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Podcast

Podcasting I feel can be an amazing source for children to post their work and be able to hear things they have missed. It can also be a great way for parents to see what their children are working on as well as being able to hear assignments so they are able to help their children at home. Although, it can be a very useful things it presented a lot of problems trying to record and upload the material. I am still not 100% sure if this is something I will use inside my class until I become more familiar with and be able to teach my students.

Multi media

We looked at multi-media and how we can use it within the classroom. It would be very fun and the students would love it create videos using different elements. Running around the playground taking pictures and recording will help them get into the assignment. We as adults had fun doing our assignment and children would have even more fun. I do realize being the teacher we would have to become very familiar with whatever program that is available to the students, therefore, we need to take to play ourselves so we can help out students. I just hope when I start teaching the school will have media available for the students to use because it will definitely engage the students more.

Having them make a video using different types of media within a group can get them to interact with another. Since i want to teach younger grades it opens up more resources for students to use that they may not experience other wise.

Fun with Flickr

First of all I LOVED playing around with Flickr. It was a lot fun tweaking and editing pictures making them better.

As for using Flickr or other photo changing programs in the classroom I am not 100% sure how I would include them. I know I would use them to change photos to crop images I want to show my class. Depending on the grade level and the topics studying within my elementary class I think it would be a good way to teach students that you can not always believe things you see on the internet. By messing with photos and showing them the tweaked along with real photos and making a game out of it can help them see that it may look real but that does not mean it is. If computers are available to use within the school it would be fun and good for the students to me able to mess around with their own pictures to see what I was teaching. Using this as an introduction to a research project could lead great into teaching them out credible resources to find information. For example in third grade they study the ocean and an assignment I have seen done is having each student choose an animal from the ocean to do a project on.

Photo editing tools can be used to introduce another element of art that younger children do not get to use very often. Photography is an element that younger students see all the time but rarely get to use. I feel it would be fun for them to be able to use camera and take pictures around the school. It would get them out of their chairs and moving around. It would be exciting for them to do something new and different. The photo editing tools can be introduced after they have pictures from around the school or home to upload or scan so they can mess with them. This idea would depend on if there were resources available to use within the school.

I imagine there are many other ways to use photo editing tools within the classroom but I am not sure how else I would use it. Right now it would be used more for personal use than in my classroom.

Enhancing Direct Instruction

As future teachers, why will it be important for you to model appropriate citations and seek permission to use copyrighted work?

 As teachers we are role models for our students, therefore, we need to be good examples to them. The students learn from us because we are adults and their teacher. If we model appropriate citation and seeking permission is shows students that it is not okay to cheat or steal from others in any situation. By bringing this to their attention it will teach them at a young age to be careful when using resources. It will also keep us safe so we don't get into trouble with parents or faculty.

Read Presentation Design:  Principles and Techniques (file can be found below) and respond to the chapter on your blog.  What elements were you already aware of?  Which elements were you not aware of?  How can you incorporate this into your own work and that of your students?  Why is it important?  How do the PowerPoints that you have created over the years fit (or not fit) with these design principles?

I knew about using visual aid. A picture or visual aid can speak a thousand words without ever having a single word written. Using a picture to get the message across for a lot of people especially students can help make a concept or idea more clear than having it written down. Also, using pictures for ELL students is big because they may not understand the written word since they may not know the language. By showing them a picture instead I can tell them what we are talking about and what I want without having to explain verbally or written if they do not understand. 

I had never heard of the signal to noise ratio before. It makes sense but I did not know that term or concept before reading this chapter. Being clear when using graphics is the main element that I feel will help me within the classroom when dealing with signal to noise ratio. When doing visual aids like the graphs they used to demonstrate this concept you can still have fun with colors or design but you do not have to go overboard. Some times less is more! 

Past power points have been okay but have not been the best. I have used the proper amount of visuals within them but they many not have always been the most effective pictures. A lot of my early powerpoints had more writing then pictures, therefore, classmates had to read more. The last few years my powerpoints have gotten better and more visually appealing in an appropriate way. They were not overwhelming and they got the message across. 
Copyrights and fair use policies for teachers

The copyright guidelines are very important to know to be able to stay honest with the resources you are using. Also, informs you as a teacher what you need to do to be able to show information from resources.

Prezi Presentation

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Classroom Website

Website

Other good websites

These are other sites that are really cool and useful within the class.

Powtoon
(Allows for students or teachers to make power points.)

Virtual Tours
(Allows students to see places around the world that they would never be able to go and see otherwise.)

Sweet Search
(Like google but directed towards kids so it is safer for children to look up things online.)

Classroom Management
Dealing with different behaviors within the classroom is going to be part of being a teacher and this website gives a list of behaviors with the what to do and what not to do. I liked this site because it give you characteristics of the behaviors along with how to handle them in the classrooms and tips to work with them.

others resources:
http://www.nea.org/tools/classroom-management-articles.html
http://www.nea.org/tools/33-ways-to-start-the-first-year-off-right.html

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