I am studying Elementary Education at IUPUI. I plan on minoring in Special Education. I work after school and mentor whenever I have spare time. I love helping out and hanging out with friends and family.
I chose Smilebox for the second emerging technology. Smilebox is an easy and fun way to show off pictures. There are many templates and designs you can choose from as well. It is sort of like a virtual scrapbook. You can make greetings as well. I thought that it was very simple to use. I enjoy scrap booking and pictures so I really enjoyed this technology! It was neat to see all of the different things you can do with the site. I would try out the free version before buying the Premium designs. I would also try making a small scrapbook before a bigger one. Don't give out your personal information either. Take an exploring tour with all the buttons first as well to know how to make your design more than just the simple ones.
While reading the article, the first question that I had was how you would use this technique at the elementary level. I want to teach second grade, they are not responsible enough to use the technologies needed. I also was curious about things that were in the videos, where they school appropriate? What guidelines did they have? Like the author was saying, her being an, “experienced teacher definitely played a big part” in the project approval. (Brown, 2008) If I used the satiric film project at an elementary level, I would probably have the students put on a play or skit rather than having them record themselves. Although I do think it is an important part of the project. It is emerging technologies that the students will eventually have access to everyday. I would probably make sure that the students ran their topics by me as well. I think that as an educator, getting the approval for the assignment would be challenging. I would probably explain to whomever I would have to go through that the assignment is letting the students bring out their creative side and even invite him to come and watch the final products. That way he could see how great of an assignment it was. I liked how Brown used the democratic process letting her students help provide “RIDDYS”. When I read that, it made me think of my F200 class last semester. Dr. Jacqueline Blackwell uses the democratic process throughout the whole class. It is definitely something I will incorporate in my class in the future. It gives you a power in the classroom and makes you feel like your opinion and input does matter. To help provide the grading topics and points also helps students to achieve a higher grade more than likely. They are pretty much giving their selves the grade. I have noticed, in past readings from my other education courses that valuing students’ voices in the classroom makes positive impacts, making it easier to form a community in a class. In the article, Andie Brown talks about the assignment being great for everyone. “I recall a young man who was amazingly intelligent but so bored with school that his grades were average and below. His satire about campus police was hilarious and pointed. He spent way more time on this project than anything we’d done all semester, and the final product was great. He left high school on a high note I don’t believe he would have reached without this techno-English assignment.” (Brown, 2008) I think that being an educator is one of the hardest careers out there. You get so many different personalities and when you put them all together, they almost never one hundred percent all understand what is being taught. As an educator, it is your responsibility that each student understands the topic and information given everyday. Not everyone learns the same way, and as a teacher you will learn something new everyday. Using a project like this is a great way to allow all students to understand, use their creativity and support each other all at once. I remember my senior year, doing something very similar to Brown’s project. We were learning satire and had groups we were put in. After watching multiple examples of satire, we had to show an example of our own satire. We could present it in any way: a power point, a paper, a poem, a skit/play, a video, a drawing, and if we wanted to do anything else we had to run it by our teacher. Out of everything that we did in class that entire year, I remember those presentations the most, and to this day my friends and I think back and still laugh at some of the things that were in those projects. It was the last assignment as well and left everyone on a “high note”. I heard classmates talk more the say we presented then I had the entire year. You could tell that they really enjoyed their selves. Everyone got the concept and enjoyed being in the class for that project. It allows everyone to play a part as well. If you did a video, the people who were shy could be the recorder, and the loud outgoing group members could be the ones acting. Like I said before, it is just a great way to bring the class together and enjoy being in class for once.
Brown, Andie. (2008, May). Teachers & Technology: English with an Edge. THE Journal. Retrieved June 4, 2010, from http://thejournal.com/articles/2008/05/15teachers—technology-english-with-an-edge.aspx
I chose to experiment with Gabcast. Gabcast as most of you know is a podcast service that allows you to create and distribute audio content. You can do many things with Gacast recordings. You can add them to your website or blog to communicate with others, you can record greetings, be a citizen reporter, conduct interviews, and some people use their recordings an educational tool, get togethers, or just to speak about what is on their mind! You can also use it to describe an item for sale on Ebay! Gabcasts can be very useful to many people as you can see. You can record pretty much anything you would like to,
I learned how to use Gabcast by just clicking and exploring around the website. Once I created my account, I chose to record my first Gabcast via my cell phone. It was really easy to do and when I called the number provided, it was very clear and easy to set up. There were some things that I read that were a little confusing so I just stuck with the basic recording. It is definitly something that I would love to use in my classroom and even to pass on to my friends! The only real down fall I found on the site was that you have to pay to use more than five minutes.
Hello there! Again, my name is Kristen Mikesell. I am studying Elementary Education at IUPUI. I plan on minoring in Special Education as well. I love working with children, especially younger ones. I hope to become a second grade teacher. I am currently attending Ivy Tech too. I love being surrounded by my friends and family. My boyfriend is one of my main supporters, we have been together for quite some time now. I am an insulin dependent Diabetic and have other health problems along with that. While setting up my blog page, the only troubles I really had were trying to figure out where everything was and what it did. I still haven't figured everything out yet but I am sure messing with the site, I will figure everything out. Blogger is definitly simple and easy to set up in my opinon. I am still trying to figure out what templete I like the best. If you have any suggestions or helpful hints please let me know!
