Mulitmedia Project

I asked my team which topic they have to most difficulty finding and coming up ideas for, and they all decided that Folktales, Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, Davy Crockett, John Henry and Annie Oakley. Folktales are at then end of the year, and we always struggle with finding something new for folktales. My idea for the Multimedia Project was to create a type of scavenger hunt with the folktales. It will take a couple days for the students to complete the scavenger hunt. I plan to use video and audio clues, as well as links to websites. Since this is going to be used for First Graders, I will design it with them in mind, to make the WebQuest more appealing to them. We have laptop carts that we can check out, and a great computer lab that we can use to access computers as a class. I'm designing this to be done in a whole group setting, since it is geared toward first graders, it's easier to manage the class when we're all doing the same thing in the computer lab or lap tops! Right now, it seems like a lot of work, but I know that once I start adding the pages it will start moving along... I hope!!

HTML Codes

I was so excited at Thursday's class. I had heard of HTML codes, and was frightened by them. Even when I had a Myspace account, and I "used" codes to change my background or add music to my page, I just copy and pasted. I had NO idea what I was doing and I didn't really pay attention. After Thursday, I realized how much fun it is to create webpages from codes! I even went home and played around with codes on my home computer. There are still a few things that I still can't figure out, but I'm not scared of the codes anymore. Actually, they make sense when you think about it. I am excited about learning more tags and doing a lot more when I create my portfolio. I've always used templates on my blogs, but now I can explore the codes more to really personalize them! :-) I really had a great time in class and I'm looking forward to all the great stuff I can find about HTML tags online!

Will this help me?

I do think that all of this design and development "stuff" will help me in as an educator and as a teacher leader. There are so many great tools out there, but if you want to personalize it, this is where the design and development stuff will help! I know that there have been many times with my team that we have had ideas to add things to our class blogs, but because we have no idea how to implement, we settled for not having it. I don't think we should have to settle. I know I've spent many hours looking up how to embed a Windows Media Video in my blog, so parents don't have to download a link, but I couldn't figure out the codes. Now, once I learn more, I will be able to help not only my team, but my school with their questions and needs when it comes to design and development. I also think that learning more about design will help me create more effective activities and lessons for my students. It will also allow me to teach my peers how to create more effective, and better designed activities for their students. I think that, although it will be hard work, in the long run this design and development stuff will help me become a better educator and teacher leader. It is giving me more skills to share with my peers and it is opening new doors for better opportunities to improve how I teach.