Week 4

Since I want to teach the younger grades, the kids probably wouldn't use photostory, although I was pleasantly surprised with how decently easy it was to figure out. I think the hardest thing for me in incorporating a digital storytelling project in an elementary classroom if I am making the video would be the sheer amount of time it takes to make one.


A couple of important notes:

-I chose to do my video using a poem about friendship, because I am an ECE major and the core standards in Utah for the younger grades talk a lot about students coming to understand their own identities within larger contexts and I see friendship as one of these contexts.

-When it came to scanning in my storyboards, I used a male friend's scanner, and due to the honor code did not go back to his bedroom, so he actually scanned it for me. I then posted it, and also asked him to explain to me the scanning process.

Week Three

TPACK stands for Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge. If I have TPACK as a teacher, I can combine my knowledge in all three of these areas to create better teaching opportunities by using technology to teach specific content in a pedagogically-sound manner. Teaching with TPACK makes it easier for students to understand and apply the knowledge being taught. The concept of TPACK helps me to understand much better how the technological skills I am learning in this class can be applied in the classroom most effectively. It kind of ties the things I learn in this class with the things I learn in my other education classes.

I'm still behind on the assignments, but I'm working to get caught up. This stuff is hard for me and takes a lot of time, but I'm going to keep pressing forward. Hopefully I'll be there soon!

Second Week's Assignment... so far

Due to a lot of craziness in my life, I am not completely finished with the second week's assignment yet. I'm sorry! I will be finishing it soon and then posting again to give more feedback on my experience with it. However, I have already learned tons from what I have done so far. It is so amazing to have the freedom of being able to create a wiki and put all of this stuff in it! I've never come close to feeling like I could create something anything like a site online that my students could access. That will be an indescribable blessing when I am a teacher. I'm also surprised by how many free resources there are online when one knows where to find them. I'm liking technology more and more! :)

My technology background/experience

I feel kind of hesitant when it comes to technology. The few skills I do have include internet, e-mail, facebook, and word processors. I've been introduced to Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Excel, but I'm not entirely confident with them. However, after attending this first IP&T 287 class I feel more confident than I was before that I can indeed succeed in this class! :)