Creating this screencast was very fun. I enjoyed learning how to use this program, because I can definetely see the benefit. This would work great when explaining instruction for a difficult subject, because majority of the students will have access to it outisde of the classroom to refrence back to when working on homework. This could also work great when leaving instructions for a substitute, instead of leaving a long confusing note. I believe that students would also really enjoy getting to create their own screencast.

The video Learning in Hand really opened my eyes to all of the technological devices that could be incorporated into the classroom. iPads and iTouches prove to be two of the best resources based on this video. The huge benefit of mobile learning is that it can be done from almost anywhere. Students are constanly learning and experiementing with new forms of technology, so I believe that this could really benefit them. I also think that this could be a great way to introduce under privledged students to technology, and allow them to learn in a way that may not be possible at home.

About once a week in my Teaching Math for Intermediate Grades class, Dr. Cassel allows each student in the class to use an iTouch and experiement with the many mathematical and educational apps that are downloaded on them. Our class enjoys getting to interact with this technology, and we are adults. I can only imagine how engaging it would be for school age students, especially elementary.

I think that this video was great. I love that it is trying to gett the word out about all of these great resources that are available, as well as introducing educators on how to use effectively use technology in the classroom. I would love to incorporate everything from this video into my future classroom, because I think that this could change the way many sutdents view education. If children and adults are able to use the technology in the classroom that they use almost everyday, I believe they might enjoy learning even more.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdharrison/4942169121/sizes/z/in/photostream/

A Pecha Kucha presentation is a PowerPoint that consists of 20 slide slideshow with 20 seconds between each slide. This presentation can be used for almost anything that the creator wants. It can be used in so many ways besides the classroom. The presentation contains no sound or animation, besides the 20 second intervals between the slides. The images and dialogue are the main focus of the Pecha Kucha, so it is important to have high quality images and attention getting dialogue.

I learned an excellent new approach to the boring PowerPoint presentation. So many people get caught up in creating a presentation with a lot of animation, sounds and words. This is not necessary; it only serves as a distraction. Though this presentation seems simple, it complex. I also learned that in order to have a successful PK your dialogue needs to be in accordance with the 20 second time frame, or it causes confusion not only for the presenter but also for the audience.

I am an elementary education major, which includes 6-8^th grade, and I can definitely see using this in my future classroom. The PK is a great way to introduce the students to information in a very non standard way, which I believe the students will enjoy. This is also a great activity for the students to use when presenting information or giving a presentation that will really hold them accountable for knowing the information.

I really struggled with this project, and I tried to use the resources online. My story,Snowman’s Sunny Day, is a sad excuse for storytelling through Scratch, but I had fun making it.

It was harder to come up with something to write about, than it was to actually come up with dialogue for the characters. This story contains a total of 3 sprites, a sun, a snowman all bundled up, and a mleted version of the snowman. I wanted to incorporate weather into my story, because Oklahoma is always full of crazy weather. Weather could be a very fun topic for students in elementary to create a Scratch project over.

Scratch can be a very fun program, however it can also be very frustrating. It took me forever to make this very simple project, Here Kitty. I encountered many frustrations along the way, but I was very proud of myself after the final product was finished.

Before beginning to create my scratch, I began searching through the Sprites provided until I found something that I liked. I decided on a cat, different than the default Sprite. I then decided tosearch through the Sprites selections for a ball, and luckily there was one available that already had the motion and sound set up. I decided that the cat should chase the ball around, therefore I began setting up the motion path for the kitty. I decided to have the kitten chase the bouncy ball around a living room, so that is the stage that I selected. It is a very cartoonish background, but that it what I was going for. Once the stage was set, I decided that the cat should have a master, so I decided to include a young girl. This brings the total number of Sprites to 3, and 1 stage. I chose to make Clicking the green flag the command that sets everything in motion. Once the green flag is clicked, the ball begins to bounce, the girl says “here Kitty Kitty”, and the kitten begins moving back and forth across the screen chasing after the ball.

This project defintely challenged me, but now I can see the advantaged of creating a Scratch to use in the classroom, because kids will love it. I belive that this program could be a great way to challenge studets, as well as, allow them to use their own creativity.