Benderconverter

I teach sixth grade, all subjects, in a self-contained Mildy Impaired classroom.  Trying to make interesting lesson plans for all subjects can be difficult.  I am always looking for something that will make lessons more interesting to my students. Kids become easily bored.  Technology has provided a way to get the students instant gratification and feedback while covering the curriculum.  I have been choosing Science as my theme in our activities for this class.  I often feel that I lack creativity in teaching Science and these activities have shown that it is possible to make some pretty cool stuff to aide in my efforts to teach. 

My computer does not have Power Point so I did this activity in Google Presentation.  First I downloaded a video from You Tube into Real Player.  Then I went to https://docs.google.com/#home and selected new document.  A drop down box appeared and I selected presentation.  An empty slide screen appeared.  I gave the slide a title and selected video.  I added the embedded video into the presentation slide.  When you go to link to view the presentation you will have to select view and then start presentation to see the video.  

I enjoyed this activity.  I believe that using this type of technology teaches students without seeming boring.  The videos are fast moving and "catchy" to keep their attention.  I will be very happy when my fluency in the processes to  make videos and lessons becomes more proficient.  This activity would fit into many NETS T standards.  To view my presentation select the link below.

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=dfngv9cb_0fx7s65fw 

Jing Screencast

http://www.screencast.com/users/debsing/folders/Default/media/18de098b-4e27-4c76-98d6-550714a72913

After many tries from many different directions I believe that my screencast is finally visible on my blog.  I didn't really have trouble making the video; just a lot of trouble transferring it to my blog.  I think aside from the difficulties I had this was an awesome activity.  I can see myself using Jing in my classroom. Our school is asking us to do three Tech Step projects with our students this year.  This program would make it easy to show the entire class, step by step, what their screen should look like and what they need to do in each screen.  Because the videos can be only five minutes I would have to prepare several to get through the Tech Step process, but I think this is well worth it. In the past I have run around the room like a chicken with my head cut off explaining what to do and looking at their screen to see where they are.  This will make Tech Steps and other classroom activities much more seamless.

Jeopardy

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  To complete this activity I clicked on the link in the activity section of the Blackboard:  http://bit.ly/r0SL81.  A Jeopardy board appeared and I made up answers and questions regarding the first day of school.  I always have First Day of School Jeopardy.  You can check it out at  http://jeopardylabs.com/play/first-day-of-school-jeopardy.  This activity is really cool.  Typically I use index cards and a board I made in a workshop out of poster paper.  This is an awesome tool because it would take up less space than all the cards I have in rubber bands for chapter reviews, etc...  I plan on using this in my classroom.  The NETS-T standard 2-a applies to this activity.  

  
  
  
  
  
  

Word Cloud

I created my Word Cloud on the Wordle website.https://sites.google.com/site/educ6305/home/delicious-word-cloud  I typed in a list of words having to do with the curriculum for my 6th grade Science class this marking period.  I then selected GO.  The words showed up and I changed the color scheme, layout,  and clicked randomize. When I was finished the word cloud I captured it with Jing.  I then selected edit in Snagit.  This automatically saves the image in a .png format.  I opened my blog, clicked on image and selected the image.  This activity best fits into the NETS-T Standard 3-A: Modeling digital-age work and learning; demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.