Technology

How can technology be used in our classroom?

What are our options?

Using various search engines for research Creating powerpoints Creating Imovies Watching/creating Podcasts Using Inspirations for brainstorming Implementing blogs for discussions Webquests

Discovery

There are amazing things out there waiting to be discovered. We are very lucky to have them all at the click of a button.

Don’t limit yourself to just one way to search on the internet.There are many fantastic search engines available for your usage.

PowerPoint

It is important to be able to teach others what you have learned. PowerPoints are a

relatively easy way to communicate this visually,

through technology.

I Movies

I Movies are a great way to show what you’ve learned or to show what you want others to learn.

You can create a story with pictures, add music, dialogue, and different transitions.

On a MAC, these are easy, fun to use, and simple to edit and improve.

Podcasts

Together we will learn more of how to produce a podcast.

There are lots of cool resources available to simply view a podcast.

It is more efficient for most to see a subject or concept than to just hear about it.

You don’t have to have an Ipod to do/view a podcast.

Inspirations

Brainstorm for papers Organize notes from discussion or reading Map out characters from a novel the class is reading

InspirationsOrganizationStrong visual

Inspirations is an excellent tool to organize whatever information you are working on. It puts your information in a “web” chart much like this but allows you to change the images, reorganize, and even change the layout of the chart!

Blogs and Wikis

These are great ways to have a class discussion without having to be in class!

Blogs/Wikis are used to discuss and chat about a certain topic.

We will use these tools to prove we’ve learned something this week and to comment on what another person has learned as well.

I will give you password and further instruction on how to use blogs as we go along.

WebquestsWebquests are like virtual treasure hunts.

You are given a task, a job to do, the instructions on how to do it, and the

resources to use to accomplish the set task. At the end of a webquest you can use any of the other multimedia devices we’ve discussed to display your incredible

knowledge to our class.

So What?

How can this help us in this classroom?

Why is it important to use technology as much as we can?

Why does it matter that we learn all the various ways to use technology?

Using various forms of technology allows everyone to express

him/herself in the most effective and comfortable way possible. It

allows for all to have the opportunity to express thoughts and opinions in

his or her own way.

We are very lucky to have as much technology as we do. Why, back in my day… just kidding…

we do have the incredible opportunity of discovering so much more of what’s “out

there” with much more ease.Plus, it’s so much more interesting to see what someone has

accomplished than to simply read about it in a paper.

It is very important to learn to use as many different technology options as possible to bring a variety to the table. What may be interesting and “doable” to one person may

not be to another. Everyone learns in different ways, so the more resources we

have available, the better off we’ll be!

Recap

Technology is everywhere! It is easy to use (when you know how) It provides a great deal of diversity for

both the presenter and the audience We have it, so we may as well learn to use

it as often as we can. It’s so much cooler than the old way of

boring oral reports!