Thursday, April 22, 2010

http://www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=56540

I enjoyed coming up with ideas for the Webquest and I felt that Zunal, the program I used, was very user friendly and easy to understand. I loved the explanation of what needed to be put on each page and the option to add pictures. The planning sheet really help to clear up in my mind exactly what I wanted to happen in my Webquest and how I was going to tie everything together. The peer evaluation was helpful to both receive and to do because when I was checking another Webquest I realized things on mine that needed improvement. I learned that in order to really put a great lesson together you need to have a plan. I think it would've been very difficult to make the Webquest on the spur of the moment. So for note to self if I ever want to use a Webquest in my classroom someday I will need plenty of time to prepare it and make it all work together.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Digital Photography!

I really think that in older and some younger grades that digital photography will be a fun way to help them lean! It's a hands on activity that allows them to express their creativity and learn a the same time! Also I think it'd be a great idea for a teacher to keep a running digital record of the years activities in photos! Then you could put them on a disc or into a slide show for each student to have and to remember the year!
Math comic book page! Nick Baker was the author of all captions!!

Friday, April 2, 2010

Web Applications!!

The web application provided to explore were great! I played around a lot with the colonial website and on the Nasa under the kids section. The colonial one would be great in educating students on how life was during that time from the type of clothing worn, careers, classes (ses), and everyday life. I think if you had discussed with your class about the colonial period and perhaps read some information from their text books. Provided them with a some background knowledge and then let them explore the website putting a visual and interactive part into their learning to help concrete it and increase comprehension. I explored the NASA website and found a great interactive games for students. I played one that had to do with the solar system, it asked questions about the planet and as you got them right a comet got closer to the sun. Once again if students had foundational knowledge of the planets, their order, and a little about each planet they would be successful enough to continue playing but they'd also be challenged and learn what they didn't already know.

Instructional Architect

Instructional Architect will be an incredibly helpful teacher resource! I found so many lesson ideas and resources that it would make it must simpler and more efficient to use technology for my students and me. I am thankful that we had someone to explain how it works because otherwise I would've been lost, but her instructions and information were helpful. I hope to be able to use Instructional Architect and contribute to it in the future!