Friday, February 24, 2012

Screencasting

So I have always wondered how our librarian came up with her presentations with her voice in the back round showing exactly what she was doing on the computer screen.  I thought it was cool, but wasn't sure if I would ever have a use for it. After reading our current "assignment" I struggled to think of how I could use screen casting for my classes or as a teacher. 

However, after thinking for a bit, I realized how much I struggled to explain my students homework assignment for tonight.  They are to complete a practice on the Khan Academy website.  So I created the following screen cast.


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Google

When I was in high school and college, I often used google to search for research, interesting web sites, and clues to help me with an assignment.  Since I have become a teacher, I have found myself exploring the site a little more. 

During Winterim 2 years ago, I explored Picassa as a way to share the pictures we were taking of students with their families.  We also started a blog so that the kids could upload their journal entries and parents could track where we needed to be.

I also use Google in other capacities now.  For the classroom, I use it to search for Power Points, PDFs, or Microsoft Word files using the advanced search feature at the bottom of the page.  A few weeks ago, I also discovered the conversion application which I used yesterday in my Math in Athletics class to convert kilometers to miles. 

For my personal life, I also used Google Docs to track my wedding list so that it was accessible to both my husband and myself.  It allowed us to quickly update addresses, track responses and food choices, and keep track of gifts making Thank You notes much easier to write.  I also use Google to blog as I am interested in baking and as of late I use the RSS Feed on Google to track both educational and other blogs and websites that interest me for updates.

Some things that I plan to dabble with in the classroom and to prepare for my classes after looking into the site a little deeper today are the graphing feature and using the many different techniques presented to refine my searches.  The graphing feature looks to be very useful when trying to project a graph to my classes (much nicer than the Texas Instrument graphs, and it has color!), and when trying to print out graphs for activities.  Also, refining my searches will help when looking for pictures for my Power Points, and research for my Mathematics in Athletics class.  It will also help me to make sure I am getting reliable information in my searches and it will save me time in weeding out the unreliable sites.

I look forward to continuing to explore all Google has to offer, and still plan to check out the site daily to see how they dress up their logo.