1. Intro Video
I thought that creating an introduction video was a great way to start out the course. A short video on my website will help to introduce me to my new students and to their parents. Creating the video itself was a fairly simple process, but figuring out how to correctly post the video turned out to be a bit of a challenge. The video needs to have clear graphics, the right volume, and the right player size. It took me several tries to capture the right voice inflection and tone for the message I wanted to convey. Although I am shy and will be hesitant to post videos of myself in the future, I can definitely see how creating a video of this type would be beneficial in my teaching career. I believe that the first NETS-T standard best fits this assignment. The first standard states that teachers should facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. The first steps toward facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity involve introductions; as a teacher, I will introduce myself and encourage my students to introduce themselves in a similar fashion. I believe that most children would enjoy creating an introductory video.
2. Concept Map
One of the earliest skills that I picked up in the teacher education program was the mapping of ideas through concept maps. However, as time progressed, the concept maps intended for my own personal reflection grew more and more complicated. Representing my ideas on paper became a hassle. I was very glad to have participated in the completion of the concept map assignment. The software was an incredibly useful tool for organizing and elaborating upon my own ideas. Individual bubbles or strings of bubbles are easily manipulated; pictures can be added to represent ideas; there are numerous font and color options to make the graphics more attractive; these, among other reasons, make concept mapping software an incredible tool for teachers. Students could use the concept maps to plan projects, study, or brainstorm. I found this software very easy to use; my biggest problem was coming up with a topic to explore! The assignment fits the third NETS-T standard very well; not only does the teacher have the opportunity to model his or her own thinking on a subject, but he or she provides the students the opportunity, with appropriate modeling, to explore large chunks of information with independence. This assignment was a perfect example of modeling digital-age work and learning.
3. Teacher Website
I have to admit that creating a website was something that I dreaded at first. A lot of planning is involved in creating an efficient, informative website; the best websites have clean, seamless graphics and interactive features. While my website is simple in design, I now have the tools to create a simple and effective website for my own classroom. A website can be a wonderful tool for communicating and collaborating with students, other teachers, or parents. I had trouble getting the different elements of the website to come together in the way that I wanted, but I'm ultimately happy with how everything looks. Since I am interested in teaching Kindergarten in the future, I wanted a website with simple navigation for parents needing information and fun, colorful graphics to represent a fun and colorful classroom environment. The fifth NETS-T standard, in which teachers engage in professional growth and leadership, fits this assignment well. Maintaining an effective website is a mark of professionalism and leadership because it shows that the teacher wants to keep parents and peers alike informed of important classroom-related news.
4. Voki
I had more fun with Voki than I had anticipated. At a first glance, Voki seemed like just another fun web tool; however, it has great potential for facilitating communication. Students with special education needs have benefited from voice simulation for a long time now; Voki gives the avatar the appearance of speaking in addition to just providing voice simulation (text-to-speech). Voki is a fun alternative to the introduction video or may be used by students to complete an assignment involving animation. I had a little trouble getting the avatar to speak with the right tone, inflection, and pauses; ultimately the avatar still sounds inhuman at best, but it isn't as bad as it could be. The first NETS-T standard fits the assignment well: teachers facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity by first creating an animation, then demonstrating the animation tools of Voki. Teachers have the option of having students create their own messages. In any case, Voki is an interesting little communication tool with a variety of fun avatars and options.
5. Xtranormal (GoAnimate)
Unfortunately, I was unable to use Xtranormal; as of the end of July, the website's services have been discontinued. I read a review of the website's old features and it looked like it could have been a lot of fun. I know that students would have enjoyed manipulating the characters to speak and act in whatever setting that was chosen. For example, the animation tools of Xtranormal could have been used by a student to recreate a famous speech or to show a short skit around a theme. Instead of Xtranormal, I used an animation creation website called GoAnimate; while GoAnimate required a subscription to use most of the advanced features, I was able to use the quick video service to create a short dialogue between two characters. I chose a classroom setting with a teacher and a student, chose a voice for each character, and gave dialogue lines and adjusted emotions for each line. It was very simple to use, but I was unhappy with how little emotion showed on the characters' faces despite my best efforts to make their speech and expressions more realistic. However, I think that GoAnimate has more advanced characters and options that go along with their subscription. The fourth NETS-T standard, to promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility, fits this assignment well. The animation tools are diverse enough for students to create and share important messages and to model citizenship in various situations. I think that the assignment also fits the second NETS-T standard, to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments. Like Voki and the introduction video, animation tools such as Xtranormal or GoAnimate are useful for communication.
6. Turnitin Paper
I was familiar with the services of Turnitin before taking this course; in high school, my teachers would often have students submit major writing assignments through Turnitin to check for plagiarism. Turnitin had an infamous reputation among students when I was in high school but the truth is that, when enabled, students have the ability to fix accidental plagiarism after having their papers scanned. Most plagiarism is purposeful and lazy, but on occasion a student will read from a source and reword the information in a way that is too similar to the original. Turnitin is also a good way to make sure that students are correctly citing information taken directly from a source. I completed this assignment to the best of my ability, but due to my paper being late, I was not able to submit it to Turnitin. Because I have grown so accustomed to having to write things in my own words, I actually had more trouble plagiarizing; I thought to myself, "This is too choppy, there isn't any flow to the words when I copy and paste. Surely any teacher reading this would notice that it isn't my work." Turnitin is a useful and efficient tool for checking for plagiarism, but it also allows for easy online submission and management of student writing assignments. The fourth NETS-T standard, to promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility, fits this assignment very well. Plagiarism is a huge problem with the availability of information in the digital age. Students need to be aware of plagiarism: what it is, how to prevent it, why it is harmful to others, etc. Turnitin.com is a useful tool for teachers and students alike in this sense.
7. TED Videos
Who doesn't love TED Talks? TED Talks cover a variety of topics with speakers from all kinds of backgrounds. The messages are inspiring and encouraging. The catchphrase of TED is "Ideas worth spreading;" these Talks are potentially a great way of coming up with ideas or inspiring students to succeed in school or in life. TED Talks bring awareness to important issues. I enjoyed writing about each of the TED Talks that we watched (Peace Game, Gaming, Schools Kill Creativity). My favorite of the TED Talks was the one about bringing young boys back into educational success by rethinking how they are taught in school; as a somewhat different kind of girl, I found myself agreeing with almost everything that the speaker said. I benefited from growing up with the tools that I needed to help make me feel secure in my personality, things that boys more often played with than girls. The TED Talk about Hunters' Peace Game was also fascinating. To see children communicating and interacting on such a level of complexity was amazing - and they worked together to solve problems that the real world can't. Children have a way of approaching problems with innately elegant simplicity and generosity that many adults have lost. Finally, the talk about creativity in schools is a wake-up call: our education system shouldn't be about rigorous assessments. It shouldn't be about testing children extensively to put the "problem child" label on children that really only need a different creative outlet. I felt very strongly about these videos and will continue to watch and share them in the future. The fourth and fifth NETS-T standards fit this assignment well; TED Talks encourage citizenship, responsibility, growth, leadership, and creativity.
