Wrapping Things Up...

I am looking forward to putting the finishing touches on my Pecha Kucha.  I really liked using the student illustrations for the images of my presentation.  I think it will increase student interest and draw them in because of the bright colors, connection to the illustrator, and content of the picture.  If it ends up working the way that I would like will determine if I use VoiceThread for a future class project that I have in mind.  I like the idea of using VoiceThread because a link can be shared on our class blog for parents and other family members to view.  If VoiceThread doesn't work, I am not sure what presentation form I will use instead because I like the idea of sharing with parents, but it may not be possible with the other choices. 

Overall, I am glad that I got to do more work/projects that I can take back to my class and use.  It has gotten a little frustrating with all the activities that we have done so far in the program that have no connection to our classroom and have no potential use.  VoiceThread, Prezi, and the information from Presentation Zen have been some of the most useful new tools.

Wrapping It Up...

What I have taken away most from this class is how to look at my lessons.  I took a lot from looking at each of the learning strategies and finding new and easy ways to apply them, without having to reinvent the lesson.

When I evaluated the lesson that I modified for our final project, I found so many simple and quick ways to address the learning goals and student needs.  When I saw the reactions of my students when I taught the mini-unit to them and the pride that they seemed to feel as they took control of their learning made me so excited.

I look forward to looking at many other lessons and units in this same manor.  It isn't realistic to recreate and reinvent every bad lesson so that it can be great.  But we can adjust details of it.