For my article review, I selected a piece about using iPods in instruction. As an aspiring social studies teacher, I liked the fact that the article was related to history instruction specifically. Social studies appears to be an excellent field for the incorporation of technology. For example, presentations can be made via podcast, as described in this article. This assignment was important to give us a sense of how what we are learning in this class can be applied in a practical setting and to show us that it is, in fact, being applied in schools presently.
In addition, I made a sign for my hypothetical classroom using Word. It is useful to know how to format text and use graphics in Word. There are uses for this application beyond traditional word processing, and this assignment made this fact clear.
Using Publisher, I made a classroom newsletter that can be sent home to parents. Publisher is pretty easy to use if one is familiar with Word. It is advantageous to use it for certain projects, such as newsletters, because it makes the layout much simpler than it would be in Word.
In a very different vein, I used Excel to make a gradebook. I very much enjoyed the idea behind this. Previously, I was a financial and marketing analyst and frequently used Excel, writing formulas and analyzing data. It is great to see part of my prior professional experience carry over into education. A gradebook that updates in real-time is a wonderful tool, and it was fun to make.
Furthermore, I created a directory of websites in Excel that lists exceptional websites for use in social studies instruction. Depending on the way my classroom is set up, I would like to use websites not only as an educational resource on my own, but also as a resource that I display directly to students. There are so many incredible things to do with the Internet that are appropriate for social studies.
I also did a mail merge using Word and the Excel gradebook to create addressed, personalized letters to send to parents or guardians of students having behavioral problems in my class. Before this class, I had had some exposure to mail merging through my prior employment. Things seemed to work more smoothly in class than they had at work, perhaps because we were using a newer version of Word. Mail merging is certainly a useful skill for a teacher who wishes to contact groups of parents in writing.
As a final project for the course, I created a multimedia presentation using PowerPoint. My presentation details ways that the Internet can be incorporated into social studies education. It is focused on high school instruction, but certain activities are also appropriate for elementary school. This project was particularly interesting because it served two purposes: exploring a technology topic, in terms of presentation content, and developing knowledge of PowerPoint. While I was familiar with PowerPoint from prior coursework and professional experience, I learned about custom animations and the rule of six in this course.
Class Assignments
flashcards
In class one day, we searched for interesting, interactive websites to use with our students. The site I found was "Building a Sod House," sponsored by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. On the site, students answer a series of nine questions about building a sod house and get feedback about their choices. The URL for the site is http://americanhistory.si.edu/ourstory/f/sodhouse.html.
