Travel to Europe- RR5

Reading Reaction 5

For my masters class EME 5050 this week we have been asked to reflect about a digital storytelling project assignment that we would give our class.  I’m certified in Math 6-12 grade and have taught math in middle and high school.  Currently I’m part-time teaching, out of field, in three separate classes; an 8^th grade science, a 6^th grade science and a 7^th grade geography class.  It is pretty easy for me to choose the grade and subject I would prepare this project.  I’m going to use the 7^th grade geography class.

I would start this project by discussing what is a digital story is.  I would explain to my class that it is a way to use technology to help tell a story. I would show them the U-Tube video Digital Storytelling in Plain English.  I feel this video is a great, straight-forward tutorial.  Next, I would discuss with them the variety of digital presentation packages that are available for their use.  We would talk about PowerPoint presentations, and then I would show them Prezi and Slideshare.  I would let them see digital storytelling presentations in both of the free online software.  The students would be free to choose the software that they would like to use to prepare the project.

After they have a good foundation about what a digital story is, I would explain their assignment using an instructional model.  In Seminole County, 7^th grade Geography classes study Europe, Russia, Latin and North America.  For their project they would need to complete a travel video, in the form of a digital story, for a European country that they would like to visit. 

They would need to use a search engine (Google, Yahoo) to research their country.  I would have them include certain items like location of their country, surrounding countries, capital, language, currency, and religion.  Their project would need to consist of several pictures highlighting their country and why they would chose to travel there.  The students should also include the history of their chosen country, along with the type of government. 

Most of the time, the students are required to write a report on a topic.  Sure they use the internet to compile their research, but I feel by having the student prepare and share a digital story is a great way to explore a new country.  The students are still doing research, organizing their data, and putting it all together in a final presentation. According to out textbook, “when a student can hear, see, and interact with learning, they can retain as much as 80% of the material” (Gunter 2010). 

After all, isn’t that the goal of every teacher?

Works Cited:

Teachers Discovering Computers: Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom, 6th Ed., Shelly, Cashman, Gunter, and Gunter. Course Technology - Thompson Publishing (2010).

Digital Storytelling - Activity Reflection 4

AR 4 Online Presentation on Prezi

Activity Reflection 4

This week in our master class, EME5050, we were asked to complete a hands-on activity.  This activity asked us to explore the world of digital media and its applications in the classroom.  We took a look at two free software presentation tools, and used one of them to put together a presentation about digital storytelling.  Being a perspicacious PowerPoint user, I had created a few presentations in the past and have seen quite a few more done by others, so I was energized to get started.  I’m a hands-on learner, and prefer to do a project than write a paper, so this was right up my alley.

The first program I looked at was Slideshare. I took the opportunity to watch the Slideshare tour to get more acquainted with the software.  I found this program to be very similar in nature to PowerPoint.  When working with Slideshare, you setup several slides that present your material. Sticking with Slideshare would have been an easy way to complete the assignment but I wanted something different, so I moved on to the next application.

So the next program I explored was Prezi.  From the first presentation that I watched, I was hooked.  I thought this was an incredibly new and innovative way to create a presentation to give to a group of students; the same students who have probably been watching and making PowerPoint presentations of their own since first grade. 

After making my decision on which online software tool I was going to use, the very first thing I did was to watch several different completed sample projects on Prezi.  I must say that I was impressed with the final projects.  Next, I signed up for the free license and watched the very informative short video.  The video was a step by step explanation of how to use all the tools to make a Prezi.  So, I rolled up my shirt sleeves and dove right in.  I was amazed at how easy it was to input all my information.  It was almost second-nature to edit it, requiring only a couple clicks of the mouse.  I liked that the circle tool is easily available to you in the upper left-hand corner.  I even added some free clipart just for fun!

As I was completing my Prezi assignment for class, I was thinking of all the wonderful ways I would incorporate this into a classroom.  I could put together a short teacher introduction to be used for an open house for the parents.  Or, I could use it to show a step-by-step concept in Algebra.  Better yet, it’s simple enough to have the students create their own Prezi using a topic in Geometry.  The possibilities seem endless. I think my first Prezi isn’t perfect but I’m looking forward to become more familiar with the program, and incorporating it into my classroom in the future.

About Me

Activity Reflection 3

Our assignment for class this week was to complete an “About Me” page that would be connected to our blog. First we needed to decide who are audience would be; other educators, or parents/students. Since I’m currently not teaching I decided that mine would be geared towards other educators.

I had never done anything like this before so I was a little apprehensive in how I was going to complete this assignment.  I never even gave my online identity any thought; for that matter I didn’t know if I even had an online identity.  But I took to this assignment with an open mind.

I started with a link given to us by our instructor, called Online Identity Calculator. This website allows you to find out information about your online identity; who the rest of the online world sees you as.  This site takes into account the amount of information that is found about you on Google.  Your results are displayed on a bar graph with four areas; Digitally Disastrous, Digitally Distinct, Digitally Dissed, or Digitally Dabbling.  When I filled out the information, I wasn’t surprised to find out that I was Digitally Disastrous.  I really haven’t made that much of a digital impression on the world.

I found this statement in our reading of The Future of Reputation by Daniel J. Solove, and it really made an impression on me.  It goes, “the information that emerges in a Google search of a person’s name might not all relate to that person—it could pertain to other people with the same name. Or it could be spoofed.” (Solove 2007).  I found this to be accurate when I used Google to search for my name. I was surprised to find that my name yielded 10 results.  But what was even more surprising to me, is that some of them weren’t even about me.  I had truly not expected my name to pop up anywhere on the internet.

To start building my teacher’s profile page, I decided to use Google Profile, the only reason why I choose this is because I like the way it looked.  Using Google Profile was pretty straight forward, I had very little trouble following the about page instructions given to us.  We needed to fill in pieces of information about ourselves.  This included personal information from our name, our teaching philosophy, and even inserting a picture.  The next step was to link our new “About Me” page to my blog.  This gave me no trouble at all, as I added the link to my Blogger page with ease.

However, I had some difficulty linking my Blog to my “About Me” profile in Google Profiles.  My Blogger home page wouldn’t allow me to remove the link to my Blogger Profile and replace it with the link to my Google Profile.  So, I decided to create my “About Me” page using Blogger Profiles as well.  That way, I’d have both bases covered.  Unfortunately, I ran into yet another problem when trying to write the “About Me” section in Blogger.  Apparently you can only have a maximum 1200 characters, and my post was a bit longer than that.  So, I fell back and wrote it in Google Profile.

To sum things up, this assignment taught me about my online identity as a professional educator.  In this case, I didn’t have much (if any) of one.  I did find it interesting that my leave of absence from the Seminole County School System from 1997 did show up in my search results.

According to our reading this week, our reputation is one of our most cherished assets (Solove 2007).  I have always believed this to be true, but never stopped to realize how the digital age has changed the landscape of our lives.

I leave you with this last thought as you work, play, and post items on the internet.  “The Internet, however, makes gossip a permanent reputational stain; one that never fades. It is available around the world and with Google it can be readily found in less than a second” (Solove 2007).

Works Citied:

• Solove, Daniel J. (2007). The Future of Reputation. New Haven and London: Yale University Press

Links to Web Sites:

• Online Identity Calculator
• Google Profiles
• You can find my full profile on Google Profiles here.