Summative Blog Post... FTW!!!

This term of ICT has been an especially important learning experience in my education.  I simply thought, to be honest, that this class would be strictly about how to use only computers in the classroom and only PC style computers and computer lab work.   WAS I EVER WRONG!

There are so many different ways that technology can benefit us as the teachers, as well as our future phi students.  Heck, it's actually benefitting us (students) a lot also.  It's helping us create ePortfolios for our future careers, as well as help us better understand the advancement in technology and how it will play a huge role in our classrooms.

I have learned so much about different apps and products out there for technology, like 'Be Funky', Prezi, Weebly, Wordle, all of these things help to better ourselves as educators and make life easier for our students.

So, my feelings of his course in a nut shell; I absolutely loved it.  Who knew that you could learn so much about technology in a short time?  It clearly shows that there is a lot out there, and if we don't know everything, then what can our students know and what should they be knowing?  It is our job as educators to embrace technology and what comes with it, we really don't have any other choice.

I am not always going to be pro technology, especially when it comes to Facebook, and some social networking sites, but I will always try my best to embrace it and always be encouraging when it comes to technology and my students.  More importantly, I want to establish independence among my students, not have them be strictly dependent on technology, and I hope I can keep that within my philosophy.


BeeLAMS

Fotobabble ... what fun!!!

Everyone is choosing their Digital Story telling website to discuss in their blogs for our class assignment this week.  For this assignment, I decided to choose Fotobabble, simply by random selection and that it has a hilarious name.  So, at first I was a little overwhelmed by the site and its content.  There was so much information as to what it was and how it can be used.  So, before I try my own, I wanted to see what others had done as a result.  Here is a blog as to how someone used it in their French Classroom (Educaiton).  http://www.fotobabble.net/?p=157.

After viewing this example, it was much easier to understand and get a grasp of what it actually is and can be used for!  WOO!!  I have come up with a view ideas for the music classroom:
-It can be a great way for students to do some fast rhythm sight reading.
-It can be a great tool for some echo patterns, also to alleviate some extra work such as marking, attendance, etc...
-It can be a great way to teach the kids sounds to instruments and prepare them for testing.

This app is especially great because it adapts to a variety of learners.  Instead of having to accommodate different students with different assignments, this particular way of learning can be used for a variety of learners at the same time!  Aural and visual learners, or Aural vs. visual learners.

It seems like a fun app that can be used by teachers as well as the students.

I especially like it because it comes with a free mobile app for the iPhone, which is nice.

Hope you all try it out!  I'm working on mine as we speak and will hopefully have it up later.

BeeLAMS

Animoto

Last week during ICT our class worked on a movie/picture project using Animoto.  It was a great and fun way to create picture/movie slide shows.  This can be a great tool for your classroom as well as extra curricular events: Weddings, business, etc...

Also, my mother loved it too!!


BeeLAMS

Website:   http://animoto.com/