It is so hard to believe that this term and this school year has come to an end already. This course has taught me so many technology tools and apps that I can bring into my class room.
With how prominent technology is in today's world I have learned how to use technology appropriately in the classroom. I am currently working on finishing my Pay It Forward Unit for my student teaching placement. This unit I have mentioned in previous posts. I find that as I am creating this unit I am able to bring a lot of the skills I learned from this course. My students will learn how to:
- edit photo's to create a new image
- create online mind maps
- create blogs/use evernote
- give credit where credit is due
- create an iMovie or iMovie Trailer
- use skype and twitter in the classroom
Without this course I would not be able to create this multimedia unit. My students will learn the positive impact multimedia can have. I am so excited to begin this unit with my students, and I intend to keep you posted on how the unit goes.
I am thankful for all the skills I learned this term. I have so much fun editing pictures, making videos, creating my own websites, and blogging. I would love to share what I have not yet like my one sentence video I created through Keynote but due to troubles with my computer I am not able :(
The links to my websites are:
http://missmlaing.weebly.com/
http://meganlaingportfolio.weebly.com/
(please note that when I finally have my computer back I will upload a photo of me for my front page so that people know what I look like)
I am creating a letter of permission for my students so that I can upload pictures of my class working and their projects.
I am so excited to continue my journey into the world of ICT. I am also very excited to have the opportunity to take a similar course to ICT, Internet for Educators next year.
~ Miss Laing
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Technology Tools to Assist my Lesson
Last night I attended a TIN PD. TIN stands for Technology Information Night. There were three presenters. Each presenter talked about a different way to incorporate technology in their classrooms. The first presentation is related to a lesson I plan on teaching in my next placement.
The first presenters spoke about iMovie and how you can make not only movies but trailers. We were taken step-by-step through the process of creating a movie trailer on iMovie. This was really good because there are limitations when making a movie trailer when using the trailer function through iMovie. The second presenter spoke about how he used movie trailers as a book report assignment for his grade 6 class. Listening to the presenter speak about his experience was great for me because I intend to do a similar assignment with my grade 7 class in my next placement. This lesson I have mentioned in previous blogs but once again, my students will be creating commercials to promote how they would like to make an impact in the world. I recently found a book titled "Pay It Forward Kids". This book will provide my students with current students around their age that have made a positive impact within their community.
To help along this project, today in my ICT class I was introduced to a site called "Inspiration" were you are able to create concept maps and graphic organizers. This I plan to use as an activating strategy to get my students thinking about the different types of community involvement or ways to make a positive impact within their community. This way students can become more familiar with deeds that may inspire them to develop what their commercial will be about. As a class we will make a master mind-map, before they break into pairs/groups to begin creating their storyline.
Having the option of iMovie or iTrailer will allow my students to use the program that will best challenge them to create their final project.
I like that with this program these projects, with permission, can be exported and uploaded to the class website so that parents can see what their children are working on in class.
As this lesson comes together, I will keep you posted on how the students are enjoying the assignment and how the lesson is going overall.
~ Miss Laing
The first presenters spoke about iMovie and how you can make not only movies but trailers. We were taken step-by-step through the process of creating a movie trailer on iMovie. This was really good because there are limitations when making a movie trailer when using the trailer function through iMovie. The second presenter spoke about how he used movie trailers as a book report assignment for his grade 6 class. Listening to the presenter speak about his experience was great for me because I intend to do a similar assignment with my grade 7 class in my next placement. This lesson I have mentioned in previous blogs but once again, my students will be creating commercials to promote how they would like to make an impact in the world. I recently found a book titled "Pay It Forward Kids". This book will provide my students with current students around their age that have made a positive impact within their community.
To help along this project, today in my ICT class I was introduced to a site called "Inspiration" were you are able to create concept maps and graphic organizers. This I plan to use as an activating strategy to get my students thinking about the different types of community involvement or ways to make a positive impact within their community. This way students can become more familiar with deeds that may inspire them to develop what their commercial will be about. As a class we will make a master mind-map, before they break into pairs/groups to begin creating their storyline.
Having the option of iMovie or iTrailer will allow my students to use the program that will best challenge them to create their final project.
I like that with this program these projects, with permission, can be exported and uploaded to the class website so that parents can see what their children are working on in class.
As this lesson comes together, I will keep you posted on how the students are enjoying the assignment and how the lesson is going overall.
~ Miss Laing
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Movie Making in the Classroom
After experiencing how much fun it was to make a movie, I began thinking how could I include movie making in my next placement. When I am out I am teaching Math and ELA, and co-teaching Science and Social Studies. I want to teach a bit of everything. So in Math I teaching Integers, not ideal for a movie but an option. In ELA, I am teaching a Multi-Media unit. I am still trying to decide what my unit will consist of.
In talking with my Co-Operating teacher (CT), one thought we had was to find inspiring novels of adolescents making a difference in the world. This idea came to me when watching a TED Talks video. I really do believe that pairing Multi-Media with a novel study will allow me to show my students the positive impact Multi-Media has on today's generation.
Sadly, I have not been able to find a time to meet with my CT to look at the selection of novels we have at our school. Thankfully I am told we have a large selection of books to choose from.
I want my students to find something that inspires them to make a difference, somewhere they can make a positive impact.
So to include Multi-Media I want them to think about what makes up Multi-Media, how they use them on a daily basis, and how they could use them to make a positive change. They will then create a script for their "movie". Their movie will be more like a commercial about the positive change they want to make.
I know with how good students are with todays technology they will be able to pick up on the editing process quickly. I found that when my group and I were editing our video it was a lot easier than we thought it would be. I still have to check with the school to make sure that Movie Maker is on the computers so that students can do their editing.
So as promised here is the video my group and I made last week. Enjoy!!!
~ Miss Laing
In talking with my Co-Operating teacher (CT), one thought we had was to find inspiring novels of adolescents making a difference in the world. This idea came to me when watching a TED Talks video. I really do believe that pairing Multi-Media with a novel study will allow me to show my students the positive impact Multi-Media has on today's generation.
Sadly, I have not been able to find a time to meet with my CT to look at the selection of novels we have at our school. Thankfully I am told we have a large selection of books to choose from.
I want my students to find something that inspires them to make a difference, somewhere they can make a positive impact.
So to include Multi-Media I want them to think about what makes up Multi-Media, how they use them on a daily basis, and how they could use them to make a positive change. They will then create a script for their "movie". Their movie will be more like a commercial about the positive change they want to make.
I know with how good students are with todays technology they will be able to pick up on the editing process quickly. I found that when my group and I were editing our video it was a lot easier than we thought it would be. I still have to check with the school to make sure that Movie Maker is on the computers so that students can do their editing.
So as promised here is the video my group and I made last week. Enjoy!!!
~ Miss Laing
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Creating My First Movie
This week was dedicated to making our own movie. Our instructions were to split up into groups, decide on what our movie would be about, it was to be around 3 minutes long, with limited, if any, voice audio.
I was in a group of 3 and we decided that we wanted to do a spin off of an old silent comedy from the early 1900. One of my group members was looking on-line and found a site that had free old movie music. Finding that music put our project into full swing. It look us no time at all to create our story-line, decide who would be which character, and began filming on our first day.
It was interesting to see how some shots worked out perfectly, some needed to be re-shot, and some needed to be cut shorter. It was so hard to not shake from laughing while filming, and I am not sure how the picture is not shaking in some scenes.
We also attracted a lot of attention while filming because of one characters costume and our groups excessive laughing sparking peoples curiosity.
Once all the filming was done we could not wait to begin the editing process. We had filmed our movie on a i-Pad but wanted to do all the editing on a Mac lap top. It took us awhile to figure out how to transfer the video from one device to another. After trying multiple options sharing a file created on iCloud with each other, we were able to access all the video clips.
We also had to create slides to include in our movie. We found a blank template to use for our titles to help our viewers be prepared for what they were about to watch. We were able to import the slides from Keynote directly to iMovie.
Once everything was in place we figured out how to delete the audio from the film and added our song we found on Creative Commons Ragtime. Our next step was cutting clips and stretching certain clips. We were so proud of how our movie was coming together.
The part I feel we struggled with the most was trying to change our picture from colour to black and white. The only part that made this difficult was when you are looking at the menu its not listed as an option. After google attempts, and patience we realized we had over looked where the option is.
I was amazing with how quickly this movie came together. Our project started on Tuesday and was finished on Thursday. This includes all the filming and editing. As soon as I show my class the video I will post the whole video for you to see.
This clip is pre-editing and does not include music but it will give you an idea of our film. Enjoy!!!
~ Miss Laing
I was in a group of 3 and we decided that we wanted to do a spin off of an old silent comedy from the early 1900. One of my group members was looking on-line and found a site that had free old movie music. Finding that music put our project into full swing. It look us no time at all to create our story-line, decide who would be which character, and began filming on our first day.
It was interesting to see how some shots worked out perfectly, some needed to be re-shot, and some needed to be cut shorter. It was so hard to not shake from laughing while filming, and I am not sure how the picture is not shaking in some scenes.
We also attracted a lot of attention while filming because of one characters costume and our groups excessive laughing sparking peoples curiosity.
Once all the filming was done we could not wait to begin the editing process. We had filmed our movie on a i-Pad but wanted to do all the editing on a Mac lap top. It took us awhile to figure out how to transfer the video from one device to another. After trying multiple options sharing a file created on iCloud with each other, we were able to access all the video clips.
We also had to create slides to include in our movie. We found a blank template to use for our titles to help our viewers be prepared for what they were about to watch. We were able to import the slides from Keynote directly to iMovie.
Once everything was in place we figured out how to delete the audio from the film and added our song we found on Creative Commons Ragtime. Our next step was cutting clips and stretching certain clips. We were so proud of how our movie was coming together.
The part I feel we struggled with the most was trying to change our picture from colour to black and white. The only part that made this difficult was when you are looking at the menu its not listed as an option. After google attempts, and patience we realized we had over looked where the option is.
I was amazing with how quickly this movie came together. Our project started on Tuesday and was finished on Thursday. This includes all the filming and editing. As soon as I show my class the video I will post the whole video for you to see.
This clip is pre-editing and does not include music but it will give you an idea of our film. Enjoy!!!
~ Miss Laing
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Digital Story Telling: Pictures and Audio
Ok so this week we have been working on picture editing. I'm not going to lie I may have been playing around with the different sites to avoid working on other homework. I don't see this as a waste of time though. For one I am practicing what I learnt in class, and two I'm beginning to develop an assignment for my next placement. Different sites offer different options for editing photos.
Here is an example of one I edited of one of my sisters and I using Tuxpi:
before:
After:
One we looked at has recently become an app for smart phones called Aviary. Apparently I have this app on my phone. I'm pretty sure that my sisters had downloaded it for me. Although I may have only used this app once, now that I am more familiar with it I just might find myself using it more often.
One site that I know will come in handy is Pixlr. This site allows you to blur out parts of your picture. If you are wanting to post a picture but someone in the photo has not given permission or does not want to be recognized this site allows you to blur out faces. I recently used this to blur out a product label, although this proved to be irrelevant with how the editing process went:
original:
edited: 
With a few clicks I had a new picture.
Some of the other sites are:
- Ribbit
- PhotoFunia
- Citrify
- BeFunky
Some of the other sites are:
- Ribbit
- PhotoFunia
- Citrify
- BeFunky
Here is an example of one I edited of one of my sisters and I using Tuxpi:
before:
I think this skill is a good one to teach students because it is one they can use when creating posters for projects or promotions. The students can get creative.
One of the assignments I have created for my next placement requires my students to prepare a presentation about a cause they are passionate about. For some of their visuals, students could edit their photos to add meaning.
I am so excited to see how creative my students will get incorporating photo editing into their assignment.
Another tool we looked with photo editing is how to create your own video with the edited videos. As a class we were to finish the saying Learning is ...., find a photo to represent your saying and edit the photo for added effects. When all the photos are sent to one person, in this case the teacher, they can upload the photos to different programs; Movie Maker for PC's and iMovie for Macs. When the photos are uploaded to the program you have choices of what you want to do. You could add different transitions between slides, add music, adjust music level to match audio if audio is included, if you do include audio and say your students needed two takes you are able to delete the part that was messed up, add time or decrease time between slides, and more options that I am yet to discover.
I have so many ideas for how I could use this in my classroom. This could be used as an exit slip where students say a comment and after editing I could play it as a review of the previous class, for assemblies, to show parents what we are working on in class by displaying it on the classroom website, or having students include this kind of technology in their presentations. The possibilities are endless.
Another tool we looked with photo editing is how to create your own video with the edited videos. As a class we were to finish the saying Learning is ...., find a photo to represent your saying and edit the photo for added effects. When all the photos are sent to one person, in this case the teacher, they can upload the photos to different programs; Movie Maker for PC's and iMovie for Macs. When the photos are uploaded to the program you have choices of what you want to do. You could add different transitions between slides, add music, adjust music level to match audio if audio is included, if you do include audio and say your students needed two takes you are able to delete the part that was messed up, add time or decrease time between slides, and more options that I am yet to discover.
I have so many ideas for how I could use this in my classroom. This could be used as an exit slip where students say a comment and after editing I could play it as a review of the previous class, for assemblies, to show parents what we are working on in class by displaying it on the classroom website, or having students include this kind of technology in their presentations. The possibilities are endless.
~ Miss Laing
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Personal Inspiration
For my ICT class, one assignment is to read a book and discuss it with our classmates. This book is amazing and full of inspirational stories. One author who has stood out the most to me is Shelley Wright. I love how she recognized that teacher based learning just wasn't enough for her students. I'm inspired how she took a leap of faith to change her teaching style to student based learning. I admire this because change is never easy. Just like when Shelley I too had teachers who lined up our desks in rows and stand at the front of the room and lectured for the majority of the block. Over the years I have recognized that I learn more when interacting with my peers and since I have recognized this a lot of what I have planned for my student teaching placement is where students interact with each other rather than listening to me stand at the front of the room talking to them. It is teachers like Shelley that help install the confidence I need to believe in my students and the results will follow. I do recognize that at first this may not be a success but that is due to students not being provided with the opportunity to learn from each other.
So far in the book Shelley has had two entires telling her audience about her decision to change her teaching style and how her students exceeded her expectations. Reading these stories and watching Shelley talk at Ted Talks, how could I not be inspired to go out and want to make such a positive change in my students lives?
I had met with my Cooperating Teacher (CT) before I had read Shelley's second entry and we had mapped out what we were wanting to cover with our students, what subjects I would take the lead in and about the projects/presentations our students would be required to complete. I had told my CT that I would love to a unit where my students would have to find a cause out in our world that excites them and have them research that cause and present on it in pairs or small groups (depending on numbers). My CT loved this idea because it tied into their Social Studies unit. I was so excited that she loved it. I am still working out the details of the assignment but it will be integrated into ELA multi-media unit. So naturally when I read Shelley's second entry in our book club book I immediately thought of this assignment and how I want my students to learn from each other, and to get excited about making a difference in the world. That is the kind of teacher I want to be. I want my students to be excited about the future and how they can make a positive impact, positive change. I want them to realize that they can be leaders and that with motivation they can do anything even if faced with challenges.
I know I have so much to learn but that is what makes me so excited about my future as an educator. I am just starting out so why not start my teaching career with student based learning? Hearing Shelley's story makes me so excited about my future as an educator. So if you have never heard of Shelley Wright here is the video of her speaking at Ted Talks:
~ Miss Laing
So far in the book Shelley has had two entires telling her audience about her decision to change her teaching style and how her students exceeded her expectations. Reading these stories and watching Shelley talk at Ted Talks, how could I not be inspired to go out and want to make such a positive change in my students lives?
I had met with my Cooperating Teacher (CT) before I had read Shelley's second entry and we had mapped out what we were wanting to cover with our students, what subjects I would take the lead in and about the projects/presentations our students would be required to complete. I had told my CT that I would love to a unit where my students would have to find a cause out in our world that excites them and have them research that cause and present on it in pairs or small groups (depending on numbers). My CT loved this idea because it tied into their Social Studies unit. I was so excited that she loved it. I am still working out the details of the assignment but it will be integrated into ELA multi-media unit. So naturally when I read Shelley's second entry in our book club book I immediately thought of this assignment and how I want my students to learn from each other, and to get excited about making a difference in the world. That is the kind of teacher I want to be. I want my students to be excited about the future and how they can make a positive impact, positive change. I want them to realize that they can be leaders and that with motivation they can do anything even if faced with challenges.
I know I have so much to learn but that is what makes me so excited about my future as an educator. I am just starting out so why not start my teaching career with student based learning? Hearing Shelley's story makes me so excited about my future as an educator. So if you have never heard of Shelley Wright here is the video of her speaking at Ted Talks:
~ Miss Laing
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Where to Begin... Websites? Digital Story? All of the Above?
Wow so since my last blog I feel like I have so much to talk about.
My last blog was about my adventure in beginning to create my own classroom website. Creating this website showed me how indecisive I am. It took me hours to decide which background I wanted and once I finally chose I wasn't satisfied. I am happy to say that I finally decided (or at least I think) that I have decided on a background. I designed my website for my upcoming student teaching placement in a grade 7 classroom. I have pages for students, parents, a little about me so parents and students can get to know me and my contact information. My front page is my favorite. I took some time to look for a quote and this is the one that spoke the most to me.
"In order to succeed, we must first believe we can' by Nikos Kazantzakis
What I liked the most about this quote how motivational it is. As a teacher, I can teach you all I know but it is up to my students to believe in themselves to succeed. They cannot depend on anyone but themselves to achieve their desired success. When they believe in themselves and set their minds a goal they will have found the motivation that will carry them into their future.
Then I took the time to find a video that I wanted to embed on my page. This did not take me as long as I thought it would. This is the video I found.
The moment I saw this video I had found the perfect one for my classroom website. When I watch this video I feel so motivated to go out and learn, I feel excited to learn. This is how I want my students to feel when they come to my class. I also like that this video speaks to both students and teachers. I love how our Kid President puts school into perspective for the views.
"Life's a school you got to show up".
I still have some work to do but here is the link if you want to check it out:
www.missmlaing.weebly.com
Ok, so now on to Digital Story Telling. I still have so much to learn about Digital Story Telling but so far we have looked at two different programs/sites: Photo Story and Animoto. Sadly because I have a Mac computer I was not able to play around with the Photo Story site but I could see how I would want to incorporate this into a lesson. At the beginning of the school this would be a great way to get to know my students. They could create a story about their likes, interests, hobbies, etc. Then their is Animoto and this site I was able to access. We were given time to create a story and I created mine about my family. Sadly I cannot figure out how to embed two videos in a blog entry so next blog entry I will try to embed the Animoto video I created. This will give me more time to play around with the site.
Until next time,
~ Miss Laing
My last blog was about my adventure in beginning to create my own classroom website. Creating this website showed me how indecisive I am. It took me hours to decide which background I wanted and once I finally chose I wasn't satisfied. I am happy to say that I finally decided (or at least I think) that I have decided on a background. I designed my website for my upcoming student teaching placement in a grade 7 classroom. I have pages for students, parents, a little about me so parents and students can get to know me and my contact information. My front page is my favorite. I took some time to look for a quote and this is the one that spoke the most to me.
"In order to succeed, we must first believe we can' by Nikos Kazantzakis
What I liked the most about this quote how motivational it is. As a teacher, I can teach you all I know but it is up to my students to believe in themselves to succeed. They cannot depend on anyone but themselves to achieve their desired success. When they believe in themselves and set their minds a goal they will have found the motivation that will carry them into their future.
Then I took the time to find a video that I wanted to embed on my page. This did not take me as long as I thought it would. This is the video I found.
The moment I saw this video I had found the perfect one for my classroom website. When I watch this video I feel so motivated to go out and learn, I feel excited to learn. This is how I want my students to feel when they come to my class. I also like that this video speaks to both students and teachers. I love how our Kid President puts school into perspective for the views.
"Life's a school you got to show up".
I still have some work to do but here is the link if you want to check it out:
www.missmlaing.weebly.com
Ok, so now on to Digital Story Telling. I still have so much to learn about Digital Story Telling but so far we have looked at two different programs/sites: Photo Story and Animoto. Sadly because I have a Mac computer I was not able to play around with the Photo Story site but I could see how I would want to incorporate this into a lesson. At the beginning of the school this would be a great way to get to know my students. They could create a story about their likes, interests, hobbies, etc. Then their is Animoto and this site I was able to access. We were given time to create a story and I created mine about my family. Sadly I cannot figure out how to embed two videos in a blog entry so next blog entry I will try to embed the Animoto video I created. This will give me more time to play around with the site.
Until next time,
~ Miss Laing
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
The Beginning of my Classroom Website
So after being introduced to websites, we were given the opportunity to begin our own. This has definitely been a learning experience.
First: choose which site you want to use
Second: choose your layout and background
Third: register with the site
Fourth: decide on everything else
When I first started I felt overwhelmed but that was just from the choices for my layout and background. I definitely took way to much time deciding on what could be the perfect background. One that wasn't overwhelming or underwhelming, had just the right balance. I wanted one that looked professional. I began asking myself what does a professional one even look like? I finally decided on one and I am happy with my choice.
From here I decided to work on my menu. What titles did I want to have? I wanted one for a calendar so that parents could access it at all times, especially if the one that gets sent home was lost between school and home. I wanted one for students, about me, and a contact page is what I have so far.
I am designing this page with my next placement in mind. I want my student links to be tailored to the grade 7 students I will be teaching. Each subject will have its own page. Also I intend on assembling a Symbloo page for my students. This will provide them access to sites they could use for research or to pages that allow them to practice skills in the form a game. I want the calendar to reflect actual due dates and events that will be happening while I am with the class. I want my about me to allow parents to get to know my education background and me as a teacher.
I am still deciding how I want my home page to look. I know it should not be overwhelming but rather inviting. I was able to decide that I wanted a quote on my home page. What I haven't decided on is which quote:
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go" Dr. Seuss
OR
"In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can" Nikos Kazantzakis
Both, I believe explain my views on teaching. The first one is that I can teach you what I know, but it is up to my students to decide what they will do with that knowledge. The second is all about how it is up to the individual to believe in themselves and with that belief they will succeed. So many decisions.
As of right now that is all on my site. As it begins to come together more I will let you know.
~ Miss Laing
First: choose which site you want to use
Second: choose your layout and background
Third: register with the site
Fourth: decide on everything else
When I first started I felt overwhelmed but that was just from the choices for my layout and background. I definitely took way to much time deciding on what could be the perfect background. One that wasn't overwhelming or underwhelming, had just the right balance. I wanted one that looked professional. I began asking myself what does a professional one even look like? I finally decided on one and I am happy with my choice.
From here I decided to work on my menu. What titles did I want to have? I wanted one for a calendar so that parents could access it at all times, especially if the one that gets sent home was lost between school and home. I wanted one for students, about me, and a contact page is what I have so far.
I am designing this page with my next placement in mind. I want my student links to be tailored to the grade 7 students I will be teaching. Each subject will have its own page. Also I intend on assembling a Symbloo page for my students. This will provide them access to sites they could use for research or to pages that allow them to practice skills in the form a game. I want the calendar to reflect actual due dates and events that will be happening while I am with the class. I want my about me to allow parents to get to know my education background and me as a teacher.
I am still deciding how I want my home page to look. I know it should not be overwhelming but rather inviting. I was able to decide that I wanted a quote on my home page. What I haven't decided on is which quote:
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go" Dr. Seuss
OR
"In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can" Nikos Kazantzakis
Both, I believe explain my views on teaching. The first one is that I can teach you what I know, but it is up to my students to decide what they will do with that knowledge. The second is all about how it is up to the individual to believe in themselves and with that belief they will succeed. So many decisions.
As of right now that is all on my site. As it begins to come together more I will let you know.
~ Miss Laing
Monday, January 20, 2014
Websites...Appealing or .....
So I started looking online at different websites that were created and I must admit that the more visually appealing they are the more likely I was to explore that site. When I would find a site that was appealing I would begin exploring what the page consisted of such as:
- pictures
- videos
- courses
- contact information
- drop down menus
I found it interesting to see the different ways in which people construct their sites. Some choose drop down menus, while others just have their menu off on the side. Some sites are plan and not visually appealing, some overcompensate visual appeal, and others have just the right balance (FYI this is just my opinion lol). Some sites were visually appealing while other sites tailored their images to specific age groups.
One feature I did like but also found distracting was titled Brain Breaks. This section contained videos that, true to its name, gave your brain a break. Of course I had to look at all of the videos which is how I came across this one...
Now that my brain has had a quick break back to websites. Some of the sites I looked at seemed overwhelming and unorganized.
Looking at different sties has allowed me to consider what features I would like for mine and how I want to construct it. I like the idea of a drop down menu. This allows the reader clear navigation of your web page, while keeping everything clear and organized. I like the idea each subject having its own link in a drop down menu to its own page. This helps students as well as parents access to the course material, information, and educational webpages (ex. Symbaloo links). I also like the idea of having a calendar on the site. The calendar will show when assignments will be due and when tests are scheduled for. It will also show up-coming school events, field trips, classroom activities.
Information that I will definitely have on my webpage is my contact information. What I will also do is have a comment page for parents input.
To help parents get to know me I will create a page ABOUT ME. This will help parents get to know a little bit more about me like:
- where I went to school
- interests like coaching, sports
As I am sure you noticed I do have a lot of ideas going through my head. I am very excited to start putting all these ideas into my very own webpage!!! I will keep you posted on the ups and downs in my creation of my webpage.
~ Miss Laing
- pictures
- videos
- courses
- contact information
- drop down menus
I found it interesting to see the different ways in which people construct their sites. Some choose drop down menus, while others just have their menu off on the side. Some sites are plan and not visually appealing, some overcompensate visual appeal, and others have just the right balance (FYI this is just my opinion lol). Some sites were visually appealing while other sites tailored their images to specific age groups.
One feature I did like but also found distracting was titled Brain Breaks. This section contained videos that, true to its name, gave your brain a break. Of course I had to look at all of the videos which is how I came across this one...
Now that my brain has had a quick break back to websites. Some of the sites I looked at seemed overwhelming and unorganized.
Looking at different sties has allowed me to consider what features I would like for mine and how I want to construct it. I like the idea of a drop down menu. This allows the reader clear navigation of your web page, while keeping everything clear and organized. I like the idea each subject having its own link in a drop down menu to its own page. This helps students as well as parents access to the course material, information, and educational webpages (ex. Symbaloo links). I also like the idea of having a calendar on the site. The calendar will show when assignments will be due and when tests are scheduled for. It will also show up-coming school events, field trips, classroom activities.
Information that I will definitely have on my webpage is my contact information. What I will also do is have a comment page for parents input.
To help parents get to know me I will create a page ABOUT ME. This will help parents get to know a little bit more about me like:
- where I went to school
- interests like coaching, sports
As I am sure you noticed I do have a lot of ideas going through my head. I am very excited to start putting all these ideas into my very own webpage!!! I will keep you posted on the ups and downs in my creation of my webpage.
~ Miss Laing
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Correction... oops
Remember how at the beginning of last week I said I was overwhelmed with all the information about different sites? Well my last post proved this to be true. I was looking back at my last post and realized that I mixed up my sites for my last post. I realize that the highlighting and post-it note function is for a different site, Diigo. This site I have not yet looked at closely.
I keep asking myself should I sign up for all of the different sites or should I just really get to know a few of them? The different sites have different applications that would be useful in a classroom. With technology becoming so prominent in today's society, I wonder if I should become familiar with all of the sites that I'm learning about?
One thing I am really excited to learn about is building/creating my own website. This is a skill that I will take with me into my classroom. From some of the examples I have seen have provided me with some useful ideas for what I want mine to consist of. I like the idea of having a link to Symbaloo pages for each of my classes. This will provide students with access to websites for their assignments. This is also a good way to communicate with parents. I can have assignments posted with descriptions so parents know what is going on in the classroom.
This week we begin looking at ePortfolios and Websites so I'm sure I will have a lot to write about :)
Let week three begin!!!
~Miss Laing
I keep asking myself should I sign up for all of the different sites or should I just really get to know a few of them? The different sites have different applications that would be useful in a classroom. With technology becoming so prominent in today's society, I wonder if I should become familiar with all of the sites that I'm learning about?
One thing I am really excited to learn about is building/creating my own website. This is a skill that I will take with me into my classroom. From some of the examples I have seen have provided me with some useful ideas for what I want mine to consist of. I like the idea of having a link to Symbaloo pages for each of my classes. This will provide students with access to websites for their assignments. This is also a good way to communicate with parents. I can have assignments posted with descriptions so parents know what is going on in the classroom.
This week we begin looking at ePortfolios and Websites so I'm sure I will have a lot to write about :)
Let week three begin!!!
~Miss Laing
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Me? Organized? ICT Thank-You
So every year and every term I tell myself, this time I will stay organized. After about a few weeks my binder and back-pack are a disaster. Pens go missing, highlighters run out of ink, and loose papers are everywhere. Every time I ask myself "How did you let things get to this point?" The famous answer "I don't know!"
As I learn more about different on-line resources that will help me get organized I am intrigued. Once the initial fascination wears off I become nervous that due to my lack of technology skills this attempt be a disaster.
One of the sites I was introduced to this week was Evernote. I liked some of the features that my professors were telling me about like the ability to download a page from the internet and highlight important information or post-it sticky note. When I go to bring that page up through Evernote the highlighting and post-it note are still there. Another feature is that you can tag people in notes and that allows them to access that note (this is one feature I cannot wait to figure out). All the notes you post can be categorized. Right now I have about 4 'notebooks'. These notebooks allow me to organize my notes. Since all I need is internet access, I can access my notes from any computer. This helps limit the ever so popular excuse of not being able to find your notes because you lost them. This is what mine looks like so far.
I feel so much more organized and this time I don't believe that it is just a phase. Since I have internet access at school it is convenient for me to take notes in class on Evernote. I have notebooks for my different classes as well as a notebook for homework. This right now is my favourite notebook because all I have to do to make a note of what I need to do is pull up my homework notebook. This makes it so much simpler to see from previous dates what I have completed and what I am still working on. It also saves me time rather than pulling out my agenda, finding the right date, and making a note of the new assignment or reading.
These features got me to thinking about my future classroom. This site would help me to teach my students how to pick out important information. Students would have their own site. IF I am lucky enough to work in a school where students have a computer at their desk I would recommend that students type their notes in their on-line notebook. This would eliminate the excuse to go to their locker because they grabbed the wrong binder or left their assignment. They would also be able to save their research on this site and make notes on the pages they saved from the internet.
I sure as I learn more about the site and become more familiar with the features my vision will change. Right now I am loving how organized I am, which for me is a huge accomplishment.
So excited for what I will learn next!!!
~ Miss Laing
As I learn more about different on-line resources that will help me get organized I am intrigued. Once the initial fascination wears off I become nervous that due to my lack of technology skills this attempt be a disaster.
One of the sites I was introduced to this week was Evernote. I liked some of the features that my professors were telling me about like the ability to download a page from the internet and highlight important information or post-it sticky note. When I go to bring that page up through Evernote the highlighting and post-it note are still there. Another feature is that you can tag people in notes and that allows them to access that note (this is one feature I cannot wait to figure out). All the notes you post can be categorized. Right now I have about 4 'notebooks'. These notebooks allow me to organize my notes. Since all I need is internet access, I can access my notes from any computer. This helps limit the ever so popular excuse of not being able to find your notes because you lost them. This is what mine looks like so far.
These features got me to thinking about my future classroom. This site would help me to teach my students how to pick out important information. Students would have their own site. IF I am lucky enough to work in a school where students have a computer at their desk I would recommend that students type their notes in their on-line notebook. This would eliminate the excuse to go to their locker because they grabbed the wrong binder or left their assignment. They would also be able to save their research on this site and make notes on the pages they saved from the internet.
I sure as I learn more about the site and become more familiar with the features my vision will change. Right now I am loving how organized I am, which for me is a huge accomplishment.
So excited for what I will learn next!!!
~ Miss Laing
Monday, January 13, 2014
Important: Curation!!!
Organization is a skill that I am working on. In some ways I feel overwhelmed about all the different websites that one can use to help stay organized. Today I tried to write down as much information as I could so that when I go back to look at these different sites. Todays sites were all about bookmarking. Two sites caught my attention: Diigo and Symbaloo.
1. Diigo - What I liked about Diigo was that you have the choice of having tags or lists private or public. As a teacher I want to keep my private life and school separate. The privacy option allows me to have everything on one page but those who follow me are only able to see my public posts. My favourite feature is that I can highlight information on websites and/or include sticky notes. When that URL is saved when I bring it up from my Diigo page to show my class the sections I highlighted are still there. This is a great way to teach my class how to pick out important information. This can be a lead into a lesson on students picking out the information they think is important. My dream is to be able to teach Grade 8 students and I believe that this is an essential skill for students to learn. In being able to highlight information right on the internet and share that page with others students will learn not only from the teacher but from their peers as well. This also allows the teacher to see how and what their students believe is important information and plan their lessons around what the students need more focus on. This type of strategy teaches the students not only how to pick out important information but also what is good information and what is not.
2. Symbaloo - What is appealing about Symbaloo is that there is two versions; Education or Public. I have not yet figured out the difference but that is something I am looking into. What I didn't realize is that you can incorporate your Symbaloo site into your classroom site. You can create a tab that students can access on your page that will take them to the Symbaloo sites that are specific to their courses. As a teacher you can find the sites that students can use for their assignments. You can also have everything organized into courses and then into categories so that when you teach more than one course your students can access those specific to their course. This site allows you to post apps that allow you direct access to websites such as google translate, google books, Youtube, blogs, and weather apps. These apps can be colour coded and organized as you desire.
As overwhelmed as I feel about all this new information, I know that all I need to do is take the time to look closer at these sites and decide if they are beneficial for me and my future class.
~ Miss Laing
1. Diigo - What I liked about Diigo was that you have the choice of having tags or lists private or public. As a teacher I want to keep my private life and school separate. The privacy option allows me to have everything on one page but those who follow me are only able to see my public posts. My favourite feature is that I can highlight information on websites and/or include sticky notes. When that URL is saved when I bring it up from my Diigo page to show my class the sections I highlighted are still there. This is a great way to teach my class how to pick out important information. This can be a lead into a lesson on students picking out the information they think is important. My dream is to be able to teach Grade 8 students and I believe that this is an essential skill for students to learn. In being able to highlight information right on the internet and share that page with others students will learn not only from the teacher but from their peers as well. This also allows the teacher to see how and what their students believe is important information and plan their lessons around what the students need more focus on. This type of strategy teaches the students not only how to pick out important information but also what is good information and what is not.
2. Symbaloo - What is appealing about Symbaloo is that there is two versions; Education or Public. I have not yet figured out the difference but that is something I am looking into. What I didn't realize is that you can incorporate your Symbaloo site into your classroom site. You can create a tab that students can access on your page that will take them to the Symbaloo sites that are specific to their courses. As a teacher you can find the sites that students can use for their assignments. You can also have everything organized into courses and then into categories so that when you teach more than one course your students can access those specific to their course. This site allows you to post apps that allow you direct access to websites such as google translate, google books, Youtube, blogs, and weather apps. These apps can be colour coded and organized as you desire.
As overwhelmed as I feel about all this new information, I know that all I need to do is take the time to look closer at these sites and decide if they are beneficial for me and my future class.
~ Miss Laing
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Hello ICT!!!
From the time I received my schedule this summer I was so excited for my ICT course. My familiarity with technology is very limited and I am so excited to learn about ways that I can incorporate technology into my classroom.
When my professors started talking to my class about our upcoming assignments, blogging caught my attention. I had heard of blogging but never thought it was something for me. As the week passed I could not get the idea of blogging out of my head. I realized that blogging was the perfect way for me to keep track of what I was learning in class and a good way to go back and reflect on the material. I find when I'm in classes I always have so many ideas going through my head and wish that there was a way to keep track of them. All of this lead me to the decision to start my own blog. I have begun my journey into the world of ICT.
This week was an introduction to the course and my professors. My professors talked a lot about the importance of curation. Making course material readily available to so important in this new age of technology. As a current student I find it very beneficial to have access to course material and assignments online. I believe this is something that I would want to incorporate into my classroom. Students are constantly losing assignments. If assignments are posted online all students have to do is print out another copy.
My professors also talked about Social Media and how it can be beneficial to ones classroom. One site I personally love is Pinterest. Pinterest, for those who are unfamiliar with the site, has everything from fashion to recipes to workouts to crafts to teaching ideas. I have two boards for educational purposes: 1. Crafts for Teaching and 2. Teaching Tools. Of the two boards Teaching Tools is my favourite. This board has ideas for how to stay organized, motivational quotes I would like to hang-up in my classroom, ways to teach spelling patterns, activities for sight words, books lists, and more. Pinterest is a great resource for teachers.
One site I am looking forward to learning more about is YouTube. I know that not all school divisions allow teachers access to YouTube but I believe that it can be a very useful resource. I learned that you can make your own page for YouTube where you can save videos you like. What was really cool about this was when you save videos it allows you easy access to other videos by the same person who posted that video.
I invite you to join me on my journey into the world of ICT. I will keep you informed about everything I learn and how I want to incorporate what I have learned into my classroom.
~ Miss Laing
When my professors started talking to my class about our upcoming assignments, blogging caught my attention. I had heard of blogging but never thought it was something for me. As the week passed I could not get the idea of blogging out of my head. I realized that blogging was the perfect way for me to keep track of what I was learning in class and a good way to go back and reflect on the material. I find when I'm in classes I always have so many ideas going through my head and wish that there was a way to keep track of them. All of this lead me to the decision to start my own blog. I have begun my journey into the world of ICT.
This week was an introduction to the course and my professors. My professors talked a lot about the importance of curation. Making course material readily available to so important in this new age of technology. As a current student I find it very beneficial to have access to course material and assignments online. I believe this is something that I would want to incorporate into my classroom. Students are constantly losing assignments. If assignments are posted online all students have to do is print out another copy.
My professors also talked about Social Media and how it can be beneficial to ones classroom. One site I personally love is Pinterest. Pinterest, for those who are unfamiliar with the site, has everything from fashion to recipes to workouts to crafts to teaching ideas. I have two boards for educational purposes: 1. Crafts for Teaching and 2. Teaching Tools. Of the two boards Teaching Tools is my favourite. This board has ideas for how to stay organized, motivational quotes I would like to hang-up in my classroom, ways to teach spelling patterns, activities for sight words, books lists, and more. Pinterest is a great resource for teachers.
One site I am looking forward to learning more about is YouTube. I know that not all school divisions allow teachers access to YouTube but I believe that it can be a very useful resource. I learned that you can make your own page for YouTube where you can save videos you like. What was really cool about this was when you save videos it allows you easy access to other videos by the same person who posted that video.
I invite you to join me on my journey into the world of ICT. I will keep you informed about everything I learn and how I want to incorporate what I have learned into my classroom.
~ Miss Laing
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