Day 10 in Computers in the Classroom

I absolutely loved today's class!
I found it really interesting to learn how to use different types of video and photo storyboards from my classmates. It was cool seeing what they are passionate about and have interests in. It also gave me more insight with how to use different types of media and technology like importing audio files, pictures and videos. The more practice I get, the more comfortable I feel.
I also thought it was really great that Wendy asked us to import our own pictures and audio files to make our very own storyboard. This allowed all of us to create something that we cared about, rather than just using sample pictures, which would have been broing.
Right now I am creating a lesson plan on Transformations and rotations for one of my classes. I could ask students to take pictures of things at different angles of roations and make a storyboard out of it. The storyboard would be a great way to engage students into an interactice approach to learning, allowing them to explore this technology and take pictures of things that interest them and a great way for me to assess them.
I also learned from this class that learning from your peers is just as important as learning from the teacher. It shows more involvement in the class, and for me at least, resulted in a greater understanding. I will have to keep this in mind and incorporate this into my classroom.

Day 8 in Computers in the Classroom

Today, we made our own wikis. Getting started was a bit rough for me. I wasnt too sure what I wanted to make it about, how I wanted to relate it to a "class" or even how to make new pages. But once I came up with an idea, things just started falling into place. I was able to make a few different pages, with links on them, that corresponded to different groups in my class. (I was so proud that i figured out how to do it!) I also got a little creative and made a survey on surveymonkey for my students to take, so I could get input on what they thought about the assignment. I also posted the link to surverymonkey to allow students to make their own surveys so their classmates could take them. I am excited to actually start using this in the real classroom. I love how it engages all the students and allows them to edit anything they want, so they can feel like a part of the wiki, I think that is really important.

Day 7 in Computers in the Classroom

In today's class, we broke up into three groups, completing three different activities. My favorite one was sharing my blackboard lesson and activity to Danielle. It gave me good practice on how to present a lesson and then go about including the class in the lesson by raising certain questions and asking them to complete the activities at the end of the lesson. While I was presenting my lesson, I saw that I had made a mistake. This put me in a great situation because now I know how to react if this ever comes up. I can ask the class, "what is wrong with this page?" and then ask them to correct it.
My least favorite activity was using google sketch. After watching the videos on how to use it, I understood it a little more, but not enough to create a simple chair. It took me many times to get a simple shape on the diagram, but after many tries, I started to get the hang of it. I guess practice will eventually make perfect (or close to prefect). A program like this would be good to use in a math classroom when learning about dimensions and geometric shapes. I think it would allow the students to be more creative and definitely interact them more in what they are learning.