Assignment # 10: “Learning with Games and Simulations”

Game # 1: Practice with Plurals

This game is great for practicing plurals, and I would use it in my classroom to reinforce and/or review plural forms of many different words.  It is nice because It has multiple difficulty levels, and the students may choose between multiple choice questions and fill in the blank.

Game # 2: Lord of the Flies

I would use this game in a high school classroom if I was reading "Lord of the Flies" with my class.  It would be a fun way to introduce them to the book and look at basic analytical elements.  Sometimes older students need some play too, and this is a great way to do it!

Week 7B

Flickr Pic!

Wordle!

EDCT 203 Assignment # 8 VoiceThread

Here is a link to my own mock VoiceThread.  I made this voicethread for my students to learn a little bit about me.  After watching mine, they will make a VoiceThread about themselves so I can learn about them.

Mock VoiceThread

I really enjoyed learning about this mean of digital storytelling.  It was even fun to make! I like the idea of students making a VoiceThread about themselves.  That way, they can pick out pictures of people, activities, or things that are very important to them.  After they have done that, they get to tell me why those those things are important to them through a voice message or a text box message.  They can even have family or friends comment on the picture, sharing memories and stories. 
I like this idea because I want to know my students.  I want to know them outside the classroom, and I want to know what interests they have!  We could also have a "movie day" and watch everyone's VoiceThread so that all the students know some fun things about each other.
This method of digital story telling could also be used in a variety of ways for lessons. However, I really like the idea of getting to know my students this way.

Several standards were addressed:
1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity (Students had freedom to create their own identities and choose their own style and direction for their VoiceThread.)
3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning (By making a model VoiceThread myself)
* Commit to the Well-being of Students, Families, and Communities

Among others.

EDCT 203 Assignment # 7 : Survey (Form) in Google Docs

What do you think are the three best ways of using Google Forms in this article?

After reading this article I feel like the three best ways of using Google Forms in this article are:

• Get to know your class.  I especially liked this one because part of my teaching philosophy is to create a community within my classroom, and I must be a part of that community.  Therefore, I must know my students apart from their academic selves. Making a form like this one is just one great way a teacher can get to know his or her students.  I was even thinking that a teacher could make a new form with new questions at intervals throughout the year. That way he or she is always learning about students.
• Library book review. I picked this one out because of how I could utilize it in my future language arts classroom.  I would love my students to have "silent reading time" in my classroom. A time when they can read what they want to read.  This form would be great for students to evaluate books for each other--that way they could see a preview before they began reading. 
• Prior learning assessment. I think this form is very practical and beneficial to any classroom.  It could save the teacher a lot of time by letting them know exactly what the students remembered and absorbed. If he or she decides from the the results of this form that they need to review, they then know exactly what needs reviewed.  This is also a way for students to gauge their understanding.

  What are possible ways for you to use Google Forms in your classrooms?

I could use Google Forms in my classroom in a variety of ways.  In addition to the variations above, I could foresee myself creating forms for my students to give me feed back on lessons and how they feel about certain topics such as group work.  I could also utilize forms to do movie critiques.  For example, when reading Pride and Prejudice, we could watch the movie as a supplement and then for a Google form to compare and contrast the two.  How were they similar and different, and why. There are so many different ways I could use Google Forms in my classroom, and I can definitely see myself using them in the future!

Here is a link to a Google Form I created:

Language Arts and Technology