Week 16: Digital Stories 3

What?
This was our third week of working on our Digital Story project. Our pictures are edited, in order, and ready to make transitions for. We are just waiting to put some other things in place first, so that we can know how long we need to show each picture for in order to make the digital story approximately 3 minutes. The focus of my group's time today was on our music. We are using a Beethoven song. We stuggled with using Audacity because our song was in the wrong format (ringtone), so we used Garageband from Doc Water's Mac. It was simpler to use than I expected, and it made me want a Mac even more than I already do! It was fun listening to the song and deciding which clips of it would fit best with the script and pictures in different parts of our story.

So What?
Music definitely adds a greater level to digital stories. If the music appropriately matches the pictures, script, and feeling of the rest of the story, it can help bring out emotions and create connections. We tried our best to chose more upbeat parts of our song for more cheerful parts of our story, and slower, sad sounding music for the parts of our story that we wanted people to feel more sorrowful. I found that it really did add a lot to the story. Before we finalized and fixed the music clips, there was a cheerful and upbeat melody playing while pictures showed a boy crying and pictures of scary medical tools. We chuckled at how ridiculus that was, and it emphasized to us the importance of choosing appropriate music to enhance the story rather than detract from it.

Now What?
Though creating a digital story is a lot of work, I have had a fun time doing it so far. I have been suprised to find that the tools like PhotoStory and GarageBand are actually very simple to use. I expected things to be more confusing and challenging than they actually have been, which makes me more willing and excited to make more digital stories in the future. I am excited to encorporate them into my classroom because it will give a new way for students to learn. Watching digital stories will help catch their attention, make connections, create emotion, add variety, and can be very enjoyable and memorable. Having students create their own digital stories will help them use higher order thinking skills, incorporate many learning styles, give variety to assignments and projects, give them opportunities to be creative and unique, and give them a challenging yet fun project that they can be proud of and learn a lot from.

Video: Millenial Generation
In this clip, students shared their "tech wish list" of technology they would like to have access to. They included what they believed "media mobility" to be. They determined that media mobility was having the ability to have technology with you wherever you are, whenever you want it. They predicted that technology will become more time effective, take out a lot of hassle, and allow more ways for interacting and communicating. I agree that technology has been advancing by leaps and bounds, and will continue to do so. I'm excited to see what new things they come up with next. I believe that the students' wish lists that they mentioned will definitely come to pass in the not-too-far off future. It will be fun to see what new technologies I can learn about and apply in my classroom.

Week 15: Digital Stories and PhotoStory

What?

This week we learned more about digital stories and specifically how to use PhotoStory in this process. PhotoStory is free to download and is very easy to use. It allows you to edit your pictures with things such as red-eye, cropping, highlighting, rotating, black and white, etc. You can also make transitions between each picture, such as panning in and out. I was surprised to learn that you can also work with music on this program. You can upload mp3's of songs that have already been created, or you can make your own music through Photo Story. It has several options and varieties to mix and match with in order to find the style of music you need to match your story. My group is doing our digital story on manualism and oppression of Deaf people.

So What?

Digital stories can be a very effective way of catching students' attention, involving multiple learning styles, creating interest, and giving a basic introduction of the topic students will be learning about. Because there are free and easy tools available such as Photo Story, ditigal stories are a very practical and fun thing for teachers to create for lessons. It does not have to be limited to only teachers, though. Many students would have a great time creating their own digital stories, and would learn a lot from that assignment. Digital stories are a fun way to learn and should definitely be incorporated into classroom instruction where possible.

Now What?

I plan on brainstorming about lessons and units in my curriculum that would benefit the most from incorporating a digital story. I'd like to use a couple digital stories throughout the semester because they are interesting, captivating, have good information and images, and help create diversity in lessons. I would also like to brainstorm about ways to assign a digital story project to my students. It would be fun to let them pick a topic relating to the Deaf community, culture, or ASL that they want to learn more about. Once they approved their topic, they could work in groups to create a digital story about that topic to present to the class. This assignment would involve many different learning styles, be flexible enough to match the students' interests, let them be creative and unique, and be an assignment that is different from the ones they typically have to do.

Video: Did You Know 3.0
This was a very interesting video for me. Before seeing some of these videos that we have been assigned to watch this semester, I had no idea how much the world uses and depends on technology. I knew that it's basically how we live today, but I had no real idea of the numbers or how to visually and concretely imagine such an impact. The following are some of the facts the video mentioned that really surprised me and helped me understand what an impact technology has had in the world:

- The top 10 in-demand jobs for 2010 didn't even exist in 2004
- Today the number of text messages sent and received every day exceeds the population of the entire planet
- For students starting a 4 year technical degree, half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their 3rd year of study

The video really made me think when it said how we are currently developing technology to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet. We are training students for jobs and technologies that don't even exist yet. We are progressing so much, that it is almost overwhelming to think of the things to come. There seems to be no limits anymore. It's exciting, and it makes me want to keep up on the latest technologies in order to know at least as much as my students will know, and be able to use those technologies and tools in the classroom.

Week 13- Digitial Story intro

What?
This week we began learning about digital stories. Specific aspects of digital storytelling that we learned about were scripting, narration, storyboards, and the impact that music and images can have in creating emotion and catching attention. Scripting should be done carefully and work effectively with the images used. Music should enhance and emphasize. Storyboards are a good way to get started and organized while creating a digital story. We watched some examples of good digital stories. The one about the Holocaust created a lot of emotion in the class due to the powerful images and music involved. We will be creating our own three minute digital story as groups in our specific content areas.

So What?
Digital stories are great to use in the classroom for many reasons. First of all, they can be wonderful hooks for a lesson or beginning of a new unit. Those brief three minutes can contain a great overview, create real images for students to relate to, cause interest, and begin the questioning and discussion process with students. Digital stories can also reach all kinds of different learners. Visual learners will benefit from the images and words shown, musical and auditory learners will appreciate the music used to emphasize the story, and logic-based students will learn a lot from the facts presented in the story. Hands-on students, ESL students, or others with different needs may really be able to enjoy and excel in making their own digital stories. Overall, digital stories have a lot to offer for our diverse students and their many personalities, interests, situations, and learning styles.

Now What?
My students are living in a world with so much technology and would benefit greatly from having opportunities to use this 21st century technology in their learning and my classroom. As I haven't had any experience with digital storytelling up to this point, it seems a bit intimidating to me. In order to feel more confident in this area, I plan on working hard with my group on this project to make it the best it can be. Collaborating and using the tutorials and examples to guide us will help us learn what we need to do. With practice, I know that I will be able to feel comfortable creating digital stories for my future students. It will be nice for both me and them to have an "out of the box" assignment that adds variety and interest to class. I'm excited to get started!


Video: NASA Digital Story
I thought this digital story gave good information and basic knowledge of what NASA has done, including their accomplishments and losses. I liked having the audio and images of the President's speeches about our goal of landing on the moon because it made it more real to me. Hearing his voice rather than the narrator made more of an impact and impression. The music also played a big part for me, specifically when the story talked about those who had lost their lives. At that point, the music changed to a slower and more respectful feel. The trumpet felt patriotic. It matched the mourning and respect that the world felt for the loss of those lives. The pictures of these individuals helped create emotion in me because I saw that they were real people. I wasn't as disconnected as I would have been had I just heard the narrator tell about them.

Week 12- Technology Articles/Reflections and Video

TECHNOLOGY ARTICLES/REFLECTIONS

SKYPE:

Skype is an online software application that allows people to call one another via the internet. A useful place to find out details about steps for downloading Skype and getting started is a techtorial pdf by Lorrie Jackson titled Skype: Talk to Anyone, Anywhere for Free. This techtorial discusses how not only can people speak with each other over voice-calls, but with devices such as webcams, they can video-call (video conference) other people. It mentions that other useful things to do with Skype include instant messaging and file transfer. This is all free unless calls are made to landlines or cell phones. Skype works with Windows, Mac, and Linux (Jackson). I had fun experimenting with it and found it easy to use.

Pros: Skype has so many benefits for networking, education, collaboration, sharing, and socializing. Teaching Degree.org wrote about "50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom." After looking at all of these 50 possibilities, I organized them into three groups: teacher benefits, parent benefits, and bringing more opportunities to students.

One way that teachers can benefit from using Skype is through professional development resources. It can help in informing and guiding teachers to topics that they are seeking to improve in. It also gives teachers an easier and quicker way to collaborate with other teachers. Sharing ideas and working together becomes much more efficient through this kind of technology. I hope to find other teachers willing to share and collaborate ideas through it. The more collaboration and networking I can do, the better the teacher I will be for my students. Skype can also give teachers more of opportunities to receive feedback on their teaching from other professionals (Teaching Degree.org Blog, 2009).

Skype can be wonderful for parents for many reasons. It can give teachers a new way to share students' work with their parents. Through this, parents can be more informed about the great things their students are achieving in class. Teachers can also have another way to be able to conference with parents. Some parents are busy and have a difficult time making it to the school, so Skype may be a more convenient and enjoyable option for them. Parents can be overall more involved in their child's learning and experience in your classroom through the benefits that this technology has to offer (Teaching Degree.org Blog, 2009). I plan on informing parents of these benefits and encouraging them to take advantage of Skype in order to be more involved in their child's experience in my class.

Lastly, students can benefit so much from the use of Skype in the classroom. Teachers can more easily bring busy guest speakers into the class to offer information and perspectives that the teacher wouldn't be able to convey as effectively. I would love to have Deaf guest speakers know that I would be able to use more of them through Skype than just in person. Teachers can also share educational travel experiences with their students. For example, if I were to visit Gallaudet University or the Deaf Institute in Paris, my students would be able to experience some of this as well through Skype! Students can share their projects and performances to others outside of their class, and they can also connect to people throughout the world. I'd love them to have video-chats with other ASL and Deaf students throughout the country because they would have exposure to so many more signing styles and perspectives. Teachers can also be more available to students for after-school help (Teaching Degree.org Blog, 2009).

Cons: Similar to every other online tool, Skype can lead to privacy and/or safety issues for students in our classrooms when we don't follow certain precautions. To help prevent problems, teachers should have clear and honest communication with those who their students will be communicating with. Skype calls can also cost quite a bit of money if you call a land line or mobile phone, so it is important to make sure you know who your students are calling and that they know the rules on who to communicate with during class (Jackson). Teach students about the importance of privacy and not sharing personal information while using anything online.

I will tell parents that I chose to use Skype in the classroom to enhance their student's signing skills, give them more opportunities to share and receive information otherwise inaccessible, to add a richer level of diversity in the classroom, and to involve the parents themselves.

References

Jackson, L. (n.d.). Skype: talk to anyone, anywhere for free. Retrieved from http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/techtorial/techtorial107.pdf

Teaching Degree.org Blog. (2009, June 30). 50 awesome ways to use skype in the classroom. Retrieved from http://www.teachingdegree.org/2009/06/30/50-awesome-ways-to-use-skype-in-the-classroom/

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Online Dictionaries/ASLpro.com (a video dictionary)

Online dictionaries can be very useful and efficient in the classroom. The specific content area I will be teaching is American Sign Language, so having access to a visual dictionary is very needed in my classrooms. Two good ASL online dictionaries that I have found are ASLPro.com and SigningSavvy.com. I will be discussing just ASLPro.com.

On ASLPro.com's home page, they describe "A Little About What We Do":

"ASLPro.com was created to be a free resource for the classroom teacher. Teachers can create accounts and personalize a quiz for their students' use, then take them into a lab and let them practice seeing models other than their own teacher. Because our signs are designed to be used in student quizzes, Non-Manual Signals are purposely omitted." (ASLPro.com)

ASLPro offers a few dictionaries, being a main dictionary, religious, conversational, and ASL for Babies dictionary. They also include QuizMe! quizzes for everyday signs, religious signs, and fingerspelling. Other free tools they offer are functional groups, shared lesson plans, mouth morphemes, ABC signs, ASL Poems 'N Songs, and games.

Pros: Both StreetDictionary and ArticleDashboard.com discuss several benefits of using online dictionaries, and the advantages they have over printed dictionaries. Compared to printed dictionaries, online dictionaries are much faster to use. If you are unsure about difficult spellings, online dictionaries make finding the word much easier as well (StreetDictionary, 2009). Online dictionaries can be used for free, and there are different ones to use for many languages. Having the option of visual and audio features helps with pronunciation and production of difficult words (StreetDictionary, 2009). Translation features are very helpful as well. Online dictionaries can also be updated easier and more quickly than printed dictionaries. Words and their meanings are very dynamic and can change over time, which is why it is important to update dictionaries frequently. Many also include informal words that printed dictionaries wouldn't (Bell, 2009).

ASLPro, specifically, would be a wonderful tool to use in an ASL classroom. It would be next to impossible to teach students every word they wanted or needed to know in one short semester, so having an online dictionary would be very beneficial to them in discovering words that were not covered in a specific unit or lesson. Being able to expand on and personalize their vocabulary is likely to help them enjoy using the language more, because they would be able to express themselves how they want to more easily. Having access to common phrases can help them practice putting these words together in helpful ways. The games would be a wonderful way to offer a fun extra credit activity or class review. the Jeopardy game, for example, asks questions about ASL History, "Guess Who" questions, and general ASL language and culture questions. Students could also expand their knowledge by exploring the "ASL Poems 'N Songs" section, and this would help include diverse learners and would help add variety to content. Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of ASLPro.com is that students can use it both at school or at home. It doesn't have to be limited to the classroom like some printed dictionaries might. Being able to see a visual representation of the vocabulary can help students learn and review much more than if they could only rely solely on the teacher for this modeling.

Cons: If you don't know how to distinguish a good online dictionary from a bad one, you may get wrong information. It is important to examine and chose an online dictionary wisely. Many of them are also only used as supplements for printed dictionaries and are not as effective on their own (Bell, 2009). Like any other online tool, you should always investigate the validity, qualifications, dates, content, etc. to determine whether or not it is a good source.

As for ASLPro, one setback is that they definitely don't have every word students may want to learn. In their FAQ page, they say that with a database containing thousands of words, they are no longer accepting requests for new signs. They are focusing their energies in other useful areas. This definitely limits the words students can learn or would be interested in. Another aspect that may be viewed as negative by some and positive by others, is that many of the model signers for ASLPro sign things differently than I learned from my Deaf professors and fellow interpreters. There are many different styles, and often times, some signs are used in some places and not others. This may confuse students who learn some words a certain way in my class.

I will most definitely inform parents about this tool and how it can help their students both in my classroom and for practice at home. I will tell them that I chose to use this tool because of the variety of learning tools it offers, as well as for it being another resource for their child to learn new vocabulary as well as review vocabulary that has been taught in class. It is difficult to write down how a word is signed, so if students could rely only on that method while learning new vocabulary in class, they would be much more likely to write it down or remember it wrong. With a visual online dictionary, they can see it being signed and will be able to have a better resource to look to than pen and paper. ASL is a visual language and should have as many visual resources as possible. Hopefully this tool will encourage curiosity, creativity, and diversity in their child's learning.

References:

ASLPro.com. (n.d.). Aslpro.com. Retrieved from http://www.aslpro.com/

Bell, R. (2009). The Advantage of using an online dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/The-Advantage-of-Using-an-Online-Dictionar/633708

StreetDictionary. (2009). Online dictionaries- the universe of words. Retrieved from http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/62233/education/online_dictionaries___the_universe_of_words.html

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Video: ASL Interpretation of "Where the Wild Things Are," by Maurice Sendak (Translation by Charles Katz)



This video would be wonderful to include in an ASL Storytelling unit. I love this video for many reasons- one being that Charles Katz is a master for showing expression and creating visual imagery through his signing skills. He is a great model for my students to try to imitate and use ideas from. I also think this video is a good choice to use because the story is a well-known and favorite children's book for many people that I know. Perhaps some students will already feel a connection and and have memories of this book growing up. This story presents many opportunities for practice in describing characteristics and features (the monsters are wonderful), describing settings (the forest and where the Wild things are), incorporating gestures as well as new vocabulary. I believe students would find it very entertaining and learn a lot from it.

Week 11: Video's, Digital Cameras, Picassa

What?
This week we got to experiment using Picassa. This is a great program to work with your photos in. You can do things like crop, straighten, fix redeye, retouch, highlight, shadow, change colors, focus, blur, glow, sharpen, make sepia, black and white, and many other possibilities and combinations. Picassa also allows you to post these pictures directly to your blog, make collages, email, print them, create slideshows, and more. At the end of this post are four original pictures, then those same pictures edited and changed through Picassa.

So What?
This is a great tool to help keep pictures organized and personalized exactly how you want them. Through using this free program, your pictures can reflect your personality, enhance creativity, create variety, be more artistic and aesthetically pleasing, draw attention, look more professional, and accomplish specific goals you may have had with that picture. Sharing pictures with others can be easy and fun through this useful program.

Now What?
I'd like to continue experimenting with Picassa and continue to get more knowledgeable and comfortable with all of the possibilities that it offers. This may motivate me to be better at taking pictures, which would be very helpful! I believe it would be easy to apply this in my teaching. By taking pictures of handshapes, Non-Manual Signals (facial expressions), and signs, and then editing these pictures to draw the students' attention to specific features I'd like to emphasize, they may find their homework and assignments more interesting and may recall it easier. Visual learners would benefit greatly from having rich and diverse pictures to study and learn from. Perhaps I could even give them a project to take pictures of certain things, edit and personalize them in Picassa, and create a project from it. There can be a lot of possibilities.

Video: Top Ten Things You Do Not Learn About Teaching in College
10- Why are the bad kids never sick?
9- No matter how sick you are, it's easier to come into school than to write sub plans
8- When your students tell you they really have to go to the bathroom, always believe them
7- Forget your college friends and loved ones. Who's your new best friend? Wipes!
6- How to disarm the school alarm system on the weekends
5-You'll get so sick and tired of hearing your last name, you'll want to change it
4- Your fitness program will consist of carrying your bags to and from the school
3- Two words: Differentiating Instruction
2- The principal's office is still scary
1- Always be good to your Superintendent

I thought this was really funny, so I wrote out these 10 points they mentioned (all of which seem have some bit of truth in them, haha). I think it is true that you can't learn absolutely everything in your college classes- some things will probably have to be learned through the actual experience of teaching your own classroom. It's helpful though, to be ready for as much as you possibly can when going into your teaching experience. Paying attention and putting forth effort in college classes will help, as well as talking with other teachers and getting their advice.

PDP: My Beliefs

I believe that it is extremely unfortunate if teachers don't try to incorporate as much technology in their classroom as possible. If the tools are there, why not take advantage of them? Like one of the videos said: "Shift Happens!" and teachers need to be flexible and open-minded enough to shift right along with advancing technology. Technology can assist teachers in providing diverse learning opportunities for all of the different multiple intelligences, it can give students more active learning activities, students can experience more real-world learning experiences, and they can use the kinds of technology that they enjoy using in their life outside of school and academics.

Technology is how the world runs now, so not only can students benefit from having multiple ways to learn and access information in the classroom, but they can be prepared for real world situations that they will need to be technologically knowledgeable for. We are not only preparing them to pass the unit test, but to succeed in life in general. Technology is crucial for this goal. We should give our students every possible tool and resource we can to help them toward success and their goals in life. If we can do our best to incorporate diverse and real technology into their education, they will more likely see the relevance in what they are learning and doing. Being knowledgeable in the kinds of questions and topics that were mentioned in the UNI survey and NET standards will help us greatly in this pursuit.

PDP: Lessons Learned

My thoughts, concerns, and what I learned from the readings, videos, and web sites:

Technology is such a major part of our students' lives, and we can use that to our benefit in the classroom. Teens can often feel like there is a disconnect between their academic experience and their social/real-world experience. One example in this is in writing; they don't consider blogging, texting, emailing, etc as real writing. If we can incorporate these "outside school" activities into our classrooms (using technology, of course), students may be able to more easily identify the similarities between what they learn in school and how it is applicable to their lives. Social networking can increase their technology skills, creativity, generate different perspectives, and improve communication skills. Rather than have to try to compete with this outside technology that can lead to distractions, why not use it to encourage active engagement, group work and collaboration, interaction and feedback, and communication with real-world experts.

Media mobility creates so many opportunities for learning, networking, efficiency, and convenience. In one clip, a students defined media mobility as "accessible anywhere at anytime with no limitations." This means that high-tech learning can occur anywhere, anytime, if we make the effort to help our students utilize that. Not only should we provide the resources, but also facilitate the learning process. Technology has helped education through online and distance learning, virtual labs, e-books, and more. Technology has grown so much- it's exciting to predict what further technology advancement will take place and help the education process even more. It truly can help us become life-long learners.

PDP: Strengths and Weaknesses

Some of the strengths I have according to the UNI survey and NET standards are using technology to address content standards and enhance learning in my ASL classroom, reflecting on the effectiveness of specific technology in certain lesson plans and topics, and being efficient in using technology to communicate and stay organized. Some of the things I need to work on are knowing more about software applications (beyond just the simple basics), feeling more knowledgeable in technical and computer terminology, gaining more confidence and knowledge in using technology to address student differences in learning, and working on more ideas of how to apply technology to develop higher order thinking skills (not just "find information about this topic.") In order to improve upon these things, my goals are to try my best to stay abreast of the latest developments in technology and how I can use them in teaching, and to attend technology workshops, along with learning from very technology-savvy people (like my husband).

One workshop that I would like to attend is the TTIX (Teaching with Technology Idea Exchange) at UVU on June 9-11, 2010. This is a free workshop for educators (and others in the field of technology). I think I would really benefit from hearing different ideas from other educators and people involved in technology because I don't feel like I know enough about technology to be extremely creative with using it. I am good at using it in specific ways that I have been taught, but I struggle with feeling creative and coming up with my own ideas. Hopefully the more ideas I can get from different perspectives and types of people, the more "free" I will feel in incorporating technology in my teaching.

"Teaching With Technology Podcast" (found at http://powertolearn.typepad.com/teaching_with_technology/teacher_tools/) has a lot of articles that I am interested in learning from, including Video Cameras, Creating Video Clips, Troubleshooting Tech 101, and Building a Podcast with Keynote. This is another thing that would really help me in my technology goals. Learning more about recording and editing (specifically visual, not audio- though both would be great) would be very applicable to my ASL content and my goal to use technology the most effectively in my classroom. I'd love my students to have a lot of opportunities to record themselves and others signing, and I would feel much more confident in the kind of assignments I gave using that technology if my students didn't have to teach me what to do! Learning how to better troubleshoot would help me in feeling comfortable in how things work, terminology, and being independent in working with technology. Learning about podcasts would help me in my goal to stay on top of the latest technology out there (I honestly don't know much about podcasting yet. I still need to explore that.)

Week 9: Power Point 2

What?

Last week, my group finished the Paper Chain project. The topic we chose to do it on was Mitosis. This week, my group did our second Power Point project, which was Who Am I? We gave six clues, and uncovered a picture of the mystery person one square at a time. In the end, it turned out to be Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. These are only two ideas of fifty that teachers can use to mix up their presentations and lessons for students.

So What?

It is useful for teachers and future teachers to play with these different projects like we did in class for this assignment. By exploring with these different activities, we can feel more comfortable with technology, become more creative in ways to present information, and have a larger pool of resources. Why not take advantage of every learning experience possible in order to make teaching easier and more fun for you, as well as more enjoyable and beneficial for your students?

Now What?

I've enjoyed doing these Power Point projects because they are extremely easy and quick ways of mixing up lessons. I was surprised at how simple the activities were. This is encouraging to me because I feel like I can actually set aside enough time to learn and play with more fun Power Point activities. It's not too overwhelming or time consuming, and it's easy enough that I can figure them out myself without getting really frustrated. So I plan on playing around with some more activities to use in my future classroom! It's been enjoyable for me and I know it will enhance my lessons, teaching, and appreciation for using technology.

Video: How NOT to use PowerPoint
This was a great comedy clip about how PowerPoint can often be distracting, overwhelming, difficult, or less effective. He gave funny examples of ineffective things such as putting every word that you plan to say on the slide, not using spell check, excessive bullet points (thus not pointing out anything specific because it's ALL pointed out), bad color schemes, number of slides, amount of data on a slide, and distracting animations. He proved that even if the technology is good, it can still cause the opposite results of your goal if you don't know how to use it the most effectively. It can do more harm than good, be a distraction, or simply be a waste of time, so it's important to learn helpful strategies to maximize the benefits of PowerPoint. I thought the clip was funny and very entertaining.

Week 8: Power Point

What?
This week we are using our book, 50 Quick & Easy PowerPoint Activities (2nd ed), to learn about different ways to use PowerPoint in our classrooms. This booklet gives cool PowerPoint tips, Publishing ideas, and Slide Show ideas. The two activities my group chose to do are "Paper Chain of Events" for Biology (mitosis) and "Who Am I?" for American Sign Language (history).

So What?
It is very beneficial for teachers to be able to know the numerous ways that PowerPoint can be used in their lessons and assignments. It can add diversity in instruction and homework, which can help catch and hold students' interest. They will be more likely to be excited and involved when they are not bored of the same kind of work and instruction. In addition to keeping things interesting, having a variety of PowerPoint ideas and activities can help teachers pinpoint the best instructional methods and activities for the specific content being taught. Some activities would be very helpful for some certain topics, while other activities would be perfect for others. It can really help teachers specialize with and emphasize the information they need the students to learn and understand.

Now What?
Now my group will be diving into learning specifically about "Paper Chain of Events" and "Who Am I?" activities! I'm excited to experiment with how I can use these activities in my classroom. Up to this point, I have only had experience with using PowerPoint for basic slide shows, so I look forward to learning how to better utilize the program and take advantage of everything that it has to offer. I'm already looking forward to using the "Who Am I" activity for when I teach about famous/influential people in Deaf history. History was never very interesting for me when I was in High School, so I'd like to find as many different fun ideas to teach this content as I can. This activity is definitely a winner because it uses technology to mix things up, and it also engages students by trying to solve a mystery.

No video this week :)

Week 7: Webquest Final

What?
This week, we finished learning about how to create webquests. We had the basic lesson plan and design done, so focused on appropriately putting the webquest into Power Point, creating a Filing Cabinet on our UEN site, and putting a link to our webquest there. With all the finishing touches and links in place, this webquest should be a great opportunity for students to research interesting topics, answer questions, and have a fun assignment that utilizes technology more than most other assignments they are given.

So What?
With the webquest's simple and organized steps and instructions, pictures that enhance understanding, interesting video clips, and links to helpful websites, students can have the scaffolding they need as well as their independence in learning. In my Pod, we attempted to make our webquest diverse enough to fit many different learning styles. There are times for individual research, fact finding, group collaboration, creativity, and performing. Webquests are such a great way to incorporate many styles of learning for our students!

Now What?
With being able to take an extra week on learning about webquests, I feel even more comfortable with how to organize them and make them work. I've never considered myself incredibly technology savvy, but with each new project we do in class, I find that I can learn, they are incredibly useful in the classroom, and that it is worth the time. I know that with more practice and exposure to these things such as webquests, the easier they will get for me, the quicker I will be able to prepare them, and the more I can offer to my students. I am excited to incorporate webquests into my lessons. I think my students will benefit greatly from them, and can have a good time in the process. As a teacher, I want to stay in the technology-loop so that my students can learn with the latest and greatest methods. Attending special technology workshops, working with other knowledgeable teachers, and consistently having the "spirit of discovery" will help me in this goal.

Video: Do You Believe in Me?
I thought this was a neat clip to watch. That boy's confidence, courage, and presence were very impressive. He spoke about believing in our students, as well as in our colleagues and in ourselves. One thing he said that stuck out to me about believing in our students was, "You believe in me. And that rubs off on me." If students can see that we recognize greatness and potential in them, they can start to explore that and believe it too. He also said, "You better not give up on us. Because in some cases, you're all we got." Our students come from such diverse backgrounds and situations, some of them being very difficult. We need to be a positive influence and support for them.
We can also believe in our colleagues and "lean on them when times get rough." We should all be in this together. Lastly, he said that we need to believe in ourselves. We need to believe that we can make a difference in the lives of our students. With this mind set, I believe we are more likely to listen to them, understand them, give them the support and encouragement they need, and give them the tools that will help them be successful in every aspect of their lives.

Week 6: Webquest 1

What?
This week, we started learning about how to create a webquest. These are a way of giving students a kind of assignment that lets them explore through technology and a wide range of resources. We are currently focusing on the design of the lesson, including aspects such as introduction, tasks, processes, resources, and conclusions, then will continue next week to incorporate additional features, including PowerPoint. Webquests are a fun and organized way to provide your students with a lot of useful information and incorporate technology to engage students more.


So What?
When students are given learning activities such as webquests, it adds a different level to their learning. They can effectively be used in any content area and helps to mix up the every day, same kind of assignments that many students so easily get bored with. Webquests can easily incorporate all levels of Bloom's Taxonomy and include so many different projects and activities. As students are given these kind of assignments that are challenging, yet supply such helpful resources and organized steps, they will learn and remember more, be more engaged, and be able to use both lower and higher order thinking skills. Technology is wonderful to use for these purposes.


Now What?
I like the idea of using webquests in my classroom. I look forward to finding some good resources and websites on Deaf culture, and let my students more thoroughly explore a culture that is different from their own. Teaching Deaf history would be much more fun with this kind of technology use. Webquests would work in my classroom not only for culture and history, but for receptive and comprehensive ASL skills as well. I can give students links to different signers, so that they can be exposed to a richer variety of signing styles. They would even be able to see different signs, or slang, used in different states that are not seen here in Utah. I am excited to be able to use webquests to add variety, fun, and more technology use in my classroom.



Video: 3 Steps
Competition, Cooperation, and Collaboration are three things our students need to learn and succeed in the 21st century. We should do our best to teach them these three principles. One thing teachers can do is make the classroom a creative place. We can also introduce them to their "global peers" and let them collaborate. There are so many great networking tools to help us do this. If we can make things individual and personal to students, they can then have effective collaboration and learning. I think these "3 C's" fit together so nicely. If they can compete with themselves, it will give them the motivation it takes to successfully compete with others in the work force later in live. Without good cooperation and collaboration skills, they will lack what it takes to work and interact with others. These are crucial skills to have in order to succeed in school, work, and life. Loved the video!

Week 5: Internet Safety Reflection and Weekly Video

Though the Internet can be risky when students aren't knowledgeable about all of the dangers that are out there, we can turn it around into a positive in the classroom as we educate them on how to use the internet wisely and gain worlds of knowledge and learning from it. It should definitely be a part of the classroom because of all the wonderful resources that can enhance learning and enjoyment both inside the classroom and out. So many questions can be answered with just a click of the mouse-it is so efficient! The great benefit of using it for school is that there are wonderful places, such as UEN, that give students a safe place to learn over the Internet. We don't need to worry about inappropriate content, wrong information, or strangers who try to get information from our students. Rather, we can be happy knowing our students can have access to resources such as interactives, educational games, articles, real time data, simulations, collaboration tools, calendars, publishings, research, and countless other tools. The technology is here and so informative, so why not take advantage of it in school? Our students are already surrounded by all kinds of technology everywhere they go, so we need to adapt to the times! They will need to know how to use it in their future schooling and careers, so now is a perfect time to start.

As teachers and parents, we need to critically evaluate the sites we chose to guide our students to. There are wonderful sites out there, but some can be quite deceiving, which means we need to stay on our toes. We don't want to lead students to wrong or outdated information, sites that require them to give any personal information, any place that may contain inappropriate material or places that could be dangerous.

The five W's are a good place to start when evaluating a website. These are WHO is the author and are they an expert? WHAT is the purpose of this site and what information is here? WHEN was it created and last updated? WHERE does the information come from and where can I find out more about it? WHY is this useful and why should I use it over any other site? Along with the five W's, it is good to look over the site to see if it is easy to use, if it is pertinent, if it is done professionally, if there is any bias, how you can contact the author, and if it is reviewed at all.

Though we do our absolute best to lead our students to educationally accurate and safe places online, it is still crucial to educate them on how to use the Internet wisely. It will help them not only in learning and school settings, but in every aspect of their lives. It is important to educate them on things such as keeping their personal information personal, chat room dangers, warnings for social networking, and what to do if something inappropriate or uncomfortable happens to appear. We can make Internet safety education fun by incorporating good Internet safety games and interactives, having class discussions, giving them specific web activities, and other hands-on and engaging activities. The purpose is not to scare students away from using the web, but to inform them on how to make their Internet experience the best possible. Monitoring their use of the Internet and using special software can always add to the level of protection in the classroom and home as well.

Video: We Didn't Start the Fire

This was such a fun video to watch! I thought it was brilliant because it incorporated a catchy song, which is likely to catch many students' attention- especially those who are "music smart." Music is such a large part of many of their lives, and it is a good method of reaching those students who learn best from listening. It was great to be able to watch the historical events as they were mentioned in the song. The real footage was good to see, and I think it is beneficial to put a picture to the words because those visual learners in the class will gain more from the video. This would be a wonderful clip to show before a history lesson because it would get the students' attention.

UEN Reflection

UEN Reflection Paper

I plan on using UEN in my future classroom because of all the wonderful resources it has for both me as a teacher, for my students, and even for their parents. It is wonderful to have so many useful tools in one place.I love the fact that because it is online, they can all have access to this great information even if they don't have a computer in their home. Public and school libraries can be used. Using technology in school can benefit students so much because that is just one more way that they can learn and connect through. All students learn differently, so we need to give them as many different ways to access information and connect with it as possible! In these changing times, technology is a must, and many students are already very familiar with it and enjoy using it. I have enjoyed learning about all of the things UEN has to offer. I am definitely not an expert in all of it yet, so I plan to continue exploring it more in order to find even more ways of enhancing my classroom, lessons, and student learning and engagement.

Pioneer Library has so many helpful tools for engaging students and adding variety to lessons. EBSCO and SIRS Knowledge Source are two tools in Pioneer that I definitely plan on using. One example of something I would want to do in my classroom, is let my students chose any topic that they'd like to research about Deaf culture. (They would then need to make sure I approve it.) We would work on these projects throughout the semester, and both EBSCO and SIRS would be so valuable in giving the students good information for their topic. I wish CultureGrams had something about Deaf culture, so we could use that, too! I also plan on using Pioneer's eMedia because it has clips of people fingerspelling vocabulary words that I would use. It would benefit my students to be able to watch different people signing, other than just myself, because receptive skills would increase with a variety of signing styles being exposed to them. There are other wonderful tools in Pioneer that I could incorporate throughout my lessons as well.

The Interactives offered on UEN are so fun! With these, students can really enjoy themselves and learning does not have to relate to being bored or confused. One interactive I thought would have good application in my intermediate and advanced classes is the Short Term Memory game. As we discuss interpreting within the Deaf community, students can train their brains to have the kind of short term memory skills a real interpreter needs to do an effective job. There are countless other memory games that students could explore, that can tie into many different areas of study.

UEN is also useful in that it can help keep teachers on track with the core curriculum as well as lesson plan ideas. The core curriculum is easy to find for any content area, which would be beneficial to students and families because they would know what to expect from the class. When searching for lesson plans in my content area, World Languages, there were no approved lesson plans listed. I was disappointed and found lesson plan ideas elsewhere. I think it would be a fun thing for me to try to submit a lesson plan for UEN to have for all the World Languages teachers to get ideas from. I did look at other content area lesson plans and was impressed by the help they could give teachers. What a valuable resource.

Week 4: UEN

What?

This week in class, we learned all about UEN and all it has to offer. There is a lot to learn about everything UEN has! It has some similar benefits and tools as Google Docs, but is much more complicated, along with many more resources for teachers, students, and parents. I'm still trying to decide which one I prefer. UEN has wonderful benefits and different kinds of support for teachers, students, and parents, but Google Docs is simpler to figure out and manage, while still providing very beneficial tools for the classroom. We are also exploring the Pioneer Library, which is included in the UEN website. It includes useful things such as eMedia, CultureGrams, SIRS, encyclopedia, news, and other resources.

So What?

Teachers can have so many tools and resources right at their fingertips if they are familiar with how to use UEN. What a time and energy saver when you can understand everything that it has! Teachers can get ideas for lesson plans, find new ways of teaching students through activities and higher order thinking, and can learn about workshops and other helpful teacher improvement tools. This would help me feel more connected and like I didn't have to struggle through everything without help. It can really help us stay in the education loop, including news and events, new resources and helpful sites, fun teaching ideas, useful technology, and how to help our students and their parents get the most out of their educational journey as possible. What a wonderful time to be in the field of education- there are so many tools to help us be the best for our students!

Now What?

As a teacher, I plan on utilizing the tools that UEN has. I was particularly excited about the lesson plans, but there were none listed under World Languages. This means that maybe I can have something to contribute. I'd like to figure out how to submit lesson plans to the UEN website, and try to get a really good ASL lesson plan up on the website. I enjoyed looking at the different Interactives, Tours, and other activities that it had for students, and would love to incorporate some of those into my lessons. I will make sure I let my students and their parents know about some of the things on UEN that they can benefit from, including seeing the curriculum and having the student and parent sites, tools, and resources available. There are some great things on there that can help parents and students at home, which would also make the classroom experience more beneficial.

Video: Did You Know?

This was a very interesting and even shocking video about the shifting that is taking place in our world. It mentioned that we are living in exponential times, which is so true. With all of the advancements in technology, who knows where we'll be years from now. It's amazing to think of the tools my kids will have in college, that I would never even think of having now. Children are learning how to use computers and other technology from a shockingly early age, and it's easy to see that their brains are conditioned to work with technology, unlike my parents or grandparents. Information is so accessible now. It's hard to think what we would do without it! It allows us to learn so much more, be more informed and aware of the world around us, stay more connected with people all over the world, buy and sell, meet and socialize with people, and be more efficient with our work and time. More and more degrees are being added in Universities and the clip also mentioned the estimation that people will have 10-14 jobs by their 38th birthday. We have so many opportunities in these amazing times!

Technology is so powerful and will really help us get further than we ever thought possible. As teachers, we absolutely can not underestimate the power of using it in our classrooms. We'll have to constantly stay on top of the latest things and work hard to keep informed on the newest and greatest things that will help our students (and us) be even more successful.

Week 3: Google Sites

What?

We worked on our class site in class this week, most of the information and tools were very new to me. Our pages included About Me, Announcements, Classroom Tools, and Homework. The Tools page is the one I am least familiar with, so I plan on doing some extra work with that until I feel more comfortable and confident with it. I've never done much with links and videos, so this is a great activity for me!

So What?

This site would be a great central place for students and parents to keep informed, updated, and organized. There would be less confusion about my expectations, assignment and test due dates, and it would offer more resources to help give students what they need to truly succeed. Most families are able to access the internet in some way, even if it is at the public library, so no one should feel out of the loop or at any disadvantages when it comes to communication and knowledge of my classroom and any opportunities or expectations that arise. The more variety of tools I can use to communicate, the better! Technology and a class site will be at the top of the list.

Now What?

I most definitely plan on using a class site for my future classes. I will include information about myself as well as the environment and expectations for my classroom. This will help students and their parents know what to expect from me, and will hopefully help found a good and trusting relationship between us all. I will also incorporate a homework and calendar page, because I know how easy it is for students to miss information, forget dates and assignments, and forget to communicate things with their parents. They have other classes, a social life, and other responsibilities, so I want to make things as clear and accessible as possible for them. The Tools page is my favorite and I can't wait for my students to be able to utilize the information I put on there for them. Some things will be directly related to assignments, and some will just be there for extra help if they need it. The more resources for learning, practice, and application, the better! I never want my students to feel like they didn't know where to go for help.

I plan on continuing to learn about the possibilities a class site has to offer, and getting more comfortable and familiar with all of the functions that can be used to make it even better for my classes. I know that technology and all of the tools and options it offers is constantly changing, growing, and improving, so I can't wait to stay on the "spirit of discovery"train and keep learning all that I can!

Video: Pay Attention
This video mentioned the different kinds of learning styles that students (and people in general) have, but specifically said that they are all digital learners because of how much video games, cell phones, TV, computers etc are a part of their lives. This kind of technology adds richness to learning and allows for more engagement and higher level thinking, such as reaching the level of creating, not just knowing and understanding. The clip gave examples of how we can use the internet, cell phones, and iPods (podcasts) to help in the teaching of our students.The students already use these materials, why not utilize them in the classroom? The main point was that there are so many other tools that are already popular with our students, that we could use to enrich their learning and reach them on so many levels. Some of these things (like the internet) seemed like a "no duh!" to me, but other ideas, such as cell phone use in class, is something that I'm definitely not used to. I would be so worried they'd just text their friends during the class and would miss what was actually supposed to be learned that day. It would take me some brainstorming to find ways to make phones effective in an ASL classroom. I'm sure there are ways, I'm just not used to the idea of using cell phones in school. But, I know times have changed and I need to change with it. Part of being a teacher means being flexible and meeting your students' needs. That will mean going out on a limb and trying new things. Who knows- I could end up loving cell phones in class. We'll see!

Week 2 Reflection: Everything Google

What?
The lesson today was Everything Google, and it was quite the week in class for me. I learned so much about some more amazing technology! One thing we learned about was Google Docs and how awesome it is to be able to basically have an online collaborative Word Document. It also offers the ability to make presentations, spreadsheets, forms, and other useful options. We were able to spend time in class exploring the Presentation part, which is very similar to Power Point, but in a simplified form. Another thing we went over was the Google Calendar. Talk about wonderful and easy organization! We then learned about iGoogle, which completely shocked and amazed me. There are so many tools on that, with the ability to have it all in the same convenient place! It's even a little overwhelming at all of the possibilities it offers. I will definitely need to play with it some more until I start feeling more on top of it all.

So What?
These resources add a whole new level of communication, collaboration, and organization- all of which can enable teachers to be more productive and successful than ever before in their class planning, research, organization, programs, and communication. With Google Docs, it is now possible to have an easy way to collaborate over long distances, and share information with others. It is the greatest collaboration tool I have seen. With iGoogle's convenient all-in-one-place features and tools, it is easier than ever to stay organized and informed. This means saving time and stress. It is so convenient and useful to have all of your personal information (even including bookmarks!) all saved online rather than limited to just one computer. You can access this page from any computer! What a time saver and a relief. I have included my Google Calendar on my iGoogle page. This calendar is so useful because it can organize your schedule and reminders in separate colors depending on the subject or area of your life. Having the option of the Calendar texting and emailing you reminders will help to never miss an appointment.

Now What?
I most definitely plan on utilizing Google Docs immediately, while I am still a student for convenient group work as well as individual work. I won't have to email my work to myself as I work on it in order to be able to use different computers; it's all online with this tool! I will also continue to use Google Docs as a teacher. I will be able to share information and work together easily with colleagues, and continue my growth and development through research and discovery using it. We can work on research and presentations that can forcus on better lessons, learning, class management, and anything else we may feel we want to improve upon. One thing I may consider implementing in my future classroom is the Calendar. I might like to have a specific calendar that is available for my students to check, which would contain what we discussed in class that day, assignment due dates, and test dates. Parents could help stay informed of how class is going through this method. One of my main goals in the classroom is clear communication, and this would be one more tool I could use to ensure that my students know what is going on and when they need to plan on turning things in to me. I plan on continuing getting familiar with and using iGoogle because it will make both my personal life and teaching life more organized and easy to access. By simplifying my life with this tool, I can devote more time, attention, and energy to other areas that will benefit my students and all those I associate with.

Video: Mr. Deuy Fractions
This video about fractions was entertaining and very different from any math lesson or introduction I have ever had during my time of being a student. It was a rap that explained in basic terms what fractions and division are. One thing I really loved about the clip was that it would definitely appeal to students who learn best through music and rythms. This is a tool that they could listen to and remember the basic process of this math lesson. On the video, it also shows the numbers and fraction/division process as he is rapping about it. This would be useful for those who learn best visually, and like seeing the process done. The benefits of videos like this are that it mixes things up for students and it can incorporate many different student learning styles into one simple lesson.


Video: Introducing Web 2.0

As the video put it, "Web 2.0 is a new set of tools that allows users to collaborate ideas through new mediums of expression." Some of the means of connection and communication that the clip mentioned and explained were Blogging, Wiki, Tagging, Podcast, and RSS (Rich Site Summary). Blogging is something you put on the web that others can read. I have a personal blog and have recently created two new blogs for school. I love blogging because it is so easy to stay informed and updated about what's going on with friends, family, and in this case, school and work. The clip went on to define Wiki which is a website that people (who are allowed to) can collaborate on. I don't have experience with this one yet, though it sounds similar to Google Docs (love that), but in the form of a website. I can't wait to learn more about it. Tagging is something I don't quite understand from just the video's definition alone. It is "a group of page definitions coded into a website that provides information to the search engine to describe content." The clip gave examples, but I'm not currently familiar with any of them. A Podcast is a way of sharing digital audio and video files through theInternet. MP3 Players or portable media devices are used for this. The last thing the clip mentioned was an RSS, or Rich Site Summary- which is a place that shows web content that interests you and that is constantly changing. One example of this is iGoogle.

This clip was beneficial to me, because I don't feel like an expert in new technology. I'm still learning and it was good for me to have the basics explained.

Week 1: Ideal High School ASL Classroom

My ideal classroom will be one that is a safe and inviting environment. There are many ways I plan to get it that way. Beginning with the physical arrangement of the classroom, I will organize students' desks in a large "U" shape around the room, rather than rows. Because this is an ASL classroom, the U shape would allow everyone to have an equal opportunity to see one another as we all communicate visually with our hands. If there were rows, the front row would have a difficult time seeing the back row, and vice versa. It will also be clean and organized, so there will be fewer distractions. Student work, ASL posters, and class rules will also be displayed on the walls, etc.

The personalities of colleagues, my students, and their parents would also be a crucial part of my ideal classroom. As colleagues, we would support each other in any way we could. This would include lesson ideas, classroom management ideas, and anything else that may come up. We are a team! My ideal students would come to my class ready to learn and participate. Attitude is everything! We will respect each other, learn from each other, and work together to make the year a great one for everyone. Asking questions, asking for help, and being prepared would happen on a regular basis and as needed. Their parents would be supportive of them and communicate with me when needed. Parent involvment, including homework help and encouragement, and a positive attitude about the class would help my students greatly, as the most effective learning can not be limited to only the classroom.

I will do my best to involve my students and help keep their interest during class. I will do this by using teaching techniques involving hands-on activities, group work and discussions, educational games, and a variety of assessment tools (not just pen and paper tests). Technology will be a strong tool in my classroom. I will record students signing stories and assignments, we will watch clips of different signers, I will have visual aids (i.e. PowerPoint) for any kind of lectures, and we will utilize the internet for a variety of learning resources.

I will be excited about teaching ASL and Deaf culture, and my ideal students would take that enthusiasm and run with it. Excitement of learning and discovery will spread like wildfire through my class. Everyone will feel safe and confident because class rules and expectations would include respect and honesty. There should be no belittling or making fun. We are all learning together and should help pull each other along, not pull them down. I hope that by the end of my class, my students will have met the standards for their level of ASL production, ASL comprehension, cultural knowledge and awareness, and love of learning.

New Blog!

You've landed on my school blog! Should be a good semester :)