Digital Blog Post #H- Chapter 9

Chapter Nine of the text book brings a wide variety of multimedia technologies that can be used in the classroom. One piece of technology that caught my eye was the use of digital projectors. I have seen teachers use these all throughout my schooling; I have never seen a teacher not use them. A digital projector displays material from a computer screen, and also displays the same material on a large screen or a whiteboard. I find this incredibly useful. With a digital projector, everybody can see the material being presented, and it it's presented on a whiteboard, the teacher can write on the whiteboard and make it appear as if he or she is writing on the material being presented. In an article entitled 50 Ways to Use a Projector in the Classroom, the author introduces many different ways to use a projector.

Although I plan on becoming a teacher for secondary students, I found alphabet books to be very intriguing. With alphabet books, students can use their own creativity to create their own book. Not only does this improve a child's learning in how to read, but it also gives the child opportunities to practice spelling, letter sounds, vocabulary words, and reading skills! Also, students can have pictures of themselves in their very own book, with the help of teachers printing out pictures of the student. The video above shows how to make a pop-up alphabet book, which young children could find more fun.




This chapter also introduced me to a website called TeacherTube. Like YouTube, TeacherTube is a site where videos can be shared. However, the videos shared on TeacherTube are all academic videos that can be used in the classroom. Instead of having to search through many non-academic pages on YouTube, a teacher can quickly find any academic video he or she is looking for, through TeacherTube.

Resources:

50 Ways to Use a Projector in the Classroom. (2008, November 19). Retrieved October 23, 2016, from 

     http://langwitches.org/blog/2008/11/19/50-ways-to-use-a-projector-in-the-classroom/ 

 

Garcia, V. (2016, October 23). Teacher Tube. 

 

How to Make a Pop-Up Alphabet Book for Children. (2011, February 11). Retrieved October 23, 2016, 

     from YouTube website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji0lKtjA7Vk 

 
Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Digital Blog Post #G- Chapter 10

One thing that I found to be very intriguing in this chapter, was the introduction to a speech recognition software. This software is able to perceive a person's spoken words, and transform them into physical words that will appear on a computer screen. I found these speech recognition software's to be very interesting mostly because they would be so beneficial to a disabled student. In the Padlet below, that I made using Padlet.com, I displayed what I thought was most interesting about this software.

Page 251 of this text book also introduces interactive whiteboards. Using an interactive whiteboard could be very beneficial for a teacher, especially if he or she taught a math class that involved using many graphs and straight lines. However, I believe that using a whiteboard in a language arts class would be just as good as using a marker. I once had a language arts teacher who used an interactive whiteboard in class, however the software seemed to be slow, and was constantly lagging. Whenever she would try to write on the board, the letters would not appear to be the way she hoped them to be. Because of this, many students, including myself, came across many difficulties with reading and understanding her handwriting. I believe that interactive whiteboards could be very beneficial to the classroom, depending on the teacher and the type of class it is. The video below briefly introduces interactive whiteboards.

I was also very impressed with the way that a teacher could combine technology and writing, as described on page 266 of the text book. This part of the chapter introduces the many apps that could be used to better improve the steps to the writing process. This includes apps that provide multiple notebooks to help a student stay organized, writing pads, spell check, etc. One app that really stood out to me was called Toontastic, which allows students to creatively tell stories, draw, animate, and share their own cartoons with their friends. I found that Toontastic would be a very fun app to incorporate in student learning. In a blogpost entitled Integrating Technology for Teachers, Chris Loat explains the benefits of using Toontastic in the classroom.


This chapter provides many helpful ideas to bring in the classroom that will further benefit the teacher and the student. I found the speech recognition software to be very interesting, and will make sure to keep that in mind when I come across a disabled student in my classroom. I also learned about interactive whiteboards, and how they could be used to benefit some teachers in their teaching. I was introduced to a wide variety of helpful apps, and found Toontastic to be my favorite.




Resources:

Garcia, V. (2016, October 17). Speech Recognition Software. 

How to use an Interactive Whiteboard. (2009, May 12). Retrieved October 17, 2016, from YouTube 

     website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLxVjw1yvRk 

Loat, C. (2013, October 24). Using Toontastic in the Classroom. Retrieved October 17, 2016, from 

     Integrating Technology for Teachers website: http://blogs.sd38.bc.ca/tech38/2013/10/24/using-toontastic-in-the-classroom/ 

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Digital Blog Post #F- Chapter 8 (Optional)

Out of the many social media and communication ideas that are described in Chapter eight, the use of Wikis is what stood out to me the most. Before reading this chapter, and before completing the Instructional Strategy Wiki Project, I had no idea what a Wiki even was. According to the text, Wikis are, "Websites that teachers and students create and edit together by reading and revising each other's ideas and comments." Wikis provide such a wide variety of benefits for both the teacher and the student, however my favorite is the way that student progress is tracked. If a group project were to be assigned through a Wiki, each group member's progress is specially tracked. This assists teachers in seeing how much work each student is or isn't doing. The video below demonstrates a teacher and her experience in using Wikis in her classroom.

Chapter eight also suggests for teachers to use text messaging to keep students engaged. As much as I love the idea of "Teaching beyond the school day", I don't think I would feel very comfortable with giving students my phone number. I am aware that most college professors will give students their phone number because it is the quickest way to contact the professor, however the majority of students below a college level could be immature, and use a personal phone number for reasons that do not involve academics. The principal behind using text messaging in the classroom is great; students are constantly on their phones, and because of this, using text messaging with students could be a great idea. The text book suggests that using text messaging in the classroom could improve student spelling. I think this is a wonderful idea. I do agree that text messaging in the classroom is very beneficial, however I would not use my own personal phone number. In an article entitled Nine Awesome Group Text Messaging Tools For Educators, a list of helpful group text messaging tools is provided. These tools could be very useful, sending students reminders of test dates, assignments, etc.






Chapter eight also introduces synchronous communications and asynchronous communications. Synchronous communications are communications in which messages are received quickly, like face to face messages. Asynchronous communications, however, occur when messages are received over a period of time, much like emails or text messages. It's important for a future educator to be able to distinguish the difference between the two, that way he or she will be able to equally apply both communications in his or her classroom. The image below was created by myself, using Taxedo.

Chapter eight offers many helpful social media and communication ideas to bring into the classroom. My favorite idea is definitely the one regarding using Wikis in the classroom. I also love the idea of texting students, however only through a texting application. I am also glad that I learned about synchronous and asynchronous communications. As a teacher in the making, I aim to focus on using both synchronous and asynchronous communications in my classroom.








References:


Garcia, V. (2016, October 9). Taxedo.


Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Nine Awesome Group Text Messaging Tools for Educators. (n.d.). Retrieved October 9, 2016, from Educators Technology website: 

        http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/04/9-awsome-group-text-messaging-tools-for.html

Using Wikis in the Classroom. (2009, June 12). Retrieved October 9, 2016, from YouTube website: 

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pR5yogCmkA