Adroid App Review

1. Flashcard Maker Pro. $1.99
       Normally, I would never suggest to buy an application for your phone. There is usually a similar one for free. However, Flashcard Maker Pro is amazing! It has so many cool features. You can use multiple decks at one time, track your speed with a timer, and you can use the text-to-speech feature! It also will translate words and sentences, so it helps you learn other languages. It's one of the best tools for studying that I use and it's so convenient because I always have my phone with me. Since I'm an English Ed. major I have tons of vocabulary to learn and this app always help me!

2. GeoQuiz. Free
      This app I had never used before the class, but I really like it! I'm definitely not a geography whiz, so this app helped me out a lot! It's really fun to use. You can take virtual tours of certain places while learning facts about them. It will ask you questions on the places you've chosen and give you multiple choice answers. I like to learn about new places, so this app is fun for me, however, if you needed help with geography it's extremely informative!!

Double Entry Journal # 13

describe how and why you decided your WebQuest topic.  What makes your video on your Introduction page so interesting?  

I chose reading and researching short stories because I've always loved literature. I think it's important to urge students to write to spark their creativity. I read all four of the short stories in my WebQuest in high school and I loved them, so I just hope other high school students can appreciate them! My video is a rap by Flovabulary that lists the elements of a short story! Since my project is aimed towards high school juniors, I didn't want to spend a lot of time on the elements of a story, which they should have already learned, and the video is a great refresher! Also, it's so fun to listen to, it really gets you excited for the assignment. 

Best and Worst WebQuest.

1. Which two of example WebQuests listed below are the best ones? Why?
   I think Underground Railroad was the best WebQuest. It really incorporated some creative thinking. They had to really take on the role they were assigned and research it heavily. They even had to partake in a virtual Underground Railroad.
   I also liked Grow Schools Green. It's a great concept and students really have to analyze several different schools of thought in order to compose one of their own. Also, I liked how hands on it was. 
2. Which two are the worst? Why?
   Ice Cream wasn't as good as it could have been. They did learn the process of making ice cream and some advertising points, however, I think it was more of just fun thing to do.
   Where is my Hero is probably my other least favorite. It's very simple and I think it could have been more in-depth. Students really aren't taking too much information away from the project. 
3. What do best and worst mean to you?
   I think that best in this situation, means which projects students can go away from with more knowledge. Instead of just being able to recite off facts- which projects really helped the students learn and develop.
   Worst in this situation means, the ones that are very basic. No chance for higher learning is possible or at least not very probable. 

Analyze Webquests - Altitudinist

Google Forms

What's your favorite genre of music?

Review Web 2.0 Tools

1.   Choose a tool that could be used in the classroom. 
1. Schoology
2.   Describe the tool.
1. Schoology is a free web-based learning management system (LMS) built on a social network. Schoology leverages the familiarity of popular social media tools to improve communication and collaboration.
3.   What content area would you use the tool?
1. I would use Schoology to introduce technology into the classroom. You can create online quizzes, which may be a fun activity for the whole class to do, and you can participate in online discussions. You can also create an entire class online and have a virtual session.
4.   Briefly describe a lesson in which you would implement the tool.
1. I would create an online course and have everyone participate in the online course as if it were separate from the actual class. I think it would be fun to have students participate in a virtual course.
5.   What do you need to consider before using the tool in a classroom?
1. Privacy settings would be my biggest worry. I couldn't find too much information on if what you post can be marked as private or not. 

DEJ #11: Thinking Creatively

I completely agree with the fact that not everyone is cut out to be a teacher. Quality teaching is the transformation of content. Just because you are wonderful in a field of study, i.e. math, doesn't mean that you should teach it. Being able to teach someone something requires more than just being competent in that field. Also, the Plato quote really stood out to me. I hadn't really thought about it before, but it is so simple to just look up the information you need instead of memorizing it. I find myself doing it in certain areas of my own study. The challenge for a teacher would be to help the students remember the information they are teaching for the long term. Technology, I think, is both the cause and the solution in this case. On account of the information being so readily available via technology, students no longer have to memorize the information they are being taught. However, I think teachers can access technology and use it to their advantage to help students LEARN the material. Another good point that the video brought up is that technology is changing and expanding at such a rapid pace, it's hard to keep up. Teachers must keep up with the changing technology so that they can offer their students a broad education.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNoijjIrPT8