Ok, One More!

I know I said the last post was my final one for school, but my brother-in-law's app is in the App Store now so I had to share it! Here's the link:

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/night-bike/id821344860?mt=8

And here I am playing it:

So please go download it! Basically you are the bike and you jump over vehicles and try not to crash into them. It's pretty addicting, and it's also pretty challenging... As you can see my high score is 5. Oh ya, and my husband Gary made the music for it! Go check it out!

Coming to an End...

Well, here we are at the end of my semester! It's crazy to think my first year of education is pretty much over! Well, except for the 7 weeks of student teaching I have yet to do of course...

But it has really been an amazing year. I've learned a lot about myself as a teacher, as well as how I will (and in some cases, will not) teach my classes. Probably the most new things I've learned have been in my ICT class, though!

Before this semester, I had never used cloud storage for my documents... Everything was saved right on my computer or to a portable hard drive. I had a habit of emailing documents to myself so I could print them at school, and all this really did was fill up my inbox with empty emails. I have really taken to using google drive now, and I tend to create documents there too; it makes it a lot easier now that I'm using a Mac. (Side note: I don't think I could ever go back to a PC now...)

One of the main things I've learned this semester hasn't been how to use different apps and programs, although that has been really important. What I think I have taken away the most from this course is the importance of having a positive online presence. If I can show students how to use technology responsibly, and if I can show them how to appropriately represent themselves online, I think I will have taught them something very important. There will always be new apps to learn, but knowing how to use technology in a smart way is timeless.

Throughout this semester, I have been becoming more aware of my social media posts, and being sure that pictures and posts accurately represent how I want students, administrators and parents know me. Everything from Facebook to Twitter to this blog are representations of me, and I want to make sure they accurately show my potential.

Our major project this semester has been creating an eportfolio. This is a place where potential employers can find out more about myself, my interests and my abilities. I am pretty happy with how mine turned out, and although I am sure I will be adding to it in the future, I have already given out the web address to potential employers for summer jobs.

Here's a link to my eportfolio if you are interested in seeing it: www.kelseyjenningsportfolio.weebly.com

This has really been an exciting year, and as I head out to my second placement, I am really looking forward to using my new tech knowledge in the classroom!

SMART Technology and Mind Mapping

This week we've been looking at SMART technology that can be used in the classroom, specifically with SMARTboards.

While on my first teaching placement, I had my first encounter with a SMARTboard and I have to say, I was pretty overwhelmed. I had no idea how to use it and what it could be used for, but it learned pretty quickly that I don't need to be wary of using them. I had my PowerPoint presentations on there, and I used SMARTnotebook for brainstorming and taking notes, but I knew I was only scratching the surface. 

Today we took a look at some mind mapping tools that can be used online, and can be interactive if used on a SMARTboard, one of them being Inspiration.

I almost laughed out loud when I saw we were looking at Inspiration; I used it in my grade 5 keyboarding class way back when I was in school! It has thankfully been updated though, and really it does work pretty well for mind mapping. I started one on Cluster 3 in the grade 8 Social Studies curriculum, which I'll be teaching in a couple of weeks:

I created this on my iPad using the free app, but it can be done right on the SMARTboard using the online Inspiration program. 

I have yet to download the SMARTnotebook program for my computer, but I have the app for my iPad which will come in handy I'm sure. I'm looking forward to playing around with SMARTboards more and hopefully to become more competent!

Movie Presentations!

Well, this week has been a short one, but yesterday we finished working on our movies, and today we presented them to the class!

Here's mine!



Please feel free to like and share it, as I would love to become a world-famous YouTube star!

But seriously, the presentations were hilarious today! One group did a parody of Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" using a giant hopping ball with handles, it was quite funny. Another group did a "Kid Snippets" kind of video, dubbing over each other. (Sidenote: if you haven't seen any Kid Snippets, check out their YouTube channel here.

Another thing I've been working on this week is my Eportfolio. It's basically an online portfolio where I can display work samples, experience, pictures, video... anything that will help me when I am looking for a job. It's not done yet (I still have to add to the work samples) but if you'd like an early look at it, you can click on the link below:

Kelsey's Online Portfolio

That's all for this week! Don't forget to watch my video and share it with everyone you know so I can be on Ellen!

Sign Up Genius and Movie Making

This week my cooperating teacher from last semester tagged me in a post on Facebook. It was about a program called "Sign Up Genius" that a teacher was using for parents to sign up to bring supplies for an ice cream party. It looked so cool the way she used it... Take a look at her blog:

The Organized Classroom

Also, take a look at Sign Up Genius.

I can totally see myself using this for parent volunteers. Thanks for the tip Mrs. Bergen!

Now, on to what I've been learning in class - this week we've been working on making a movie! It's been so much fun! Three of us planned out a story, filmed it, and we've been putting it together in class. It's been hard to keep it to only class time... we worked on it for the rest of the afternoon and we're almost done! Once we've presented it to the class I'll be sure to post it on here, but for now, here's a little teaser clip:

It'll look quite different when it's edited, but you'll have to wait for that!

And finally, just a bit of news, my brother-in-law just created an Android App that is a pretty cool game, and he's working on coming out with an iOS app too. Also, my talented husband created the music for it :) I've added a link to the app here.

Photo Editing

This week we've been working on photo editing, and I am starting to think I am a pro.

Well, maybe not a pro, but it's so easy that really anyone can do it.

One of the programs we've been using is Pixlr which is a free online editing tool. I used it to add some text to a photo and turn it into a poster:

In the process I learned a bit more about creative commons and what is and isn't allowed regarding using photos I've found online. This photo is classified as creative commons, meaning I can use it on my website/blog, and I am free to edit it, but I need to give credit of where it is from.

I played around with Pixlr to edit a couple pictures for my website too, pixelating the names of my students on a card they gave me.

This will come in handy, since I'll need to protect my students' privacy. By pixelating names and faces, I will be able to use photos from class and post them online without being able to recognize them.

I also touched up some of my photos using Ribbet :

Before:

After:

I softened these picture, enhanced the lighting, used the eyebrow pencil to touch up hair and eyebrows (and make my sister blonde, sorry Courtney), added some eyeliner and whitened our teeth. All that took a total of about 10 minutes, and I know with more time and playing around a bit I could have made it look better.

Here's another one I did in about 2 minutes:

Before:

After:

All I did with this one was increase the contrast, crop it, and sharpen the image.

So there you have it! It's really simple to make adjustments to photos to make them brighter, sharper, or accent different things. I will have to take advantage of these programs more, they take no time at all to use!

Multimedia and Digital Storytelling

This week we finished up our websites and now we've been looking at different forms of digital storytelling, especially through video.

First of all, here's a look at my classroom website!

My Classroom Website

I added a bunch of links to my Symbaloo on the "students" page, so there are plenty of resources for a grade 6 class! I also have links to the curriculum on the "parents" page, and a video on my home page that I found quite funny. Now all I need is an actual class so I can put some real pictures and assignments up!

Then today we took a look at different programs to use for digital storytelling. When I go to weddings, my favourite part tends to be the slideshow - I love looking at pictures and I love the stories they tell. We made ours in Powerpoint and it was such a headache to get everything looking nice - I WISH I had known about some of these other programs we looked at today!

A couple of programs we looked at were Photo Story and Animoto. Photo Story is for Windows and its pretty easy to put pictures into it and add music. You can even make your own music which is great. I decided to go with Animoto for mine, and it is so easy! I just linked it to my Facebook account so I could access my pictures, chose a theme and song, and voila!

Here's a look at my Animoto video - I decided to do it with my wedding pictures because they are my favourite pictures:

Technology as a means to learning

I never thought I'd say this, but my textbook is so good!

My textbook for ICT is called "Powering Up" and it's an ebook made up of blog entries by teachers about integrating technology into the classroom. It has all kinds of videos and links in it, but best of all, it has some awesome stories from teachers trying to get the most of out technology for their classrooms.

It's available here for a free download too!

One quote that I absolutely loved that was said by one of the teachers in the book was this:

The big revelation: It’s NOT about technology. It’s about learning. If we are “integrating technology” just to bring computers (or interactive whiteboards, or cell phones) into the classroom, we’ve got it all wrong. Just using the equipment — or the web tools it allows us to access – isn’t going to lead us or our students to truly connected learning. (p.29)

I think this is why I've been wary of bringing technology into the classroom. If it's just a matter of allowing students to have their cell phones in class, is it really improving the learning?  But if you are actually using technology as a means to greater learning, now we're talking!

One of the teachers in the book talked about how she completely threw the old way of teaching out the window and opted to have students research everything themselves and put together a textbook for their biology course. Wow! Talk about scary! I would be terrified that it wouldn't work, that there would be a push back from parents and administration, or that students wouldn't comply, but she got results! And what I think was the most impressive thing for me was that she was from a Christian school in Moose Jaw - not a progressive technological institute in a major city. If she can do it, why can't we?

I am really interested in teaching this way. I'm hoping that once I get a job (hopefully by the time I graduate? Please?) I'll be able to plan lessons like this from the start - having students involved in their learning, not passively listening and memorizing things they'll forget by the end of the year.

I want my students to be excited about their learning.

Macs and Websites!

So, I have exciting news.

Gary got a new Macbook Pro! Which means... I got his old one!

 

Yes, I understand that not a lot of people would be that excited for a 6 year old computer, but it's better than my 2 year old HP so that's saying something. And we'll just ignore how the power cord is taped up with electric tape...

What I'm learning from using a Mac is that things are easier than I thought. Apple is pretty good at making user-friendly technology, and I'm excited to learn more and generally get better at using this computer!

Speaking of user-friendly... have you heard of Weebly?

I've started working on my website for ICT and holy cow, that is an easy program to use! I'm pretty sure I had to make a website for my computer class in grade 6, and it was awful. Like, really awful. Basically you had a choice of background colour, whether or not it was textured, and what font your text was.

Weebly is a biiiit more advanced than that. I'm able to choose from a variety of templates and then customize to my heart's desire. I'm working on putting together a potential classroom website, and other than the stock picture of the random teacher and her students on the home page, I'd say it's coming along nicely!

I've added an "about me" page so parents and students can get to know me better, and I plan on filling in the "students" and "parents" pages a bit more so they'll have all the information they need. I'm wanting to put together a Symbaloo page (see previous blog) for great student resources too. I have calendar on there too, which is connected to my google calendars (brilliant!) so I can update it anywhere, anytime, and it should update the class website (I say "should" because I haven't actually tried it yet...).

I have so much yet to do on this class website, but in the meantime, here's a link to it so far!

Mrs. Jennings' Classroom Website

Now, time to get back to work on that website!

I LOVE TECHNOLOGY... especially Skype and Evernote.

Today I was struck by how much I love technology, and as a result, I have the song "I love technology" from Napoleon Dynamite stuck in my head.

I love technology because early this morning it allowed me to have a conversation with my sister who is halfway around the world in Uganda. It was so great to Skype her and see her new school, see that she was not too badly sunburned just yet, and talk to her almost like it was face-to-face. I also used the webcam as a mirror to put eyeliner on so I wouldn't be late for school, but I digress...

EVERNOTE! Yesterday we were looking at different online curation tools, and we had a chance to play around with them a bit. As soon as Evernote was mentioned, I remembered that I had downloaded the app on my phone already, because Gary told me it was good for organization and hey, I want to be organized... so there it sat on my phone doing nothing.

Anyway, we talked about a few different sites in class, but I was really excited to try out Evernote and guess what... it's awesome. Here's a shot of my notebooks so far:

It's great! I know I'm not even close to using it to it's fullest potential, but for now it's a great way to keep track of all the great apps and sites we learn about in class, and I can keep notes in a notebook here rather than on paper. That way I can refer back to my notes whenever I am around a computer or my phone, which is... all the time.

I'm also thinking this will be a great way of keeping track of notes and sites for papers and assignments. If I'm needing to research something, I can have my notes typed up here, but I can also have screenshots and links to other sites with information I'll need.

Another site we talked about and I am starting to figure out is Symbaloo. It's basically a spot you can collect a bunch of pre-selected websites for easy access. This would be great for a classroom - I could pre-select sites that are reliable for research and allow students to access it for research projects or general inquiry. One of my main concerns with technology in the classroom is that students can access all kinds of information and need guidance in sifting through which are reliable and which are not.

So far, I'm using Symbaloo as my homepage for easy access to the sites I visit most. Here it is so far (there is much more to add, but it's a work in progress):

My Symbaloo

So there you go! There's a few of new things I've learned about technology! Now, it's time for me to check on my technological pets, otherwise known as tamagotchis!

Welcome to the world of ICT!

Well, here I am, starting out on an adventure!

It's not the same as other adventures... in fact my sister just started a blog entitled "Courtney's Going on an Adventure!" that is much more adventurous than mine. She's on her way to Uganda for a semester of school, and I'm on my way to learning how to integrate technology in to the classroom; different adventures but both adventurous in their own way!

Blogging for me has been something I've wanted to try, but have never been able to start. I love reading blogs (especially cooking blogs) and I've wanted to write them, but something always stops me from getting one going. Sometimes while I'm cooking I will come up with a great blog entry and I'll be saying it out loud as I add the ingredients (sad, I know). I even came up with a great opening entry for starting up my cooking blog but alas, I still have not begun. I'm thinking this blog will be exactly what I need to become comfortable with blogging!

This blog is specifically for my class, Using Information and Communication Technology in Education. Here I will reflect on what has been talked about in class, as well as my thoughts on what I can try in my classroom!

So, on to my reflection -

This week has been pretty much an intro to the class as well as a bit of an intro to curating our online resources. I am a big fan of Pinterest and I love pinning sites I can come back to. Two of my biggest boards are (not surprisingly,) food and education. I use Pinterest all the time when I'm cooking, and to help keep my recipes organized, I've also created a "recipes I've tried and loved" board to move all the frequently used recipes to. Online organization is so important because there are just so many things out there! I just googled "chicken recipes" and got 195,000,000 results! Thank goodness for Pinterest where all my favourites are pinned and ready for me to use!

One thing my husband Gary has been trying to get me to do is to make use of my Youtube account and subscribe to channels and save playlists. I hate having to search through tons of videos to find that one that I found really funny but can't remember the name of. A New Year's resolution of mine was to get organized... why don't I start online?

Dropbox and Google Drive are two other ways that I plan to get organized. Too many times I've lost files because of computer issues, or have forgotten to email an assignment to myself at school so I can print it off. If I can get all of my lesson plans, worksheets, units, and everything else I need for teaching synced to my Dropbox or Google Drive accounts, they'll be accessible whenever I need them. In fact, that's the next thing on my to-do list for tonight; get those accounts set up and organized!

I'll keep you filled in as I learn more and more about using technology in education. I'm looking forward to learning new stuff and trying things out!