Slide Show Presentations

Today we explored three different sites and were tasked with creating a slideshow. The slideshow would have to tell a story, and our group chose a legend. We were given www.rockyou.com, and our story was "The Legend of the Red Plumeria (A Tragedy)." Our group went outside and took photos, uploaded them, added captions, and clicked on a song that was readily available on this site. It was an easy site to navigate, and the most time consuming part of our project today was taking the snap shots. Everything else was easy. There are also many templates to choose from, that fit just about every occasion. Our group chose a plain slideshow, given the tragic nature of our story. I really enjoyed this activity, because I have always wondered how to do this.
In the future, I see myself using this in the classroom to show the students their progress with their work. Another way I would use it is have the students present certain information in this format. It is a fun way for the class to teach each other. Pictures are always more exciting than the plain old chalkboard (or whiteboard), and you can incorporate many appealing special effects, transitions, music, and much more. This site was great!

Crosswords

Today we visited http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com and generated a word search. It was really easy, and I think that students would have no problem logging on and creating their own puzzle. What a great way to make a study guide! Afterwards, we went to www.crosswordpuzzlegames.com and I created a crossword about Ancient Rome, which is what I will be teaching in ED471. It was also very easy, but when I printed my puzzle there were no gridlines. That was a bummer. Online puzzles are a great way for children to learn because they are fun and can be interactive. They are an excellent way for students to also be creative....

Teachnology vs. XTimeline

Well, the first assignment was to generate a timeline using Teachnology. The second one was to generate a timeline using XTimeline, using the computer history handout in class. Personally, I enjoyed XTimeline more than teachnology because it wasn't so limited with features. You could upload an image for each date, and insert tags and keywords. I liked this site because it is user-friendly and not so limited.

WebQuest

A WebQuest is a webpage/website that is used for educational objectives. Our webquest assignment was to choose a topic, and develop a webquest on that topic. Our group chose Social Studies, 6-8th grade, and the topic was World Religions. The demos really helped put the assignment into perspective. It was a very easy site to use, and I really enjoyed the assignment. I really liked this site. The only thing I did not like was that there was no "help" or "FAQ" option. I did not know how to insert a link. So, I guess you need a bit of computer knowledge when creating a webquest. I think webquest can be used for every subject and every grade level. Our group chose 6th-8th, and another chose kindergarten. It's really an all around tool for everything. I think that this would be a great tool for the annual book fair that takes place on island. You can insert links to sites for children to research their book topics, check definitions, search for images, etc. The possibilities are practically endless.

Timeline

Today we used www.teach-nology to generate a timeline of 8 major events in our life. Mine was titled "Livia's Life," and my timeline was about my educational career. I found that site very useful for the elementary level, but personally it was too limited for me. I would like to be able to add more personal flavor to my timeline. It would also be more convenient if the site could automatically put the events in order..... I think this would be a great assignment for the first day of class. What a good ice breaker!!! Also, this could be used in Social Studies (A timeline of the discovery of the Americas), Science (A timeline of inventions), etc. This was a good assignment.