My screencast!
I'm going to be completely honest. I went into this project with the intention of knocking out an easy final five points for my personal technology project; I had no interest in learning something that would actually be useful for me as a future teacher. Fortunately, my moment of apathy led me to discover an absolutely fantastic technology. I love Jing! It is so easy to install, so easy to use, and so applicable to a wide variety of different situations. I learned that Jing, a free software (though pricey upgrades are available), easily captures screenshots and screencasts. The simplicity is astounding, and the potential helpfulness of the technology is equally wonderful.
Jing could be so useful in alleviating certain instructional problems that arise from navigating certain websites and softwares. That's often one of the biggest pitfalls of teaching with technology--we assume that our students will be able to find and do what we need them to find and do on their computer, but sometimes words just aren't enough to adequately describe the steps in the process of navigating a website. On the other hand, Jing could also be useful for students who need to walk their peers and/or me through steps they took in finding something online or using some software for a project.
1) I can show students how to use the review feature in Microsoft Word. This is often tricky for students to figure out, and using Jing to show them could really help with those problems.
2) Students can show me the steps they took in finding sources for a research paper. This will allow me to help them in the research process because I'll know exactly what they did. It will also help prevent plagiarism. (Standard 3 of Utah State Core: Students will understand the process of seeking and giving information in conversations, group discussions, written reports, and oral presentations).
3) Assuming that I will use Ning or some other classroom network, I can use Jing to create a tutorial for navigating the site.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
My Experience with Prezi
My First Prezi
Today I learned that Prezi is a technological tool that I absolutely want to use in my classroom. For some reason, when we were going over it in class, I was skeptical. But I have been converted, and I really look forward to implementing it in instruction, as will be discussed later. I learned that Prezi is easy to navigate, easy to embed, and easy to make awesome. I didn't spend a ton of time making my project, but if I were to spruce it up a bit, I can see it becoming something that really gets students excited about learning. I learned that it's free (not just a free trial or anything like that), and it's pretty fun to use.
Students who are visual learners and struggle to see connections between ideas could really benefit from this technology. In my project I didn't really show relationships among ideas based on size or layout or anything, but it would be super easy to do. While this would be especially beneficial for struggling students, the entire class would benefit from seeing ideas mapped out visually. A prezi could also help as an attention grabber for students who tend to lose focus quickly. Because the a prezi is much faster-paced and visually stimulating than a classic powerpoint, students would be more inclined to pay attention. This would also be a fantastic method of getting artistic/technologically savvy students interested in English projects.
Activities:
1) Just like the one I created, I could create a prezi as an introduction to a novel or other work of literature. I could specifically go into aspects on an author's life or the historical/literary background of the work.
2) Have students get in groups of several students at the beginning of the year and create their own prezis that draw connections among the lives/backgrounds/interests of the members of the group. This would build a ton of class unity, and it would really be a great way to introduce the technology while building a positive atmosphere. (Standard 3: Students will understand the process of seeking and giving information in conversations, group discussions, written reports, and oral presentations).
3) Students can create prezis to help them organize the ideas that they'll put into a written essay. (Standard 2: Students will write informational and literary text to reflect on and recreate experiences, report observations, and persuade others).
Today I learned that Prezi is a technological tool that I absolutely want to use in my classroom. For some reason, when we were going over it in class, I was skeptical. But I have been converted, and I really look forward to implementing it in instruction, as will be discussed later. I learned that Prezi is easy to navigate, easy to embed, and easy to make awesome. I didn't spend a ton of time making my project, but if I were to spruce it up a bit, I can see it becoming something that really gets students excited about learning. I learned that it's free (not just a free trial or anything like that), and it's pretty fun to use.
Students who are visual learners and struggle to see connections between ideas could really benefit from this technology. In my project I didn't really show relationships among ideas based on size or layout or anything, but it would be super easy to do. While this would be especially beneficial for struggling students, the entire class would benefit from seeing ideas mapped out visually. A prezi could also help as an attention grabber for students who tend to lose focus quickly. Because the a prezi is much faster-paced and visually stimulating than a classic powerpoint, students would be more inclined to pay attention. This would also be a fantastic method of getting artistic/technologically savvy students interested in English projects.
Activities:
1) Just like the one I created, I could create a prezi as an introduction to a novel or other work of literature. I could specifically go into aspects on an author's life or the historical/literary background of the work.
2) Have students get in groups of several students at the beginning of the year and create their own prezis that draw connections among the lives/backgrounds/interests of the members of the group. This would build a ton of class unity, and it would really be a great way to introduce the technology while building a positive atmosphere. (Standard 3: Students will understand the process of seeking and giving information in conversations, group discussions, written reports, and oral presentations).
3) Students can create prezis to help them organize the ideas that they'll put into a written essay. (Standard 2: Students will write informational and literary text to reflect on and recreate experiences, report observations, and persuade others).
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