This course opened the
doors for many new learning opportunities. The first week we learned about the
C-R-A-P of design. I had never heard of this, The
Non-Designers Hand book was a great tool for the non designer. In the text
you learned the basic elements of design.
This tool was essential in designing my teaching tool. I used Glogster
to create my poster. Glogster was so much fun! This is a great tool to use in
the classroom with students. It has great animation, fun designs, and is a
perfect avenue to create a product and bring learning alive.
Next we created a logo using what we learned about design. I
have never thought much about a personal
logo or even how much as consumers we respond to commercial logos. I had my
friends and family give me three adjectives that described me, like Alcantra
suggested. I was not surprised by the responses. Taking these adjectives and
creating a logo was HARD!!! Gimp was very hard and not user friendly. I ended
up using word but then was unable to upload the logo in all the places I wanted
to. This is an area that I will need to spend some time on or higher it out. J
However, I am starting the first week of school with the concept. I am going to
teach about nouns and adjectives. I am going to have the students write
adjectives about them self and then have them create their own logo- name tag.
Student will us art supplies not computers, at least not a first.
Animation was next. This
was super fun! I learned so much about how to create animation, programs and
apps that are available for animation. I used an andriod app on my tablet
called animation touch. It was so user friendly. I created a sticker figure
animation that moved then had my son watch it and then make up his own story
about what the figure was doing. This is great way to teach younger children
how to organize their thoughts, and verbally sequence a story. The app was so
easy to use I could use it with my special ed. students. Also the app had a
build in feature to share via google docs, facebook, flicker and many other
ways. Animation is very engaging to students, but I never though about allowing
students to create their own animation and share them! GREAT GREAT TOOL!!
Last
project we tied all the we learned into one website. In the first course of
Lamar we where to create our own website. I did mine through Google. Google has
set it up so that it is so user friendly. I then set up a school web site for
our PBIS information. So this last project was something that I was familiar
with. I love the collaboration through Google docs. We established our group and assigned rolls.
Everyone completed their part of the website with such high standards. I was
very proud of our work. I was in charge of the Sp.Ed. page. I loved finding
links that meet the criteria. The only thing about a Google site is that I am
not sure how you can change background color of each page. It’s a little harder
to incorporate the elements of CRAP. I
choose to import the site logos and hyperlink the logo instead of just putting
the hyper link. I think this helped with the elements of CRAP. I really enjoyed
this project. I think this website is an effective tool and will share it with
others. Click on picture to check it out!
"Where is reflection in the learning process?" This was a great article on how we are
creating a generation of non thinkers. With the high stakes testing we expect
students to regurgitate facts and answer multiple choice questions. Creating an
environment of reflection in the classroom doesn't have to be hard. The article
gives examples of think-pair share, reflective
journals and exit tickets. I love exit tickets. I have used them in the
past but forget about them. It's because I have not set up a true reflective
environment. This is a goal for the upcoming year. After each lesson have a
time of reflection. I naturally do this in my head as a teacher but never write
it out. I love that this class MAKES us reflect through our blog. Reflection
makes what we have learned stick. I have
got to set up my classroom in such a way. A way that allow students time to
reflect on what they learned, didn’t learn, and what they need more help on.
One thing that I want to build into class time is the thermometer gauge. Where
students indicate on the gauge where they are with the lesson. This will be a
simple and quick way to allow students to reflect on the learning. Giving them
an opportunity to stop and determine if what they just heard and did many any
sense.
References:
Alcantara, L. [Web log message].
Retrieved from http://www.lealea.net/blog/comments/the-art- of-self-branding-part-one/
Gerstein, J. (n.d.). Retrieved
from http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/where-is-reflection-in-the- learning-process/
Willliams, R. (2008). The
non-designer\'s design book. (3rd ed.). Berkeley: Peachpit Press
