My Technological Journey

At the beginning of the semester when we had to identify various Web 2.0 tools to determine how much we already knew about technology, I knew I had a lot to learn.    I had never heard of most of these tools and the one I had heard of I was not sure how to use them or of what use they could be in the classroom.  Throughout this semester, however, I have discovered several extremely helpful tools and products that will create technologically literate students and increase understanding while doing a lesson.  Now instead of a lecture I can show a digital story and do a flipchart.  Instead of a paper, I can have my students create a Timetoast about the project or edit a historical picture with Pixlr.  Instead of inspiring fear with a quiz, I can check for understanding using a Google Form.  All in all, the tools I interacted with in this class will be very beneficial no matter if I end up teaching middle school or high school. 

My iMovie

iMovie was the tool we used to create our digital stories this week.  Overall, iMovie was a relatively easy tool to use. Simply drag the images and music you want into iMovie and place those things in the order you want.  Next, unfortunately, adding captions was a bit of a hassle.  There were limited options for text placement and the font menu was sometimes difficult to access.  For the most part, however, iMovie is a good tool to create educational videos for your class.

The video is above is the movie I made for my digital story and is titled "The First Five Presidents of the United States".  The finished video came together well and would be very useful in the classroom.  It could be used as a review before a test as important events can be correlated with a president's administration.  Digits storytelling and iMovie can be used for almost any lesson and can add a new, exciting element to any classroom.