EME 5053- What kind of technologies are you using in your classroom/school/work environment now?

The kinds of technologies that I’m using in my classroom are Smart Board and Elmo. I use my Smart Board every single day especially during my math and science lessons. My students find it quite impressive and engaging because the Smart Board provides them the opportunity to follow along with me during our discussions. The only set back I have is that the Smart Board takes up so much space and I’m unable to mount the projector on the ceiling. Also, my Smart Board is the older version and I have to constantly realign every time a student bumps it. I’m in the process of acquiring a Mimio and hopefully I can have more success. Right now my Smart Board is not working and it will cost a lot of money to fix it. It’s so frustrating that our school doesn’t have the funds to provide the students the opportunity to utilize technology through their studies. Hopefully, I can get the opportunity to purchase a Mimio to continue what I have already started in my classroom.

EME 5053- What have you learned from your students about integrating technology in the classroom?

I learned that my students are more motivated and engaged in their learning. They usually comment to me that I make learning fun when I use the Smart Board during our math and science lessons. Technology can open new opportunities for any student. My students learn how to be problem solvers and decision makers. With the use of technology, my students have the opportunity to research and gather information on what they want to learn. I also have noticed that my students were able to implement and assess their own learning. I am so impress that my students are interested in their own learning and I know that they will accomplish a lot this school year.

Personal Learning Summary

Well I can’t believe that the semester is over!! It was fun and interesting semester and I can’t believe how much I have learned through this course.

During this semester we discussed what is best for our students and as well for educators. We also discussed the importance of ethics and the importance of online identities and how much information we should allow to be on the internet. The professor also challenge us to think about where we are academically and how we would influence how students into the 21^st century.

I enjoyed reading all the blogs written by my fellow classmates. I was able to learn from them and try a few things that were suggested on my blog through their comments. During this entire semester, I learned quite a few things and I was amazed by myself on how I was able to accomplish each assignment. I learned how to create a blog, used a wiki, create digital storytelling using Prezi, and a curriculum page.  Creating a rubric for the first time with the iRubric website was challenging and fun at the same time. Now that this semester is over, I’m proud that I feel comfortable utilizing these tools that I have learned on a daily basis. I am looking forward to a brand new school year where I can implement all of these new tools and experience I have learned during this semester!!!

Culminating Project

Well I'm finish! Below you can find a link to my curriculum page. Thanks!! :)

http://campbellcrusaders.pbworks.com/w/page/37948507/FrontPage

Rubric!- AR # 7

Rubric!

In this week class we were all asked to create a scoring rubric for our digital storytelling presentation that our current or future students will create. My first thought was that this assignment would be easy! How hard can this be because I create rubrics through Excel to evaluate my students on their projects or book reports.

First I had to decide which rubric software I would like to take an adventure through. After reading through this week module and carefully considerations, I decided to use iRubric.  I found this website user friendly and the video tutorial seems easy enough to follow.

Well I sat down and started at my laptop for 10 minutes before I create my rubric. I look through some sample rubrics to get a better idea of what I could do. I realized that there were quite a huge range of criteria that I could score my students on. I went back and look over the curriculum page that I had originally created for my students. I knew that I wanted to score my students on their research and their overall presentation of their project.  It took some time for me to figure out the quality and quantity of slides they should have in their presentation, pictures and producing a video on their African American in the digital storytelling. I also knew for second grade that grammar and spelling was a huge factor.  So after careful planning and thinking I actually came up with the criteria for my rubric.

The only two difficult parts I consider impossible was the wording of each criteria. Remember, the rubric that I’m creating was or my second grade students and they range from 7 to 8 years old. The wording of my rubric had to be clear and easy for them to read and comprehend for them to complete their digital storytelling. I find myself deleting and calculating the percentage on the rubric. Hopefully I was able to calculate the total possible points each could receive.

I really find this website quite useful and I hope to continue to use it to create more rubrics for my students and I hope to be savvier with it. Next I plan on embed this rubric on my curriculum page so my students and parents can print it off and it as a guide. I feel quite proud of myself and I know this rubric is not perfect, but I believe I did a great job! Well here is my rubric, please let me know what you think of it!

Sample Presentation- AR # 6

This week for my EME 5050 class we were given the task to create our sample digital storytelling project.  This teacher created sample will be used by our students to get a better idea on what their own projects should look like. I decided to create my digital storytelling project for my 2^nd grade students. It’s on a famous African American who contributed or contributes and changed the face of America.  Each of my students will select a famous African American and research as much information as they can. I ended up creating two digital stories as examples for my students.  On my curriculum page, I created a digital story on Ruby bridges and for this week assignment I decided to create the next digital storytelling on Jackie Robinson.

We have been asked to make our presentation on digital storytelling using Prezi or Slideshare. I decided to use Prezi to create my story because I had a few experience creating other stories. This week, the assignment was a quite easy and I was able to add more detail facts to my digital storytelling. I add background color, changing the fonts and adding different colors to my titles. I have yet to figure out how to use the shapes, but I do believe that with time and practice I would accomplish that goal as well. The most consuming part of the project was gathering the details and placing them carefully across the screen. My goal was providing enough space between each fact. I did not want my presentation to be messy.  Once I organize the details, pictures and video it was smooth sailing! Now the only upsetting piece about creating this project was uploading the video from YouTube. I really do not have a problem with YouTube; it’s that Seminole County blocks access to YouTube. We are only allowed to use TeacherTube and for some reason I cannot upload videos from TeacherTube.  Why is that? Is there any way that we can up load videos from TeacherTube for my presentation so that my students can watch the video?  My goal for next school year is to use this presentation as an example for my students. I will be greatly disappointed that my video of Jackie Robinson will not be able to play. If anyone as any feedback on that issue, please let me know!! Well my digital story is finished and it is now ready to be viewed. Please take a look and I hope you enjoy watch it!

Who was Jackie Robinson? on Prezi

Activity Reflection #5

This week in my EME 5050 class we were given the task of making a teacher-created curriculum page on the Wiki page that we were asked to set up last week.  As posted in my last blog, I decided to create my curriculum page on famous African American. My dream project was for my current and future class to create a digital storytelling presentation based on the research that they complied.

Early this week I returned to the Wiki webpage that I had set up I was quite confused and baffled about how to set up my page. I felt lost and stupid. I had no idea what I was doing and how to add the information on the empty web page. So I decided to write everything up that I wanted to include on my curriculum page for my students and then I copied and pasted everything on the edit page.

 I was having the most difficult time figuring out how to create and link each page together. So I decided at this current time to leave it the way it is for now and then I’ll take my time later to familiarize myself with my curriculum page.  I hate the fact that I can’t figure out how to navigate from one page to the other. Anyway, I also include a digital storytelling example so that my students can have an idea on how to create one of their own. After I have edit and felt satisfy with my information, I decided to view it and realize that my digital story was not working. Below the digital story, you can click on the link and it should take you directly to the story.

I am not pleased that I was struggling with this assignment. I am usually technology savvy and I am quick learner when it comes to technology. Anyway, I hope you like my curriculum page and digital story even though you can’t see it directly from the web page.

Well here is the link to my curriculum:

http://campbellcrusaders.pbworks.com