The End of the Semester....

I can't believe how fast time has gone by! We are coming to end of the semester and there is only a few more weeks of classes left. I just wanted to write and say that I have enjoyed this class. I really feel that it is extremely important to know how to use technology and to be up to date and adequately skilled. As the world progresses, technology is becoming more and more important. I am really glad that I was able to take this class and learn skills that I will be able to use in my classroom to help my students. I want my students to learn and be able to use technology to assist them in their own lives.

POWERpoint

This week we worked on making power points that we would use in a classroom. I used to do a lot of power point presentations in highschool, but I did learn something new. We learned how to make quizzes and have links to different pages depending on whether the student got the right answer or not. I think that this will be very useful in a classroom so that students can use the power point to actively engage in the material. Quizzes can be made for practice and to grade. I think that this is something I would like to use in my future classroom. I am so glad to be learning these skills! :)

Interactive

Last Monday and today we have been working on interactive spreadsheets. First we completed a sample using the directions in our packets, then we created our own. I just used the sample to create mine. My spreadsheet had words on it that students have to make plural by adding s or es. I like interactive spreadsheets because they give immediate feedback to the students. I took an excel class in high school but I had forgotten how to do anything like this, but I think that I will be able to remember now and use this skill in my classroom to review or assess student work. I have included a screen shot of my spreadsheet.

Inspiration!

The past two class periods we have worked on making diagrams using Inspiration. I think that this will be a helpful tool to use in my classroom. I think that diagrams make information easy to read and learn by the students. Once again, since I am majoring in Spanish and would like to be an Elementary School Spanish teacher, I have a Spanish theme. The main idea of my diagram is "Animales", which means animals in Spanish. I have 4 different subconcepts, which are four different animals: horse, cat, dog, and cow. The diagram teaches students the Spanish words for all of these animals, as well as how to describe their size, color, and the sound each one makes. As I said earlier, I think that diagrams are very useful in transferring knowledge. I am glad to have learned this skill and hope to use it in my classroom!

Movie Time!

The last project we have been working on is our movies using iMovie. I am finally done with my movie and we will be sharing them today! I was excited about this project because I thought it was going to be a lot of fun. Although overall it was fun, it proved to be very frustrating for me! I couldn't get everything to work the way I wanted it to and had to redo things several times. However, once I got the hang of it, I enjoyed the project. Since I am majoring in Spanish I made my movie over the cultural traditions of Spain. I am pleased with my final project and am really glad I learned this skill. I hope to use this in my classroom to entertain and educate my students.

¡Me Gusta Aprender!

For the past few classes we have been working on lesson plans. We were given a template and then had to come up with our own lesson. Since I am majoring in Spanish, I constructed my lesson for an Elementary Spanish class. My lesson is called, "Me Gusta Aprender" which means, I like to learn. In my lesson, the students learn how to express likes and dislikes using the "me gusta/n" formation. In addition, my lesson focused on learning new vocabulary. Expressing likes, dislikes, and personal preferences and learning new vocabulary are two of the state curriculum standards for Elementary Spanish. My lesson also incorporated technology as the students are to construct a graph with the teacher's assistance displaying the class's likes and dislikes. With this, the students are also able to meet a NETS-S.

After we finished our lesson plan, we did a peer review. I think peer reviews are helpful because it is done by a peer who is working on the same thing you are. In that case, they know what you are supposed to be doing and may catch a mistake or error that you might not see.

Overall, I am glad we did this activity. So far, I haven't had any experience with lesson planning and I think this was a good way to get started. Having the template made it a lot easier than it otherwise would have been.

WebQuests

Today, we worked with partners and created our own webquests in a Wiki. Our webquest was designed for first or second grade science. It was called "Too Many Animals" and the task was for the students to research different zoo animals and find out if the Knoxville Zoo has what they need to survive. I think this was a good activity to familiarize us with webquests and wikis. However, because all students may not have a computer or internet access, I think it is important for teachers to remember that webquest activities only be assigned to be completed while at school. Nevertheless, I think that webquests could be a very effective tool to use in the classroom and I am glad that I now have the knowledge and skills necessary to create one :)