Website Creation

Well, I officially started my website.  I originally thought I would be creating my future classroom website, but after thinking about it realized that I wouldn't have my WOU directory forever (and even if I did, I probably wouldn't use it in my professional life).  Therefore, I made a last minute decision to just go ahead and create something visual for fun.

I tried to think of subjects that would fit well with the 5-link requirement.  I wanted to find an interesting subject that would have enough (but not too much) information.  A lot of my initial thoughts had too much that would have to get left out with only 5 links, and I didn't want to take on the responsibility of more than 5 if I found myself overwhelmed.  I finally settled on the seasons of the year.

I ran into a couple snags as I worked with Dreamweaver, but those were more my errors than anything.  Despite thinking I was saving everything in the correct category, I wasn't.  Dreamweaver itself turned out to be pretty "unscary".  And this is coming from the girl who was D-R-E-A-D-I-N-G this week's project.

I was happy to learn that I didn't actually have to do any real code-writing.  The program pretty much takes care of that for me.  I even found that there were some features I really liked, like the ability to drag the button next to the "link" box right to my desired destination, rather than writing it in.

At the very least, I think this opportunity has made the idea of website formation a lot less scary for me.  I definitely needed a push in this direction, and even if I don't ever use it, my confidence has grown.  On the flip side, I can certainly see myself creating a class website someday.  I really like the idea of not having someone else own my website and the information included.  If I ever do create a class website, I would want the rights to be my own, so that I know in the long run I am the one in control of all my work.

Dreamweaver

Well, this week we are starting our website project.  Dreamweaver is officially intimidating me. I'm definitely not a "codewriting" type of girl when it comes to the internet.  I remember dealing with code back when I had a MySpace page.  Even when it was handed to me I hated it.  I always wanted to change or tweak one little thing, and it would bug me forever if I couldn't figure out where to pull some of the info out.  I find myself preferring the canned website builders.  Too much technological freedom is not my forte.

I really like the site (JimDo) I was able to begin building on this week.  I was given enough freedom to personalize my elements, but also enough help in structure and formatting.  My goal is to create a classroom site, as I dream of having one as a future teacher.  The one I have coming along I'm actually quite happy with.  Although I don;t like the domain name I chose, and I'm bummed about that.

I'm hoping the code-writing begins to feel easier.  I don't know if I'll (ever) have access to Dreamweaver outside of this classroom, so I am a little worried about being able to utilize the information I am learning.  And I feel like if I don't use it regularly, I will quickly forget it.

Something that stuck me after class was also the fact that the website will be on the WOU server.  Does that mean I won't be able to access it after graduating?  Because that leads me to believe that the JimDo approach might be more handy for me in the long-run as well.

I guess we shall see.  Who knows, maybe this time next week I will be gushing about how much I love Dreamweaver!  Crazier thing have happened =)

IPads, IPods, and other 'I's

Working with the IPads and IPods for classroom use always leaves me feeling a bit mixed.  While I love all the ideas and great apps there are available for educating students, I have yet to be in an elementary school or classroom that actually has them for student use.  And given the way educational budgets seem to be continually (read: shrinking), it seems even less likely that I will encounter them.  At least in the near future.  And if they do come around in the far future, I'm sure technology will have changed so much that the information I have will be completely outdated.

That being said, I think they can be a fantastic way to not only bring technology to children's fingertips, but also some fabulous apps.   I know on my own IPad I am learning Spanish and doing other fun (sometimes educational) things.  And I'm weird about putting all kinds of apps on mine.  Others I know that got their IPad around the same time as me have a TON on stuff on there's.  Perhaps after returning from Argentina I'll be more likely to add stuff.  I'm trying to keep my memory clear for pictures, pictures, pictures!

Our group did a fun little lesson plan about the different types of clouds.  We utilized a finger painting app for the kiddos to draw and label clouds with.  The possibilities are endless with drawing apps.
I enjoyed the opportunity to play with the Smartboard.  I'd really, really like more time and expertise on that.  I know the school I'm currently working in has them.  I have yet to see my mentor teacher use hers, and wonder if it's for lack of knowledge.  How cool it would be if I could use it in my lessons!!!!

Podcasts

For some reason, I found working on the podcasts to be a little overwhelming.  I love the idea of podcasts themselves, and am really glad this class forced me to explore them.  Looking at the ones on Itunes was incredibly helpful, and I can definitely see myself utilizing them in various ways in the classroom.  I would like to become more familiar with them, and perhaps find a few that I really like and can subscribe to.

In terms of creating my own, the process ended up stressing me out a bit (and I don't really know why).  I immediately had an idea of the topic I wanted to explore, and set to work on creating my little podcast.  As is often the case with me, I am a royal under estimator of time.  I created a script to read from, because I HATE recording my voice, and without the words in front of me would have just flubbed each one.  After I finished my read through (with numerous errors).  I was at 4 minutes 30 seconds.  Way over the 2-3 minute mark.  And I had thought I had 1 minute 30 seconds tops.

The process of cutting out pieces was tough, as it always is once you've settled on a draft.  And I basically had to cut more than half mine out.  Then, I had to go back and cut out wording mistakes and pauses that went on for too long (anything I could do to cut my time).  Once that was all said and done, my pictures were all off.  Some didn't fit at all in the new script, and I needed to find others so that extensive periods of time would not be spent on just one or two within the podcast.  Grrrr.  I was incredibly aggravated at this point!

The part that actually went quite smoothly for me was inserting the soundtrack.  I had thought that might me a toughie, but I immediately found one I liked.  It was shorter than my podcast, but splicing an extra part onto the end went quite effortlessly, and I found that on my first run-through of the finished product that I didn't even hear the splice.

Overall, I don't know if the creation of podcasts is in my future, but the utilization of existing ones definitely is.  They would be a nice thing to utilize at learning stations as well as introducing and completing lessons.  And as a visual person, I'm hoping I might find one or two reoccurring ones that inspire me to continue in the passion and energy I have in my approach to teaching.

Fake Websites

Okay, so I know fake websites are out there.  We've all seen them.  I use Snopes on a regular basis to yell at various email contacts (sadly, usually family members) who forward me trash disguised as religious, political, or otherwise shocking news. 

I'm a parent, too.  I know there's a lot of scary stuff out there that is attempting to make its way into my children's lives.  Nevermind the commercial crap. 

The website that really freaked me out today was the MLK one. 

WWW.martinlutherking.org

It sounds SO legitimate!  It's a .org, for crying out loud!  It contains a poignant picture of his, and is set up to look very informative and factual.  A great place to send kiddos for research, right?

WRONG!

The stuff is pure crap.  And I'm scared that I could have easily fallen for it.

I definitely learned a lot here.  As a future teacher, I will only be allowing my students to explore websites I have THOROUGHLY checked out.  And for myself, I really need to up my own filters.  I probably would have seen the url address, and been pretty comfortable with the .org.  And because the initial look of the homepage is not obviously horrific (no big words talking about MLK in a derogatory way), I might have okayed this site. 

Big wake up for me!  This stuff is really scary, and as a future teacher I need to be prepared, informed, and ready to guide.

Using Google Earth

This was an informative assignment for me.  I have used Google earth before, of course.  Haven't we all, searching for our houses and looking at our neighbors backyards (oops, maybe that's just me).  Anyway, it's always been a pretty fun process for me, very visual.  Although I do get a twinge of motion sickness when flying around.  I guess I'm not much of a world traveler ;P

Anyway, the hardest part for me with this assignment was dealing with the web code.  Web code FREAKS ME THE HECK OUT!  It's so precise and detailed.  And I have big fingers.  I constantly type one little mistake (okay, lots of little mistakes).  Spell checker is my lifeline.  I don't have that with web code.  If I type one little error, my link, embedded image, or color just isn't going to work (and people are probably going to be able to see my messed up code).

Because I finished up my Imovie in class the day we learned about this assignment, I ended up working on the Google Earth project on my own in the lab yesterday (Monday).  Without the guiding help of our instructor, I was incredibly terrified.  I inched through the instructions, piece by piece, sure I was going to get to the end and realize I had made a fatal error that I had no idea how to fix.

When I got to the end (after hours and hours, jk), it was time to save it.  TERROR #2.  I'm not comfortable with saving on these Apple computers, nevermind the shared computers which will erase everything on the desktop when you log off.  I did end up getting it saved properly (I think).  The lesson of this assignment was??????  Jessie, stop being such a fraidy-cat, get out there and explore!

In terms for integrating this into my future classroom, I can certainly see myself creating a tour for my students.  I think it would be fun to create ones of both Oregon and the world around them.  With today's shrinking budgets, our field trips have been drastically cut.  Kids aren't getting out and exploring the world as a general part of their schooling.  It's all in-class stuff.  Google earth would be a fun way to bring a little bit of the field trip to them (this kills my sense of adventure and hands-on exploration, but it's better than nothing).

And of course, how many of our students are actually going to get to explore the world?  Creating a tour of Egypt, Africa, or the oceans of the world is not only a great way to bring those concepts to them visually, but also to help them establish a sense of geographical navigation.  As a visual person myself, I can't tell you how many geography items I learned and could recite back verbatim on a test, yet would be hard pressed to actually point them out to you on a globe.  It also helps students to make connections.  Understanding the names of what countries were allies and enemies in a world war is one thing,  Looking at their size and physical relationships to one another is another. 

Working with Imovie

Alright, if I though I was hesitant with Photoshop, then I was absolutely terrified of using Imovie. I have a history of trying out different slideshow and movie-making softwares. My experience is this: purchase or start using a new software spend hours upon hours fumbling through its features start a project spend at least 1 hour trying to get each individual component to work get frustrated and start crying end up with a few minutes of usable yet highly dysfunctional footage after 60+ hours of work

You get my drift. My history has been one wrought with pain, suffereing, and feelings of inadequacy. therefore, you can understand my fear of Imovie. I tend to be a perfectionist, so the idea of creating something with a specific time constraint, blended shots, and a soundtrack sounded like weeks of work.

 As our group began filming, I felt excited at our vision. Then I felt dismay at the idea that we'd probably never get a project out like the one in my head. I have to say, working with Imovie was MUCH less stress than I had anticipated. We didn't have the opportunity to use it directly after instruction, so we did find ourselves struggling to remember specific features a bit. But overall, the 30 second clip came together quite smoothly. I was even impressed how fun it was to drag little clips up into the project, and then play them together. It looked pretty darn good before we even did anything with it!

Overall, I think we came out with a pretty nice end product. There are little tweaks I might have made if given the time, but I think it looks pretty cool. I have a much better appreciation for all the little things that go into putting a movie together. For instance, when showing it to my family, I just want to keep stopping it to say "look at this blending" or "do you see how well the music fits in right there?"

Although I don't think I will be using a whole lot of Imovie with my elementary students, I am definitely encouraged to make some of my own movies for use in the class. I like how easy it is to create a polished looking clip, and think this would be a nice, visual way to get students interested in upcoming content.

Working with Photoshop

I have to admit, I'm a bit of a baby, but the idea of working with photoshop really scared me. I've seen other people post fantastic pics using the software on places like facebook, and I've always been jealous of how nicely they are able to get their photos to look. I've tried messing with the software myself before (and even scanned through a "Photoshop for Dummies" book once from the library. Ultimately, I never got it, and either messed up my photos or left feeling unworthy of navigating the software.

When I began working with my photo elements for our in class assignment, I did so sure I was going to have the worst looking photo in the class. It was really helpful to follow along with Denvy as he worked through his own example. When I set to work on my own project, I was actually feeling a bit confident.

Although there were a few things I felt I couldn't remember (I never did get a shadow into my picture), I did walk away from the project feeling like I knew a little more. I understand what a layer is now, and how they can help me create different images. I have some idea of how to play with fun features, and change up my photos a little bit. I think the most valuable lesson I walked away with, though, was the value of having a computer for each student to work on while they are learning new technological concepts.

I don't think I would have been able to and retain half of what I did had I not had the ability to be playing around with my own computer while watching the instructor explain through things. I also realize that I wil probably not be in a situation where this is possible (at least not on a daily basis).

This will help me to become a better teacher in the classroom as I realize the value of real-time, hands-on experience, and try to give it to my students as much as I can when utilizing technology. Even if it just means getting each one up and trying things out WHILE THEY HAVE ME THERE FOR GUIDANCE.

Exploring go2web20.net

I explored the website http://www.go2web20.net today. My first reaction was overwhelmed as I realized just how many activities and tools there were available to explore. I started flipping through the pages looking for something that stood out as interesting, both for me personally as well as thinking about my future role as a teacher.

The first application that struck my fancy was titled “Little Bird Tales”. The subtitle read “capture the voice of childhood”. I think it caught my eye initially because of the cutesy artwork, which definitely marked it as intended for use by children. And the fact that it had “tales” in the title told me that it probably involved reading or writing. As a self-proclaimed bookworm and mother who sees great value in books for children, I clicked on the link.

I was brought to an informational page which offered the following information:

Little Bird Tales was created to help nurture children's creativity and imagination while simultaneously creating one of a kind childhood treasures that can easily be shared. It is dedicated to providing a safe web environment for children, free of advertising, merchandising and links to other sites.

Free, creativity, imagination, treasures, shared, safe. All key interest words for this mama and future teacher. I proceeded through to the site. http://www.go2web20.net/site/?a=LittleBirdTales

The initial page was very user friendly, with large and colorful buttons and fun graphics. In addition to the area in which I could create a tale, there was a fun “Green Tip of the Week” (Create a "no garbage" lunch! First, use a lunch box or reusable lunch sack rather than paper bags. Then, rather than using sandwich and snack bags, use reusable washable containers. Finally, reuse plastic forks and spoons, and bring cloth napkins or washcloths rather than paper towels! When you have nothing to throw away after lunch, you get an A+ from planet Earth!) and an area that featured a “Craft of the Month”. This month was a craft titled “Spring in a Box!” and proclaimed that it was “This is a really fun craft to try before, or even after, Easter! Make a cool diorama with a shoe or tissue box, small toys and flowers. If you don't have old silk flowers to use, you can make some with scraps of tissue paper!”

When I chose to create a tale, it brought me to a very easy template in which I could create an online storybook, complete with audio narration. I registered with the site, a very easy process that just required name, email address, and password. Then I was off creating my personalized tale.

I did a quick example with just a title page and then one story page. For the title page I played with importing an image from my computer (very easy) and then using the draw feature to highlight an area of my picture. Any images uploaded are immediately saved to your personal gallery. For the second page, I drew a picture from scratch using their draw feature, very similar to ‘paint’ programs. On both pages, I was able to use my microphone to add audio to the pages. I chose to narrate them. After completing my story beginning, I was given the option to save the story as a PDF, was given a link to share with others (http://littlebirdtales.com/tales/view/story_id/90388, check it out!), and was given an embed code to imbed the story in a web page. The only thing that cost any money was if I chose to purchase the tale as an MP4 file. This was $0.99, and gave me a file that I could download that would be playable on any device that supports MP4 files.

Overall, I found this site to have multiple and fantastic opportunities for young children. Teacher can create books which can be accessed by their students for reading help. Teachers could record students reading existing stories for a record of reading levels. Students can create personalized stories and artwork. Older students could create reports and unit summaries utilizing their own photos as well as drawings, and narrate what they have learned. I can see this possibly taking the place of Power Points for some presentations, as it allows for colorful and easy personalization. It was fun, free, and had great literacy and overall educational possibilities.

I also checked out an application called “Sweet Search” (http://www.go2web20.net/site/?a=Sweetsearch). Its subtitle offered it as a “Search Engine for Students”, and promised that it

searches only the 35,000 Web sites that its staff of research experts and librarians and teachers have evaluated and approved. It constantly evaluates the search results and "fine-tunes" them, by increasing the ranking of Web sites from organizations such as the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, PBS and university Web sites.

This one caught my attention because as a parent, I have had some negative run-ins with Google. For instance, a Google Image search a couple years back got interesting when my son asked what baby cougars looked like, and I typed those two words into the search field. Oh the joy of social homonyms.

In addition to the basic search window, the site offered more specific search options and links such as:

Teaching Web Research Skills teaches Web research skills to educators and students

SweetSearch4Me is our search engine for emerging learners.

SweetSearch2Day is where students Learn Something New Every Day.

SweetSearch Biographies for profiles of 1,000+ significant people.

SweetSearch Social Studies for our best social studies content.

So I gave it a try. After my previous run-in with the word cougar, I gave that word a go in the search window. My first impression was disappointment. As I scrolled through the websites offered, not one was actually about the animal (never mind being an educational site about them). I guess I had had visions of National Geographic and Ranger Rick type sites coming up. Instead, I got numerous sites that featured cougar in their name. Examples include camps, schools with a cougar mascot, housing, and the car.

To make matters worse, the 9^th entry was brought up as an article titled “New school can’t be Cougars because middle-aged women might be offended”. Included in the preview was the information “In the current edition of the Webster Dictionary, the second definition for cougar sights a slang terminology that refers to "a middle-aged woman seeking a romantic relationship with a younger man." Yikes, all this before ANYTHING that actually had anything to do with the animal. In fact, I couldn’t find any articles in my quick search that actually did talk about the animal. I did, though, come across an article about the television show “Cougar Town”. Not what I was hoping for.

Because of this disappointment, I went ahead and tried out the query “sex”. With the lack of educational websites on the first search, I was curious what might come up if a student tried this one out. I got lots of journal-type entries that featured sex talk (sex chromosomes, sexual behavior, sexual disorders). The media once again reared its ugly head with ‘Sex and the City’ at the box office as well. And there were articles addressing sex drives in women, the Catholic view on sex, and information regarding rulings and human rights regarding sexual offenders.

The good news was, both searches brought up no pornography or lewd images/photos. But given the site’s student-centered focus, I was really hoping for more educational findings. I was thinking Encyclopedia Britannica and PBS. Instead I got sites perhaps of value to a college student searching for topics. But this seems a bit off-the-mark. Isn’t the point of safe search engines to protect our children? While the sites might be of some value to a college student, we’re talking about adults now. In this sense I was disappointed.

Looking strictly at the technological aspects of the search engine, it was pretty user friendly. It gave a good preview of each listing beneath the title, and clicking anywhere in that preview section would bring up a window that allowed to you peruse the writing without actually having to take the time to link over to the website. The problem was, the articles were pretty random and irrelevant, in my opinion. They might be somewhat safe, but I’m disappointed that cougar brought up several sites about a car and none about the animal.

I did go on to play with the SweetSearchBiographies, and that one was pretty neat. It broke biographies into categories, and then listed individuals alphabetically. The information was clear cut and interesting, broken down into good sized chucks. Best of all, each page had a “cite” button that gave, when clicked, the proper citation for the page with a choice of APA, MLA, and Chicago styles. This was definitely a site that offered a wealth of information and resources to students!

Feeling better about Sweet Search, I gave the Social Studies area a try. This one was great as well, offering historical images, sections including government, economics, US history broken into periods, help on writing biographies, and tips on web searches. I can absolutely see myself using this one as both a parent as well as a teacher.

SweetSearch2Day brought up a fun site giving different fact and information. When I visited, I got a mini-biography about Fred Rogers and “Mister Rogers Neighborhood”, information about today in history, and some fun mini-biographies about MLK and Maya Angelou. There were brain teasers, a geography bee quiz, a daily news quiz (Scientists now say the Earth has more than one what? Vernal Equinox, Moon, Way to skin a Cat, or North Pole?), and several other fun and informational teasers. BTW, the answer to the quiz was moon. I totally didn’t know that!

I decided to try one more thing, and clicked on SweetSearch4Me. This engine DID bring up some sites on the animal when I entered ‘cougar’. Unfortunately, they were mostly articles about cougar sightings and attacks. Again, no Ranger Rick or National Geographic. And again, lots of info on Cougar Town and sports teams. ‘Sex’ brought up what looked like the same sites as the original search engine.

So, overall I’d say it was a no-go on the search engines, but the related sites were wonderful! I would bookmark those sites, and avoid the search engines. In fact, I think I’ll return now and get a little more information to impress my friends with ;)

First Blog Post EVER!

I'm working really hard right now to study abroad in Argentina for 3 weeks this summer. Traveling to South America was never something I had remotely imagined myself doing, and now that I'm on my way I can't imagine NOT having the opportunity to explore that continent. And with this possibility comes the experience of entering a different culture with different technological resources.

As someone in her mid-thirties, I tend to be a bit hesitant when it comes to technology. When I think about using technology in my future classroom, I lean towards less rather than more for two primary reasons. The first is that I feel I have realistic expectations. My school will probably not have many resources due to budget constraints. The second is my own hesitancy born from fear, and this is something I feel I need to overcome. My students will probably be quite comfortable with technology, and therefore I should be as well if I am to connect with them on multiple levels.

When I think about traveling to Argentina this summer (and visiting classrooms there), I know that technology will be a very, very small part (if at all) of their experience. I am really looking forward to this experience, as I think it will feel a bit like stepping back as compared to our society. Life was much simpler in many ways when technology was more basic, and I think people tended to connect much more with each other. I enjoy seeing children experiment with the simple things in life, and believe it is these experiences that truly spark creativity and ingenuity in individuals. I am looking forward to having this experience in my "cultural backpack", as I believe it will play a role in the teacher I become for many future students.

With that being said, I would say that my expectations regarding technology are to learn to work with and become comfortable with that which is available to me. I would like to have the ability to be creative in this aspect. I don't want to become a teacher who relies on technology for my daily needs. Instead, I would like to be comfortable with that which is available, and additionally have the creative outlook to "think outside the box", using any resources I can find.

I feel this outlook in itself will be a huge benefit to my future students. I want them to become individuals who take what they have (regardless of how much or how little) and create great things. Think MacGyver here. I want my students to find success with advanced technology as well as with a stick, a paperclip, and a piece of paper. I want them to learn to seize the world with whatever they can, and in any situation. And I believe this begins with the example I set.