Prezi!

Surprise!  It's Prezi!

Copy of Mardi Gras Throws on Prezi
Here is also a link to it. 

Whew! That took some doing. I struggled with this for a while. I was all excited to upload power points (since I love those) and I think that was my downfall. I did not like how locked into things I was with all the imported slides. I also think my ppt was too big as well. I was getting overwhelmed with 70+ slides!!  Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the look of Prezi, I just don't think I will use it for everyday teaching use unless it is a short format. I do, however, think it is great for students. It is visually appealing, relatively easy to use (despite my troubles) and encourages fluid thought and spatial recognition. You really have to get down a sequence of events to make the presentation make sense, which some students may have trouble with. My boss recently used a Prezi presentation at a meeting and was so excited about it! 

While both Power Point and Prezi are both presentation tools, Prezi is more versatile than Power Point in its delivery, format, and sequencing. Power Point is pretty staid in its format, with only fancy slide transitions to make it more showy.  Prezi also has an advantage having the ability to access it offline. However, I found the importation of slides to be difficult to manipulate after they were uploaded and confusing to maintain a large presentation. My hands are tired after so much unecessary clicking!

NETS T standards associated with Prezi are:

1) Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity

2) Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments

3) Model digital-age work and learning

Creative within boundaries is good for students. I feel too much free reign can scare some off. With Prezi, students can be creative and still have guidelines. As I said before, I think this will help with sequencing of events, fluid thought and spatial conception. I think it helps students to problem solve and think logically while creating presentations that are outside of the norm and fun to look at! 

Photo Story

Here is the link to my photo story! I'll admit, I had some difficulty with this. Not making the photostory, that was fine. Although it was difficult to only have 20 seconds to speak. I cheated and went over by like a second on a few! I also did not like/was not sure of the 20 second duration for the slides! Some slides I spoke for only a few seconds! The other thing I was not satisfied about was the music! I could not get any of my music to upload! It killed me to have a presentation about Mardi Gras and not have any proper Mardi Gras music! It is one of the things that makes Mardi Gras Mardi Gras! Oh well. I had to settle for the tinny prepackaged background music. Oh, and of course I had some trouble figuring out how to change a .wp3 file into a .wmp, but other than that-piece of cake! Personally, I find this to be a useful tool. I am planning a trip to Europe this fall and this would be a good way to share images with some narration of what people are looking at! I like it! It is also a good way to give oral presentations in school or for work. Again, as with many things we have studied thus far, versatility is key! I think it would be especially good for students who have a fear of public speaking or have anxiety about it. This would be a good way to ease them into that, without the trauma of getting up in front of many and extemporaneously speaking or just reading from note cards. Also, with photostory, you get the opportunity to re-record your narration (something I did many times over!). NETS T standards associated with this are: 1) Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity 2) Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments 3) Model digital-age work and learning Again, original content is creative! Having students learn by getting them to create original content is a great way to engage the reluctant student. Also, it engages many different learning types, both in viewing and creating. The inclusion of text, narration and sound will reach many different types of learners. As stated before, this tool has the potential to help shy students when giving presentations and teaches students to problem solve. It is a good way to deliver content and easy for both students and teachers to use. It is very versatile too! I would love to see the difference in presentations even when students are given the same subject!

POWERRRRR POINT!

So, as a (mostly) teacher of art, Power Point is my life's blood.There is no better way to combine images and text in a complete and easy to use package! I find it reaches both visual and text-based learners, it offers a wealth of ways to get images to students, it is easily manipulable. I love it! However, the more I teach with it, the more I worry I am losing my student's interest. I have hear whispers of the death knell of Power Point, but did not want to believe it. So, it was discouraging to read the article about that very thing. I do maintain good student reviews, and Power Point is still better than just reading text or having students read it on their own. Power Point allows me to make changes while I am lecturing-to make it better while I am teaching. One thing this class has taught me is that I can be a little too "talky" with my Power Points. So, I took a lesson I taught this spring as a part of my clinical in a 7th grade French class and changed it up a little to hopefully make it more impactful. You can find it here.

NETS T standards associated with this assignment are:
1) Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity
2) Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments
3) Model digital-age work and learning
5) Engage in professional growth and leadership

As I have stated before, when I student creates any original content, I view it as being creative. Power Point offers such a wealth of options for delivery of information, there is no way creativity does not enter the picture. This software is absolutely geared towards developing digital-age learning and assessments. Students can make quizzes or flash cards with Power Point. It is also used in professional environments and the the workplace. So, not only is it a good student tool, it is a professional one as well.  The better we can train students for life in the real world, the better. And Power Point is just another way to do that.

Have I mentioned that I love maps?

Maps speak to me as a visual learner. When Google Earth first came out, my students and I were fascinated to be able to look at things on the other side of the world so closely. And to find ourselves looking at our backyards on the Internet!

Previously, we made a personal map in Google Maps. I didn't realize one had the capability to make personal maps and keep them on file whenever you need. I am going to Europe this fall and this will be a great tool to use! So, now that we had our map, we then turned into a Google Earth map.  Here is what mine looks like:

 How cool is that?? Our trip does not include Paris, but now I really really want to go!!

This was all done by using a KML file change. KML is an acronym for Keyhole Markup Language.
When I looked it up, this was the most information my neophyte brain could handle.  My husband is the one versed in coding and more advanced computer stuff than I.  I'm not sure how to "port information" other than just clicking the link to change the view. However, I can tell you that I find it important because again, it makes the world a smaller, more manageable place for smaller minds. Heck, it even makes me step back and say "wow!" Changing a view from a regular map to a satellite one is beneficial because it gives a real world view. It brings the faraway world to your doorstep and your classroom. Never been to Angkor Wat? Go there!!! For me, it just feeds my wanderlust to see images of faraway places and imagine myself there seeing the sights and smelling the smells.

Fortunately for us, the wizards over at Google have been cooking up more than maps and cool ways to  look at the world. The also have lesson plans to help you use these maps in new and inventive ways. The one I liked best can be found here.  This lesson helps students to map, analyze and critique where famous photographs were taken and their social, cultural, historical and geographical importance. The lesson indicates that this should stay within the confines of American photography, but I would expand it into world photography. A lot of students learn about time, but neglect the element of space. Why is the space around us so important? What was happening there? Why did these events take place and what led up to them? So many images are so iconic of the times, from this one here to this one, we need to learn about the where along with the why. As a teacher, I've found my student's poor grasp of geography to be staggering, now here is a fun way to incorporate that into lessons and daily life!

Also fun from Google, kinda in the same vein is this! What a dream come true!! What a feeling to view art up close and not get yelled at by guards! Students no longer need a passport to get the full effects of the art world. It is right at their fingertips!

NETS T standards:
1) Facilitate learning and creativity
2) Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments
3) Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility

Using Google Earth and all of its unique applications certainly fosters creative and innovative thinking. Students also hone their technological skills and learn trial and error from playing around with forgiving applications like this one. Students also learn about greater world they live in by bringing it into their homes and classrooms. Disaster and war may seem far away, but they can see the ramifications first hand. They can also enjoy the sublime beauty and man-made innovation the world has to offer too.

Map it!

I love maps! My sense of direction is pretty good (at times), but I do have a difficult time with orientation as compared to maps!!! Where were we without Google maps or GPS's?? HOW did I get around???  We got our GPS stolen recently and it felt like I lost an arm!  Fortunately, we both got around on our iPhone Google maps. (I love to follow the dot) But that, at times, became difficult. We recently got an iPad, and don't worry about the lost GPS anymore! However, someone needs to show me how to make the map on an iPad stationary!  When I flip the device around, the map moves too! Argh! This is what I mean when I say map orientation confuses me from time to time. Also, on vacation recently, I can do the car directions fine, but when you switch to walking directions-I'm hopeless! I'm hoping to get better at that!

So, when we were asked to design a map for this assignment, I was very excited!  What kind of map should I make? My husband and I are trying to get to Europe this fall... Anything having to do with food would be great.... But I decided to stick with what I know and that's art!  I spend the summer of 2002 living and studying in Paris and I wish I had this kind of technology with me then! So, my map is of some of my favorite museums in Paris. I could have added a lot more, but I stuck to ones that I have been to (all except two) and tried to keep a good variety!

You can find my map here and in the image here:

Here is a link to my intinerary that goes with my map!

Maps are such a good visual tool for students to use and now, with this application, be able to manipulate themselves. I can remember having to call up airlines for plane ticket information when I was in Civics class-now students can make a map of vacations, historical sites-anything!  It not only good for teaching geography, but also time management, schedules (such as trains and buses), how to get from place to place in the quickest way possible, and even a little bit of geometry! You could also bring in history and cultural lessons as well-the possibilities are endless!

NETS T standards associated with this are:

1) Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity
2) Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments
3) Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility

Again, any self-created content is creative to me. This could be used in literature classes to mark the journey of Huck Finn down the Mississippi, to plan a vacation logically and economically, or to historically mark the Freedom Trail. Any idea that a student can cook up that has anything to do with geography of any kind can find a useful outlet here. The only limitation are the real world-which, is pretty endless! I am sure if it is this easy to make a map, that there is some way to make an assessment out of it! Also, this goes back to students finding their way in the larger world and this mapping application put the power of the known world into their hands. What better gift to a student then the world!

Batch-gee-o!

For some reason, I have to singsong this application, like it is some sort of product!
Here is my map!

I'm not sure how to embed, here goes!




View Ed tech map in a full screen map

Try Batchgeo yourself!

Oh noes!  I lost the rest of my content! Oh well, here it goes again!

I'm not 100% sure what to do with this application! While trying to put on my French teacher thinking-cap, I think I would use this for mapping Francophone countries and showing students how language migrated from place to place by colonists. I could also use it to map student's potential pen-pals around the world. I love maps, and can study them for hours, so I find Batchgeo fascinating, if not a little intimidating in its use of information to locate persons or places. I guess since I know that I am one of the flags on there, it is hard to think of myself popping up in the larger world like that, but that is exactly what this application is good for-letting students know that the world is not such a big scary place!

NETS T standards associated with Batchgeo are:

2) Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments
4) Promote an model digital citizenship and responsibility

I like the term 'digital citizenship.' It indicates that with knowledge comes responsibility and this tool is a good way for students to learn both. I also like the term 'global village' and Batchgeo helps to shrink the huge wide world down to a manageable size for students, and show that while we may be far apart, we are still all humans living in the same big place.

Self-assessing

I'm all about self assessment. It is a great tool to evaluate your performance. Who knows better how you did than yourself? Of course, being honest with yourself is key. Since I have been teaching, I have really gotten into the habit of giving beginning surveys, exit surveys and the like. After going to a roller derby conference a couple of weekends ago, I got inspired to start giving self assessments to my team.

So, we were asked to assess ourselves for this course. Given that I was out of town for several days, and the fast-paced nature of this course, I got behind and I am still struggling to keep up. I think it is a major boon to have taught in a laptop model school AND to have take this course two summers ago, so I am familiar with many of these applications and am not afraid to jump right into using them. So understanding the assignments aren't the issue. There is some minor confusion over some small things-I'm still figuring out Diigo! My biggest challenge has been time-there is something due every day! Between work, keeping house, roller derby and my other online class it has been tough to stay on top of things!! I think I will feel more confident about this course when I get caught up! I also think I write a lot! Maybe it will make things easier if I edit my blog posts? I don't know. I like blogging, so I think I will keep being wordy! Overall, I am enjoying things immensely. New things are challenging and exciting to learn about and think about practical applications in my own online teaching and old things are getting remembered and polished. I really like this class!