E-Portfolio

http://www.wix.com/alliefrank35/allison-frank

Final Blog

I feel it is very important to incorporate technology into my classroom. We are entering a technology age were everyone needs knowledge on how to use the new gadgets and programs that are being invented. Having technology in the classroom allows for teachers to create a new innovated way of teaching and keeping their students engaged in their learning. Some of the benefits are that the use of technology in the classroom creates a different way of learning and meets the different learning styles of the students. It allows them to learn the basic skills for the technology and how to use them in future practices. There are many challenges that can occur in the classroom with the use of technology. Sometimes there can be glitches in the program that can force the teacher to change the way their lesson will be taught. Another challenge can be making a lesson too much about the technology then the lesson. All of these challenges can be avoided by knowing how to use the technology and having a backup plan if a lesson is not going the way that was expected.

Some of the most important lessons that I will take a way form this class and use wills probably how to use the Smartboard, Microsoft Word, wix.com and Inspiration. I know that not many schools have smartboards at this time but it is a good to learn how to use if I am placed in a classroom with one. I can create interactive lessons that will liven up the everyday classroom and make students more engaged in their learning. I liked learning more about Microsoft Word and all of its different functions. I can do more than just create basic documents. I can make Newsletters and flyers that I could potentially use in my classroom and share with my students. Wix.com for the creation of my e-portfolio was a great new experience. I had never made a website before and the creation of it allowed me to think of many different ways I could possibly use it for my classroom. I could make a classroom website and have everything that students might need access to during the school year on there. Parents will be able to contact me through it and know I can keep my students and their parents updated about what is going on in the classroom. Inspiration is another technological tool that I enjoyed to learn about. Being a future social studies teacher I learned a lot and can see myself make diagrams and outlines for my students and teaching my students how to use it on their own for studying. I learned a lot from this class and cannot wait to apply my knowledge of technology to my future classroom.

Video Project Scenario

In a High School 10^Th-12^Th grade American Government classroom I would incorporate a video project for students to make their own campaign videos. I would have my students do some research on commercials that they see on TV during election years. I would teach students how to make the videos and how to edit them and add sound. I would have students make sure that they know what they can and cannot have in their videos. I would make sure that the students know that they need to put in what their views are and what they are trying to represent in the video. I would make sure that the students work with a partner as if they are their running mate.  Some challenges could be however what students will try to present in their videos. Another issue could be if a student misses class how they would be able to finish the project.

Day 1:

-          Students would have learned about the three branches of government and how representatives get elected into office.

-          Students will learn how to use a moviemaker program.

o   They will learn how to film with a video camera

o   They will learn how to edit the film and add sound.

Day 2

-          Students will review how to edit film and add sound

o   I will then give students partners and have them brainstorm their campaigns.

o   They will create a video board outline that will show what they plan on doing during their short campaign video.

o   I will then give students time during class to do research and make their campaign videos.

Day 3-5

-          Students will be given time during class and during free periods to work on their campaign videos.  

Day 7-8

-          Students will be given time at the end of class to work on their videos when all their other work from class has been completed.

Day 9

-          Students will have finalized their projects and the students will share them in front of the class.

o   They will give the background to their campaigns.

o   Students at the end of day 9 will then vote on the best video in election ballot format like during a real election.

Checklist

Students need to make sure they have completed the following in their video:

-          Made an appropriate video that flows well and is not choppy.

-          Needs to be creative and original

-          Have a clear campaign slogan

-          Have a clear representation to what the candidate is trying to represent if elected.

-          Must have they saying “I am (insert name here) and I have approved this message.

-          This video must be one to two minutes per group.

However I feel that a project like this would make an excellent end of the year project. Students would have the ability to have more time to put some sufficient effort into completing a well directed and filmed campaign video. At the end of the year the classes could sit down and watch one an other's and then vote on the ones that they thought were the best. This will also give them the ability to see the in site and influence the that videos have on the viewers for a real election.

Video Reflection

Our video on Crossing Daring Street worked very well especially since neither one of us had had any real experience using this program. The actually shooting and cutting of the video worked very well. We knew exactly what we wanted to portray in our video and set out to do just that.  Everything worked very well with very few hiccups. Although, it was difficult to find time to film with our busy schedules and there were also conflicts with the weather.  If I had to approach this project differently I would have liked to include just random people walking across the street not knowing that we were filming. I will take away a lot of skills from learning how to use MovieMaker. I had never made a video and posted it online before. I learned a lot from how to film and make sure that there is enough film to be edited and how to upload it into the program to edit the film. Also after having complications at first on how to upload the video to YouTube I was able to learn how to convert the video so that it would be compatible for the Internet. I can now say that I know how to edit videos and some creativity into a subject that could possibly be dull or boring into something exciting, informative, and creative.