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NETA Conference Reflection
I attended the General Session on Thursday morning and the keynote speaker was David Pogue. It was very fun to sit through the speech because not only was it not boring but I learned some very interesting things about iMovie that I had never known before. For example I was never aware of how to keep one sound going throughout or for parts of a movie. I now know that going up to the Edit file and going to paste over playhead will keep whichever sound you have chosen to keep going through different clips that you add in. I was also not aware of quite exactly how to get what you take from a digital camera to the computer and by using the firewire. I am now aware of how to get that accomplished, as well as returning the made movie either back to a digital camera or to a VCR to play on a television. Going to the different vendor places was also very interesting to me as well as informative. I got a lot of different demo CDs to try out as well as I lot of information about the books and technology that is out there today. I was really impressed by the amount of people and different places that were there. Handing out information for different web sites for lesson plans, different technology that is out there today and even receiving some demo CDs to try out on my own computer for the future. Receiving books about all the different information that is out there today for the use of teachers as well as students that are hoping to be teachers in the near future. I also attended the Poster Sessions, which I thought were very informative and gave you many ideas for lesson plans. Also have you specific technology that you are able to use in the classroom and you didn’t just have to just focus on one you were able to move around and spend time on the ones you wanted. One of the lesson plans that really stuck out to me was the Million Dollar one. A math teacher gave each student hypothetically a million dollars working in-groups of two. Then the kids had to use that and live off of it. Buying food, clothes, the basic essential to live and whatever else. After finding the prices of everything the students had to then proceed to put all the information onto a spreadsheet. One group of students even decided to open, run, and operate a homeless shelter, which I thought was very thoughtful. The students even went out and found out the prices for masses of food, running & buying a building and everything that is pretty much required to do something like that. One specific technology that stuck out to me was a map making software for younger students. A child is able to draw streets, houses, stores, and it is fairly basic but would be very helpful to a student learning their directions and where different places are located. Another session that I attended was called, “You got your…in my…” by Janet King. This session was all about integrating technology into schools and different ideas on how to do that; here are some of the examples that were shown and have been used. When reading a book on the game by the name of the Oregon Trail, have the students keep their own journal as well as a spreadsheet of everything that they have bought and will need. In doing an activity like this, it enables the student to learn about history, keep track of money using a spreadsheet, and also having them enter day to day what happened making them realize what life would be like. Having two teachers work together on an assignment is also another way of integrating technology. For example when a science teacher assigns a student a project then the computer teacher will assign them to put it onto the computer in presentation form using PowerPoint or Inspiration. That way the student gets book knowledge as well as technology knowledge for two separate grades. One thing to remember though is having the kids cite their sources no matter what age they may be. Also when teacher work together they need to be sure that their rubrics for grading purposes match. Remember to always laugh, be honest, and give people time with technology. Going to the prize give away at the end of the two days was even great even though I didn’t win anything. The attitudes of everyone in the room was wonderful and meeting new people was great. It was a wonderful experience for me and I am hoping to go to the NECC if I have time this year. I probably won’t but I can sure hope! |
