Reflection - Piece#7

For portfolio piece#7, I produced a Google site as a substitute of a wiki. There were quite a number of challenges faced in creating this site, all mainly revolving around the formatting of the pages. There was also difficulty in uploading the video where it was too large to upload directly from my system but I found an alternative way in uploading it to YouTube first then uploading it to my site. The Formatting issues were solved through basically doing much tampering and fiddling with various setting, doing trial and error until I got it right. This piece could have been improved if more information on a whole was added, making it more attractive. 

Use Of Wiki to Improve Classroom Instruction

Wikis or Google sites can be used to improve classroom instruction by allowing easy access to material used in class such as videos, power points, notes and diagrams/pictures at any given time. It provides students with the opportunity of being able to look back at the material covered in class just in case they did not grasp everything. It is also very useful for students who may have been absent from a class and also useful for students to refer back to when studying for test and exams since the information on the site will be a build up of everything done in class and with this info always being made available to them. 

Portfolio Piece#7

            Hey guys check out my site ---> https://sites.google.com/site/vallysworldofinfo/

Reflection - Piece#6

For portfolio piece No.6, I produced a short video. It was specifically created to be an introduction to my lesson on living organisms and cells where I included a lot of questions, hoping it would encourage students to want to discover what living organisms and cells were all about. This piece will also be used by students in aid of completing a homework assignment and therefore is also being utilized as a means of assessment. There were quite a few challenges faced in creating this video. Finding an appropriate audio was a bit difficult and adding transitions and effects to each picture was quite timely. There was also great difficulty in getting the video uploaded to the blog but all in all I got through after much fiddling and tampering. This video could have been improved if better effects were available in windows movie maker that would have allowed a more smooth flow between transitioning pictures.

Use of Videos to Improve Classroom Instruction

Videos can be used to improve classroom instruction by providing a captivating way of bringing across a message to students. Videos are not often used in the classroom and so bring using something that is different from the norm would definitely interest students and allow them to take heed of instruction better. Videos also cater to auditory and visual learners and so it increases the chances of better instruction catering to wider range of learners.

Portfolio Piece#6

LIVING ORGANISMS AND CELLS

BE ENCOURAGED:)

APA Citation Style

Here's a useful site I found in relation to the APA citation style http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/apa

USAGE OF MY BLOG

My blog will be utilized in the classroom to inform students of what went on in class and what will be happening in the upcoming class. This would benefit students who were absent from class or for whatever reason, was not able to focus as they should in class. Giving them an idea of what is to be taught in the following class would better prepare them to comprehend lessons to be taught. Homework assignments being posted in this blog would also cancel out all the “I didn't know we had to do this” excuses that students tend to give when they fail to do assignments. Videos, web links, additional notes or handouts that may be impossible to give students in class due to lack of sufficient resources and any other learning tool that can be given via blogging, will be used with the aim of students understanding instruction and lessons better.  Students today are very much into technology and implementing all of this into their learning process would make learning more appealing to them and cause them to realize that learning isn't limited to the classroom setting but can be done in their own personal time via the use of this blog and the internet as a whole. 

WELCOME!!:)

Hey Guys!, Welcome to my blog:) I'm looking forward to sharing my thoughts with you, as well as viewing yours. Challenges are bound to come our way so I hope that we will be able to help each other cope with them as we share ideas. In UNITY there is much STRENGTH so we have to keep each other up! SHALOM:)