EEND667Y- Artifact 2

For my second artifact for EEND667Y, I selected my Screencast project that I created as a tutorial for my students. This specific screencast was created to help my class navigate SeeSaw, and utilize a new tool, the drawing feature. This assignment was a challenge for me for a number of reasons.

 First, I have never created a screencast. It was a challenge to find a program that would work to create the screencast, and then figure out how to use the software in SeeSaw. Also, it was challenging to create an organizer of what/how I was going to present the information to my students. With kindergartners every single, little step needs to modeled and explained. I found that I (at first) had created an outline that was too basic, and needed to go back and add more information. Then, it took a lot of time to create the screencast, as I had modeled how to use many of the different drawing features. This really cut into my ten minute time limit that Screencastify has for its free accounts.

While this screencast was required for this course, and really forced to me to try something new, and  to stretch outside of my technology comfort zone, I am not sure that screencasts are appropriate within my kindergarten classroom. I spend a lot of time during the school day modeling appropriate behavior for my students. They need concrete, here and now examples, especially when using new technology. While this would be a great option if my students were completing work at home, I think that it will be more valuable for my students to actually complete the task with me.

Typically, I utilize the "I do, we do,  you do" model within my classroom, and the same goes for technology projects. I think it would be more valuable for them to practice using some of the drawing features, instead of me demonstrating all of them. Perhaps, in the future, we could make a screencast as a class, to share with the student's parents. This might be helpful to teach the parents how to use one of the programs/apps our class uses on a regular basis. I am interested to see if I can find a screencast program to use with our iPads. Maybe, my students could even create their own screencasts to share with their own families! I will keep you updated! Fingers crossed that this might be a more appropriate way to use screencasts within my kindergarten classroom.

EEND677Y- Artifact 1

This course has really pushed me to get out of my comfort zone, and try new things as an educator. When reflecting upon which project I was most proud of, the "Video Book Trailer" project was one that stood out immediately. I used iMovie on my iPad to create a Book Trailer for an Elephant and Piggie book, a A Big Guy Took My Ball. 

This book trailer would be an introduction to our Mo Willems book study, which is part of our fiction literacy unit. Combining our SEL and literacy curriculum, the students are learning how to use pictures to gain clues or an understanding of how the characters are feeling. Since my students are only in kindergarten, I would read this book trailer aloud to the class as they are watching it, and we’d stop at different points to discuss how the characters might be feeling. We then (as a class) would discuss the different characters, setting, problem and potential solution of this text. 

As mentioned above, I created this book trailer in iMovie, which I have used before, but never to make a book trailer. I'm not sure if it was because I was using an iPad to create/edit my movie, or if it was because Apple has changed the app since I have last used it, but I struggled at adding enough images to complete the book trailer. I found that there wasn't a lot of freedom in changing the template to fit your needs (again maybe this was a user error), but I am not sure if my kindergarten students would be able to navigate this app, to create a book trailer. I do like the idea, and plan on creating more trailers to introduce different units of study, however, if my students create a book trailer I need to find something that is a little bit more user friendly. Overall, I am impressed with the end result, and my students LOVED it. It was a great opportunity to try something new, and challenge myself using technology. 

Learning Multimedia Tools to Podcasts to Virtual Reality-- EEND677Y Recap

Module 8 Discussion: 

When starting this last discussion post, I found that I needed to do some research myself to determine the difference between virtual and augmented reality. The article on our resource page “Virtual vs. Augmented Reality” was a great starting place, and I realized I was not alone in mixing up these two types of technology. I dug a little a deeper by reading the EdSurge article “How to Transform your classroom with augmented reality” by Patricia Brown. 

Brown suggested in the article that Augmented Reality “…started out as something that was simply ‘cool,’ has become a way to engage learners like never before.” When reflecting on how I’ve used Augmented reality within my classroom, I thought of green screen projects… (again, I’m struggling to determine if this really is AR?).  I’ve used green screen projects most recently during a social studies lesson, in which my students shared reasons that they would be good presidents. Each student gave there speech standing in front of a “waving American Flag” that was added after the fact via the green screen. I’ve also used QR codes within my classroom for students to share their work, or learn about different topics. As for virtual reality, I’d say my classroom uses have been more limited. I know in our upcoming construction unit my students will pretend that they are riding on a roller coaster, however, this is the first virtual reality opportunity I’ve encountered.

Course Reflection: 

Module 5: Graphic Design and Typography really impacted my teaching and communication with families. I couldn’t select just one article from this week as they all were very informative, and impact. The information shared in regards to typography was really important, especially as a primary teacher. My students benefit from fonts in which are simple and easy to read/use. I have made more of an effort to be aware of the fonts I was using and my students’ ability to read the font. The article from Module 6 entitled, “Why No One Reads Your Classroom Newsletter” was also VERY interesting. Since reading that article, I’ve made changes to my weekly newsletter. I’ve eliminated lengthy paragraphs and instead try to use bullet point lists with graphics to share classroom updates. This is a process I’d still like to continue improving in, even after our class is complete. 

Overall, this course has pushed me out of my comfort zone (and from behind my computer) to learn and implement new techniques within my classroom. I'm not sure anyone enjoys watching them selves as they record themselves replying to a discussion post, nor do they enjoy hearing themselves in a screencast, however, these uncomfortable experiences pushed me to grow as an educator. As mentioned above, I want to continue to improve my parent communication, and ensure that it is utilized by all of my families. I also want to continue to utilize different multimedia approaches within my classroom. I also have a number of ways in which I'd like to incorporate more QR usage within my classroom both for students to share their learning, and as a opportunity for students to learn from others. I hope that my students are as excited about this as I am!