Artifact 2: Book Trailer

Creating a book trailer was my favorite assignment from this class.  I love making video slideshows of family pictures and am very familiar with iMovie.  However, I never thought of using it to create a book trailer.  I created a trailer of a book I was going to use as a read aloud in my classroom.  I played it for my students and they couldn't wait for me to start reading the book.  It was a great way to get them hooked.  In a couple of weeks, my students are going to create their own book trailers for a book they read.  Then I'll be creating QR codes so they can easily see their classmates trailers as well.  The kids are so excited, I know some of them are already secretly creating trailers because they just can't wait to use this fun technology.

Lifeboat 12

Artifact 1: Creating a Screencast

Creating a screencast was the most intimidating aspect of this class.  However, it really wasn't that hard.  Yes, I had to try it a couple of times, and yes I still find things that could be better about it, but I'm super proud that I did it and now I'm inspired to make more.  One way I plan on using this technology in the future is to show students who are absent from class how to do their assignment at home or as a tutorial for parents who want to help their child at home.  Both of these would be a powerful way to use screencasts in the classroom.  The one I created was to show parents how to log onto Seesaw.  Next year, I will post this to my newsletter so that parents have a resource in case they don't know how to get started.  I also think having students make screencasts for their First Grade buddies on how to do use a certain application would make them feel so good.  Here's mine!

Multimedia Tools in Education Reflection

This class really challenged me to try out some technology tools I had never used before or even thought about using in the classroom.  Podcasts and screencasts always seemed very intimidating to me and something I always thought only others did.  Learning how to create them so that I can use them to enhance my students' learning was mind opening.  Now I am thinking about a million different ways I can utilize screencasts to support student learning and even assist the parents of my students.  I also think having students create them would be a great way for them to teach each other - once again showing what they know.

I also found great power in learning about audio recordings in the classroom.  Understanding the research behind students listening to books and the great vocabulary, complex story plots, and fluent reading they're exposed to when putting on the headphones, made me feel better about letting and even encouraging my students to listen to books.  In fact, it reminded me to encourage my reluctant readers to give it a try.  One student was so proud of the fact that he finished a book that he came in with a big smile on his face and couldn't wait to check out another Play-away from our MRC.

Finally, I enjoyed the chance to explore graphic design tools.  I had never used Google Draw before and trying it out gave me another tool that I can now use to make classroom posters, flyers, and art for websites and student handouts.  Plus, I can see the value of teaching my students to use it as well.  Students love to use technology and seeing the wonderful pictures they can make using it, only encourages them and helps keep them engaged.  For those who find drawing with paper and pencil to be difficult, using graphic design tools opens up a whole new window of opportunity to be creative and proud of their work.  My goal is to continue to create more of my own original artwork for classroom posters and learn how to print them on our poster printer.  That way, I can tailor them to my students and what our classroom community needs.

Incorporating Graphic Design in the Classroom

Being able to create graphics using tech tools today is comparable to being able to color inside the lines back when I was a kid. It's a skill students need to have in this digital age.  Thank goodness it's a fun one for most kids and thanks to all the evolving tech tools available, it's getting easier and easier to do in the classroom.  I love creating things that are visually pleasing but it does take time.  I would certainly like to create and share more graphics with my students since having key visuals really does help, but more importantly giving them the tools and time to create their own is crucial.  By having students create their own graphic designs around their learning, we're supporting them as they learn in different ways.  This not only appeals to our creative and visual learners, but to all learners.

As a society, we're expected to absorb and react to information at a neck-breaking pace.  Visuals allow us to do that.  That's why the saying, "a picture tells a thousand words," is so true.  Having a visual helps us have an anchor for our knowledge and a way to organize and retrieve it from our brain.  So as we're looking to support the learners in our classroom, having common visuals to refer to, or asking students to make their own, is definitely one way to help our students cement their knowledge.

Myself and another teacher co-sponsor our school's student council.  We host school events throughout the year, and advertising for them is a big part of that.  I made the image on the left in Pages for a parent flyer for our STEAM night.  We needed a logo that wasn't copyrighted and we wanted it to be uniquely ours.  What's funny is that I made this, and then a student made a hand drawing.  Neither one of us had seen the each other's work.  Look at how similar they are! Teaching our student council members some of these tech tools for graphic design seems like our next activity!  We certainly have some very creative and talented students who would love to learn how to make cool graphics.  Student Council ended up using both of these on posters and thank you notes.  Isn't there just something about kids' drawings that make them so endearing?

My graphic design

Student's Beautiful Artwork