VoiceThread

VoiceThread is a conversation that is held about any type of media; whether it be text message, voicemail, or anything of the sort. The media could be a picture, a poem, a video clip, anything that can be shown on the computer.

In terms of using VoiceThread to show a video, I am not quite sure. It might actually be more beneficial to place the video on VoiceThread and have my students get into groups, and talk about it, but then it might cause people problems thinking they can text they're friends, and things like that. But then when it comes to doing the assignment from home, not everyone has the advantage of having a computer at home. It is worth a try though. If the kinks could be worked out, I would definitely find it useful, and more entertaining for my students.

I also think it would be more useful for the students that are extremely shy, and don't like speaking in front of a class (although I would still make them at some point to open them up). It would give them an opportunity to have a break from speaking out, and being placed outside of their comfort zone.

Week 7

I believe that teachers should go as far as they need to go in using technology in the classroom. It is all dependent upon the subject you are teaching. The reality is, this is 2009 and people use tchnology for everything. It has become mroe resourceful. However, it is important to still incorporate some of the older techniques into the classroom, in order to make sure the students continue to have the same experiences that past students have had.

I do not believe that online chats are a good idea in the classroom. I don't see the students using this for their learning experiences only. It would definitely be a distraction in my opinion.

I believe that both asynchronous and synchronous styles are necessary in the classroom. Text-based learning will be very useful in classes that require alot of reading. I assume this is pretty obvious. But in math classes it is very important to have that face-to-face learning in classes such as math class. It is much easier to learn when you aren't just looking in a text book, but it is all dependent on the student, the assignment, and the teacher.

I believe that podcasts could be useful, but just like everyone else, it is all dependent upon the student, because every child learns differently.

The idea of using video games in the classroom, I think, could possibly be a good idea in any subject. With me being an English major it could be very helpful for me because I want to focus on teaching my students how to look deep into what they are reading. Video games could be very useful in helping my students understand the concept behind looking for more than what you see.

Publisher

I like publisher. It was very easy to do the brochure with this program, and I actually liked how it turned out. I don't really see myself using publisher for resumes. I guess I got accustomed to using microsoft word because I just didn't like the layout of the one I made on publisher, but it was ok.

I could very easily see myself using publisher in my classroom. There are many different ways it could become useful. I remember making many types of brochures in the classroom, but we always had to fold the paper into a brochure, and then if we wanted pictures we had to draw them, so publisher could make this project alot easier in the classroom, and I believe my students would probably enjoy it more.

The only assignment I wouldn't use for publisher (that I know of at the moment) is the resume, but otherwise, I really liked it.

About the delicious site

I like the idea of the delicious site. I think it could be useful for someone who had issues remembering the names of websites, and I know I have been put in many situations where I wanted to show someone a website I'd been on, but I couldn't quite remember what the website is. However, I don't see myself using it because I think it sort of makes you lazy... America is already lazy enough, and having a website like this makes it unnessary for you to use your brain and think. So unless you have a short term memory or something like that, I don't think you should use it.

My Thoughts About Blogging...

I think whether or not blogging is useful would be dependent upon what you would have your students blogging about. In my case, I think it would be a good idea to blog about what's been going on in your life, for the most part. Occasionally I might throw in something specific that I wanted them to blog about. I say this because when I was in high school my teacher made us keep a journal. She wouldn't read it if we put a note asking her not to, but everyone always participated. We always had things going on that we needed to write down on paper, and it was helpful. I could see myself using that for my students.

Spreadsheet

After the two assignments that we had today, I learned that I actually liked spreadsheet. It's very simple and there are so many things that you could do with it. I love the fact that it makes grids and graphs for you. That made things so much less time consuming. (I like that phrase I guess) I also like the fact that there are so many things you can do with it.

As a teacher I feel this could be very beneficial. One of the assignments we did this week was proof of that. Spreadsheet is a perfect program for gradebooks. It was easy because the spreadsheet could do math for you. You didn't have to worry about doing any type of math or anything of that sort because it was programmed into the spreadsheet. I LOVE that. The program is so intelligent that you didn't have to do as much work. How nice.

About the Video

I am ABSOLUTELY JEALOUS!!! I seriously wish we had that program when I was still in grade school. It excites me to know that I will have that as a resource for when I become a teacher. What I liked was the different ways that you were able to make different diagrams and how they could change into outlines, or notes, and things like that. It seriously fascinated me. I believe this could be very beneficial for both students and teachers because it would be more structural than what we are used to. Also, most students hate having to make outlines, and the fact that this program does that for you would get the student more willing to do the assignment. It also seems that it would be easier for the teacher as a teachcing tool. It was very easy to understand, and it didn't seem intimidating.

This program would be beneficial on more than one level. Being an aspiring English teacher I think about the different novels that are going to have to be read, and the times when I would ask my students to make a diagram of the novel based on the setting, characters, and timeline. I also could think of history and science classes that would be able to use it with a project or anything of that sort. Truth be told, there is only so much time in a school day, and a lot of times teachers have to spend a lot of time breaking down how to use programs. Well this program was so beneficial because it wasn't complicated and it was sort of self explanatory. The fact that it made the notes and outlines as you go made it less time consuming as well, and therefore, you have more time to spend on more things. I just believe this was a beautiful piece of technology, and it excites me.