Movies in School

Yet again I was going through the schools online database and found an article about why movies should be integrated into the classroom. The author talks about how movies in the classroom help develop the creativity of a student. Since they don't know how to be creative they have trouble writing. "They are unable to conjure images and storylines out of thin air, so their writing of fiction is often thinly woven and unconvincing." They also state how watching a movie develops grammer. Students are able to retell the story, and pull quotes out which help the to understand grammer.

Overall, it seems as though movies are a good educational tool. They should be integrating into the classroom so long as they are being shown for educational purposes. It is also good for the teacher to follow up after the movie. Talk about the plot, setting, characters, and different thing they liked or did not like. This way you are not just having the students watch a movie, you are having them learn about the movie.

To read the full article click here.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

After discussing our e-books and looking at pictures in the regular picture books, I learned that students need to visually stimulated while they are reading. I never really knew how important this was until I came over and article on the school online database. In this article they talk about how some student who struggle with reading comprehension because they cannot visualize what is happening with the story. The author states, "... these images provide a concrete representation of actions, ideas, time, and space." Later they state, "Many of the low-ability and reluctant readers with whom we have worked do not automatically create images or are unable to do so even with conscious effort."

I found this article interesting because I never realize what an impact pictures can have when it comes to reading. It is also good because now that I know what pictures can do, if I come across a student who is struggling with reading I can try visually stimulating the student and helping them understand what they are reading by simply by enhancing their creativity.

To read the full article click here.

Drivers Ed

While talking to a friend about different types of virtual realities, she came up with an idea that would be a neat experience. Instead of during a drives ed course having the students doing a lot of book work, and then throwing them out on the streets without much experience they can have a simulator that shows the student how to drive. It can take them through different courses and settings which allows the students to know how to react to the situations before they actually happen.

One of the greatest problems with this idea is the fact that it would be really expensive to put a simulation like this into a school. Even if they weren't able to do that, but if each district or area of schools came together they could have one centralized some where for everyone to use. This would help student to become better drivers and know how to react while they are drive on the road.

Metal Detectors

After briefly reading an article about metal detectors in the airports and how those still are not efficient enough, they are coming up with the idea of using a form of x-ray machine to see what people are actually carrying. Instead of walking through a metal detector you will be walking through a scanner that checks to see if you are wearing anything that looks harmful.

So how does this relate to the school system? Where I live, this wouldn't be very important but in Miami and New York where they do check each student before they walk into the school this could be very benficial. Safty is one of the most important thinks that school need to look at. So instead of just checking the student with a metal detector before they walk into school they can use this x-ray machine and see if they have anything that may be harmful to another student or teacher.

Almost Virtual Reality

Today I saw something that was really cool. My boyfriend downloaded this home movie from his playstation 3 which showed a new program that the playstation will be coming out with. It is a program where you can enter this world with a character that you create and customize and the socialize with other people who have a playstation 3 as well. It is basically a world inside of your own world, you can talk and go bowling or to the movies together with your character. It is a way of connecting people together through one system.

This would be an awesome activity if you could have students create a character and then come together in teams and set out in a mission. It would be almost like the students were playing a video game, but so long as it is educational it would be a great learning tool. One idea is to send them on different missions that they must work together as a team in order to accomplish their goal. Then once they are finished the get some sort of a reward either through the computer or by the teacher.

After watching the short clip on what is happening with technology it is just amazing at what people can do and how we can teach our children more efficiently with these programs.

More on E-books

This past week we were reviewing the e-books we created at home. Dr. Baylen decided it would be a good idea to show the class everyones blogs individually. At first everyone was nervous, but after the first couple of volunteers went it became more of a relaxed, fun atmosphere. It was hilarious watching some of the pictures that were made and the voices behind some of the characters. Others were more serious, yet really good. Overall, I think everyone did a good job on the e-books even though these are just the rough drafts.

One thing that I learned from this experience is to not make your stick girls look like they have a beard, and to give them clothes. A challenge of mine with this project was definately the drawing part of it. I am a terrible drawer, but one thing that I did learn from this experience is that you can have other people help you. I wasn't sure whether or not I could have some one elses voice for a character or if I could have some one else help to draw the pictures. The good news is, is that it was not the final draft and there is still hope! One thing I learned as a person with this project is that it is fun to just relax and let everyone laugh at eachothers stuff, and that everything doesn't always have to be so serious.

Computers in the Classroom

While reading and aritcle out of the Naples Daily News I ran across one that talks about computers and technology in the collier county classrooms. In this article Tracy Miguel states that, "There is more than wireless computers in Collier public classrooms, such as the interactive whiteboard, called a Mimio XI plus, the video projector mounted in the classroom ceiling, the document camera, the audio system and a DVD/VCR player." To me this is pretty amazing. I have heard of the interactive white boards, but it was not to my knowledge that they are actually implementing them in the schools already. Later she goes on to talk about how students are constantly using computers throughout the day, not just in the computer lab but also in the classroom.

Today computers are much more accessable to students than they were even when I was in high school 2 years ago. We would make a trip to the computer lab maybe once a month, and today throught elementary, middle, and highschool the students are using the computer everyday all day long. Not only are they becoming more familiar with the computer, but also with other technological programs that are being implemented just as the whiteboard and video projector. Each year technology is becoming more and more significant for teachers and students, most of the time it is just really hard for older teachers to recognize their importance within the school.

To read the full article click here.

E-Books

This past week in class we are working on creating e-books. It is fun trying to figure out what children would be interested in reading. Then again it is difficult to actually create that kind of a book. One of the challenges to this was trying to figure out which story to use since we were limited to what we could write about. It was a long process of putting everything together and making is sound right although in the end it was fun to watch what was just created. This is a fun project for everyone, not only people who want to be teachers but anyone who knows or has children. You can show these to children at a young age, or even work with them to create their own e-book. By doing that you can help develop a childs creativity. It is just a good activity for anyone and it is really not that hard, just time consuming.

Podcasting

School are trying to figure out different ways to integrate technology into and outside of the classroom. In an article by Jennifer Jefferson she talks about FSU integrating podcasts into the curriculum. She discusses how students don't really read their text books and only take notes based on the teachers lectures. Their solution to this is to start podcasting and downloading audio files onto ipods and mp3 players. The article just very breifly discusses this topic of downloading audio files and creating podcasts.

Being a college student I am not sure how great of an idea this is. It would be very nice to not have to worry about reading but I think that it would also keep me from attending class. Many students would be ecstactic about this idea, but I think that it would have more of a negative affect on the grades. Overall this is an interesting way to integrate technology into the classroom and it could work but there are a lot of things that they need to think about before following through with it.

To read the article click Here.

Timing is Everything

One inquiry question that I had was How do you use movie maker, and how can that be integrated into the elementary classroom. While I was searching for an answer, I didn't find much on creating movies by using movie maker, but I didn't find an article that explains when and why we should show movies at different times. It never crossed my mind that students would be more perceptive to a movie if it is shown at certain times in the class.

Debra Drury writes in an aritcle her experiences with showing movies in the class and how the students reacted to them. She teaches science in upper elementary school. Originally she would show movies as and introduction to a unit. After observing the students reactions she noticed that they didn't ask questions or get involved with the video that was shown. Some watched it and others didn't really care. When she realized that this technique wasn't working she decided to change the order of the lesson. Instead of showing the movie at the beginning of the lesson to introduce it, she showed it at the end to summarize it. Just by moving the video to different times in the class there was a huge difference in responses. She began to notice that the student were more interactive and payed more attention when it was show at the end of the lesson.

It is amazing how it can be just the little things that change the reactions of students. Every time I thought about how I would integrate a movie into the classroom it never crossed my mind that the timing of the movie would make a difference.

To read the full text click Here.

Microsoft Programs

When I entered into this computers class I was hoping to learn more on how I can integrate the programs that most school already have into the classroom without being boring. Some teachers use Microsoft word for hand outs and create boring non interactive slideshows with Microsoft PowerPoint. These techniques can be effective, but after the children have seen them multiple times they can start to find them uninteresting and they will become less effective. After going through most of this class I have learned how to be more creative with these programs so that students don't loose interest.

While browsing the internet I found and article that further explains the ways that you can use Microsoft PowerPoint. Tomie Lawerence explains how to create interactive lessons, shows you what action buttons are and how to use them, how to hide slides, and set of a kiosk show. He states that, "Interactive lessons take the form of self-paced, student-controlled, individualized learning opportunities embedded with assessment events along the way. In practice, these lessons are offered to students who need individualized instruction, corrective instruction, additional practice, or topical enrichment activities." This article lets you know the importance of intergrating this kind of technology in the classroom. It shows you know how you can change a boring presentation into one that is more interactive and fun for both you and your children.

To read more of this article click Here.

Working With Children

This past assignment that we were working on in class was kind of fun. We discussed different e-books and had to go through and review five different ones. They are fun to watch and I think that kids would get a kick out of them. This past week as part of our assignment we had to actually find a kid and read two of the books to them. I am not around many kids so I got together with a child that my sister babysits. This little four year old boy was so cute. Him mom told him that I was coming to read to him and by the time I got there he had pulled out all of his books that he wanted me to read him. When I went to show him the e-books on the computer his reaction was so cute. He kept saying throught the two books, "This isn't a book." and "Where is the book." It is funny how some children and parents are not aware that they can access these different e-book on the computer for free through the library system. For the final stage of this assignment I am writing my experience which is basically what I am doing right now just in a more formal way. I just thought that it was a cool experience that I wanted to share with everybody.

Technology in the Classroom

In class this past week we were working on a storyboard. This is made up of nine squares that when you click on them they have words that speak one or two short sentences. When finished I was really happy with the outcome and I know that children will have a blast playing the game. This is a listening game created for kids to be able to concentrate on the pictures and what they are saying so that they can unscramble them to solve the puzzel. I liked doing this project, the hardest part for me was to find pictures that would be interesting for children. One way that I solved this problem was to draw my own pictures. This is kind of a scary thought too because I am not an artists by far, but nevertheless they were more intactive pictures than ones that I would have taken on my own. Overall, this was a really interesting assignment. It was something that I wasn't familiar with and taught me a little about not only technology but also myself. I am really excited about our next project where we are creating and e-book so maybe you will here a more on that later!!

Integrating Technology

This spring semester I am in a class called Intro to Computers in Education. Here we had to think of some things that we wanted to learn and how we would integrate them into the classroom we wish to teach. One of the things that I have only heard a little about and wanted to know more was Movie Maker. How do you go about making a movie, or letting your students make a movie that can still relate to the material you are covering. I found an article on the FGCU database that touched a little on this subject.
In this article Lauren Richards talks about how students get excited about video games, television, and movies, and shows a way that the students can create their own short film. She talks about integrating science and social studies which is what I would like to teach at The elementary level. This article discusses how the student could just do some simple interviews and you can automatically see how they light up when you are taking learning outside of the book. I think that this article definitly shows how we can integrate movie making into the classroom without it being too complex for young children to understand.

Click Here to view this full article

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