What am I learning: Vidcasts

What? This week we were introduced to vidcasts. Our assignment for the week is to create vidcast with our class partner. The vidcast can be something to do with the core or a "how to". My partner and I chose to do How to Recycle.

So What?

As a teacher, student, and colleague I can use vidcasts on many different occasions. Vidcasts can be used to teach a lesson when if I ever have a sub, or to excite the kids about a new unit we will be studying, use it as a sort of "trailer" to introduce the unit. As a student I could use a vidcast in a presentation. I feel we are learning this technology to provide us with another way of presenting our material as a teacher. As a colleague I can use vidcasts to share my material with fellow teachers.

Now What? 

As a future teacher, I don't know if I will use vidcasts. I feel like in some cases they can be kind of cheesy. However, I will teach this technology to my students so they can utilize it in their own lives. I will have them do research on what we are studying and have them create a vidcast and present it to the class. Though vidcasts are not the thing for me I still think they can be beneficial for others.

What am I learning: Podcasts

What? 


This week in class we learned how to create a podcast, convert it to MP3 format, and put it on our class websites.


So What?


As a teacher I will use this technology to post informational podcasts on what we are studying in class or use it to explain assignments to student who miss class. As a student I don't really see myself creating podcasts, but I listen to them all of the time. As a colleague, my coworkers can get on my website an use my podcasts in their own classrooms. I think that as time progresses I will find this technology more useful right now I don't think I will use it much.

Now What? 

Because I learned the procedure of creating and converting a podcast, I will be able to pass this information onto my future students. They will be able to do projects and presentations this way. I never knew how to create a podcast so this information added a lot to my schema. I was always kind of afraid of this type of technology but I now see that it can be beneficial. This technology will help me to provide information to my students using a variety of strategies. 

What am I learning: google part 2

What? This week in class we created a Class website linked to our Gmail account. The Website should have 6 pages. 

So What? 

As a teacher creating this site will help me to keep all of my teaching material, calendars, lesson plans, and announcements in one location. It will be a great help to keep myself, my students, and my parents up to date with what is going on in my classroom. This technology will be great to help me if I ever need to transfer my files to a colleague that would like to use my materials.

Now What? 

Because students are very aware of how to use technology, having this site will help them to keep to keep organized as well. If they have any questions on assignments or missed a day of class this site will allow them to email me and look up on the calendar what they miss if they are absent. I think this will help me to be a more organized and efficient teacher. This is a great tool to use in the classroom. My students can interact together on the site as they work on 

group projects.

What am I learning?

What? 
What am I learning? 


Well I will have you know that the best thing I have learned thus far, was google Documents! I love it! I was going crazy trying to figure out how I was going to meet with my groups for all of these group projects I have due like EVERY DAY!!! Because I learned about google docs, I am stress free. I love that you can just go in and have a nice little conversation in our document and make edits and changes to our project, best thing ever!! I will never go back to Hotmail.


What assignments are we performing? 
We are currently working on gathering research for our future Digital Story Assignment. I am working with Loren. We are doing research on the early exploration of america and the explorers.

So What?
So what does this all mean to me as a teacher, student, colleague today?
Why are we doing this? How can this apply to me today in my other classes and in my life in general? What does this technology mean to me? What does this technology mean to my colleagues? 


I have had the same hotmail account since I was eleven years old. I didn't have any idea that there was anything out there that really could help me as much as Gmail and google docs. I thought that all emails were exactly the same. 
Changing to gmail will greatly change my organizational skills as I continue my education the next two years. I already feel more in control of my schedule. It is great to have the ability to work on projects from home (on my own time!) rather than working around everyone else's busy schedules. I also love that everything you need is on one page.


Now What?
What does this technology mean to my future students? How does this new information change my current schema? How will this information change the type of teacher I will be in the future? What kinds of assignments can I give my students so that they are engaged and so that they can collaborate with other students both within and without the school? How will this help me to become a better future teacher? How will this information help me to become a better future colleague? How can this information change the type of collaboration we engage in ...in our department? This is where you discuss your passions, emotions, and beliefs for the future. 


As I become a teacher I will use googled docs to post a weekly/monthly calendar up for the students as well as the their parents. This will allow them to stay involved with their child's school work and help prepare them. 
Learning about google docs, greatly added to my schema of computer knowledge and group work. I knew how to work in a group, but I didn't know that it could be this easy. I will not go back to using another email account because gmail offers much more to me as a teacher. As I involve my students with this new technology I have learned I will ask them to do a similar type of assignment as we are working on now. I will ask them to create a google document and do research with a classmate over the computer. 


This technology will help me become a better teacher because I will have all of the information I need at my finger tips, Literally! I will be able to keep all of my lesson plans, calendars, art projects, reminders, etc on one simple website. Organization is a very important thing to have as a teacher, if you are not clear in your own mind, how do you expect to express yourself clearly to your students? As a colleague, I will be able to quickly respond to my other colleagues, and work on concerns we have with our students over the computer. It will also be great to be able to easily answer any questions they have or give them any of my material they want.
Google Documents and Gmail have really made adjusting to this CRAZY semester a lot easier. I am so glad that it is an available and free resource for me to use and a student and as a future teacher.