Reflection Journal #10: Video Software #1

My favorite movies have a lot of my favorite actors and actresses. They really captivate me and makes me feel as though I am in the movie. I know, sounds corny but I like movies that really bring a lot of emotion. I think the emotions in the acting (enthusiasm, anger, sadness, etc.) bring a movie to life. In addition, the music (soundtrack) of the movie also really draws me. I think when the right type of music is played to fit the specific scene of a movie, it really enhances the scene. Also, when movies have good scenery, are shot at different locations, and have cool effects, it just makes the movie that much better.
On the other hand, educational videos don't really have much of this. I mean there are really cool videos, such as Planet Earth or The Magic School Bus that can keep viewers entertained and educate them. However educational videos shot in a classroom or with just some professor speaking can get extremely boring. Usually, the speaker will have no emotion and the whole lesson just sounds like a huge monotonous lecture. Also, there aren't really any effects or music because that would take away from the main message trying to be presented. The scenery is usually a chalkboard or white board in the background, and the most action you get is the speaker writing things on them. Unless the lecture is REALLY interesting, most times viewers have a hard time paying attention.
In comparing these two types of videos, I think it will help us in making our own videos. I can't say that our video will be anything like those in the movie theaters, that cost billions of dollars to create. However, we will try our best not to make it into some boring lecture educational video. I think by adding music, having enthusiasm, and showing interesting things, kids will both enjoy it and learn from it.

Reflection Journal #9: Gaming Project

I am not much of a gamer, but every once in awhile I do find them entertaining. I never really thought of games as being very educational or mind stimulating, but doing this project really changed my perspective. While experimenting and testing out different games I realized that they really make you think and the animations or the content makes you want to keep playing. Although addiction could be a very dangerous thing, I think when it comes to educational games, being addicted for a little while couldn't be too harmful. I still don't think violent war games or violent car games are very educational but when actual math or science is involved, I believe students can learn a lot. I do feel as though teachers and parents should be very cautious of the age level and content presented in the games. In my future teaching career I think using video games to teach math could be very fun and entertaining for the students. I know that when growing up do the normal worksheets did not catch my attention for very long and even made me dread doing math. However, playing this games was very mind stimulating and grabbed my attention even as a college student. I think depending on the material and the content in the games, video games are a great way to help students learn.

Gaming Project

In our math time, we have been practicing various addition problems. As a way of using different methods to learn how to add, we will be using a computer game called Save the Apples! In this game, students must correctly answer the addition problem given in order to help the monkey cross the river with his basket of apples. If the answer is incorrect, the monkey's apples fall into the river and are eaten by a crocodile. While both entertaining to watch the animations, students should also find the challenge of saving the monkey and apples to be compelling and fun.

In a BBC News article titled, Video games 'good for you', it said that video games help to stimulate the mind and also improve vision. Researchers Shawn Green and Daphne Bavelier said, "Video game playing enhances the capacity of visual attention and its spatial distribution." Studies were done by the researchers that compared gamers versus non-gamers and the results showed that gamers had much better results in tasks that involved attention and vision. Therefore, researchers also say, "Although video game playing may seem to be rather mindless, it is capable of radically altering visual attentional processing."

5 Questions Parents May Have

1. Is there any inappropriate content?
No, the game is completely child-friendly. The content on the game directly addresses the math we have been learning in the classroom. Also, the animations on the screen are fun cartoon animations that are not at all violent or explicit. The children are helping the monkey to cross the river without getting its apples eaten by the crocodile. Even with this, the monkey and crocodile never come in contact and therefore the game does not show any violence.

2. Why does my child need to practice math using a computer game?
As studies show, when children are engaged in a game type setting and are being interactive they are able to focus better. Also, through the animations their attentions will be grabbed and thus help them to want to actually practice math. In trying to help the monkey across the river will encourage them to work through the problems and solve them correctly. This is both a fun and educational way to learn.

3. What if my child wants to play at home? Won't this get addicting?
If they want to play at home, that's great! Yes, the game could get addicting but because it's educational and they will be learning it's not a bad thing. There are tons of other educational games online, that include topics in science, reading, spelling, etc. Although they may be playing games, there is a lot of learning and brain power incorporated into them. Therefore, you shouldn't have to worry about their knowledge going to waste, because they will be using it throughout these games.

4. How much time will this take during the school day?
The good thing about this specific game we are using is that students can play for however long or short they want. We will be using this game only during our scheduled math time. However, many times we will also be doing other activities and using other ways of teaching math, not just computer games. Computer games are just one of the various methods to help students learn and to give them a different way of learning.

5. Is the content suitable for my child?
The game we will be using, along with many other games, have settings that can be altered. There are many different levels, such as easy, medium, hard, etc. that can be chosen to the student's best interest. Also, some games have timers in order to stimulate a student's mind even more. Therefore, no matter where the child may be, just beginning or a little more advanced, the game will have content suitable for each individual.

Reflection Journal Entry #8: Audio Software

I never had any past experience using GarageBand no Audacity so this whole project was a new experience for me. For the project, I recorded a tune on GarageBand and decided to just have my students open this pre-made tune and sing a song about seasons (lyrics given to them) along with it. I think this would be a great way for the students to be able to learn different topics (numbers, shapes, math, reading, etc.) through songs. I could create my own tunes and my own songs about certain topics and use this as a fun way for them to learn. Also, I could use this program so the students can create and record their own songs or poems for certain holidays or even for their parents. This way the parents can see what the kids are learning in class and also can involved with it. I think it would be difficult to get the students to create their own songs unless it's just with the piano, but even then it wouldn't be very easy for them. Therefore, I think for a second grade class it would be easier to give them a choice of pre-made tunes by me (the teacher) and then just have them record their voices over it. For the tutorial I used Audacity which was a lot simpler because this program is only used for voice recording. I think I could have students recite their assigments (poems, readings, etc.) on this so that I can hear them and then maybe even let other people (classmates, other teachers, parents, etc.) listen to them. This way people will know what is going on in my class and all the things we are doing. I think in order to use these programs, I would need to clearly explain to my students, step by step, the procedures and directions. Even for me, the programs were a bit confusing but for a second grader, it would be much harder. Overall, I'm glad I got to explore these two programs because I think they would be very useful and fun to use in my classroom and teaching. They are a fun way for students to get interactive and to let others listen to their works as well.

Audio Project: Song of the Seasons

Purpose:

• To create a fun way for second graders to learn about the seasons. Songs are a great way for younger kids to both be entertained but also memorize different topics. Therefore, by singing about the seasons students will have a fun time but the lyrics will be ingrained into their minds. The tune of the song is "This Old Man," which most younger kids know. Therefore, I thought this would be easier for most students to know and to sing a long to. The lyrics of the song are:
  

  Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
  There are seasons, four in all.

  Weather changes, sun and rain and snow,
  Leaves fall down and flowers grow.

  Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
  There are seasons, four in all.

  Look outside and you will see
  Just what season it will be!

Note:

• I would save my song as "Grace's Song" on the desktop of all my student's computers so that they can open it and listen to a demo of it. Then, I would save a copy of the tune ("This Old Man") to the their desktops, titled as "Grace's Tune". I will already have everything set up for them so all they need to do is press the record button. Also, I would type out a copy of the lyrics onto a word document and also save a copy of it onto all the student's desktops, titled as "Season's Lyrics".
  

Personal Growth:
I have never used Audio Software in the past, especially not something like GarageBand, so it was a new experience for me. At first it was really awkward to hear myself and it felt really weird to be speaking and singing into a computer. I guess it still does feel weird but it got a lot easier. I thought the programs were not as hard to use as I thought they would be. In the beginning I didn't realize that if I messed up I didn't have to start all over again. Therefore, when I kept messing up even towards the end I would delete and try to complete the recording in one attempt. However, I then realized I could cut out the parts I messed up and just record over it which made the process a lot easier. The only real difficulty I had was playing the song on the piano in GarageBand, which took more than a few attempts. Even now it sounds a bit shaky, but for the most part I had a lot of fun.

Reflection Journal Entry #7: Multiple Intelligences

According to Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, I am a mixture of a bodily-kinesthetic and interpersonal learner. I feel as though my categorization of being a mixture of these types of intelligences wouldn't really affect my teaching in any sort of way. I think I would do my best to accomodate all my students, because each child has a different style of learning. Therefore, I would try to incorporate each type of intelligence into my lessons, projects, assigments, etc. Since I will be teaching second graders, I think the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is present in many younger children. They are always active and wanting to move around, that interaction is needed in order for them to stay focused and entertained. Also, as having an interpersonal intelligence I think it would be easier for me to communicate with my students and even their parents. I would also create many opportunities for the students to talk and contribute to class discussions or activities. Overall, however, I don't think the type of intelligence I have will affect my student's learning or the way that I teach. Rather, because I know all these different types of intelligences I can try to incorporate different ways of learning into my lessons.

Reflection Journal Entry #6: Excel Project

I always never fully knew how to use excel because instructions were pretty much given to me by teachers when I did have to use it. Also, the only thing I ever made on excel were line graphs for science classes. Therefore, trying to make different graphs was a bit difficult but also very frustrating. The bar graph that I made wasn't as bad but the picture graph was very irritating. I had to make it from scratch and without a template sort of thing. Then, when trying to copy and paste multiple copies of the same picture the sizes would keep changing so that just took a lot of time. Also, mid way through the project, the program closed out and wouldn't reopen my project so I had to redo half of it all over again. I guess for the future using excel as a grade book would be a good idea and probably much easier. Although annoying, I could try to make different sorts of graphs to teach my students about various graphs but also to teach them how to read certain graphs and why they are used. I think just from this experience I've been a bit turned away from excel just because it was giving me so many problems. However, I know overall this is a great tool to use and can be useful for many different things such as for my own personal assignments, but also for grade books and to teach about graphs. I think before making a graph, one should be taught how to read graphs and what different parts of the graph mean in order to make the process a bit easier. I think in the future I would want to try to make a grade book using this tool since I didn't get to do it for this assignment.