comparing technologies

I have taken a look at three different powerpoint presentations which suggest ways to use specific technologies in the classroom.

The first one, Wordle, creates posters using words. The posters can be about any topic. Students can compile the words onto the poster and create the layout. This can be done as a whole- class project, but certainly works well with individiual projects. There are several suggestions. I would suggest using Wordle to even introduce a unit. Give students the vocabulary words on Wordle, have them tell you what they think they mean and what they think the unit will be about; then have them revisit the website after the unit is completed to assess how much information they gained.

The next is using a visualizer in the classroom. By doing so, students can create short movies and creative pictures. Visualizers also work well when showing things with specific patterns, such as magnetic fields. It CAN be used with a smart board. By allowing this, students can create their works, then have them displayed on the smart board. What's good is that teachers can learn how to display the child's work on the smart board and add new text/ designs to it to further enhance students' learning and understanding. If I understand it correctly, a visualizer seems to be a modern- day projector, that now is digitally enhanced.

The last presentation that I viewed is using audio in the classroom. There s so much to do with audio in the classroom. Students/ teachers can add audio sounds and music to presentations, students can listen to songs that pertain to something being taught in ELA. Students can generate their own lyrics for the songs. Audio can be used to express emotion and set the scene for what you are about to teach the students. Students can also use audio to express themselves creatively and emotionally. There are endless uses for audio in the classroom.

I am glad to see that these three technologies are becoming more prominent in classrooms today. It makes learning much more interesting and fun. I believe that these tools allow students to be hands- on. They create their own work- work that they can be proud of. The end products when using these tools are products that relfect who the students are and the dynamic of the class as a whole.

Creativity

   What is creativity? This is a question that we were asked in class tonight...and I think that it's an important one. Creativity to me is the ability to freely express oneself. When I see the word creativity, my mind automatically jumps to art, music, theater, and dress. I think that these are ways that people express themselves. My family and my best friends are people that I consider to be very creative. My mother always liked art as a young child and used her interest in art to become a master hairstylist. My best friend (A) is an artist who consistenly expresses her creativity through not only her art, but also her clothes and different hairstyles. My best friend (M) is a playwright who uses her creativity of words to write her plays. Not only does this involve creativity of words, but I presume it also involves envisioning who would be a good choice to play the part of her characters if they ever came to life on the stage. My best friend (S) is an artist, photographer, and actress. All three of these qualities together require a lot of creativity. I, myself, am a quiet person who expresses myself through my passion for teaching, music, and the arts. 
    I think that these are mostly intrinsic abilities that flourish when provided the appropriate environments. Since the time that I began school until now, I feel as though schools have made some strides in allowing students' creativity to develop, but there is not nearly enough that has been done. In class tonight, someone stated that schools right now teach the academics so that students can get into college. This is wonderful, yes, but I feel that along with academics, we need to provide students with environments that allow creativity to flow. I say this because as an educator, I recognize that students are more attentive when they are given the opportunity to creatively express themselves.  If lessons capture students' interests, they are more likely to retain the information. As a personal note, I played the violin for 12 years in a district that had no string program. That was my passion. It still is. It taught me a lot of discipline, but I always wished that teachers could have brought more music into the classrooms that I was in. I always had a very hard time with Math right from the beginning, but playing the violin helped me to get a better handle on it because it taught me rhythm and timing. Unfortunately, creativity comes with a price. Technology is coming about so quickly now that people are starting to lose their creativity. Technology is wonderful, but when I am in the classroom, I try to have my students use the technology, but still do activities where they need to think and create their own projects/ pictures/ diagrams/ presentations, etc.
   I am really looking forward to using the tools that I have learned in this class in my own classroom. I think that tools like these will help school districts to see that not all computer programs that will enhance students' creativity are expensive. Maybe then (I can only hope) some people will realize that BOTH academics and creativity are important.
Until next time...

My Voicethread

This is my voicethread- a completely new technology to me. I really liked playing around with the voicethread. I think it is something that I will be able to use in my classroom for just about any subject. The voicethread allowed me to choose a topic and orally comment on why I thought that this topic is relevant/ important. It also allows you to type a comment, although I chose to stick with voice. I like the fact that now anyone who views the voicethread can add their own commentary. Unlike some other tools, you do not have to own the product to comment. I think this is great, because when using this tool with students it would allow them to comment without having to go through a lot of steps. I chose Respect because this is one of the most important things to teach right at the beginning of the year. Many of the classrooms that I have subbed in have become so bogged down with focusing on state tests and other things that they do not have the time to teach about some important things such as Respect. I have seen that many students today do not know what repest is and what it means to be respectful of others. When I get my own classroom, this will be one of the first things that I teach at the begining of the year. The picture that I chose is c/o slumdogging.com. It serves as a good tool for teachers to use as a guide- both for themseleves as well as for their students. Here is  the link to my voicethread (I had trouble embedding it.):
http://voicethread.com/share/1883666/