FLASH Animation

http://www.flashanimation.com/flash3content.html

This one is obviously a website created by someone for a school project. He obviously created this when he was first learning about Flash, because in order to open a new link, a new window opens. I thought I would add it in my blog, because it shows another person just like everyone in this class that is learning something new. The website just explains what flash is and the different types of flash animation people run into daily. He also shows examples along with the definitions. Well then again, the whole website is an example of flash animation.

http://www.animationforeducation.co.uk/index.html

This teacher talks about how he allows his students to see the opportunities in Flash Animation, Clay Animation and Animation. He has write out a simple story line and then from their they are to build the props, the characters, the set, everything to make this cartoon, or movie. They are usually set in a team working atmosphere or they work alone, depending on the assignment. The students are really able to cross the barrier between left and right brain thinking, by being able to use an electronic device such as a computer or camera and being able to create.

http://www.fg-a.com/

This website is filled with flash animation clip art and real clip art. It is awesome. It has a whole bunch of random little bits of clip art that can be used for presentations and such. It is perfect for a teacher that needs to entertain her students.

SMARTBOARD Tutorials

The SMART board interactive whiteboard 10 is the SMART notebook only with less animated tools and gallery items. It is a whiteboard, that projects your computer screen, allowing you to open Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. It is an interactive whiteboard, so the user is able to draw on the project computer screen or any of the Microsoft Applications. The user is also able to take a screen capture of anything they create. This is much like the SMART notebook, except the SMART notebook allows you to add in animations, videos, and flash animation all from your laptop. You are able to design and create lesson plans from laptop and project it provided there is a projector, thanks to SMART notebook. Whereas SMART whiteboard, you are not able to create any lesson plans and save them, you are just pulling up documents from your computer and profiling them to the class. It all becomes like a powerpoint document and there is not much excitement to it.

The SMART Table is much like the SMART whiteboard only it has become a little more advanced. It has the tools of the interactive whiteboard with the activities of the SMART notebook included. The students are still able to touch the screen and draw on it. Students are now able to look at images and can resize the images and organize them. The students can also play activities such as multiple choice and hot spots. The activity multiple choice allows students to come drag the correct answer to question and hot spots allows students to match words and images to correct areas. There are also addition and puzzle activities. These activities build team work and leadership.

The SMART podium is a great idea. You are able to stand in one area of the classroom or walk around and present your information. I would personally find it a little complicated to hold and draw on at the same time. Although, I would have to get over it and learn to multi-task! It is a great tool, I can see how it can be very useful in a large classroom setting such as EDST 221 or a elementary school classroom.

Lesson Plan from Smarttech

The first lesson plan I found was a lesson adhered to Elementary School children grades 3-6. It focuses on Adverbs. It has activities focusing on adverb practice and understanding what adverbs are. The children are able to understand what adverbs are through sentences. They then sort the adverbs into different categories in order to understand the difference between when an adverb is used, such as "how, when, where, how much?". The whole lesson is to understand and practice when to use adverbs and how to correctly use them. It was really well put together, because it was put together by smarttech. It had slides with pull tabs explaining more about the adverbs and how they used in sentences and life. Many of the slides had an answer key, when pushed it would display the answers. The answer key was very useful, along with the pull tab. I want to incorporate that into my lesson plans. I would definitely use this lesson for my class.

The second lesson plan was made for Primary children. It states that it is meant for children grade one. It focuses on phonics and filling in sentences with the correct words. The lesson plan is sloppy. There are too many words for primary school children. This lesson plan was obviously put together by someone beginning with SmartBoard.

The third lesson plan was made for Secondary children. It is meant for middle schoolers. They learn about discounts in math. This lesson plan was put together by smarttech and it has answer keys where the answers materialize and show up. It also has the answers in the pull tab.

Web 2.0 Websites for Students of the 21st Century Classroom

Web 2.0 Websites

View more presentations from aloberg1.

21st Century School Models

It came to my attention the fact about, if your classroom does not have the correct resources then you're wasting your time making a lesson plan. This stood out to me, because in all of our readings and lectures we speak as if our future classroom will be stocked full of technology and high-speed internet access. I imagine some classrooms are like that, but not all of them. I believe when I do have my own classroom and I do have access to the internet I will use it when it fits into my lesson plan. After taking this class, I will have acquired all the skills to put into my curriculum. It would be my dream for my future classroom to have all laptops instead of monitors for the students. There is the risk of the laptops breaking with younger children, but they would not take as much room as a monitor would.

Zoho vs. Google

The main reason I go to Google is for searching for meaningless facts, how to get some where, dictionary, finding images, just searching. I never starting using Google's other applications until recently such as its mail, its documents, and video. I see Zoho as Google without its search bar. At first glance, Zoho and Google seem very similar. They both have mail, documents, chat, and website creator. The only difference between the two is that Google is meant for people who don't use the internet as often as they should. They need quick and easy access to a map with directions, they would like a streaming live video of their favorite tv show, they would like to check their finances. With Zoho, you can build a small business with Zoho Creator, manage it with Zoho CRM, web conference to other bigger name companies with Zoho Meeting. Zoho allows you to use the tools you already have, create a large company, and manage it all from your desk at home, with Zoho Projects.

Google Docs: Check It Out

The 3-4 templates I found intriguing on Google Docs, was all of them! For a classroom setting I would use a template of a rough sketch of an MLA Formatted Paper complete with Works Cited. It would be a perfect example for students to work around when beginning fifth to sixth grade papers.
The presentation template would be great for student group projects. I remember being in elementary and middle school and doing a bad job on group projects because I could not make it to someone's house. Now with google docs, everyone can add their input to the assignment and e-mail it to the teacher the night before it's due.
The google spreadsheets students can do surveys throughout the school year. With google forms, a teacher can switch it up, instead of giving out homework on paper they need to go to their e-mail address. The teacher gets to know her students better from these fun little questions from the form. It also allows a paperless environment to begin the year.

Interview a Teacher

Stephanie Owen - McKay Elementary School, Portland, OR

1. My favorite tech and web tools in the classroom: the most used one is the ELMO document projector (you can put things under this camera and it displays them on a screen, kind of like an overhead projector but better), it is awesome, I use it everyday, we can display pictures from books and it is the most valuable way for students to share their work. Smart boards would be awesome if our school could afford them. I also think teacher webpages are amazing, its an awesome way to keep parents updated on assignments, students progress and events/activities in the classrooom.

2. Frusterations with Tech: You pretty much always have to have a plan B when you are integrating technology into a lesson plan, because there is always the off chance it will not work, and you don't have the luxury of troubleshooting with 25 kids staring at you, starting to get off task (this happened to me last week when the ELMO would not work).

3. The biggest misconception: That it is a hassle/more work to include it in your lesson plan. Also, I think alot of teachers may not realize that their students may not have access to technology at home (coming from a title 1 (ie: poor) school, I found out most of my kids do not have access to word processing or the internet at home- therefore I try to integrate these into our school day so the students can get some exposure it in our increasingly techno-dependant world.

4. Hurdles: The biggest hurdles teachers face is getting the funding to get updated technology in our classrooms. Right now we have OLD OLD Macintosh computers in our classrooms that sound like airplanes when you turn them on and work very slowly. Another hurdle I would say would be keeping informed on updated technology, this is probably a challenge for older teachers.

5. Biggest success: I enjoy bringing my iPod into the classroom and finding music to correlate with what we are studying, I find it really helps students and myself get excited and motivated about the material.

6. Inspiration: We have a teacher at our school who is our designated "technology person" (it's our librarian) and she is our go-to person for technology ideas, questions and troubleshooting. She always knows resources I can use and gives me ideas for lesson plans.

7. Future: I think schools need to stop fighting and begin to embrace the technology that students already know how to use and are currently using every day (ie: cell phones) and integrate it into their classrooms- personal cell phones are powerful individual computers in our pockets- it would make learning more meaningful for students if they were able to integreate them into lessons- ie: using their cell phone to find an answer in class.

Three Educational Blogs II

http://schoolweb.missouri.edu/poplarbluff.k12.mo.us/lowe/math.html

This one I just stumbled upon. It would be very useful, it has many website portals to multiple different websites. I didn't check out all the websites, but there were at least 10-15 websites for each subject. Math has more links than Science or Spelling, but it is focusing on elementary geometry, time and graphs, fractions and division. There is a lot to cover within this website.

http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/

Cut-outs of a scarecrow or an award for reading Ten Books, Math Worksheets, History Worksheets, State Worksheets, Grammar Worksheets, Writing/Reading Worksheets which is perfect for practicing cursive. Spelling Lists and Puzzles to pass their time. This website has got everything provided for the worksheet world.

http://www.pasadenaisd.org/teachertoolbox/PPts/ppt_elem.htm#Spanish

This website provides powerpoint for Elementary teachers. It has Math, Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies powerpoints. It also has math powerpoints in Spanish.

Three Educational Blogs

The first one isn't a blog, but I thought I might include it because I know I will be using it for years to come. It is a website called, Purplemath.com. It is useful for people who struggle in math and they need an easy reference to algebraic equations or formulas. I constantly use it for looking up the point-slope form or slope-intercept form. It would be perfect for a educator teaching middle school math. They can refer their students to the website when need be.

Then there is this blog about Teaching Homeschool, specializing in math. I continue to struggle in math, so any math website or blog can help.

http://homeschoolmath.blogspot.com
She tells stories of other people struggling to teach math, which relieves the pressure off of myself a little. She also recommends different textbooks for teaching, there are videos with quick reminders about simple but useful procedures through math, such as angles and multiplying by decimals. She gives out other blogs that could be useful to math help. This will be extremely useful to teachers who struggle with math, and struggle to teach math. It is also useful for simple reminders. It can be used by not only elementary teachers but secondary educators as well.

http://www.guerillaeducators.typepad.com/

This blog is interesting, because she speaks of teacher conferences for Tech and Science Savy Teachers that are interested. She teaches at a Charter Academy school, she talked about how the sister school participated in an Alliance to Save Energy Leadership Team. This team will be responsible for the conservation of the school's energy this year. Her blog is innovating. It isn't just about lesson plans, there are also stories about how her school or sister schools are changing ways to save the Earth. Her blog could provide many futuristic ideas for educators years to come.

http://mrpullen.wordpress.com/

Just from his earliest blog topic to his last, he has many thought provoking lesson plans. His earliest blog topic speaks of 5 ways to address and teach about the Haiti Earthquake. He adds in book suggestions for educators, how to become better educators. He suggests two great books about technology in education. One of the books being titled, "Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology". This blog is just one useful tip after another about teaching to young minds. It would be very useful to beginning teachers or experienced ones.

Although, he speaks of distance education for high school students and that school busing should be eliminated. His exact quote is, "Eliminating school busing will force districts to get serious about considering online education and distance-learning initiatives. Why shouldn’t many of our high school students be coming to school every other day and working online from home half the time? Without school-provided transportation, parents will be demanding that these types of opportunities be offered immediately."

I cannot agree with his idea of distance education for high school students. Even though that would save money for the state to eliminate school busing, there is still bus system for the middle and elementary students. Therefore it defeats the purpose of saving "some" money. Also, if high school students were to stay home and have a distance-learning environment half of them would probably fail out of school.

Slide.com Classroom Rules

PLN Blog Requirements

• It should be easy to read, and the readers should be able to understand what your main topic is about.

• Not too much information in one posting, split it up

• Background information about the blogger should be included, therefore topics don't become confusing

• Professional language, no criticizing language within the blog

• Understand who your audience is, and make your blog appropriate to either a professional or personal audience

Storybird-A Children's World

Domo Teaches Us about the 21st Century Classrooms

http://domo.goanimate.com/movie/0S4ujn8Xn2PQ?utm_source=myspace&uid=0VRP0v9Q5W54

Here is a link to my comic about Domo

21st Century Teacher

A good teacher is all of these aspects, an adaptor, a communicator, a learner, a visionary, a leader, a model, a collaborator, and a risk taker. I had a teacher this summer who was a wonderful 21st century teacher. He lead the classroom with grace and style, while being able to understand the subject at hand. He collaborate in video slide shows about organisms from chemistry, as well as different movies involving different chemical reactions. He even showed us his Second Life character which had some friends and showed the class its collection of chemical molecules. It definitely kept the class entertained for three hours.

ToonDoo

Learning about Australia!

Creating comics would be useful to teachers, because it is a different creative outlook on the learning concept. As a teacher, you could use it as a teaching tool; in order to captivate the minds of young children who become easily bored with long-drawn out subjects, such as language arts, history, or math. Comics could also be used by students to create the subject they are currently learning. It could be used as a homework assignment or in-class assignment, to explain what they have learned. An example here is a student's work displaying what they have learned about Sydney, Australia.

igoogle

My igoogle page with multiple widgets included. I would be able to use igoogle as a teacher in order to quickly find teacher pages, such as math cheat sheets, stencil cut-outs, or other teacher tips. With a simple quick click I am able to find out a ton of information.

My Future Classroom!

Starstrukk! With Wordle

My Video About Me and Why I Would Like To Be a Teacher

Research for Digital Storytelling

1.Digital Storytelling is combining art and people’s stories with digital text, video, and audio to create a topic of information. The story is usually represented around a type of theme.

2.Children often have trouble paying attention during class, usually during long, boring lectures. A presentation featuring Digital Storytelling would help break up the time they are learning, with interactive pictures, video, and audio pertaining to the lesson they are learning. They will be able to pay more attention in class and remember the lesson.

3.Digital Storytelling can be used through any of the K-12 lessons such as writing, reading, language arts, math, science, art, music, and history. It can portray a story of a person as if they were alive today, explain multiplication and division tables, and go over different types of reading styles for students. It is also great for visual learners to understand the material they are learning in the textbook.

4.The challenges that face ahead with Digital Storytelling would be the equipment (digital cameras, computers, scanners, etc.) would become damaged over the years of usage. With the high cost of digital materials being put into the school, the school would not be able to by high end products or none at all.

5.The products needed are a digital camera, computers or laptops, photo scanners, applications on the computers to make a Digital Story, such as Photo Story 3 through Microsoft.

http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/powerpoint.html

http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/jan02/banaszewski.htm

http://www.edutopia.org/use-digital-storytelling-classroom

http://www.dtc.scott.k12.ky.us/technology/digitalstorytelling/ds.html

http://techszewski.blogs.com/

Technology K-12

I remember at my school in Utah we had only 3 computers in a small room. The room was considered for the school newspaper and some typing classes. In first grade, we had a short typing class, that consisted of learning how to use keyboards (what they were, how to use them) for 15 min. and then playing computer games for 45 min. It was a one time only class. Then moving to Oregon, I didn't have another computer class until 3rd Grade. I began to actually learn how to type and how to type fast. I wasn't a fast typer, but I learned the proper way to type. On through 4th -8th grade, my computer teacher was fascinated with claymation and fast-motion animation. We had multiple projects involving the usage of digital cameras, video cameras, photo scanners, and Windows Movie Maker. Through high school, I knew fully well how to use anything digital. A digital camera, a video camera, a photo scanner, I owned a Dell for a while, now I own a macbook. By my Junior year of high school, I began to experiment with Adobe products.