Tools of Choice

What?
Today we talked about our final assignment and we were given various options of final projects. We can do newsletters, fliers, or brochures. We talked about the various ways to publish our work in "publish" to a PDF file, so that we will be able to down load it onto our UEN website.
I have enjoyed learning about all the various tools available to me as a student and a future educator. This class was such a wonderful class for me to open my eye's and mind to what is out there and I have already enjoyed the benefits of knowing about these tools.

So What?
In working with the various programs and tools, I think that google is probably one of my favorites. It offers so much information that it is amazing for me to comprehend the amount. I also like the way google offers all of these tools free of charge. That is in it's self amazing, because nothing is "free" anymore. I have enjoyed also learning about collaborative projects while using google, and feel that is such a useful tool, when working as a group. I know I will be using this often as I enter the professional program this coming fall. I also enjoyed working with the Microsoft Publish program, and thought it was very helpful by providing various templates to use when setting up my projects, and giving me ideas. It was a bit tricky getting the finished projects downloaded to a PDF file, initially the acrobat converter on UEN, wouldn't work with a few of my projects, but then I was able to download on my computers program, then download to UEN. This worked like a charm.
I love being able to store all of my projects and information on my UEN file. I like knowing it is there and available when ever I need it, at home or at school. This is such a great idea, and wonderful way to store information which I can use in the future.


Then What?
I will definitely use these tools in my classroom, and I feel that I will be so much better prepared by knowing how to use all of these programs. These tools will help me create projects for my students, prepare my lessons, keep the parents of my students involved and aware of what is being done in the classroom. It will also allow me to be more organized and able to keep my lesson plans, projects, and schedules running smoothly. I am so glad I have had the experience to use these tools and create presentations, so when it comes time for me to use these in the classroom, I won't be afraid to use them, and to help my lessons and presentations be more interesting and meaningful.

Video
School House Rock "A noun is a person, place or thing"

I loved seeing this video again, it was awesome. It reminded me of Saturday morning cartoons, when I would regularly see it as a young child. This video is a classic because it was so catchy. As children we all grew up seeing it, and memorizing it, and singing it.
I can still sing along to the words. This was high tech in our year, and now some kids would probably consider it "boring" but for us this was awesome.
I think that it shows where we were at 30 years ago, and how life and learning has evolved since that time. School House Rock was a great example of how media can positivily effect students. I think music is a great tool to combine with information, inorder to make presentations for lessons. Also ryhming helps us all remember facts better, School House Rock used all of these ideas to make it a classic. I will show these clips in my classes, it's good for the students and I think it's still good to help students remember important facts.