Tools Review Tagul Word Cloud Week 4

The tool that I decided to play around with and research on is Tagul Word Cloud.  Tagul is a web service that enables you to create beautiful word clouds that you can place on your webpage or share with friends.  It looks really nice because of the fancy features like words inside of words, pretty fonts, many different cloud shapes and customizable colors.  Tagul Word Cloud is free to use except some features that can be accessible in premium subscription.  You also have the option to print what you have created.  I would use this in my classroom by first showing my students of my example on a topic in english, science or social studies.  You could have your students research a famous person or a certain topic and have them pick words/ information that describes that topic.  The students then can share with the class and even print out their Tagul Word Cloud as a visual.  Another thing you could do in the classroom is to use this as a gift for mothers day or fathers day.  The students could print the word cloud out and then frame it in a 4x6 frame. On the website it gives you step by step instructions to print so that it will fit in the frame.  I think this is a great site for students to get engaged, have a visual and to do something different and fun in the classroom. The students should be able to create this on thier own.  They may have trouble using the site and figuring our how it works but if the teacher shows them how to use it and the kids play around with it they will be fine.   It does help that everything is pretty much labeled and easy to find.  There are also FAQ on the website that is very helpful that the students and the teacher could use.  I really enjoyed making one about my husband Damien for fun!  I would love to make this a gift someday to print and frame for family and friends.  Check mine out!
https://tagul.com/show/avks7eyo6mer/Damien

Tools Review Prezi Week 3

For this weeks tool review I chose to use Prezi.  Prezi is a presenation software that goes above and beyond.  People can share knowlege, tell stories and inspire thier audiences.  It gives you a limitless zoomable canvas and the ability to show realtionships between the big picture and small details.  The depth and context will make your messages more motivational and remembered.  Prezi helps you organize your thoughts and deliver them in a clearer way to catch your audience attention.  With Prezi you can create one online or offline and you are able to share it with your friends.  You can even present your Prezi from your own mobile device.  There are over 50 million users that has created over 160 million Prezis.  Not only can you make your own Prezi but you can search for Prezis that other users have shared and if you like what you see you can make a copy of it to keep!  For example, I typed in "vowel sounds" and the Prezi site brought up a ton of Prezis that has to do with phoincs.  This could be a great way to use in the classroom for presenting something on a certain topic or just a review topic such as "vowel sounds".  It keeps the interested and engaged!  It is also great that you can search for other Prezis to present topics as well.  I would use this in my classroom to change the learning up a little instead of having boring slide by slide, it is more engaging, fun, interesting and will keep the students attention on the topic.  Another way you can use it in the classroom is by letting the students make thier own Prezi on a certain topic and then have them present it to the classroom.  What makes it easy to use is there are a handfull of templetes students can choose from and all they have to do is type the information in the text boxes.  They then can play around with font, color and adding photos which is very similar to google slides or powerpoint.  Thier are also help videos, tips and support if the student would need extra help.  It will be challenging for students to get the hang of it first due to all of the zooming and out and trying to put text boxes in the right place but the best thing is there is a perview button before you would decide to share your work.  Below is a link to the short Prezi that I made about myself.  Check it out!

http://prezi.com/br1si5znk5xz/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Week 3 PLN on VoiceThread

I loved playing around with Voicethread!  I have always heard about it but have never tried it out myslef until today.  Voicethread are online slide shows of images, doucments, or videos.  Viewers can make comments on any slide by text, audio/ video or drawing on the images itself.  This could be a great to use in the classroom by having students safely publish thier work to a global audince.  You could have your students do research on a specific topic and have them create a voicethread on it to present to the classroom!  This is also great for students who can not hear or speak because of the comment section people are able to type in comments and read the comments and visually see the pictures. This is one of the best ways to enhance student learning, improve student achievement and improve student engagement. Students can demonstrate their knowledge of content, develop higher level thinking skills, improve their digital literacy skills and harness the power of visual literacy in digital storytelling projects.  Below is the link to my voicethread that I made. Check it out!

https://voicethread.com/new/share/6893839/

Week 2 on PLN

PLN stands for personal learning network.  PLN to me and other resources is aboutt making connections and personal relationship with other teachers, schools, adminstrators around the world.  Having a PLN is sharing different ideas, resoucres and learning new ideas.  We can share these ideas in many different media tools.  It takes time to buld these connections but is a globel network. PLNs can include tons of different communities such as facebook, blogs, twitter, wikis and linkedin and most of the learning takes place online.
https://onceateacher.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/pln-your-personal-learning-network-made-easy/

 /http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/creating-a-pln/

Ther are ten tips that I found online on how to learn to network.
1. Connect
2. Contribute
3. Converse
4. Request
5. Blog
6. Tweet
7. Join Classroom 2.0
8. Use Google+
9. Be Patient
10. Be Authentic
http://gettingsmart.com/2012/01/personal-learning-networks-for-educators-10-tip

I think PLN's are important because it gives you different ideas and gets you connected with other educators.  You may find different ideas that you have never heard of or you may have ideas that you could share with other educators as well.  I think it can be used in the classroom in many different ways but one great way that was mentioned in the article Please Tweet You was getting to talk to authors about books they have written.  In the article the students loved chating with the author of a book they read in the classroom they were able to ask her questions they had and she was able to give the students answers.  I would love to use this in my future classroom.  I would mainly use it after my students have read a book or a certain topic and contact the author for question and answer chat.  I really hope to learn more ideas to be able to use in my classroom.

Tools Review Piktochart Week 2

The tool I have chosen is Piktochart.  Piktochat is an online tool for creating infrographics.  Combining charts, graphs, text, and graphics, users can easily assembele and present information using the drag-and-drop interface.  It is generally is geared towared adults in the work place creating business presentation, Piktochart clearly lends itslef to student use.  Students can choose a templete or theme, and then fill it with thier own information.  Students can learn concepts of grouping, graphing and visually representing pieces of information.  They can easily integrate them into inclass reports or projects and be able to share with thier peers.  Piktochart templates are set up to work well with all kinds of data and once the students get the hang of it they will be excited to do thier own research and making it look slick and professional.

In my classroom I would have my students create thier own info graphics maybe during science or social studies.  My students could teach thier classmates the judicial branh structure or create a WWII timeline.  Even in our language arts class they could make a Piktochart to diagram a book's plot or character sketches.  As an educator I could use this in my own lesson plans and inclass presentations depending on what the topic is for that subject.  It can really distill information into understandable chunks, and kids should respond well to its sleek design.

Again students can easily use Piktochart because they can choose a templete or theme, and then fill it with thier own information.  It is very easy to naviagte and has a ton of different options the student can choose from.  It is also very helpful that there is a step by step tutorial on how to make this infographic that the students can watch.  I think it would be challegning for students in the grades 2nd and below because it is very detailed.  It can also be frustrating when you can get soemthing where you want it.  I think this is really best for 3rd, 4th grade and up.
I hope you all enjoy!
Here are some screenshots of one that I created with a partner last semester:
https://magic.piktochart.com/output/5772308-untitled-infographic#

Here is a youtube video on how to make an inforgraphic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzI9RzvnwZA#action=share

A Teenagers View on Social Media

Hello everyone, my name is Ashley Phillippi.  I am 25 years old and live in Wadsworth.  I have lived in Ohio all of my life and grew up in Green.  I am married to an amazing husband and my best friend.  We are expecting our first baby girl in July and we are super excited!  I have my Bachelor Degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Akron.  I currently am a Title One Teacher for Akron public schools and I just love it!  I love to spend time with my family, friends and reading a good book!

I currently use Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Pinterest.  I used to use twitter but I didn't really care for it so I will only really be going on thier for our class.  I use Facebook and Snapchat quit a bit and sometimes a little to much!  Instagram I times post but I mostly just see what everyone else is up to.  Pinterest is a hit or miss with me sometimes I can be on there for hours and somedays it doesn't interest me at all.

All though I do enjoy all the social media I currently use, I do agree with the authors perspective of social media.  I thought this article was funny and the information was so true.  One of the many things that stood out to me was when he talked about Facebook and how in middle school/ high school everyone else has a Facebook so that is why you do to.  This is so true I got facebook when I was a junior in High School and honestly I think I just got one because everyone else did.  Today people do think it is weird if you don't have one just because it seems like everyone has one and is always on it.

I try to watch how I use my social media because I want to represent myself as a professional.  I know that whatever I post could come back to me in the future.  My Instagram and Facebook is set to private and I have to apporve anything before tagged, ect.

My inital thought on social media in the classroom is postive however I do get nervous as far as it being private and the safety of my students.  I want my students to be knowledgeable about technology but in a safe manor.  I would need to really make sure what we were using was private so no one from outside of the classroom could view it.  Also the students need to handle it well to because I would not want this to turn into bullying in school or at home.

I look forward to blogging more and working with everyone this semester!  This is my first blog so I hope this went well!