iMovie Reflection

I enjoyed working in a group videotaping. It was wonderful! I feel like my group really had fun with the project. I movie was far easier to operate than I found Photoshop to be. It was interesting to see how many different options there were for transitions and Title slides. We used about 3 different types of transitions in our movie. One problem that we encountered was saving. iMovie is supposed to automatically save as we go, and then we were supposed to move the file to another place. I think we misunderstood the directions because our movie disappeared. We were able to re-do our editing, but we lost about an hours time in that little slip-up. If I were to teach this class, or this program in a future classroom of mine, I would be sure to spend some extra time emphasizing the importance of exactly how to save. I think the problem for us, was that we are used to Microsoft Word where you just click "save" and you know that it is instantly saved exactly where you saved it. Definitely a learning experience!

Photoshop Reflection

I have very little experience with Mac computers, and have never used Photoshop before this class. I found Photoshop to be quite fascinating! And I love the idea of transforming photos. In fact, taking pictures is one of my most favorite pastimes; although, my camera broke this past weekend. I have worked with the program off and on for the past week and I still don't feel like I have a handle on the program at all, but I think that my greatest struggle is trying to master a program that's new to me on a computer system that is also new to me. I hope to become more comfortable with the Mac as the term progresses, and hopefully become confident by the end of the term.

Overall, great class! I especially liked that we got our "photos" from three different places (picture that we took, picture from the web, and a scanned picture). I feel like that prepared me for any future unexpected complications as a teacher.

Blog 2.0 Class Reflection

I plan to teach middle school math (grades 6-8).

Game Classroom- Is an app that offers a variety of resources for teachers of multiple subjects grade K-6. As far as my teaching is concerned, I could use this app for sixth grade math instruction. In the sixth grade math section alone, there are sample lessons and activities for 8 different topics taught in sixth grade math including geometry, statistics, probability, and algebra- to name a few. And, within each topic are subjects for individual lessons. There are even math games accompanying many of these topics and subjects.
The site is free and as a bonus, it is colorful and appealing for students; not to mention it is easy to navigate- all in all, a wonderful classroom resource.

HotChalk- This site is AWESOME! It's a place to create an online class or a portion of your class in which students and their parents can access at home. It is a great organizational tool for ANY subject... even if you don't have your students access the site at home. There's a pre-formatted gradebook, places to post assignments and lessons, and there are also many tutorials for how to use different aspects of the site. The site is free, and fairly easy to navigate. I registered and plan on using it for online grade posts for parents to access, for sure! I plan to explore the site a little more and will be sure to update y'all on how it goes.

Last class was very informative, and I enjoyed the exposure to all these different apps/sites. I learned that although some prove to be a great resource for the classroom, we still need to critically analyze them individually to decide whether or not they are worth the effort- or if the same thing can be done just as well or even better, for free, and with minimal effort in a resource that we currently have at our disposal without the app/site.

The List In My Bucket

My dreams are much different than they were four years ago, when I graduated from high school. I have nearly four years of college experience under my belt now, and I'm passionate now in ways that I wasn't before. But I'm mostly the same quirky girl I've always been... only better.
Professionally:
Teach "middle schoolers" in a way that is exciting and engaging
Study Abroad (Summer 2012)
Travel/Teach in another country
Mission trips... I hope to eventually spend my summers teaching in an orphanage

Personally:
Ride a hot-air balloon
Sing Karaoke
Learn to play the guitar
Learn to line dance
Pay for a stranger's gas... random act of kindness
Paint another mural
Travel to the South (Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee)
Go to Mexico
Ride a horse
Eat Catfish
Catch a giant fish
Fall in love
Go scuba diving