Assignment 7

I created my electronic portfolio on weebly.com. It was very organized and simple to do the layout. I am glad I made the website because I will definitely continue to keep up with it for the future. I added my resume, contact information, all the assignments in class, and some information about me. The layout is organized and the links work correctly.

Assignment 6

For this assignment, I created another rubric using RubiStar and evaluated a website. The website I chose was pbskids.org. It is a great website for children to play games and learn. It has all the television show characters from PBS Kids. I evaluated the website 19/20. For the second part of the website, I researched 5 websites for kindergarten teacher resources. I wanted to do this topic because I am going to be a kindergarten teacher and I know that I will use some of these resources someday. I was glad we did this assignment because it will help me in the future. It also was good practice for annotated bibliographies.

Assignment 5

Felicia worked on this project together. We used the template in RubiStar to make a rubric for an educational software. Since RubiStar did not have that in their options, we changed most words but used their template. The website we evauated was http://www.uptoten.com/kids/uptoten-home.html. This software program for children seemed great, and it is in different languages. It is possible to switch the language. I thought that was great. This project was helpful because we will need to be making rubrics, and I saw that I liked RubiStar. We evaluated the software 19/20.

Assignment 4

This project was good for me because I am going to be a teacher. I imagined that the students brainstormed different things that have to do with each season. I am working in a preschool classroom and this is definitely an activity that I would do with them. It was basic enough, but the program CMAP made it simple and organized. I also learned how to put it into the Power Point. The only thing I forgot was to hide a page on the Power Point and make action buttons. I completely forgot that that was part of this assignment, because we had already practiced that in other Power Point presentations.

Digital Storytelling

I enjoyed doing this project because I got to look at my videos and pictures from Italy. I have only used iMovie once before, and definitely became familiar with it from this project. I recorded my voice, added pictures and transitions and videos. I even sent the youtube clip to my family and friend who went to italy with me.

Powerpoint

The grade book that I made was helpful to learn because I will be able to use something like this when I am teaching. Learning to do it on the computer makes it quicker and easier to keep grades on the computer. I am able to teach others about how to make and update a grade book. I now feel comfortable making powerpoint presentations, and this project gave me another chance to practice. I also wrote the "principal" a letter about how I did the grade book, and added the grade book into the word document. I was able to incorporate these three parts of Microsoft Suite, and now I feel comfortable to use them and also teach others.

Website

I really enjoyed this assignment. I know that I will use this website when I become a teacher. I have a few years to really improve it, add recommendations, my resume, and more aspects to make it more professional. I enjoyed using Kompozer because I found it easy to use. I know that I will comfortable enough to open up Kompozer and start a new webpage. I really understood how to use it. I liked adding pictures and links. I definitely found this project useful and I learned a lot.

What Teachers Should Know About Technology

Here are a few things that I have found in my research about what teachers should know about Microsoft Word and Powerpoint. One good tip for the gradebook in Excel that we made is alphabetizing the list. There is an AZ with a down arrow button. This is a simple way to quickly put the class list alphabetically. A few simple but very helpful shortcuts are on the keyboard. Cut (Ctrl+X ) Copy (Ctrl+C) Paste (Ctrl+V) Undo (Ctrl+Z). I use that trick everyday, and I know I definitely will when I am creating documents as a teacher. If you select all, (Ctrl+A) (Ctrl+1) makes the document all single spaced, where (Ctrl+2) makes the document double spaced. I did not know this trick, but it is definitely one that I will now use. Creating a hyperlink is another great tool for teachers, especially since I am going to have a webpage for my class. You can type the word that you want to make into a link, double click it, and (Ctrl+K) will bring you to a small screen where you type the link in there. It makes it much more professional, and is very easy to do.

Powerpoint makes it easy to make a slide show. They are a great tool for teaching students in the classroom because it is easy to put pictures and many children are visual learners. It is possible to make a slideshow with the students. They could create a slide or two, and either do them separately or add the slides all together to make one class slideshow. To add a slide, there is a button with a "+ New" on the left top corner. Powerpoint has really simplified it so that all the basics are buttons on the top. They all have pictures and what the button does. To insert clipart, click Picture --> Insert Clip Art. To view it as a slideshow, click Slideshow in the top middle.

Source 1: 10 Microsoft Word Tricks Every Teacher Should Know

Course Objectives

Since I am going to be a kindergarten teacher, there are many things that I am hoping to learn in this class that I will be able to use in the classroom. I am planning on having a webpage for the parents. It will hopefully have homework assignments, pictures, links, and extra worksheets that the kids can do at home. At this point, I am not comfortable creating a website. I hope to learn how to make one, and I will use it for my class. I have done powerpoints, but I want to become more familiar with the program. It is definitely an important tool to know how to use. This class is interesting to me because it is hands-on. I will take things from this class and use them for many years as a teacher.

First Post

My name is Jacqueline, but everyone calls me Jacky. I am a junior at University of Hartford studying early childhood education to become a kindergarten teacher. I am in the co-ed A cappella group on campus. I am from outside Boston and have lived in the same house my whole life. I studied abroad in Florence, Italy last fall.