying my bills before they are due.

100.                 Watching shark week!

Journal #9 NETS-T 2&4

Learning Connections: I Can See Me: Webcams in the Classroom by Timothy J. Frey, Abby L. Houlton & Elizabeth D. Gruis

APA Citation:

Frey, T. J., Houlton, A. L., & Gruis, E. D. (2010, November). Learning Connections: I Can See Me: Webcams in the Classroom. Learning and Leading in Technology, 36-37.

Summary:

This is an article about how webcams can be used as helpful tools for students in the classroom. Videos are used to capture a student’s attention and the use of webcams can provide the same thing but can also help improve a student’s ability to read aloud. The idea is that a student records him/herself reading a text and reviews the video independently. The recording allows students to see their own error patterns, fix the errors, and then see the new and improved performance over time. Students readily engage in these activities, and seeing themselves on the screen provides ongoing motivation to improve performance on the targeted skills. They have used a similar procedure for students who need to work on other performance based skills like, listening comprehension, oral language, and spelling.

Question #1: Can the webcams be used to communicate between students?

Yes! Students can use the webcams to do things like record their ideas and opinions about anything that has to do with school, for example up coming events or homework while connected with another student so that they can share their ideas.

Question #2 How can teachers get parents on board with the web cam idea?

Parents may feel concerned with the personalization of webcaming because students are technically being seen by other students via the Internet and that can be dangerous. I would suggest to parents to view the webcam content before the student participates. Also it is important for teachers to be informing their students of the importance of being safe online and just as any other web based material students need to know how to act appropriate.

Journal #8 NETS-T 1, 3 & 5

Technology Is Not Just Fun and Games for These Teens by Austin and Daniel Straub

APA Citation:

Straub, A., & Straub, D. (2010, November). Technology Is Not Just Fun and Games for These Teens [Electronic version]. Learning and Leading with Technology, 47.

Summary:

This is an article about two brothers who decided to start producing podcasts about their favorite video game at ages 13 and 15. The podcast has gained a lot of attention and they have accumulated over 10,000 followers who watch their 9 minute podcasts every Friday at 5pm. The boys started teaching themselves how to play video games at a young age and thought that it would be fun to make videos of them critiquing different levels and parts of the game. After playing a game called Little Big Planet the boys quickly began their podcasts and now they spend about six hours every Friday reviewing levels, gathering news, planning the script, filming and editing. 

Question #1 How does this pertain to education and why should we care?

Podcasts is relatively new idea and it is important for educators to be up to date when it comes to the activities that their students participate in outside of the classroom. Being relatable to your students can be helpful because if a student can view the teacher as an equal they will be more likely to be honest and forth coming in class. They can pertain to education if the ideas that are discussed are informative and helpful for students for example a podcast about critiquing writing styles or math computations.

Question #2 Can we use podcasts as a learning tool in school?

Yes! I think that teachers could assign students to form in groups and create a podcast that is relatable to subject matter for the class. As a history teacher I could use podcasts to have students critique historical events and assign other students to watch the podcast during its show time and have feedback for their peers during the following class meeting.

Journal #7 My PLN NETS-T 2, 3, 4 and 5

Twitter:
I used Twitter to participate in an online educational chat and to follow people of my choosing who I think would be helpful in offering interesting tools for my educational experinces. The people or groups I chose to follow on twitter were a few fellow classmates like danjipt, deeKSalim, and mrdjrodriguez. I also followed, jheil65, calisafe, and usedgov. I think that it will be helpful to follow a few classmates on Twitter so that when we are all in the credential program we can suggest things to one another that could be beneficial. Following jheil65 allows me to keep updated and informed in many subtopics regarding education, and because technology is constantly being updated I thought it would be helpful to follow someone who is rather tech savvy. Calisafe and Usedgov will keep me posted on events happening in education on a larger scale which is helpful because any tips for teachers regarding current events in the sphere of education can keep me current and knowledgeable.

Delicious:
I used Delicious to search for and tag websites that I thought would be beneficial to myself during the process of me becoming a tech savvy educator. I tagged Ning in Education, US History Teachers Blog, Educational Wikis, The Educator's PLN and 21st Century Skills TeacherCourse. Ning in Education is a helpful website that allows educators to create their own pages and participate on discussion boards. It is a useful website because as an educator it is important to have the option to post a question and get a response from someone who is concerned with the same things that pertain to you. US History Teachers Blog is a webpage written by high school teachers for those who teach US history who want to find online content as well as technology that you can use in the classroom. I want to teach History so I thought that having access to a History Blog would be beneficial to me. Educational Wikis is a website that links to a list of articles and resources that describe how to use wikis in education, a comprehensive list of existing educational wikis that we can learn from and general discussion of Wikis in education. Wikis are important because they allow teachers to add/change the content in the articles so they are constantly being updated and staying updated is important in education. The Educators PLN is a website that offers educators the opportunity to communicate through their PLN's. It offers educators links to twitters edchat and can be used a communication tool for educators around the world. Being able to communicate with educators from around the world is hugely beneficial for new teachers and seasoned teachers because it offers the most broad opinion and suggestion base possible. 21st Century Skills TeacherCourse is a website that offers advice regarding high-school literature circles and how a teacher joined those cirlces with online discussion groups. It also offers a discussion board where you can post questions or comments and other people can respond back to you. I chose this even though I do not want to teach Literature because I liked the idea of using reading circles and online discussion groups because it keeps students communicating through multiple means, in person and online.

Visit The Educator's PLN

My Personal Network is Educators PLN It is a web based resource where people interested in education can post information and tools that are important to them. By creating and using a web based Personal Learning Network (PLN) as a future educator/classroom teacher I will be able to access any tools offered on the site from anywhere with an internet connection. I will be able to share information with colleagues, students and teachers in a more sufficient way because they would be able to access the information in its entirety from the website. My PLN is subject to any changes I make to it allowing for it to be as current and relevant as possible and it is a helpful tool in communication between educators who do not work in your district or state. The site has members that are prospective, new and seasoned educators so many viewpoints are available to learn from.

The Blog that I participated in a discussion forum on the Educators PLN website. It was created by Joanne Kaminski and titled Skype in the Classroom. She asked the question "What are some differnt ways that people are using Skype in the classroom?" I responded by providing a list of suggestions from other websites and blogs wondering the same thing. - Videoconferencing in the Classroom with Skype.
- Field trips. If students aren’t able to participate in a field trip due to factors such as budgetary or distance constraints, use Skype to bring the field trip into the classroom.
- Use Skype in language courses because you could have native peoples demonstrating to the class.
Skyping in Mike Artell- Illustrator & Author. This inspirational lesson has an illustrator working directly with 6th graders to work on the art of illustrating and story creation.
- After school help. Use Skype as a tool to provide after school help to students needing extra attention. Tutors, teachers, or librarians can be available at set times in the afternoons for student access.
-Interviews. Whether you have students conducting interviews or your class is interviewed, Skype facilitates the interview process. Individual students can interview other teachers or school staff, sending the Skype feed to the classroom for all to watch.
-Guest lecturers. Have guest lecturers come to your classroom via Skype.

Journal #6 Change Agent NETS-T 3, 4, and 5

Change Agent, an interview with Will Richardson from the Education Week's website

Richardson, W. (2010, October 11). Change Agent. In Education Week Teachers Pd Sourcebook.         Retrieved November 30, 2010, from http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2010/10/12/01richardson.h04.html?cmp=clp-edweek&intc=bs&sms_ss=delicious&at_xt=4cb7dc75d0303b73,0

Summary:
This is an interview Conducted by Educational Weekly with Will Richardson. Richardson was a teacher in New Jersey for almost 20 years and is now an educational-technology consultant and co-founder of Powerful Learning Practice, a professional development provider devoted to fostering online community for teachers. During his teaching practice, Richardson wrote a book titled, "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms." Richardson is an advocate for teachers who have a presense on-line and therefore are "googleable" meaning that a student should have the ability to google their teachers names and the results should include only things that are considered appropriate for example the teachers educational blog. Because the environment of education and learning is always changing, teachers must keep updated and use web 2.0 tools to participate in a network of other educators. Students need to be taught how to use the web for educational purposes by creating networks for learning. 

Question #1 How do we get parents on board if they are concerned with what their child does online?

I think that just as we should teach students how to use the web as an educational tool we should also be working to inform parents about the using of the internet in education. By sending home paperwork for parents to read and get involved in their children's work online, we are only making it easier for students to look at the internet as a multifaceted tool instead of being solely important for being able to go on facebook and myspace.

Question #2 What if well established teachers do not want to participate on any web-based profiling or networks?

I can see their being an issue of whether or not seasoned educators are going to want to have an online presence because it is something that they are not used to. However I think that if the school and principal push the importance of staying up to date and on that same track as their students, teachers may be more willing to put in the added effort of joining an online discussion board or take part in something like Classroom 2.0. I also think that once teachers see how many resources are available for them online they will see that it is actually not only in the best interest for the students for also for the teacher because by participating the teacher is a lot more likely to get new ideas and recommendations from other educators that he/she may not have had the availability to do so without being online.

Journal #4 Computing In The Clouds NETS-T 3 & 5

Johnson, D. (09, December). Computing In The Clouds. Learning and Leading. Retrieved October 16, 2010, from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition- december-janruary-2009-2010.aspx

Summary:

Using cloud computing makes it possible to do many things on your computer that would normally cost money. With the budget cuts in public schooling it is important for teachers to be aware of the free help that it out there. Cloud computing offers a way to compose documents, spreadsheets, and create visual presentations without purchasing Microsoft Word or any other processing software. It offers higher accessibility because it allows you to save your work to any network so you can access it off of multiple computers. Downloading software and storing files on your personal computer can be stressful because of the worries about it potentially getting erased or your computer crashing. When you use Cloud computing relies on applications and file storage on the networks you decide to work off of making it easier on your personal computer and makes it available anywhere. Google-docs is a good example of a form of could computing, you do not have to download or upload any software and you can access it from any computer with an internet connection.

Question#1 How could I use cloud computing as a student?

I work full time and am a full time student. I go to work in the morning and go to class at night so I am literally gone from my house for the entire day. Considering this, I have to bring absolutely everything that I will need for the entire day with me in the mornings. If I used the concept of cloud computing I would not have to carry my lap top with me, which would make my bag a lot less heavy. The main reason I bring my lap top with me to work and school is because I am constantly working on assignments in between classes and at work. If I saved my work using Google-docs or something else like it, I would be able to access my assignments from my work computer and at the computers on campus.

Question#2 How could I propose a school use cloud computing?

When I get a job as a teacher, I feel it would be important for me to offer any ideas about ways for the school to save money. If the school starting implementing the use of could computing not only would they school save money on purchasing Word or any other software, they would have money on the computers themselves. Could computing allows schools to buy less powerful computers such as Netbooks because anything that needed to be saved would not need to be saved onto the computer itself.