This program has changed the way I do things in my classroom. I am now more willing to look into how I can integrate more digital tools in the classroom. Throughout the Innovative Learning program I have been able to observe my students interacting with the digital tools I have presented to them. It’s pretty amazing at how they enjoy using them and actually seek for help among each other. I also feel that I always knew that students working with technology was important, but to be honest, the word transliteracy was first introduced to me in this program. It opened my eyes and mind to a whole new world of how I can revolutionize my classroom. It’s intimidating and overwhelming at the same time. But as the program has progressed, I have gained a better foundation on how my students could be more transliteral with technology. I’m not saying that everything I do in the classroom with my students has to be done with a laptop, but it is important that students leave my classroom at the end of the school year with a better understanding on how to work through different types of digital platforms at a proficient level and hope for them to use those skills in and outside the classroom.
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Do I have a 100% clear mind of what had to go on my LIL website, capstone poster or capstone video? Maybe not 100% but definitely closer to it then when this semester began. I think I might share this feeling and place with others that when professors began talking about these things it seemed so overwhelming. It almost seemed that every time we had these projects introduced to us we were in the middle of a project so it made it more difficult to process these big and new projects. As for me, I needed to simply dive in to the projects and learn as I went along. Because if I just read the ICARE’s that wouldn’t help me enough. Going through my websites and the other projects it helped a lot to work with others. My journey was so much easier than if I hadn’t collaborated with my cohort. Everybody brings something different to our group and I think the diversity in this cohort is visible throughout my website, poster and video. Diversity is a beautiful thing and even though my website isn’t perfect I am proud of the work I have done but my website does prove of how amazing of a cohort I am part of. I had many successes in this program but the greatest success was to finish my capstone with the collaboration among my cohort. To me that’s a success. They were on of my biggest supporters and motivators were the C-15 fam.
After showing my first draft of my capstone video to the C-15 familia, I received good feedback on the changes I have to make. They did make me feel better about the message I tried to give out in my video since that was one of my bigger concerns. As of right now my biggest challenge is to cut down on my script so I can make sure to keep it under 90 seconds. The other thing is the pictures that I want to include in my video are pictures that I want to take myself of my students interacting with the digital tools and that is something that I plan to do next week or two. Therefore, I haven’t solved them but after I am done writing this blog the next thing on my list is to work on my script.
From the readings this week I found the article “9 Insider Tips for Creating a Killer Explainer Video,” was helpful to help me think of how I will organize my video, what content to include, what visuals to use and the theme I would want to use. At first I thought my video would be me talking about capstone with some visuals of a classroom and students being super engaged in their work while they use technology. I think I might do that but what if I do create some sort of voice over of me but maybe have my students be part of the voice over? They are the ones doing the learning in my classroom. One more thing that got my attention in that article was to have fun with my video. As I brainstormed on how my final would be it seemed boring to me and not reflective on who I am and my personality. So I hope I can make it entertaining and not have a monotone voice. But then again, how the heck do I create a video like that? How will I be able to make it funny or engaging while I keep it professional and getting my message across? That’s my dilemma right now.
One of the things that concerns me the most is if what I create will keep my viewers’ attention and also create curiosity and interest amongst my viewers that will make them want to explore and learn from my capstone. So far the most comfortable Web 2.0 tool that I use is Screencastify. I have used it quite a bit this new school year as I have experimented with flipped teaching. Therefore I consider myself average when creating videos through Screencastify. But then again I am not sure that this tool can really help me with what I mentioned earlier of having my audience engaged and wanting more. I have used Adobe Spark and it seems more intriguing and modern. The only issue that I have is will the options it provides me with if it will be what I envision for my video to be. I think at this point I really don’t want to learn how to use a new tool for my video because the amount of work we have to do for this program and let alone our professions. But I am willing to leave some options open for a bit.
I believe I spent more time just brainstorming ideas on how I wanted to have my logo done compared to the time I spent using the multiple websites to create a few draft designs. I began using Logojoy since that was the website I explored in our last class. I liked that website because it was very user friendly and most of the designs that were provided after entering the text I wanted to use looked very modern. But then I found out I had to pay. I then moved to Logomaker. This website was very easy to use as well and I really liked my logo but after saving it on the website it told me that Logomaker will only save it for 5 days unless I purchase it. I then moved into checking out Canvas. I went to this website after I looked at Matt’s logo, so I thought I’d give it a try. After choosing the layout and style for my logo I really enjoyed using the search engine to look up graphics and I again came up with a logo that I was happy with for now. As of right now I am hoping to receive some feedback from the classmates and see how my logo will develop. I also am still unsure of which website to use. Is that a bad thing? And will I have to pay for this? You would think that all the thousands of dollars that we are paying for this program we would have some sort of voucher to a website to make a logo for free with awesome tools to create it. That’s another hurdle for me at the moment.
So far my thoughts on how I deliver my content in my classroom in regards to transliteracy has changed. But honestly that’s just my thoughts. My thoughts over the summer have been very overwhelmed because I do think and believe that students should be able to read, write and interact across different platforms using technology, but the idea of how I am going to do that has been overwhelming. There are so many things that I want to try that I feel that I don’t know how to begin or how to introduce them. I know that we have been exposed to different tools but maybe on how to integrate them in an appropriate manner has been a little unclear. At least to me though. I have begun though to have students watch videos at home or outside the classroom of the Math content that we are covering in class. They are to take Cornell Note style notes as they watch the videos. My goal is to have students use these notes while they are working on their own at home and in the classroom to help each other out with assignments and projects. Little things like these are activities that I hope I get to have students create on their own later in the school year. It seems that students already know how to work through certain google applications but I hope to have them use other tools that aren’t always used in their other classrooms. That will hopefully open up their options of digital tools that are out there that they may use. I think that we teachers have to be able to appropriately introduce digital tools into the classroom. As I Have mentioned before I sometimes feel overwhelmed at all the tools that we have looked at in class and if I have felt like that I can only imagine how my students will feel if I try to do more then what they can handle. I think that if lessons are scaffolded while taking into consideration our population of students then our students will be better off in learning on how to use the digital tools we ask them to use.
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2018
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