French Glogster Presentation part 2

Yesterday I used my Glog as an accompaniment to my French Unit presentation.  It was a great visual that helped illustrate what I was talking about and the embedded hyperlink easily allowed me to show other websites I used.

There are a few things that I will need to explore further and change.  First off, when using my interactive poster, I could only display one portion at a time.  I am sure there is a way to minimize the screen to see the whole thing.  I will have to play around a bit to find out how.  As well, with my video clip, next time I create a Glog that will be presented using the projector and a white screen, I will have to enlarge the image

Using Glogster as a Learning Object

I continue to be amazed at what I am learning in my Technology course and I cannot wait to try some of these tools out in the classroom.

Yesterday I created my first ever Glog (click here to see it).  "What is a Glog," you ask.  Let me tell you.  A Glog is created using a Web 2.0 program called Glogster.  It is an interactive poster that has pictures, text, animations, audio clips, hyperlinks, and videos.  I love how simple it is to create a Glog and make it look so professional.  With a couple clicks of the mouse, you can insert video and sound into your interactive poster.  It is extremely easy to make your poster authentic, as there are so many images and animations to use.  I had a great time choosing different frames and backgrounds for my Glog.

An interactive poster is a great way to introduce students to an author and his book(s).  With my Glog, I included a Wordle, a photograph, and excerpt from an interview to introduce students to the author.  If this lesson was being taught to older students, they could use the clues given in the Wordle to guess who the author is.  There is a hyperlink attached to the Qui suis-je and the photograph so the students can verify their answer and read up on Roch Carrier, the author of The Hockey Sweater.  To help younger students predict what the story is going to be about, I included a sound clip that could be played from the radio and a hockey animation.  I have also included a YouTube video of the story, so the students can watch a couple minutes of the video and predict what events may happen next.  Another way to use this video, is to turn the sound off and have the students explain what they are seeing in the video what they think is happening in the video.

I see many uses for Glogs in the classroom.  As mentioned above, they are a great way to introduce literature in the classroom.  Another manner, which I would like to try when on my teaching block, is using a Glog for Social Studies.  I know that I will be teaching a unit on "Members of my Community"  to my grade one French Immersion class.  For one of the students sub-tasks they will have to create "Help Wanted" poster, describing the tasks that a member in the community performs.  I think that as long as I model with the students how to use this program, they will be easily capable to create a Glog with text, images, animation, and possibly sound and video.

French Presentation Glog

I have to present my French unit plan on Tuesday and I thought that I would use a Glog to do so.  I used Glogster for the first time yesterday and I was so impressed by the ease of the this Web 2.0 tool, that I thought I would try it out for my presentation.  

Edublog Reflection

    I have learned a great deal through the creation of this Edublog.  Although I am not nearly as proficient as I would like to be, I now feel much more comfortable with the blogging experience.  I am able to change the background image and fonts of a blog.  I know how to link URLs and insert pictures and videos (that are properly cited) into a blog.    Throughout this blogging experience, I have also learned how to create short movies with pictures, texts, and sounds using Windows Live Movie Maker.

            I see great potential in using classroom blog.  A blog helps develop a sense of community.  It provides a platform of communication with the teacher, students and parents alike.  It encourages dialogue through reflection and connection.  I think that a classroom blog is a great way to send reminders to parents and students about upcoming events.  It can also serve as a hub for shared documents (i.e. providing a link for Google Doc study notes).  As well, posting to a blog provides authentic learning experiences for students, creating their own learning.

            Edublogs can be used for all grade levels.  As demonstrated on my Edublog, for primary grades, material can be posted to provide review, reminders and information for the parents.  Links to games, videos, websites, etc. will promote learning outside of the classroom.  For the junior grades, the Edublog would serve a similar purpose; it would also encourage more dialogue amongst the students.  In my grade4/5 placement, the students were being introduced to Google Docs and they were co-creating science and social studies notes.  I think that a classroom blog would be a great place post links for such things.  The students at my placement were also starting to post podcast and once again the classroom blog with be a perfect forum to do so.

Tricks for Tweets

I just finished reading Tricks for Tweets from the Professionally Speaking December 2011 article.  Click  here to read the article.

If you had asked me in September how to incorporate technology in the classroom, I would have shrugged my shoulders and said email and surfing the web.  I am now starting to see so many new uses for technology in the classroom.  As the article mentioned, and as I learned today in tech class, there are so many Web 2.0 tools that can be used in the classroom.  Most of the Web 2.0 tools are extremely interactive and collaborative.  I was researching Voicethread today (click here).  It is a great tool that allows students to comment  on other's peoples work using text, voice, and video.  It also provides a forum for a collaborative projects and sharing.  It can be used to showcase students' work and present problems and content.  Teachers may also use this tool to create virtual field trips.

OCT Professional Advisory

I just watched an OCT Professional Advisory on Technology in the Classroom and as seen above, I brain stormed the pros and cons presented in the video.  

From what I gathered from the video, and from a common sense standpoint, technology in the classroom can be a very effective tool as long as it is used properly.  As teachers, when using technology we have to be objective and use professional communication and conduct.  If we do not act in a professional manner there could be unintended misuse or even legal implications.

There are a plethora of reasons for technology in the classroom.  The students are already using these technologies at home, why not the students them how to use them responsibly, effectively, and safely?  Technology can be a source of collaboration, sharing, experimentation, and motivation.  It is a way reach students in something they are interested in.  As one of the teachers in the video said, "technology is the students' window to the world."  

The Power of Twitter

I was just on Twitter and saw this post.  I followed the link to a Google Doc and was amazed by the collaboration going on.  Within a matter of minutes, there had been 20+ people working on this French rhyming document.  I added a couple of words and now I have a bank of rhyming French words, that I may hopefully be able to use when I am at my French Immersion placement in a couple of weeks.  The power of Twitter has once again been proven to my once unbelieving eyes!