Post #5 Let's get creative

Apple has a variety of great apps that let its users explore their creativity and in this post I will go over some of my favorite creative apps and why. One of the apps I probably use most often for choir is iMovie. It gives the users the opportunity to create dramatic but clean cut videos with background sounds or music. In the past I have used iMovie to create advertising trailers for productions at my school. Another really great app to use if you are into recording music if GarageBand. GarageBand gives its users access to try out most common instruments like the piano, guitar, and drums electronically. It has a recording feature so you can record yourself playing one instrument and put it over another recording you made earlier. Essentially a user on GarageBand can make a whole cover album inspired by their favorite artist while only using one app. Probably one of the more underrated apps for creativity is Pages, in pages not only can you share and collaborate with peers and get fresh ideas but you can add in so much more. You can add in recording to your work, images, and if you want whatever you are writing to be private you can even put a password on it. Finally my favorite app for accessing creativity would have Adobe Sparks PhotoShop. When I first opened Adobe Sparks PhotoShop, I will be honest, I had no idea what I was doing. But after playing around with the software I realized it was not that hard to use and photo-shop can be simple and fun. I highly recommend trying any and all of these apps if you are looking to widen your creative abilities.

Post #4 Smartboards

At first glance, interactive screens/white boards don't appear to be much more than huge flat screen TVs with touch functionality. Cool, but perhaps not much more than a flashy gimmick. However, on deeper inspection, most models come bundled with proprietary software tools that, under the right circumstances, open the door to some truly unique approaches to lesson delivery, quiz taking, and collaborative projects, among other things. And many of the teachers fortunate enough to have one in their classroom laud their ability to rejuvenate lessons and revolutionize the way children learn. Because these are web-based applications, you can build lesson plans on your home computer before you get to class, making it easy to take these materials for a spin before you debut them for your students. More importantly, this also means that students can access and interact with lesson materials using virtually any web-enabled computer or smart device. Smart boards provided a unique dynamic to classrooms by incorporating the power of computer technology with the indispensability of traditional blackboards. There are many studies in the literature demonstrating that this mixed technology contributes to academic achievement and that this contribution can be further enhanced. These contributions come in the form of enabling student interaction, having positive motivational effects on students, diversifying instructional materials teachers can use, placing teachers to a more effective position, helping students in reifying the topics in their minds by supporting imagination, rendering lessons more interesting and enabling saving the lessons on the board. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of smart board technology by examining rates of participation by students, and evaluating the students’ ability of completing their work while focusing on students with disabilities. Students with learning disabilities sometimes have a lack of engagement in completing tasks due to inattention. Technology such as the smart board helps students and allows them to learn more effectively. The smart board also creates an opportunity for teachers to differentiate instruction for all of their students. The smart board can increase motivation, offer self-paced practice, and create a high-interest learning environment. Educators should have an interest in the use of this interactive whiteboard and how it can enhance student learning.

Post #3

What are concept maps? Concept maps are visual representations of information. They can take the form of charts, graphic organizers, tables, flowcharts, Venn Diagrams, timelines, or T-charts. Concept maps are especially useful for students who learn better visually, although they can benefit any type of learner. Learners can use concept mapping to elevate their notes from lecture, their assignments, even their memory. As a future educator I like to use concept mapping when creating lessons for my students. Getting ready for student teaching I create lessons along with my cooperating teacher and I’ll use concept mapping to help me stay on task of the lesson and not sidetrack myself. Concept mapping adds both a tactile and visual aspect to a students learning to help them benefit as much as possible from a lesson. And addition to concept mapping, teachers can use the instructional video development process to help their students further their learning. Typically there are five stages of instructional video development process. The first step is gathering information, the second is instructional design, third is storyboarding, fourth is visual design, and the fifth and final step is to draft ones work. For the most part it’s rather self explanatory. I gather the information for whatever I am talking/ teaching on, then I need to decide how and when I want to teach certain parts of my lesson. After that I start to physically map it out so I can see what I want the lesson to look like. Then I’ll toss in the visual aspect, if I want to teach with images or maybe a prop of some kind. When I’m done with all of that I should have some kind of since of what my lesson will look, sound, and feel like so I can practice it before I teach it. Using both concept mapping and the instructional video development process couple together very nicely for both teacher and student benefit.

Post #2 iPad Apps

This week I will be writing about communication in Apple product apps, more specifically I will be writing on how they help students communicate. Just like the iPhone the iPad has "iMessage," a messaging app used to contact and communicate with others. One of my favorite side kicks of the iMessage app is that it can partner with other apps for additional support. Many young teachers use the “Remind” app to keep their students updated on assignments with the students having to download the app. The teacher simply sends a text through Remind and to iMessage in order to notify the students. Another great Apple app is “Notes,” which I use for collaboration with my peers and fellow students on group projects. The downside to this app though is that it uses up your icloud and can quickly make you run out of storage. Because of this I try to only use note sharing when I have to. “Garage Band” is another wonderfully advance apps that is great for music majors but does take a toll on the storage on your devise. I’m a music minor so I make fare use out of Garage Band but it is unfortunate just how excited I get about deleting my work. The app uses up so much of my storage and slows down my devise so much. At the end of the semester I think my devise is about to die because of how slow it has gotten when in fact it is just that I need to clear through old homework from garage band. To end this spiel, a fantastic app would be “Voice Memos.” I personally think it is an underrated app, it records messages, songs, memories, and whatever else you need. My favorite feature of the app is that files can be saved and sent to others to download onto iTunes.