Week 3 - Video (imovies)

For this assignment we had to create a commercial to sell an "idea." The project itself was sort of fun, and I can definitely see myself using it in the classroom for numerous projects. I could also use imovies as a way to prepare students to give speeches or presentations in front of the class...sort of like a warm up to the real thing. This might be especially effective for the really shy students.

Unfortunately, I didn't learn a whole lot about how to actually use imovie. I did give it a try but I didn't want to be the "slow poke," so I allowed my more knowledgeable peers to take over. Since I do see this tool as being very useful in the classroom, it is one that I will be dedicating more time to learning about to understand how to use it myself before introducing it to my class.

Week 2-Images-Collage Assignment

I'm not sure how I would use photoshop in the classroom at this point. I was in awe by the tools and features of photoshop, but it was also a very frustrating experience for me. I was able to get through the assignment but it took me a while to do something that probably shouldn't have been that complicated. Unless I had more practice with it, I don't think I would use it in the classroom with students. I would also be hesitant to use it due to how time consuming this task was. Teachers don't have a lot of extra time to fiddle with stuff. On the bright side, I know that this tool is available, and am familiar with some of its capabilities. Down the road, I would like to learn it better and with more time.

First Day of Class Experience

It was nice to hear about the different web 2.0 tools that exist out there. Instructor Saxowsky made a good point about the time it would have taken each one of us to go through those sites on our own, so I appreciated the time saver and hearing about it from my peers. I had heard the term RSS before but didn't know what that meant until Denvy explained it in class. I have created a blog in the past but other than its required classroom use/posts, I didn't use it beyond that. I still don't know that I would become a regular blogger. Maybe once I have a classroom of my own, I would see the purpose for having one. I definitely like the function of using the blog for photo and video sharing. Now that's fun! I explored the pocket photo album site from "big huge labs" in class. Check out their site:
http://www.bighugelabs.com/pocketalbum.php
The pocket album is free, and it appears easy to make. I can definitely see myself using this tool in the classroom for a variety of purposes. One example is to have students download pictures of animals they have been studying and give a report on it in pairs. The photo album allows for 8 pictures, but you can use four for pictures and leave space next to each one to write in informational text.