My Final Reflection
Question 1: "Discuss the two tools that were your personal favorite from the semester and why."
The first app I'm going to talk about is none other than my favorite app, not only from this semester, but of all my time working with Apple products, Book Creator. Book Creator is an app that services many platforms, is active on social media, and has endless possibilities in the classroom. I love Book Creator because it is useful at almost any age, has connections to nearly every subject, and I can see myself using it to help my students. We used Book Creator in our course mainly to put our QR codes into a lesson and it was simply a connective tool for our project focusing on QR codes. I however, saw it for the amazing tool it could be in the classroom. In looking through Book Creator's features, I saw potential for lessons, projects, and so much more. Truly, this tool could improve many lessons.
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We teachers are constantly trying to update and adapt our practices to the ever changing society surrounding us and Book Creator is a way to draw in technological literacy, app smashing, and design concepts to our class projects, lessons, and even tests.
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In using Book Creator, teachers can draw connections between subjects, strengthening literacy while doing a science project or learning how to app smash while making a history test study guide. Not only is Book Creator beneficial for students though, it can be a great tool for teachers. Have you ever had a student miss an important lesson? If you answered no, you must teach solely online courses. Students miss school sometimes, it is inevitable. How great would it be if you could just email your student a PDF or iBook of the lesson you created? If Book Creator is something you wish to use in your classroom, planning lessons, creating take home alternatives, and giving homework through a page of the iBook or PDF itself can be a huge step forward in giving students more access to the material being taught and allowing them to keep information readily available if they need to look over a concept again at home or before a test. We all want our students to have accessible materials and to fully grasp what is taught in class; Book Creator can be a fantastic tool to help achieve that goal. I plan on doing all the things I have talked about and more in my classroom with Book Creator. I truly believe this tool can revolutionize a classroom if we really embrace it.
The next app I found to be the most helpful and to contain the most benefit for a classroom is iMovie. For many of the same reasons I loved Book Creator, I like iMovie. It is an app that is easy to use, offers templates for beginners, has a plethora of online resources for help and tips, and can be used for several different classroom procedures and projects. This app is one that can be used easily and quickly due to its user friendly setup with tutorials found easily online should you need them. It also offers two different kinds of projects, movies or trailers. That may not sound like much, but if you've ever seen YouTube videos of movie trailers having different music or surroundings that change the entire meaning of the film, you know how fantastic an English introduction this app can create.
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If you've ever looked for an app that you can use to make more exciting lesson intros, like the one I created this semester for CyberBulling, or an app your students can use to make film projects easily, iMovie is the app you've been waiting for. I have always enjoyed incorporating visual elements into my lessons, especially videos, so having an app that lets me do that quickly and easily in a way that results in higher engagement and enjoyment from my students is a dream come true. I will most definitely utilize iMovie in my classroom to open lessons, smooth transitions, and share student work and I encourage any teacher to do the same.
Overall, these two apps were my favorites out of tons that we used this semester. They are not the end all, be all, of apps for education, but they are apps I appreciate and am excited to bring into a classroom. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to explore these apps and I hope they are explored and appreciated by other teachers who may not have known how to incorporate books, app smashing, or film into their classrooms effectively.
Question 2: "Look back through your entire website (yes the whole thing), look at all you have accomplished and learned this semester. Reflect on what you have accomplished and learned this semester."
This semester has been full of projects, blogs, websites, and reviews. I've learned so much and developed so many technological skills that I can apply to my classroom practices. Since the technology boom, teachers have known that technology must be incorporated in the classroom. Whether or not we used this knowledge to further education is another story, but now people are finally getting more on board. In this new world, teachers need to embrace the technology and use it to further the educational persuits of their students.
In creating this website, I had my most impactful wow moment of the semester. I had previously been taught that social media, websites, and phones were the enemy of the classroom. I now know that I can create a space that students can access after school, send updates, and involve them in the technology age without impeding their educational persuits. In fact, class websites can be a way to smooth transitions, include parents in the day to day workings of the classroom, and give students additional access to content they may need like this other website I made for a kindergarten weather lesson. Thanks to Weebly, teachers can now create a website for each of their classes for free and can access premium features with a paid option should they choose to expand. For my purposes, the free site you are currently reading has served all my needs and more. I could not be more pleased with the progress I've made technologically and with all I have created.