Week 4 Blog Reflection- Top 4 Presentation Tools for Teachers

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image​In this week’s blog, I decided to read about the Top 4 Presentation Tools for Teachers. I found this very interesting because as a student, when we are required to give a presentation, we usually turn to PowerPoint for our technology. However, some computers do not have PowerPoint installed and it will usually cost quite a bit to download. In this blog that Educational and Mobile Learning posted, it showed the top programs for creating slideshow presentations as well as a document or a poster presentation.

​The top four programs that were advised were Prezi and Haiku Deck for a slideshow presentation and Thinglink and Glogster for a poster presentation. Out of these four, I have used two which I have enjoyed very much. I will be looking for opportunities to use the other two and see if they would be a type of program I could use in my classroom. Although there are many other programs that can be used for presentations or interactive posters, these particular four were found to be the most useful for classroom use and the easiest to get started on. With apps and programs available like this, it gives you the chance to save money and still create a fantastic presentation. When giving presentations and lectures, it is important to keep it interesting because without any eye catching slides or interactive features you might find your students giving attention to something else.

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My First Tellagami Project

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Today I tried a new app called Tellagami. This app is an interactive way to create a message. Tellagami is a simple, fun app to use where you can put your creativity into a character. In this app, you can record your voice and the animated character that you customize will repeat what you said.

To download, the basic version of this app is free but if you want to have more variety of customization, and be able to use the text to speech feature, it can be purchased from the App Store for $4.99. This app would be very fun to use in a classroom to give students the opportunity to show their creativity through a character they created. Not only can you customize the person, but it also gives you the option to have different backgrounds or even upload your own photo to use. I thought this was a very fun app to use and it would definitely liven up the classroom.

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Comics in The Classroom

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imageToday I used a new form of creativity that I have never tried before; comics. When I was younger I always liked to read the Sunday comics but I never would have thought I would be creating my own for a class! The app I used was called Comic Maker, it has a wide selection of backgrounds, characters and different pictures to make an awesome comic strip. The layouts can also be changed to fit more or fewer frames to make your story. The app I used can be found in the App Store for free and it has many themes to use.
The comic strip I made is a story about a teacher who was frazzled and took it out on his students which caused them not to learn the subject. At the end, he put aside his frustration and worked with the students to teach them in a more productive way about the earth. In this case, I used several background photos to make the theme come to life and showed different scenes in the story, from the teachers beginning of the day up to the field trip to teach his students hands on.
I never thought of using a comic strip in my classroom but this is a fun way to engage with students in the and create a visual to teach a lesson. I think I will definitely use this type of learning in my classroom whether it be hanging in my classroom or as an assignment for my students. With comics, the opportunities are endless.

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Week 3 Blog Reflection- 6 Ways to Learn Collaboratively with iPads

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The blog I chose to read today was called 6 Ways to Learn Collaboratively with iPads written by Sam Gilksman. In this blog, he wrote 6 different tips to help us include iPads into our classroom without getting rid of the social aspect of a classroom. When working with iPads, it is sometimes difficult to listen to others around you since you are focused on what you are doing. In this blog, Gilksman gave several different ways to cope with that issue as well as including many different apps that work to bring the students’ work together.
The 6 different tips that Gilksman gave were: learning by sharing, editing, brainstorming, work compilations, research, and reading. All of these tips gave us different strategies to be able to include our students’ work on the iPad while allowing their peers to edit or view the work. All of these tips that he gave us were accompanied by different apps that are available to make collaboration work in the classroom while still connecting students with iPads to prepare them for the future of technology in classrooms.image

Thinglink in Education: welding

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My experience with Thinglink was very good. I thoroughly enjoyed the step by step instructions and easy choices it gave you. I would recommend this app for those wanting to explain a photo or add some interaction to a project. I thought it was a very interesting and entertaining app to use. You can purchase the app from the App Store and the basic version is free but if you are needing to do extensive work on Thinglink, the price can go up to $49 per month.
At first, I was a little confused on what type of image to use and what to include in the interaction part. Once I found an image I thought could be used in my classroom, it was very fun to make the Thinglink project, I included recipe tutorials, fun facts, and pictures of different uses in the Thinglink to make a fun interactive photo students as well as adults could enjoy. If you are having trouble getting started with the app, watch this tutorial video or check out this website for more information and helpful tips.

 

Word Clouds in the Classroom

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imageFor my app review, I Chose to use the Word Clouds by ABCYa.com to create my word cloud project. I chose to use this app because it was free to download but if you wanted to upgrade to the more complex version of this app you could purchase it for $3.99 in the App Store. This app has 4stars in the review section and I would recommend it for those who are just starting to make word cloud projects since it is free and extremely simple to use. I really enjoyed the feature of being able to paste words, sentences or even paragraphs into the text area because this made it fast, helpful and easy to write what you are wanting to put into your word cloud. Once you are finished with your chosen words, you can customize the layout, color, font and number of words to your choosing. If you are having trouble figuring how to create a word cloud project, watch this tutorial video or this step by step blog for help.
In my word cloud, I chose to write about FFA’s definition of agricultural education. I used colors to relate to agriculture as well as made important words stand out since they are larger than others. I plan on using my word cloud picture in my classroom as well as making several more for other relatable subjects in and even out of the classroom.image

iTeach with iPads

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The blog I chose to read this week was called iTeach with iPads by Kristi Meeuwse. It was about how students are learning in her classroom using iPads instead of just using standard textbooks, notebooks and pencils during choice writing. Being that it is almost the end of school, her young students are more than ready for summer so it is crucial for Ms. Meeuwse as well as other teachers to find a way for their students to keep learning.

In choice writing, the students can write about anything they chose as well as journals, field trip reflections, and much more. To see what Ms. Meeuwse’s students created, click here. iPads are used to give the students a wide variety of apps to chose from and be able to use with their writing. Essentially, they’re blogging!

With today’s day in age becoming more and more associated with technology, younger students can benefit more from using iPads and different apps so when they are in college and have assignments due, they’re well prepared because they will have been using these apps since they were 5.

I think bringing iPads into the classroom is a great way for students to become involved with technology as long as it can be kept educational. Bringing something fun in like an iPad when you’re close to the homestretch can help your students to keep focused and learn without even feeling like it’s school.

 

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Week 1 Reflection: 7 Tips for New Teachers

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The blog I chose to read this week was written by Emily Guthrie. I could immediately relate and understand this blog because of the different challenges I face day to day. These 7 tips that she gives us is something I will be able to keep in mind throughout my teaching career and it’ll be a fantastic kick start to teaching. I’m the type of person that creates my own ideas and doesn’t stop running until I wear myself out. I could relate to Ms. Guthrie 100% on tips #1 and #3 in particular. I tend to want to create my own ideas and work myself hard but there doesn’t always seem to be enough time in the day. She explains how it’s okay and necessary to make “teacher off duty” time and spend time with family and friends. If not, you’ll quickly wear yourself down and it’ll reflect on your ways of teaching.

Another specific tip I could relate to and it brought me back to my highschool and younger days was tip #7. As teachers, it’s crucial to mean what you say, keep your promises and if you have consequences for bad behavior, don’t let them slip. Thinking back, I could see where these mistakes were made and how it allowed students to get away with actions without any reprocussions since they were used to nothing happening, just the warnings. All these tips really made me question how I would’ve started teaching without knowing that these things happen and I’m not the only one who feels this way. It’s important not to wear yourself out, don’t take things personally, wear comfortable shoes to interact with students, and don’t be afraid to ask other teachers for advise. Remember, it’s not always what you know, but who you know.

 

OSMO in the classroom

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Testing it out:

The OSMO was one of the coolest devices that I have used in college thus far. There were three parts to the OSMO program, 1) mastercraft 2) tangram and lastly 3) word. With the master craft you can pick from various images to draw, the image reflects onto the piece of paper that you have in front of you and you draw the image. At the end it shows you a video of you actually drawing the image. With tangram you have a variety of shapes and you get to create images via the osmo, when you get the shapes in the right place you get to move on to the next picture. Lastly you have the word where you have all the letters of the alphabet and you get a picture up on the screen. You then place the letters in front of the reader and once you get the word correct it distributes points to the player that has the correct letters in the correct spot.

Creating my own:

The app program I used this week to create a product is called Words by Osmo, it is a fun way to create a fun, yet educational game to use both in and out of the classroom. You can download this app from the App Store for free and create a cool game.
My experience with making this game was really great. I thought this program was extremely easy to use and simple to create your masterpiece. My album is named “Agriculture” and I used photos about agriculture, livestock and products in agriculture and used words that ranged from ‘easy’ to ‘impossible’. Words by Osmo gives you the opportunity to type in several words for each photo and sort them by difficulty levels. I think this is a fun program to include in your classroom to allow your students to learn vocabulary in a fun, interactive way.

Below is my Osmo creation and the vocabulary list that goes along with the different photos of agriculture.

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Vocabulary:

Harvest, corn, tomato, sunflower, wheat, orange, horse, chicken, produce, eggs, fish, poultry, wool,grain, flour, cows, silage, combine, wheat, hay, bales, onion, dirt, crop, garden, bailing,tractor, tilling, plants, drinking, meat birds, dairy, cattle, milking, cow, udder