Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Finally Learned How To Do Something

When I took this glass and took a glance down to the assignments, I wasn't intimidated because this was stuff I've been used a lot in my profession, plus I was a mass communication major in college so I got to work with a lot of these programs. One thing I am so happy I got to learn was the Jing program, which helps you webcast, and record things from your screen to show other people. There's been a few cases that I wish I knew how to do this, and I'm so happy I have that to use now. It's a good way to explain things to people in my profession without being there, so if I am away on business I can show my students/work study how to do something without even being there, amazing and glad I found out what this program is and I will use it in the future.

Loved my technology class!

I hope to be an educator one day, I see myself as one now just in my profession but one day I hope to extend that to the classroom. I think the teaching landscape would be a much better, enjoyable place with a lot of the techniques we emphasized in class this semester. Being very technology savvy, I didn't know how much this class would help me, but it was fun to be creative and see my professor being okay with my weird, quirky way of doing things. I hope some of our educators will use some of these things we've learned in the classroom!

Friday, April 29, 2016

Edutech for Teachers

On of the blogs I follow is Edutech for Teachers. I would like to encourage all my classmates to consider looking at this blog. "This blog, created and maintained by Jamie Forshey, geeky girl and instructional technology specialist at the Bellwood-Antis School District in Central PA, is dedicated to innovative teaching and learning through the use of technology and digital media that engages students in learning while providing them with a 21st Century educational experience." 

I especially enjoy her Tech it Up Tuesday. This is a weekly series in which she shares an edtech tool, app, or "other resource that can be utilized in the educational setting".  I also get an email from her point to me her favorite Diigo Bookmarks of the week.

Go check out her blog it is amazing.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

A Fun Time was Had by All

This has been a fun class! I especially loved working on the WebQuest. I even used it with my AP Psychology Students in Malaysia! It was a bit clunky getting the "virtual ball" rolling but once it got going the students seemed to really enjoy it. They were definitely producing well written products complete with media objects.

I would love to see other member's blogs. Here is a link to mine: A Post From Yost. Leave a link your blog in the discussion section below.

Monday, April 25, 2016

Class Blog

Although I learned several new techniques in this class, one of my favorite ones has been the class blog. This gives me a way to communicate with my students and have them communicate back with me as well as other peers. As a middle school teacher, my students love the ability to use our class blog to explore math. The class blog allows me to provide them with so many more resources to better understand difficult math topics and explore the use for them in the real world all on their own. I have already incorporate the blog into my everyday classroom and cannot wait to better develop this resource for next school year!

Technology For Educators

This class has been super beneficial at helping me shape my teaching practices to better peak the interest of my students. It seems as though at every observation, my observer always comments on the need for more technology in my classroom, as my teaching methods tend to be old fashioned because that is how I was always taught. My idea of technology was using the document camera, showing an occasional video, and showing a powerpoint here and there. However, this class has definitely opened my eyes to much more possibility for technology and how it can be used in my classroom. Before this class I had no idea how to do a screencast or podcast or even a webquest. I knew that several teachers used class blogs but had no clue how to go about making one. I am thankful for all of the techniques I have been introduced to and have already started to incorporate several into my teaching.

Friday, April 22, 2016

Technology

This class has been so great for my AP English Class. I wanted to incorporate a lot of technology in this class since they are about to go out into a world full of technology. I have done two big technology projects with them since starting this class. For the first, they had to make a video that teaches a play we weren't able to cover in class. They could do this by making a music video, movie trailer, E! Hollywood report, talk show, or any other approved idea. They project was very successful! I will include one of the turned in projects below.

The second project is the one I am using for my blog I created. The students are making their own short documentaries about a problem or praise in their community. The blog has been a great place for all the information, links, and just a general dumping ground for things they need to know. Overall I am really happy I took his class!