Blogging

Well, as you can see from the title of this post, I have a bit of an advantage on this step. The assignment was to set up a personal blog and add my "first" post. Check!

Since I created this blog several months ago and am only adding to it now, I will try to reflect on how I felt at the time I created this blog. Did I hear someone guess "panicked"? Ding-ding, Johnny!! Aren't you glad I'm so predictable when it comes to how I feel about new technology?! :)

Also in predictable fashion, however, I rose to the occasion and was pleasantly surprised to find out that blogging isn't nearly as scary or intimidating as I had originally supposed it would be. I actually (dare I say it?) ENJOY posting blog entries now. I appreciate the fact that it is a much less formal style of writing than what I traditionally have to use in school--especially as an English major. It's fun to be able to put more of my personality into a sentence without having to worry about it being judged. (If I am living in a dream world and you are currently critiquing my horrible writing, please keep me in the dark. Ignorance is bliss!!)

Technology: My Continued Education

It has almost been three months since my last post, and while I've thoroughly enjoyed my time off, it is definitely time for me to jump back on the technology bandwagon. It should come as no surprise that the decision to jump-start my education of technology was aided by an assignment for a class! Regardless of the reason, here I am again--ready to conquer technology one fear at a time.

For one of my library classes, I am going to be completing a "Web Learning 2.0" course. Each week I will tackle at least one technology-related program on the internet (e.g. blogging, Flickr, Skype, etc.). After each grueling battle, I will post the (hopefully successful) results.

Today I took the first easy steps of the course by simply reading and learning about it. Learning 2.0 was started by a group of librarians who wanted to become more savvy with some Web 2.0 tools. Now I have the privilege of becoming more tech-savvy myself!

My favorite thing I read today was the course's "7-1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners" tutorial. Lifelong learning has definitely been a catch phrase in my library classes, and for good reason! I am excited to have a reason to learn more through this course. Even though (as always) I'm a little nervous about it being so self-directed, I know it will help me learn even more.

I think that I am fairly practiced in some of the 7-1/2 habits--in particular, habits 1, 7, and 7-1/2. I am always good at making goals--even though I desperately need to work on reaching them on time!! I always like to tell people about what I've learned because I know it helps me learn more--sorry to anyone who has ever fallen prey to my unasked-for teaching! And I always enjoy "playing" as a method of learning.

My favorite habit that the tutorial listed was, "Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner." In case you haven't picked up on it yet or you're new to my blog, I get very panicked whenever I think about doing something technology-related that I've never done before. I definitely need to work on having confidence that I will be able to learn any of the new things this class requires me to learn. There's nothing like a good pep talk to get me moving--go team Becca! I can do this!

Tah-dah!!!

I am currently doing a major dance of joy because I have completed my final Scratch educational game. Actually, I completed it early this morning a little before 3 AM. Needless to say, I wasn't in the mood to post at that time!

My final assessment of using Scratch in the classroom? Well, my opinion has not changed since my last post. I am amazingly proud of my final product, but, then again, it did take me 8+ hours to create it (not counting the time I spent deciding what to do and researching how to operate the program), so I'd better be proud!!!...Which leads me to my next point. I already griped about this in my last post, but I'm going to complain again!! This project took me so long. I know it didn't necessarily have to take me that long. I set my expectations too high to begin with, and after I'd taken so long on the first part of the game, the rest of it had to match! Stupid perfectionism.

In short, I can see the benefit of using games in the classroom. I may even use some in my future classroom if I find some that fit with the curriculum. I really enjoyed the Voices of Spoon River game, which surprised me. However, I do not plan on ever making another game. (At least that's how I feel today;-)

Final Project Falling Flat

This post is dedicated to what I should have posted on November 11th.

On this date, our class started learning about and working on our final project, an educational video game created using Scratch. Early on, I felt extremely overwhelmed--for real this time.

I can definitely see the value of creating a game for students that used the alignment theory (starting with the objectives and moving backward). I can see that using games in the classroom would have a lot of benefits. Students would probably be more excited to learn the content--especially because gaming would be a unique way for them to learn. It would also be a good, new assessment tool--if the game were properly designed, you would be able to tell whether or not a student reached the learning objectives based on whether he/she mastered the game.

However, I have learned that creating a game--even using a program like Scratch--is so time-consuming!!! I don't think I could realistically plan, create, and implement a game into my curriculum. At least I couldn't do it often!

Webmeistering ;-)

This post is dedicated to what I should have posted on November 9th.

On this date, our class worked on yet another program to create a personal web page. We used My UEN to design a web page that we could theoretically use in our future classrooms. I really enjoyed this assignment because I could picture myself as an in-service teacher using the program to create a class website.

We were required to work on four pages for the site: a home page, an assignments/homework page, a daily activities/announcements page, and a student/parent information page. I really appreciated knowing specifics about what was required for the assignment. I also really appreciated the fact that my final product was something I could easily see myself actually using in the future. I think this would be a great way to provide students and parents access to information about your classroom from the comfort of their homes. It would also be important, however, to keep in mind the fact that not all students have access to internet in their homes. I just thought I needed to add that!!

Flash Focus

This post is dedicated to what I should have posted on November 2nd.

On this date, our class was in the midst of creating a file in Flash that had "a purpose, text, an image, and tweens". I created a file that was essentially a 7-second advertisement to "Consult Grammar Girl" on the web if you had questions about grammar.

I'm going to be perfectly frank--I personally did not see the benefit of using this program in the regular (non-technology-related) classroom. It took me sooo long to complete the final product, and I wasn't even very satisfied with it! I know that some students would catch on better than I did, but I didn't think the program itself offered enough benefit to rationalize dedicating a lot of class time to it. That's probably not what Jon (my teacher) wants to hear, but I'm just being honest. I want to implement a lot of what we've learned into my future classroom, but I don't want to include Flash.

Caught in the Web

This post is dedicated to what I should have posted on October 26th.

On this date, our class worked on creating personal web pages using Google Sites. When I first heard that we would be required to create our own web pages--naturally--I almost freaked out. Web design!?!?! However, it really wasn't bad at all. Once again, Google has succeeded in making a program that helps people like me be less intimidated. In fact, by the end of the day I actually wanted there to be more possibilities and options. That is not typical for me; usually I want anything related to technology to be ASAP (i.e. as simple as possible).

Even though I wanted more options with the program, I can definitely see the benefit of using Google Sites in the classroom. It was so simple to use that students could create assignments (websites) using the program without much stress. For my personal Google Site, I created a web page that documented the books I have read this semester--I think that would be a perfect example of an assignment I could expect my English or Library students to complete.