Video Reflection

This video project was a new experience for me, and I found it to be a very interesting way to present class material.  I have never made a movie before, and I found that iMovie made it very easy to upload and edit the video from the flip camera.  I did have some trouble finding the features I wanted to add to my video; therefore, I had to use the "Help" option often.  If I could do my movie all over again, I would utilize more locations for filming.  My group only used one classroom for all of our scenes, and I felt my end product of a movie lacked a little something.  I based this change after watching my fellow group member's videos.  I loved my group's video ideas though, and I had a wonderful time filming it with my classmates.  We laughed a lot, and it was very enjoyable.  Honestly, I think it would be extremely difficult to have students in my classroom use iMovie to create an appropriate movie for a project.  I don't believe a lot of my students will have access to a movie camera or a Mac to use iMovie.  Secondly, I am not confident enough in my iMovie skills to teach my students how to use it accordingly.  However, I am pleased with this new experience and I hope one day to use it in my classroom.

Quiz on Basic Periodic Table Knowledge

You will find the mandatory quiz on the first few sections of the Periodic Table unit below.  Be sure to leave approximately 15-20 minutes to complete the quiz.

Sample Lesson Plan

Feel free to preview the introductory lesson plan for the Periodic Table unit we will be covering.

Sample Lesson Plan

Online Lecture Survey

Please take a few moments to fill out the following survey to assess the lecture presented to you today.

Click here to take survey

"Trends in Physical Properties" Podcast Activity

Please download the Podcast titled "PodCastTrialRun" and complete the activity.  Once the tables are completed, please complete the following worksheet.

Periodic Table WebQuest

The Periodic Table is an essential tool for chemists around the world.  It allows us to organize the elements systematically and predict both physical and chemical properties of those elements.  Mendeleev was way ahead of his time!  Click on the links below to complete the WebQuest!

WebQuest

WebQuest Question Worksheet

Tips for Teaching With New Media

I absolutely love how succinct and useful this article was in integrating technology into the classroom. There were ideas presented that I didn't even know existed or even thought to incorporate. In particular, I found tips 6 and 7 to be very applicable in a high school chemistry class.

Tip #6 introduced me to the idea of wordle.net, an online tool I never heard of until this article. Word clouds provides a very visual way to learn important definitions. Chemistry is full of vocabulary, and its nice that the students have a resource to organize the definitions.

Tip #7 deals with student and teacher collaboration via discussion groups and Google docs. Chemistry is a very collaborative science, and online resources like Google docs is very convenient. Group projects have now become easier because work can be done online and in real time.

I've never had these kinds of tools available to me when I was in school, and I'm looking forward to utilizing several ideas presented in Edutopia's article. I am definitely keeping this article bookmarked!

Educationally Relevant Video

Let's be honest...most people find chemistry to be boring.  This video shines new light on learning the elements.  It'll be hard not to start dancing to the song :)

Microsoft Word Screencast

Oh boy was this an exciting project!  It took about 10 takes because my dogs wouldn't stop barking, and they found the fact that I was talking into a computer a reason to try to get me to play with them.  You got to love animals!   Anyways, I tried my best to explain the process on how to embed a table in a word document as painless as possible.  I sound like such a dork though!

Reaction to Did You Know? Video

I'm going to be honest, I openly embraced technology and its usefulness.  I don't own a Kindle or an IPhone (I know, shocking!) but, I do have a digital TV package that includes almost all the movie channels and when I leave the house without my cell phone, I feel alone and naked to the rest of the world for that day.  I frequently hit up Facebook to connect to my friends and classmates, and I mostly communicate via e-mail or text messaging.  My parents still get a paper newspaper, but I may only refer to it once a week for the comics section.  I either get my news online or by watching the morning news on my bedroom TV.  I feel that I am pretty "normal" by usage standards.  I may only spend a combined 2 hours of time streaming the internet, using my computer, or using my cell phone in some way on a normal day.  This time has drastically increased since class started though!

The video Did You Know? scared me in a few ways.  Although I embrace technology and think its the best thing since chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, people abuse it.  Just as the video says, "Convergence is everywhere.  Its easier than ever to reach a large audience, but harder than ever to really connect with it."  This truth is very disturbing.  Children (and adults) are not out in the world experiencing new things anymore.  Its like they live vicariously though the internet or television instead.  Even when they are out and about, I rarely see people conversing with each other face to face or actually watching where they're walking.  To give you an example, I recently went out to eat at a local italian restaurant with my boyfriend.  There was a family of 3 sitting next to us, and the entire time we were at the restaurant, they did not say one word to each other.  Instead, they were all playing with their IPhones, even when the food got delivered!  Mannerisms like that disgust me because its like humans are becoming automated and don't know how to maintain personal relationships anymore.  Also, has anyone else noticed that kids don't seem to ride their bike everywhere as they once did?  As a substitute teacher, I always heard about video games and computer experiences, but rarely did I hear about how kids rode a bike outside, played catch, or went for a hike.  It seems that society is losing its touch with the real world, and instead is living via a virtual one.

Moreover, does anyone else find it disturbing that presidential campaigns are being funded through social networks and not benefit dinners anymore?  I feel if you're going to be the leader of this country you should at least try to meet with people in person and talk about your platforms and their concerns.  We really need to find a balance between technology use and being able to not lose our touch with reality.

Reaction to November Article

I remember my family's first computer.  It was an IBM that had a tower the size of a 2 year old, and it was equipped with only a floppy disk drive and a connection for a dial-up phone modem.  It took about 20 minutes to power on, and about 5 times that to connect to the internet.  E-mail was non-existent in the household until I was about 12 years old.  I was still handwriting essays, and I frequently made trips to the town library to access their hardcover encyclopedias for information.  Now, my household is on the complete opposite technological spectrum.  We have wireless internet in which my 2 laptops and desktop can connect to simultaneously, and I can be browsing the internet within 10 seconds of powering on my computer.  I can't even tell you the last time I visited the library to do literature research.  Technology has never been faster or more accessible, and the article by Alan November brought up some very interesting points.  As November stated, "...technology could get us into trouble in ways that we might not imagine."

November's story of the student who visited a trusted academic site and claimed that the Holocaust never happened disturbed me.  What disturbed me the most was that this student was so ready to disregard his knowledge of the Holocaust that he has been taught throughout several history courses over one lousy website.  Although it may have seemed logical when read, this student should not rely on one website as a source of his information.  His intellectual curiosity should have been stimulated, but this should have lead to further research into the topic.  Although November mentioned the "link" to the Hate Directory as being almost a necessity for students to know, I never heard of it and I know not to believe everything I see/read on the internet.  I agree with November that students need to be taught to discriminate against certain information as well as think about it before they come to conclusions.

November asked a question, "what will the impact of having live video in every classroom at every school be on education?"  I'd like to say that it would definitely help minimize the gap between families and school.  I think this idea is great in that it connects areas that sometimes have a hard time of communicating.  Parent/peer involvement in school activities is vital to a student's success, and I believe the live video stream would be very beneficial to both parties.  It would help build teamwork, and that's never a bad quality to have.

All in all, I think technology is essential in a classroom.  It builds upon traditional teaching methods and allows students to explore new areas of knowledge at the click of a button!

First Day of Class

So, here I am sitting in Bob Hale's Technology class for the first day of TCPCG, and I am both excited and anxious to throw myself back into school.  It's been over a year now since I have taken any classes, and I am definitely feeling the pressure to get back on my school game.  This class has been wonderful so far, despite the fact that it is a million degrees in the classroom.  Apparently, UConn WH skimped out on central air in the Undergraduate building.

We began the class by introducing ourselves via Powerpoint slides through Google Docs.  I have used Google Docs previously to share papers between myself and various group members when I was a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, but I never even knew you could do Powerpoint slides and/or spreadsheets through Google Docs as well.  Overall, it was very straight-forward to use.  I did have an issue with uploading a picture of myself online, and I had to export the Powerpoint presentation into Microsoft Powerpoint, insert a picture, then import the slide back into Google Docs.

Next, Mr. Hale began to explain the various student projects that I will have to complete during the next 6 weeks.  I am pretty proficient with Microsoft Office, and I'm looking forward to utilizing these programs once again.  However, I am feeling anxious in regards to learning the new programs that Mr. Hale requires.  This is my first blog EVER, and I have never used a flip camera before.  I have never needed to edit videos or use Photoshop.  I am definitely looking forward to expanding my technological horizons, and I am super excited to be a part of TCPCG.  Even though this program seems demanding, let's make this year something to remember!