Google Maps

I was very surprised with how much Google Maps was capable of doing. It was a very easy program to understand and creating our own tour was quicker than I had imagined. I liked being able to choose my own tour, as opposed to doing something education related.  Choosing types of food I like was very easy to relate to, and made me very hungry!

It really is amazing how many subjects we can use math for! In history, you can use it for population immigration within a specific time period.  In math, you can find the distance between 2 cities. For health, one can map out a walk or run for mileage.  

Google map is a great tool that I am definitely showing my parents when I see them next.

One thing I thought was creepy about the program was that I could see my house from the street. It even had our car in the parking lot! This really sketched me out. I feel like if the program fell into the wrong hands, much bad could be done. 

iMovie Experience

When Denvy started explaining the project of iMovie, I immediately began to feel overwhelmed. How were we going to make and edit a 30 second movie in an hour and a half? However once we got filming the scenes, I began to relax a bit.

The actual scenes were really fun and I wish the video could be longer than 30 seconds because we were enjoying being goofy and including it in our video. We ended up cutting around 15 seconds of stuff just to make sure that the video was in the correct perameters of the class.

Unlike Photoshop, the editing of the project for iMovie was very simple. It was easy to get used to adding a title, inserting different transitions, and a scrolling cast list at the end.

The one thing that I really dislike about the program iMovie was the saving of the finished project was extremely complicated. I tried to save it the first time but the finished project vanished. I had no idea where it went. So, needless to say, I began to get stressed out again. I had to remake the project with all of the individual videos that we had filmed earlier that day, and even then I was not sure if it had actually saved. I wish that it wasn’t so complicated to go back and work on a created project.

Overall I really enjoyed Photoshop more than I had originally thought.

Photoshop

Photoshop is such a cool program, but has so many programs that can do so many things I was becoming overwhelmed. Once in the computer, I eventually got the hang of simple things, such as changing the sizes of objects, editing the darkness of the colors, and deleting any unnecessary details.

I also got to use a scanner for the first time, which was pretty cool and I was surprised how accurate the picture being scanned into the computer was. 

I don't know if I will ever use Photoshop again but I know that a scanner will become important in the future, whether it is in my own classroom or if it is at my home.

As far as my final project went, I don't think that it looks realistic. I wish I knew how to make the pink ball more solid in color and rid of the light coloring so that it is consistent with the whole picture. I’m sure there is a way to do it on Photoshop but because we are getting such a quick overview, it wasn’t included in our instruction.

Like the students said in the video that we watched today, it was cool to see the finished product. I finished something on my own!

Web 2.0

First I went to WhizKidGames, hoping that I could find some online games that my future students could play. Because I would like to teach middle school with a math focus, I am hoping that the game is somewhat sophisticated and also educational. However, as soon as I saw the main site, I knew that this would not work for my students. It is obvious that the intended audience is young children first exploring how to use the internet and gaming systems. I think this could be used in teaching for very low grades and as a time filler. I believe that there is no real educational value other than students who are being first introducted to technology and the internet. What worked well was the dinosaur once you have reached the main site, showing that the site is focused on younger students. What didn't work well was the misleading name of the site. I was hoping for some educational value and instead there was none. I don't think I would recommend this site to anyone.

The next site I tried was GameClassroom. Because it has "classroom" in the name, I was hoping that it would be more applicable to my classroom. Upon the main page I clicked on "math games" and then played the game Math Millionaire. While it was not up to the grade level that I had wanted, it still is a fun math game that reviews fractions, percentages, factors, and money. What was interesting to me, however, was the website was not mainly for the students but for teachers. There were worksheets, lessons and possible videos to show the class. This is a great website and I would definitely use it in my teaching, maybe by having the students play the math game if they need a review in the subjects or just to make the idea of math fun. I was honestly hoping for a site that was only for kids but I do understand how hard it is to have that when parents permission is required for child to search the internet. The intented grades for teachers appeared to be 1st through 6th. There is nothing that was poorly done with this website, I am quite a fan.

Lastly I went to a site titled Scribbls. It was the only site that a log in was necessary. I expected it to be just this site where you can draw anything and somehow send it to people electronically. However, it appeared to be quite a specific set of drawings. What you do is draw two things and then an outcome. Many are hilarious. I do not expect to use this in my classroom. It can be used for art projects, using creativity to add two things to make something unknown to the world. I think this could be used for many grades, depending on the creatitivity and humor levels of each individual child. I think this site is cool because it allows people online who share a love of drawing to share their combinations. However, I was suprised, and slightly dissapointed, to see that was all their was to the site.

Future?

Although I know that in this life we are not guaranteed one more day in this life, I still have a few things that I would love to do. Career-wise, I would love to be a middle school math teacher. With sharing my personal love for math, I hope to show others that math isn't always frustrating and that once you understand the concept, it is so exciting! In the few first years within graduating from Western Oregon University with my undergraduate degree in teaching, I hope to either get a job right away or to get my Masters and make my resume more full.
Almost every 6-year-old little girl reads fairy tales and loves the part of the story where the handsome prince sweeps the princess off their feet and they live a 'happily ever after'. As an almost 22-year-old young woman, I now know that my expectations were unrealistic. But, I am still excited to be a wife, to be someone's best friend, to share your inner thoughts without being judged, to feel so comfortable. With this special person that I find, I hope to have children. I don't know how many, maybe two or three, maybe more, maybe less. How ever many children God gives me, I will be more than happy to have. I hope to be a great mother, teaching my children how to live a life full of God's word!

I hope to live a life not based around having comfort of my own but of helping others. Those who have a roof over their head, running water for a shower, food and clothes are in 20% of the world! There is so much we can do if we help with things that aren't necessary. I am not saying to become a hippie, but to use what I need, with some rare luxuries, and to help others with the rest!

I would like to be involved in my church. Right now I am just attending and taking notes during the service, but I would love to be a volunteer secretary in the office or to help out in the childrens' ministry.

Other activities I would be fortunate in being a part of are...

• Vacationing in Greece
• Going to an underprivelaged country
• Teaching children on a military base
• Having a house with a porch swing and a large yard
• Living near my parents
• Skydiving
• Finishing a marathon