Projects Using Pinterest

Educators are always looking for new ideas to use in the classroom and Pinterest is definitely the place to go! Pinterest allows its users to pin websites that they are interested in and store them on customized boards that they make. Teachers can use Pinterest to get inspiration for decorating their classroom, organizing ideas, getting fun ideas for projects, and finding ways to organize the classroom! They can also use Pinterest to search for a variety of different lessons and activities students can do! It's so easy and convenient to share pins and collaborate with other teachers about new ideas! Students can also search for project ideas and ways to get creative with their assignments. This social network is definitely something I plan on using in my teaching career.

I created an advertisement activity, The Hunger Games, using Pinterest.  For those of you who think Advertising class is boring, think again! My goal of this project is for students to have fun and use their imaginations to create an effective advertisement with all the necessary components we have discussed in class. Students have to market a target audience, have celebrity endorsers, and come up with their own slogan. To start this project, I required student to use Microsoft Publisher.

From there, students were free to create whatever kind of advertisement they pleased. In my opinion it is just easier to use the pre-made advertisement template and make it your own. 

I asked students to pick any gift that the tributes in The Hunger Games received and make an advertisement for it. In this part students had the freedom to get creative and use their imaginations. I will be grading heavy on creativity! All necessary components of an effective advertisement must be displayed!

Final Result

Web 2.0 Tools

Web 2.0

Ever tried Web 2.0? I guarantee that you have and didn't even realize it! Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Google are all examples of Web 2.0 sites. Web 2.0 is the term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web that is focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online. In this assignment, I will be discribing some Web 2.0 tools how I plan to use them in my classroom!

PreZentit

PreZentit is a tool that allows students to create presentations very easily. It is accessible wherever you are and is ideal for group presentations. Each presentation has its own web address and can be accessed without an Internet connection. Since each presentation is a web page, students can edit them manually and all at the same time. When I become a teacher, I can assign PreZentit to my students to complete group presentations. Since all students don't have access to Microsoft Powerpoint, I believe that this tool would be very beneficial alternative for students to get group work completed. 

ChartGo

ChartGo is a tool  that creates bar graphs, line graphs, and pie charts. It offers easy settings to paste your data in and create the chart of your liking. If you need more specific settings, there's options to change what you need and even edit existing graphs from the examples. I think this tool would be beneficial to my classes since I will be business technology teacher. I might assign my students to collect data and chart their findings and this tool would be perfect for that assignment. It seems very easy to use so no matter what grade I teach, everyone would be able to use it. 

Webnote

Webnote is a tool for taking notes on your computer. Students can create workspaces and from there make notes of whatever they are studying. Workspaces can be saved and shared with fellow classmates by just sharing the url or workspace name. I believe that I can use this tool in my teaching to help students follow along with lessons and collaborate with peers. This tool is very easy to access and students wouldn't have to be very technology savvy to work it. (Even though they better learn to be in my classes!)

Editgrid

Editgrid is an online spreadsheet service (sort of like Excel). It offers a majority of Excel's features and can be accessed on any computer. "Whether you simply want to make a spreadsheet available to co-workers or you want to incorporate a "live" chart or table into a Web page or blog post, EditGrid will eagerly oblige" Editgrid is very appropriate for collaborating and sharing spreadsheets. I think this tool would be something that would be used very often in my classroom! I want to teach my students Excel but also incorporate other tools that can be used instead. Not everyone has Excel on their home computers so this tool would be very useful for students to use for homework.

eQuizzer

eQuizzer is a tool for teachers that helps them create quizzes and tests for their students to take online. Teachers can monitor students' scores by just logging into their account. Fill in the blank, matching, true or false, and multiple choizes quizzes can be created by using this tool. This would be very beneficial for me to use as a teacher. I could easily create a quiz or test according to my lessons and assign it to my students without having to print something out. Students would be able to just log in and have access to it.

JeopardyLabs

JeopardyLabs creates templates that can be used for any subject. It is free and is convenient since you don't have to make a PowerPoint like it has been done in the past. Students can access JeopardyLabs online without any hassle. I think this would be a fun tool to use as a teacher to have students practice what we learn in lessons. This tool is sort of like a game and students will be able to quiz themselves on what they know but in a fun way.


Quizlet
Quizlet is a tool that allows students to study almost anything. It gives you access to create your own flashcards and share them online with others. Anything that can be made into a flashcard, Quizlet has the capacity to do it. As a student, I have used this tool numerous times. I feel that it will come in very handy to be familiar with when I become a teacher because it gives students access to an easy way to study. I would recommend this studying tool before administering tests to make sure they are very prepared. 


TeacherTube
TeacherTube is a video sharing website similar to YouTube. It is specifically made for teachers to share educational resources such as video, audio, documents, photos, groups and blogs. It features videos that are safe and appropriate to use in the classroom. I believe that as a teacher I will be using this tool a lot. It is very hard to find educational videos that are appropriate to view and this tool makes it easy. I can easily search videos and be confident that it will be suitable for my students.

Easybib

Easybib is tool that creates situations for whatever you are needing. There are settings that can create MLA or APA citations with just a click of a button. All you have to do is fill out basic information and Easybib will quickly generate a bibliography for you. I have used this tool throughout my schooling and I will continue using it as a teacher. When I give my students assignments, I will make sure to require a list of citations. This tool can be easily accessed online and be very helpful to students and ensure that citation is done correctly. I would be confident recommending this tool to my students. 

PurposeGames
PurposeGames is tool that has educational quizzes and trivia games and allows you to create your own. Teachers can create games according to the lessons they are teaching. Students can play games and even compete against fellow classmates. I believe that this tool will be beneficial to my classrooms since I will be teaching classes that use computers all day. My students need to have access to educational games that they can play when they have "down time" between lessons. I can use this tool to create certain quizzes and games that will incorporate parts of my lessons.

Social Networking

For our Education Technology class, we were asked to look up two different articles about social networking and give our review and opinions on them. Well you know how long it took me to type that sentence? About 5 minutes because I was getting distracted with Instagram and Twitter notifications all while my phone is buzzing with text messages. Now if that doesn't explain what social media does to a student, then I don't know what else will. This article in particular talks about how social networking is actually good for students because most kids that are actively involved in their social networking sites are the ones that are outgoing, face to face interacting kids. Well I don't know where they are getting all their information because as a young adult myself, I know first hand that students who spend all their time on social networks, rarely have many other things that they are participating. But the article does bring an insight to how social networks are positive and I do appreciate that since I'm not necessarily anti-twitter, anti-instagram, or anti-facebook. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/oct/05/teens-social-networking-good-for-them


This article is the exact opposite of the article I previously talked about. The author in this one believe that social networking is making users dumb. Well I wouldn't take it that far but it does discuss that studies have been proven to show that social network users do have a harder time thinking for themselves vs. someone who rarely gets "online". I believe this is 80% percent true. And I only say 80% because there's always those few exceptions. I just think that on social media, people are always looking to be accepted by others. Their main goal is to get more "friends, to gain more "followers", to have more "likes". I feel like the whole concept behind social media is to seek others approval and this in itself limits users to think for themselves and be who they are. But hey, that's just my opinion. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2551578/Is-Twitter-making-STUPID-Social-networking-sites-making-hard-people-think-themselves.html

The Life of Krystal!

Well hello there blog fam! My name is Krystal! I'm new to this whole blogging business so bare with me. First, let me start out by saying that I'm a sophomore here at Henderson State University. GO REDDIES! I'm a Business and Technology Education major and couldn't be happier! I've lived basically all over Arkansas... Well at least in 4 places. My hometown of Umpire (population 600), Bentonville, Fayetteville, and now Arkadelphia. Why so many places you ask? Well that's a whole other story. I'll stick to the basics today! If you've made it this far in my blog, I'm sure you can guess what activity I'm involved in on campus due to the title of this entire thing... A sorority. Now before you go thinking of the stereotypical sorority girl stuff, let me start off by saying I am NONE of those things. I don't like monograms, I don't own a pair of chacos, and dressing in oversized shirts are only appropriate for bedtime. Now that we got that out of the way, let me tell you what I AM like. I love love love my family! They are my rock, my support system, and really overall my best friends. I am happily taken by the boy of my dreams, gushy I know :) And I have the best friends I could ever ask for. I work at a tanning salon which is pretty much my dream job for while I'm in college. Everything is a little hard to manage since I'm enrolled in 18 hours of school but somehow, someway I'm managing.. With a few struggles here and there. BUT the whole reason I'm here is to get an education and be successful one day so hopefully I'm making my way toward that goal. I hope to teach high school for a few years, get my certification to become a principal, and see where it goes from there. I bet you didn't see that coming huh? Sorority girl turned principal? Just wait and see :)