Making Movies

Tonight our instructor started us off by having us do some work to our existing and in progress websites. We were given step by step instructions on how to go in and add more pages by saving the already existing homepage over and over under a new name. We then proceeded to work on our classroom page and various others such as : teacher bio, resources, tech projects, and classroom news. Most everyone had something different on their pages depending on what their primary subject was. We went in and linked all of them so that when we come back we'll be able to finish our websites by simply adding the information that goes within each page. Next, we moved on to making a movie out of our saved images. Some students found new images that they wanted to use for their movie and others simply used the same digital images that we had saved for our scavenger hunt assignment earlier in the year. I used my scavenger hunt pictures even though it wasn't neccessarily connected with art. The scavenger hunt pictures we took were explaining English in action. We took digital photographs illustrating things such as verbs, nouns, punctuation etc. I felt that even though these images centered around English it might also be a good way of illustrating what visual images are capable of when communicating an idea to the viewer. We put our images into I-Movie. This was a program already on the Mac computers in the lab and then the program did most of the work for us. We were able to decide what order the photographs would be shown and we titled the movie depending on what the primary subject of our images was about. Once we put our images in the order we wanted them to appear, we put in transitions between each one to make the movie more interesting when moving from one image to the next. These transitions consisted of things such as a fade, tunnel, or wave leading the eye in and then out of the picture. Lastly, we found and added some music into our movie to make it complete. I felt this assignment was fun because it allowed us all to show our images in an individualistic way.

Making Diagrams in Inspiration

Our assignment from the previous class was to come up with a subject and design for our individual diagrams. We were asked to find and copy the state curriculum standards and the NETS S to paste in as well as a text book to use as a reference source. Once in class, we worked the first hour and a half to put these diagrams together using Inspiration. I did my diagram on color theory and found a wonderful site to link it to for additional information. This was my favorite assignment so far because it allowed us to be creative. Once we completed the diagrams and met all the requirements, the professor walked us through how to make a new page on our website for tech projects and how to link the homepage to it. Once linked, we also added a short annotation about our diagrams and included an extra link to a gif. image allowing those without Inspiration to view the diagram. We were then instructed to post the completed work to the blackboard drop box by Wednesday to be graded. We turned in our revised curriculum connections and our rubric for the diagrams and then proceeded to spend the remainder of class (60 minutes) taking our mid-term exam. I read all the chapters in preparation for the exam but still struggled on a few of the questions. I enjoyed making the diagrams and will continue to practice this method in Inspiration for future teaching purposes.

Review of Curriculum Connections and Beginning Digital Diagrams, Maps and Webs

We spent the first half of class reviewing over our curriculum connection projects we had previously turned in because there was some confusion about some of the concepts presented. The most common mistakes were made in the objectives and standards sections of the document. Once everyone was clear on what corrections to make we moved on and were introduced to inspiration. Inspiration is just one provided tool in helping teachers design and create their own digital diagrams, maps and webs to help illustrate what they're teaching to their students. We took a quick glance at what other students in the previous classes had designed and then we opened inspiration and spent the remainder of class time learning and practicing how to navigate the page in order to create our own diagrams. Our homework assignment was to decide what topic we each would like to address in our individual diagrams and to design it out on a sheet of paper, find standards to post with it, and a web address to link it all to for additional information. I think this assignment will be fun and I look forward to putting it all together next class. Additional assignments included studying for our mid-term next class and making any needed corrections to our curriculum guides.

Digital Images

In this class session we learned all about digital images and the many ways to collect them for instructional use within the classroom. The professor first reviewed with us about the five different ways to collect images. The five procedures were as follows: perform a scan, take a digital photograph yourself, find an image on the web, find an image from a C.D. collection, and capture a screen image on your computer. After review time we were all assigned to groups of 3 and given a task based on our teaching concentration. I was assigned to the English and foreign language group. We all had to go on an image based hunt. My groups assignment was to find images of things normally discussed in English class such as, a noun, a verb, a contraction or a synonym. We were given 30 minutes to complete the hunt with our camera and each person within the group was to take at least one photograph. Our group really had fun with this assignment. We found some very interesting ways to visually represent some of our words. Once we were done finding our images around campus, groups met back in the computer lab to finish up. Afterwards, the class went upstairs to look at the "big box of art." This is a clip art C.D. collection that UTK owns for student use. We each picked out what images interested us and saved them to our USB's. This was all part of our second assignment, which was to collect one image using each of the five procedures listed above. Once done finding our C.D. image we moved on to scanning a picture brought in by each student. While some students were scanning there individual pictures, others were searching the web for images. The last two tasks included using an image taken by yourself and then taking a screen shot of your organized and labeled collection. I have included here an image taken by me. This assignment was fun and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the class puts together in the image collection movie.

Curriculum Connection and Research Guide

In our last class session the instructor reviewed our group WebQuest creations one last time pointing out additional work needed for corrections before grading. We were given a list of tasks to be completed before next session, such as reading the digital pictures chapter in our text and finding a picture to bring in to class for scanning. Afterwards, the class discussed what objective's meant and how to write them properly in a curriculum connection. We all reviewed Bloom's 6 levels of learning and did a practice exercise to help us recognize them individually in a series of objective statements. The cognitive domains are listed from lowest to highest levels of learning as this: remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating, and creating. Each of these levels has specific key verbs that help one to recognize which level they are representing in their objectives statement. Once we completed this exercise we were each given a worksheet of objective statements and refering to the ABCD guide we were asked to determine the A (audience), the B (behavior), the C (condition) and the D (degree) parts of each objective. If one was missing, we were to finish the statement by adding the missing element. Once we identified the different parts we had to list which of Bloom's 6 levels of learning each particular objective fit into. After everyone was done and although there was much debate on a few of them, the class discussed each objective and came to a consensus. Class was ended by everyone joining their partners and getting started on planning their curriculum connection and research guides.

Continuing WebQuests and Work on Websites

In our last session students split back into their WebQuest groups and presented their collaborative efforts to the class. We each got to view what other groups accomplished within their page design, idea, and execution of their WebQuest. It was fun and informative to see what other groups had come up with and how creative they had been. Once we all viewed the WebQuests and discussed ways in which they could all be improved, we went back into our individual website pages and linked our homepage to our personal wiki and WebQuest. We were assigned the task of writing an introduction to each before the class next meets. Next, we split into groups of two and completed another type of WebQuest called a curriculum connection. In this task the groups completed a simulation project in order to participate and see exactly what we would all be creating next. We each had to pick and research a rock or mineral and answer a series of questions about it. The questions we each had to answer were the same and we were all given the same list of websites to visit in order to find the needed research to complete the task. Once this was completed, the class was once again assigned to groups of two and given intructions to come up with their very own curriculum connection before the next class session. Because there are an odd number of students within the class and I am the only art major, I was assigned to work solo. While this will be a little extra challenging, I look forward to the experience and hope I can one day use my curriculum connection with my own students.

WebQuests

Tonight our class was introduced to the WebQuest experience. We first watched an introduction video informing us about WebQuests and what they are used for. WebQuests are the newest form of classroom research designed to keep students more active, independent as well as cooperative in their efforts to move forward in research based assignments. Next, we split into groups and all took on a different role in examining 5 existing WebQuests to evaluate and decide on which was the best and which was the worst. Once we finished examining and evaluating each site independently we regrouped and came up with a consensus. Each group chose one person to report to the class on the individual group findings. I believe this was a helpful exercise because it allowed us each to get a more in depth idea of what a WebQuest is and what is required in designing a successful one. Next we watched another video illustrating how to get started in the process of making our own WebQuests. We were then split up into groups assigned by the professor according to what subjects and grades we teach. My group is unique in that we each have different areas of specification. We spent the rest of the class period in our groups working to come up with ideas for our WebQuest. My group has decided upon a 4th grade butterfly magazine. This will be very different for me because I am usually in a high school environment and must remember to word things appropriately for the 4th grade readers it is intended for. I am a little nervous because these are due next week and we only got about an hour with our groups and I am not totally comfortable within the Wiki environment just yet. But I am excited to see where our WebQuest goes and how successful it hopefully is. Until next time...