Flash the boy genious!

So basically I haven't been doing to well keeping up on my blog but that does not mean that we are not doing anything worth mentioning in class because we have learned some interesting and useful information that can be used in class as well as outside of class. On Monday we had the chance to build our own google website and I had some fun putting some stuff together there. Websites can be used very easily in the classes that we as educators teach. We can make a class website and post all of the activities that we do in class that way if a student has to miss class they can know exactly what we did and know what to prepare for when they come back to class. It can be used similarly to blackboard in the sense that you can let the students access the web page and do different activities right there on the class web page. Let's face the facts here we live in a time where every student has a cell phone and can manage their way around the internet better than I can, so by applying technical techniques in our teaching methods we can tap into the students interests and really help them to grasp the ideas that we bring up in class. We have also went over very briefly Flash and I must say that it is a bit complicated but you can do some very cool things. I haven't really played with it too much so I don't know what I can do or even begin to do on it so for updates on how Flash will be coming to a History class near you stay tuned!

IMOVIE

This week we have been making our mini movies for our class. The ending goal was to create a movie that would introduce the topic and demonstrate to the students how to acomplish the task at hand. I must admit that it was a whole lot of fun and the skills that we started to sharpen will come in handy in the classroom. The end product that you see here on my blog could have been a bit more fine tuned but it was my first attempt at movie making and it turned out ok I thought. Some may ask how this relates to teaching students and do I have an answer for you! I can use Imovie to create many things in my class room that can help the students have fun with learning the different topics that we cover in class. The movie that I made pertained to science but I can easily make an instruction movie with a little planning and preparation. I can turn a trip that I took to a historical place into an in class field trip so that the students can still learn about the topics that we cover without having to step out side the classroom. It is an excelent way to present the material in a different way so that those students who learn better visually. More fun to come!

Chemicals Do indeed react!

I have made a movie!

This week we are working in groups to create a demonstrational movie for our individual content areas. In my case it is History and really I have struggled to find a topic that I can make a 5-6 minute demostrational movie about. I have puzzled over it for a while and finally my group decided to do one on a science experiment which is going to be much easier. The assignment is much more than just making a movie of sorts, or it is at least to me. By making movies and different things using imovie students can learn a whole new aspect of what ever topic that you teach. Lets face the facts here in our day the students in school thrive on things such as face book and technology of any sort so when you as the teacher introduce a topic using a movie that you made yourself it will get the students attention and they will take something from it. Imovie opens up doors to do digital field trips and presentations of things that you may not other wise get to cover. This assignment will be challenging but I can apply the principles and things that I learn from it into helping my students better understand History. I may not do to many demonstration movies but I can do other things that will help the students learn the material better.