Making my web portal and portfolio go beyond text

Wow! I am really amazed and impressed with all the tools and therefore the possibilities of incorporating video and audio into the portal. I really opens up a person's creativity and individualizes projects and presentations. I can see how the addition of either video, audio or both can help capture the real classroom, and can show what a teacher can really do in the classroom , which ultimately improves teaching. I could see how students would become a lot more engaged, stay focused and want to use the technology to "show what they know" and personalize their presentations. Technology using video and audio would also help the learner who better demonstrates their learning through performance than thru pencil-paper means to show that they've learned their material. It gives a lot more flexibility for assessment and evaluation. I could use the video and audio for sending parents a glimpse into our classroom and show what we've been learning and how we do certain activities. I could also create a presentation of classroom activities to show to the administration, in order to prove how valuable having the technology is to student achievement. I would love to be able to use Smartboard technology to "record" a lesson I present, for those students who could not be in the classroom, due to having to go to speech therapy or are absent and can't be involved in the learning themselves. Students would love to add music and sound effects to drama or puppet shows they present to an audience. There are lots of ideas, and I'm sure that when a teacher starts to use technology, students will come up with new and different ways as wll!

Technology and Communication

Technology offers so many possibilities for communication with students, parents, peers, other professionals, and the larger community. I would love to be able to create different documents like newsletters, send updates through e-mails, have a homework assignment page, and give parents information like grades, etc. Creating a weekly newsletter really helps parents to stay up to date with what is happening in the classroom, what their students will be doing in the coming week, and what things to reinforce at home as far as learning concepts and specific skills from classroom instruction. I know that a lot of parents by habit check online communication from their own jobs or personal relationships, so it just seems to be a natural fit for them. A weekly newsletter also gives parents a "heads up" on what items they need to acquire for their children for upcoming activities, such as show-n-tell, etc. Or maybe the family needs to know the schedule for the month to plan if they can participate in school events, like a family reading night, open house, and so on. I just think technology is a very powerful tool that can offer flexibility and information on short notice, so I hope to use it in a number of ways for school communication.

July 2 Blog

At this point in the class, I am currently working on my parent newsletter, editing the content and adding any clipart, a border, etc. to make it more visually interesting. I will probably be finished with it in the next day or so. The big project for me is to complete my web portal, which I am creating using TaskStream. I really like the professional look, moreso than a more informal look. I want to incorporate some photos of family and students from my kindergarten classes, so that is my next project. I have the text for most every page created, and I need to fit the pictures in with the text, and add some different fonts and color. I am bound to have questions about doing some of that, so I may be e-mailing or calling you (you have been warned :) ). I will also be preparing my last discussion board post on digital equity, so my big focus is the web portal. I appreciate all the help with questions - Thanks

Terri