May 29th More Dreamweaver

   We delved deeper into Dreamweaver today and man did having some instruction help with navigating the features! After reviewing a powerpoint on Dreamweaver 101 I was able to create a home page feature mu-ah and five additional pages to compliment my web page. The homepage has five page links, many clip art images, a picture of me and a short welcome/introduction to my web page.

The links are math, science, reading, writing, and parent resources. Each page has a home page link and many online resources for that subject. Math has a free scientific calculator link with games and tutoring, science has links to terminology dictionaries and more games, and writing has links to APA and MLA cites and plagiarism checker. They all have many features and a unifying color scheme.

All in all, I love the idea of make a web page, and like Dreamweaver. I am not sure as to the usability or accessibility of my site and for that reason I feel a different web page design application might be more appropriate. I would love if my web page was functional and easy for me to alter, change, and grow into. I think a program like Weebly would of have been right on the money!

Thanks~
Jessica

May 22nd Website Design and Dreamweaver

This class I was absent for I still worked on this application none the less. I downloaded a trial version of Dreamweaver and set to work watching tutorial videos and investigating how to maneuver through such a complex environment. So far I am learning many things about writing codes and managing the layout with text and images that follow my design scheme. It is pretty interesting and I look forward to what the project will look like however I am apprehensive as to the usability outside of the classroom and the public drive. I am concerned that the files wont transfer well and it will be a big mess and I'll be forced to start over again from scratch. That would be a serious inconvenience but I guess we will see.

Wish me luck,
Mrs. Bresson ;)

May 15th class: iPods and iPads

 The task for the day was to create a lesson plan around iPod/iPad and the SmartBoard. My group and I got to play around the SmartBoard and discovered many drawing and 'paint' like application and decide to incorporate it into our lesson plan. We also downloaded an app on the iPod that allowed us to draw with a similar application as the SmartBoard. Between the two technologies we had the beginning of a lesson plan and decided to create one on three main types of clouds: cumulus, stratus, and cirrus. Essentially, the kids did a lot of drawing and finger writing to demonstrate their understanding and we the teaching was done on the SmartBoard.

May 8th Class Recap

Today's class was fun because we got to create a podcast using GarageBand. We chose pictures and added our voices and background music. I  made an alphabet that said the showed a flashcard of the letter and a real life picture of the corresponding object. I then said the letter, the sounds, and the picture that went with it and added a nice upbeat background song. I think this is my favorite assignment so far and one that I think I will use to create richer curriculum for all my students but I think it will benefit the English language learners the most. This is a great tool for making a listening area that also provides visuals to help make connections. Because it is relatively simple, The ELLs can also practice their speaking with the added benefit of getting to listen to themselves speaking English and therefore provide valuable insight into their development.

As for using other people's podcast, that only slightly entices me. I think that youTube has everything a podcast has to offer and I already actively navigate and utilize that so I might just stick with it.

Until Next Week,
Jessica

May 1st class recap: remote answering system

In class today we learned how to use the remote answer system. I made that name up because for the life of me I can't remember what it was called, but it shouldn't hinder the understanding of the process.

This system allows the teacher to get immediate feedback from the class by having them respond to a question using a remote and the computer/Internet. These questions can be true/false or multiple choice and are meant to be a informal formative assessment. This can be used to see if your students are following by asking simple questions that relate to the topic. The program will show the teacher exactly who is answering which question and provides information about how to proceed.

I think it's pretty cool but I also see its limitations because you have the enough remotes for every student and you have to do some programming for every single question you ask. So I think it can be both a time waster and a time saver. It is time waster because you have to mess with stuff every question you ask and it can be a time saver because the teacher is teaching to the needs of the students versus wasting time teaching over or under their heads.

and that's all folks..

April 24 Class Recap: Google Mapping Project

Although I was absent from this class today I did complete the assignment as well as some tutorials.
This class focused on Google Earth and we created a mapping project that reflected an educational aspect through the use of five places in Oregon. I chose to pick five National Wildlife Refuges that were all within reasonable distance from Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Oregon. Beyond the actual assignment I saw so much potential in this application for my education career. I found many useful tools to help me plan better, more interactive, real life lesson plans and ideas for English language learners as well.

Google Oceans  is a feature that allows you to see under the surface of water! So awesome and I envision using this for the both lecture and play in the content of science. Historical Imagery is another great feature on Google Earth. It can be used for social studies and economics as well as history because it allows you to see how things have change over time, whether it be landscapes or urban building. If you combined any of this with 3D layering you have a very vivid real-life experience. Students can also make their own buildings and have them inserted on Google Earth which would be a great design/architecture/computer skills assignment. You can even land on the moon and explore historical sites through this amazing application. Probably my favorite feature is the ease in which the language can be changed. This will surely be a valuable tool to my English language learners and the entire class. My mind is teeming with the possibilities for lesson plan design. Never again will I need to pull a picture from a text book to illustrate a certain Biome or geographical location!

Until next time,

~Jessica~

April 17 ED421 Class Recap

It's business as usual in ED 421 and this week we are working with iMovie and creating a public service announcement concerning an issue of our choice. We learned some terminology associated with iMovie and video production like long shots, medium shots, and so on. We are given some constraints like the length of the movie is only 30 seconds and we are to incorporate at least 30 clips. This seems a challenge but should be fun. The only problem is that we are limited to iMovie. I just don't foresee me having access to even one Mac let alone enough to have all my students working with iMovie. It also isn't very compatible with sharing and working on other computers. It seems limited although a cool application.

Additionally we finished up the collage assignment which has us commenting on five pictures. The method of having students be the first and fifth comment on one picture almost guarantees everyone having five comments on their own picture providing great feedback. Feedback allows us to grow and see things from a different perspective and I think it's a great tool when it's specific.

Jessica