Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Web 2.0: Blogging
Blogs are online journals in which one can write essentially anything. Blogging can be used in many different ways. They can be used for some people to vent about their frustrations and become an electronic journal for some. I personal read some gossip blogs online so I can keep up on the garbage going on in Hollywood. However, many teachers have incorporated blogs into their lessons plans. I read of a teacher of an ESL class having his students write in blogs. This may help the students learn better English by typing out what they want to say in a blog. Some teachers use blogs in order to keep in touch with parents and keeping them in touch with what they are doing in class. I believe that this is a very great idea with the busy life parents have nowadays. If a parent was wondering what was going on in their child’s class, they can just check online and give the teacher feedback as well via the internet. Other teachers can also get ideas from other teachers’ blogs. Sharing lesson plans via blog could be useful for a teacher who is searching for new and different lessons for their classes. I found that teachers sharing information via blogs was a great idea and it is definitely something I am looking forward to when I become a teacher.
Software Evaluation/ Web 2.0
Kidspiration Review:
I chose Kidspiration because I found it to be very user-friendly for children since I am interested in teaching elementary school. The buttons are simple and easy to use because there are pictures on them that are pretty much self-explanatory. Searching for pictures to insert is also simple because like Word, you can just type in the name of the image you want and Kidspiration will return many results. I think that this program will be easy to use for children if they want to create their own programs or work with some of the existing programs to help them study.
I can see this program being used in my future classroom. The students can create various projects such as brainstorming webs, science projects or idea connections for stories. The students can also share these projects with the classmates in order to teach them about what they have learned. The students will be free to create whatever they want with all the features this program has.
I did not find Atomic Learning very helpful because there are so many individual tutorials on many different features of Kidspiration. The good thing about Kidspiration is it is so simple that I could pretty much guess how if functioned anyway. I self-taught myself how to use the program. I am sure that for those not used to using technology could find Atomic Learning but it might be hard to find what you specifically want to do because there are so many tutorials. The pictures and screen shots may also be helpful but I didn't necessarily need to use Atomic Learning for this assignment.
I created this diagram of metamorphosis using Kidspiration.
iMovie Review:
I really enjoyed using iMovie to create my own 30-second clip. I was able to edit a song on it to fit my movie. I was able to add transitions and effects to spice up my clip. It was easy to use because everything is basically a click and a drag away. I felt like a real video editor. Using iMovie definitely enticed me to want a Mac just so that I can make more short videos. I like the visual effects especially because there were so many different options and they all depict a different mood for your video. I got carried away with try to perfect my clip because I was having fun creating all the feature on iMovie. I have used other video editing programs in the past, but I like iMovie because it is easier to use.
I chose Kidspiration because I found it to be very user-friendly for children since I am interested in teaching elementary school. The buttons are simple and easy to use because there are pictures on them that are pretty much self-explanatory. Searching for pictures to insert is also simple because like Word, you can just type in the name of the image you want and Kidspiration will return many results. I think that this program will be easy to use for children if they want to create their own programs or work with some of the existing programs to help them study.
I can see this program being used in my future classroom. The students can create various projects such as brainstorming webs, science projects or idea connections for stories. The students can also share these projects with the classmates in order to teach them about what they have learned. The students will be free to create whatever they want with all the features this program has.
I did not find Atomic Learning very helpful because there are so many individual tutorials on many different features of Kidspiration. The good thing about Kidspiration is it is so simple that I could pretty much guess how if functioned anyway. I self-taught myself how to use the program. I am sure that for those not used to using technology could find Atomic Learning but it might be hard to find what you specifically want to do because there are so many tutorials. The pictures and screen shots may also be helpful but I didn't necessarily need to use Atomic Learning for this assignment.
I created this diagram of metamorphosis using Kidspiration.
iMovie Review:
I really enjoyed using iMovie to create my own 30-second clip. I was able to edit a song on it to fit my movie. I was able to add transitions and effects to spice up my clip. It was easy to use because everything is basically a click and a drag away. I felt like a real video editor. Using iMovie definitely enticed me to want a Mac just so that I can make more short videos. I like the visual effects especially because there were so many different options and they all depict a different mood for your video. I got carried away with try to perfect my clip because I was having fun creating all the feature on iMovie. I have used other video editing programs in the past, but I like iMovie because it is easier to use.
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