Digital Story 1/ Nasa Digital Story Video

This week we learned what a digital story was and view several examples of the digital stories. The digital stories look fun and I am excited to learn how to make them. I really liked the examples because it showed a broad spectrum of what can be done and how easy and fun it would be to make and share with students to start out a lesson. I found myself getting really excited while I watched the examples of the digital stories and then realized that I would not be learning the lesson and was a bit disappointed. Yet, it made me excited to do these with my students, I can see it really sparking their interests.
With the digital stories I can see the teacher presenting a basic exciting digital story to help capture students attention and intrigue them for the up coming lessons. The digital stories help convey information that students really get absorbed in. I think that the different dynamics of the digital story really help. I like that each digital story has a layer of sound effects, music, pictures, movies and narration. I really think it is vital to have all the layers to help really give your digital story that "wow" factor that sucks the students in.
I plan on using digital stories probably about 3 times during the year. I would probably use them to really intrigue the students to want to learn on lessons that might usually be less excited. Perhaps I could use a digital story to suck my 5Th graders into the Revolutionary War. This is such a broad subject and History can be boring if it isn't presented the right way. I think a digital story with lots of sound effects, pictures and music would really help the students want to grasp onto the subject.

NASA Digital Story Reflection:
This digital story was really fun and informative. It not only had great pictures to view but the narrator really supplied the digital story with information that was easily understood and interesting. I also really like the way the different sound effects were implicated into the digital story. My favorite part about this digital story was that he had the actually recording of President Kennedy's speech to America. It was fun and great to watch!

Weekly Reflection: 50 states and capitols (Cartoon Song) Video Reflection

This week we had fall break so we didn't have class. My group and I finished up our web quest and prepared it for our presentation. In my other classes we have been busy preparing lessons for our field work and learning about curriculum and how to teach it. This semester has become much harder than I had ever imagined. I feel stressed out every night and overwhelmed by the pile of homework that needs to be completed nightly. I also have learned so much as well, I love all of my classes and I am so glad to be in the program but I really wish we had more time to complete our tasks or less tasks to be completed. I suppose we can't do a whole lot about it all though. I just have to keep telling myself to keep truckin' along and that one day I'll be through it all and be in my own classroom teaching. That will be awesome!

This week for my video reflection I went to TeacherTube.com and looked for a fun educational video I would use in my class. I came across a video of the Animaniacs singing a song about the 50 states and their capitols and thought it was awesome. I would use this song and video in my class to help my 5th grade students learn the 50 states along with the capitols. I think the sing is catchy and easy to learn and the video is awesom because it shows the states, where they are located in American and where in each state the capitol is located. I was a great video that I think 5th grade students would really enjoy and learn from.

Webquest final/ School of Rock

This week we worked on our final touches of our web quest. Through this process I have really learned how to use web sites, research and patience to create a fun activity to help students learn about a subject. The web quest so far has proved to be the hardest thing for me to create in our class. Although, I have really enhanced my skills at using Power point, which I am grateful for because we will use it frequently in my teaching career.
With the web quest skills I have learn, I think it will be great to create many fun adventurous activities for my students to use to learn a new subject and to help their research. Students will really be engaged and want to grasp their content if learning was made fun through web quests. Students seem to want to learn more with visual and audio examples and web quests are a great way for students to experience research through a visual and audio experience.
In my teaching I will use web quests probably once every four to five months. I don't want to over use the web quest because student may get burned out on them. I want it to be a treat and so I would spread out the use of the web quest to keep students excited. I think it would really be a fun and engaging activity for my students to use. Web quests are great!

School of Rock Reflection:
School of Rock is a great way to teach students different key concepts. I love this video on Nouns, it is so catchy and the song sticks in your head. Students will have the song stuck in their head and inevitably remember all the important things about a noun. I know for myself after watching school of rock I often come away singing and remember the lesson they taught. I still remember exactly how a bill gets past and now the concept of a noun.

Webquest part II/ We didn't start the fire video

We again worked on our web quest this week. We had a better understanding of our web quest lay out but still needed to figure out how to make all our podcast, video links etc work in power point. This was a very interesting and pretty are concept to grasp for me. I am also having a bit of trouble learning to use the new power point application, having to evolve from the program I learned on is proving to be harder than I had imagined.
I do feel that it was good for me to be challenged to learn and forced to move forward. I will need to stay up to date in technology as a teacher and be able to relate with my students to the changes we will see every year as we evolve with technology.
Once again I think that the web quests will be fun for the students to learn and explore. It also will be fun for the teachers to learn as they set them up and research what their student will need to be learning about. Our web quest is centered for Kindergarten students and I have been really excited as I have been going through and finding things for our future students to be learning about. I has been a good refresher and educational for me.
I hope to be able to set up web quest like this for my future kindergartners. I think it will be a good way for them to learn to use the computer but also stimulating educationally for them to learn about the different concepts that could be created in a web quest. They learn how to navigate through the power point but also how to organize and learn about their curriculum.

Video reflection:
First of all, I love Billy Joel! I love this video because it shows how over time everything in the world has changed and how people have changed and adapted to the change. The world is forever going to be changing, in technology, state laws, political thought, racism. It is amazing to look back and think wow, it really wasn't that long ago that we never thought we would have a black President and today we do. Some people still resist the change but it is monumental and awesome! I think that if the video continued to today it would show how far we have come as a people accepting one another and how far we've come in technology...surface computing?!?!