Monthly Archives: June 2015

Week 5 Reflection: Tech Edge In The Classroom

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For my first video I watched Episode 118 math and logic games, this video talked about app math games  being used in the classroom and the one I took the most notice on was a game called slice it. This game allows the user to use a notepad and cut shapes into equal fractions, this allows you draw out the fraction with the app showing what you have done. For example if it give you a fraction of 3/4 you have to fill that in on the problem and it will tell you if you failed or passed. This app is free for basic use and .99 for more options on the app if you want to pay for it.  After looking at the basic I like the app it was easy laid out and gave you proper teaching methods after you attempt is made on the fraction.

The second app I want to talk about is History Atlas, it allows the user to travel the globe on a virtual timeline allowing teachers to show students what is happening during that period. If you are a teacher and wanting to make your lesson more lively for the students, then using this app would be beneficial. I personally think this app from the video will allow students to become more independent with there lesson on historical events. The only down fall to this app that would keep it out of the classroom is that it cost $9.99, most teachers would not want to spend that amount of money for something they can teach from a power point. From looks of the video it would be worth money, but with large amounts of budget cuts I could understand why schools would stay away from this app.

The third app that I am going to talk about is the app called Solar Walk, It allows students to understand what space crafts are neat the earth and goes into great detail about how they function. This app allows the students to view the earth as it rotates from the space craft, giving location of stars and features about the earth. What I found most entertaining about this app is that it goes into great detail on what you would expect to find on a space craft and the historical purpose for int on any particular space craft. The basic is free which I tried and found that it was well written from a historical point of view, but was kinda cheesy on the way it displayed the information, about shit in almost kids television type way. If you want an upgrade to the app with more to do such as exploring more of the solar system, you may purchase it for 2.99. Overall this app would be useful in a classroom science class to have a change in pace for the teachers lesson.

These tech videos do a great job of opening the door to many knew possibilities for a teacher in a classroom. You can find these app on iTunes app store and from the YouTube site

Interactive Whiteboards and Screencasting: My First Screencast

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For my first interactive whiteboards and screencasting, I decide to use the app called explain everything  and talk about about American History in The U.S. I thought that using the app do give a general understanding of some of the important key concepts for students to know about the U.S. History was important for this assignment. I thought when first using this app it was very difficult to navigate and I had a hard time in making sure when writing the words, that they where in the proper places and making sure they spelled out what I was trying to say in the sentence. I thought it was also difficult in making sure your slides where in the right place and when recording you had to backup and rewrite over every slide, after talking so it did take some time to figure out. The only other downfall to this app is that you had to pay $2.99 for it might be a little expensive for what you might want to with it. Overall though after figuring the app out it was very helpful in making the video that I wanted to get the point across about American History. This app would be useful in classrooms for students and teachers to give projects on about a particular subject, the only downfall like I said before would be the cost, that might drive educators and students away from this product. If you are a first time user with this product you may use this tutorial for reference on questions that you may have regarding this app.

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I Movie Trailer: Friends Coming together from the classroom.

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https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=pShRTukRMcg&feature=youtu.be

The I movie trailer I used is friends coming together from the classroom over the summer and becoming friends. I used different concepts of people such as a cheerleader, a class president, artist and clown. The most interesting thing about this video is that I used all the pictures of my friends and family, which if you notice the artist, a heavier set guy, he is my brother who has down syndrome. I thought this video app was a little confusing at first, when trying to figure out where everything should go. I noticed if you hit the wrong button on the I movie, it would kick you back to the main screen, then you would have to load your movie back up. I knew how to use capture and uploading to YouTube, from block so it was not the difficult, but if you are knew to it it would be tough to get it uploaded. What I like about this app is that it is free if it is already downloaded on your I pad but you may have to buy if from the App store for $ 4.99. If you are having trouble being a first time user to I movie you could use this tutorial to help with problems that you may have. This app is could be used for all aspects in the classroom including teaching a lesson, presentation or just a bio from home.

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Week 4 Reflection: Math Apps

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Learn Lead Grow

The article starts out talking about how Math Apps on I pads are changing the way students at an early age are learning in classroom. The article Learn, Lead, Grow  tells how a 5 year old student is a Kindergartener  who is constantly counting, writing down his numbers, and adding up his animal crackers when asked in the class. The I pads are introduced with the math apps to help the students in Learning place value is one of foundations of learning in the mathematics classroom. Many teachers utilize base ten blocks in their classroom to help students. These Apps not only in kindergarten, but in upper elementary levels of education are also helping students discover his or her  mathematical ability. The U.S. currently ranks in the middle of the world as to academic standing, even coming close to some 3rd world county’s, that is why in today’s learning environment, I pads are trying to help the nation build its academic level, world wide. Education is only growing and Math Apps especially, as technology grows in the coming years, will only help the education field in its quest to gain more knowledge.

Most of the Apps such as Long division for upper level elementary students  and middle school is free and provides the students with a understanding of lessons on long division basics, zero up top, remainders, decimals, repeating decimals, and decimals in the divisor. You do have apps is you want them to generate more problems for you or give you proper solutions such as math facts monsters, which can be purchase for  $.99. If you a teacher or student and are a first time user to the math facts game of the I pad, you could use this tutorial to answer questions regarding the app. I thought this article regarding student learning was beneficial to students, who could learn through a game with the use of new technology and not just copying problems and answers down from the board and not truly being able to keep up with the teacher, because of different academic levels. The article was knowledgeable and looking at some of the apps they where very laid out and understanding, the I like the most is that this article told you what you had to pay for and how much it would be, so I didn’t have to find out out what it would cost when wanting to do some new feature on the app then realizing I couldn’t. Overall like I said it is a great way for teacher to teach new things and for students to learn through different teaching methods.

Comics in the Classroom

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I used the App Make beliefs comix App. I thought it was very easy to navigate and understand. The important thing I liked about it was that it was free and gave you a bunch of options to really make your personal comic come to life. The only thing you might want to consider before using the comix app, is that if you want to use more then 4 slides to put a comic together you have to pay $1.99 for the upgrade, it also gives you a few more features, such as more character and background options.  If you are a first time user to this website you may use this following tutorial for help if you need it. I feel after watching the video that people will be able to navigate the app with no problem and won’t struggle to find any tool to make his or her comic strip come to life.

 

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I used the Comic strip of Abraham Lincoln, who was teaching students why History is important and how students need to know why you should forget History in fear of repeating the past. I comic shows different personalty through the short skit, showing that one student does not like history but after the teacher shows them how important it is his attitude changes. I think educational comics is a great piece of technology, to help students grow with a lesson in a way of just not listening to the teacher but creating his or her own lesson and showing personality traits as the lesson progresses through the comic. I do think that not only does this app give the teacher a different teaching method, but it can also tell how students think in different ways through  this type of learning process.

 

week 3 Blog Reflection: The Best Fun Videos For English Language Learners In 2015 – So Far

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I found this article by Larry Ferlazzo’s that tells about him wanting to help students with Ell,ESL,EFL through videos that help explain the English language to people who struggle with it. He talks about ways to help promote helping students that need help through getting parents engagement through after school activities and clubs. What I found most interesting about this article and doing more research is how many students who actually struggle with the English language in the classroom. I found this video called teeth, which helps motivate students with a English deficiency through humor. Ferlazzo’s states that one way I reinforce new vocabulary and a way to help teachers see some growth in the classroom is by playing sound effects and letting the people listen to the words they have already learned in a repeating motion, so it gives them some stability with that word. These types of videos let students grow as learners in areas that they really struggle in and different methods through the video will help like stopping it in spots and restarting to it so the students can pronounce what they are saying and what the meaning is and how it corresponds  to the lesson.

 

What I found most interesting about this website is how Mr. Ferlazzo’s wanted to help people that had a disability and wanted to make a change to his or her life for the better. This website is completely free with the videos that he posts. I found when you get on this website that all the information about Ell,ESL, EFL and helping people with language disability’s is laid out right in front of you to read and understand the information that Ferlazzo’s is trying to get across. The only bad concern I would have about this website is that they list all the videos sites one after another making it a little confusing for someone who is knew to the site. If you would like to learn more on Ell,ESL I found this video that can give the reader of this blog a clear understanding of how some of these language problems really affects students.

 

Word Clouds in the Classroom

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MyCloud

I choose the Word Clouds app, I thought it was an interesting app that a teacher can give a topic to the students and they can search this app and find useful words to connect people places and events during the event of the students choosing. I choose a topic on the French Revolution, I thought this Word Cloud shows some use words that describe the Revolution.  This app was created by  ABCya.com and is free for a limited time. Word Clouds by ABCya.com is an easy to use app to create and share beautiful word clouds. A word cloud is a representation of word frequency and there are many practical applications for word clouds, a common use is different sizes of txt to make the words. Millions of students have used this website and now it can be used on the Ipad. I thought this app was very beneficial, when I wanted to add words and it would put them into different colors and different sizes for the theme that I was using. I did find the App difficult at first to navigate the words into the right place without running them together, although after working with the app for a little while I started to understand how it works. If you are a first time person using the is app and is having trouble understanding how it works you can use this tutorial for any additional help. I recommend this apps to anyone who wants to choose topics for an educational purpose such  educators in a classroom or people just wanting to give a presentation about a topic with words relating to that topics with different highlighted colors to show off the words.

Week 2 Reflection: iPads in Education

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This week I choose to talk about Ipads in Education this is an article written by Sam Gliksman. This article talks about how mobile devices are dramatically changing the way a teacher operate  his or her lesson in the classroom. Networks such as the Ning network was created to explore ways iPads and other devices could be used to re-imagine the process the process of education and re kindle students process to learn with new technology. Technology is always growing and students need to learn  some of the new technology that is offered by the Ipad and that students  would be able to understand, this includes  Apple T.V, I movie and access to many free educational apps, and many other tools  that the Ipad offers. I thought that this article gives some good ideas on what the Ipad can offer students from an educational standpoint and gives good feedback on how to use the Ipad apps. If you are having trouble using the Ipad or trying to find out how to do something you can go to this video, that will guide you on how to configure your apple Ipad.

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Ipads are a growing technology that is only going to get better and better as time goes on and more and more schools are going to go to a 1to1 Ipads. I think this website and article is very beneficial and free, although it could hard to understand if you are familiar with the Ipad technology and how it could work in a classroom, if you are still having trouble with the website and video future reading such as Ipad in Education for Dummies book could be a great resource to help answer any questions that people might have regarding the evolving technology in a classroom.

Thinglink In Education

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I thought the Thinglink app was very educational and had a lot to offer myself and future students in classrooms that wanted want to use this app as a way to find educational knowledge of certain events. I used this Example of the “Titanic Voices From the Disaster” as an example from this app to look into the bigger picture of the sinking of the Titanic and what actually happened that night, being a history buff I found that this book could be very useful from this app in finding out major information on the Titanic through pictures and articles. I did notice that this apps was a little difficult to navigate at first in trying to find out where everything is and wanting you to pay for an upgrade when first signing up could lead to people turning away from the site when pushed to do these things. I think this app does an excellent job in helping students visualize topics that they choose through videos and personal accounts of what actually happened during that particular event. I do think it will also help students broaden his or her technology skills, with navigating a websites unfamiliar to them.

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You can download this app or purchase upgrades up to $49  to it from the App Store . If you like myself have never used this app before and had a hard time struggling to find your way around it I found that this tutorial can help anyone who is unfamiliar with the app and wants to learn how to navigate it properly. If you are still having trouble with this website you may also use this website to learn more about thinglink. In using this information I have provided to my readers along with the websites and tutorials, students and the common person who wants to be educated on this site should have no problem in finding his or her way around this site.