https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eKnoA4M-oR5Q-czpRONyhedmP6UZ54sN3CXwqDJuSIU/edit?usp=sharing

Assignment Template

Pinterest in the Classroom

Who knew Pinterest could be used for things other than re pinning your ideal life?  This past week I have looked to Pinterest for inspiration for a U.S. History project.  Pinterest is a great source because you can search for specifics like 'Reconstruction', 'Civil War', 'School Projects' and 'U.S. History' and once you do hundreds of projects similar to the one I did popped up from teachers all over the world.  Pinterest gives you a look into other teacher's classrooms, it keeps you up to date on fun lesson plans and projects to incorporate into your classroom.

My Project, Specifically

After racking Pinterest for ideas I turned to voki.com for the perfect project for students.  Voki presentations allows you to make a slide show with an avatar that reads off your text.  For my Reconstruction/Civil War project I created a Voki that required students to create an avatar based off of a freed person, plantation owner, a Confederate soldier, or a Union soldier.  This project was based on the AR framework: Era5.2.8.5  Evaluate the legacy of the Civil War on the nation.
I then used Voki to introduce that avatar, tell about their reaction to the end of the Civil War, what aspects of that person's life would change, and their plans during Reconstruction.

First, you click on 'Create Presentation' and start to think about what you would like to create.

Then you click on the avatar option and either create your own (pick face, clothes, ect.) or choose one already made.  

Then you add text to each new slide.

You keep adding text and slides (and backgrounds if you want) until you're satisfied.  Then you can either record your voice for the presentation or select the text-type option and hit the 'start' button to play back the entire presentation with the avatar reading off your text.

Once you're done you would then present it to the class.

Thanks, Pinterest!

Now you've got a fast, easy, fun project that won't use up an entire week to create!  So overall, without Pinterest I never would have found the idea of an avatar presentation that puts students in the shoes of whatever person's life story they are sharing with the class.  Pinterest gives you creative, new, exciting things to share with your students.

My Project

Web 2.0 Tools

Prezi is a power point tool that allows you to make your slides into a map.  The tool helps you navigate through the map and lets you put text, pictures, and videos onto the map.  You can zoom in on the map rather than flipping through boring slides.  I would use Prezi in all of my classes whenever I need to do a power point for notes.  Continuing down the map allows students to see past slides and future slides to be able to get a sense of where the lecture is going and how events and concepts are connected with a visual effect.

Ninehub allows you to create a website for your classes.  It allows you to make multiple tabs which make it easy to manage any online classwork you might have your kids do.  Ninehub also allows for easy communication between users.  With Ninehub, I could create a website for each of my classes, making it easier to manage them.  I could post articles, videos, and links for my students to read or watch and have a discussion on.

Bookr is a tool that allows you to make a fast, easy book.  You can create a title page, put yourself as the author, and create as many pages as you want.  By simply hitting the page-turner you can create new pages, add as many pictures as you want, and write pages describing images or telling a story.  I would use Bookr for multiple lesson plans, for example I could tell students to use it to write a short book about the life of an immigrant or someone that experienced the Great Depression.  I could even have students pair up to present the class with their own brief overviews of  lessons we do in class to make sure they understand the content.

Studiyo allows you to make as many quizzes as you want, fast.  You can make multiple choice questions, throw in pictures, and even share the quizzes.  Studiyo not only provides you with the means to send a quiz to your students via online without wasting paper and time printing said paper, but it also provides you with statistics from the graded quizzes.  I would use Studiyo to create quizzes to cover material in class, for example I could do one quiz every week after I complete a lesson.  Studiyo would even allow me to make tests that could be completed in class or in the computer lab.

Kubbu allows teachers to create quizzes, games, and crosswords.  With Kubbu you could create fun games/crosswords for your students to liven up the classroom.  You could also share all of your creations with the students via online and view results from the quizzes and games.  With Kubbu I could create a crossword for important figures in history or sociology for students to answer questions on.  I could even get creative and make a fun, specialized games for all of my different classes.

TimeMaps allows you to check out history maps, timelines, and stories of every civilization in the world.  This tool lets you click on an area on the globe and check out that civilization from the beginning to present day.  TimeMaps even allows receive in-depth information about who lived throughout the time periods and what important events occurred there.  I would use this tool when providing students with a visual aide for seeing how countries came to be in geography.  I could even use TimeMaps to show students how ancient civilizations came to be the current groups they are today in lessons.

ShowWorld is a tool that shows you all of the countries in the world shrink and grow in size when certain statistics are applied.  This tool provides you and your students with relevant data on the entire world at the push of a button.  ShowWorld provides data on "people, planet, business, politics, and living" to show students how certain countries are today.  I would use ShowWorld in my sociology and geography classes to show statistics in a visual aide form, which would be more interesting than me reading numbers off of a page.  This tool would also help me to show students accurate data on multiple subjects without having to leave the page.

SoftSchools is a tool that gives you numerous worksheets, games, and quizzes for social studies.  The tool gives you Geography, History, Biographies, Flags, Ancient Civilizations, and U,S, Government as a multitude of categories to choose from for your different classes.  This tool gives you the option of incorporating fun games into your lectures to get students interested in the lecture.  I would use SoftSchools in my classes to get quick feedback through games and quizzes that the whole class can work through to let me know if they understand the lessons.  I would also use SoftSchools for quizzes and worksheets to go along with the games so that I know students individually understand the information.

IfItWereMyHome is a tool that allows you to compare any two countries in the world.  By selecting two different countries, the tool tell you differences such as crime, unemployment, class division, and lifespan.  This tool can show students exactly what their lives would be like in different countries compared to the U.S.  I would use this tool in my geography classes to show students exactly how different it is to live in different countries discussed in lessons by showing them the direct differences experienced based on location.  This tool would also allow me to show students in my sociology classes the inequality of different countries and groups of people compared to others.

TheFlowofHistory allows you access to around 200 cross-referenced flowcharts and over 100 lectures to provide students with the visual aide needed to understand the causes and effects throughout lectures.  The tool uses flow charts to show students how and why certain events happened in history.  This tool fits entire lectures into flow charts that are easy for students to understand after listening to a lecture.  I would use this tool in any of my history classes because understanding cause and effect is the main point teachers try to show in their lectures.  This tool would allow me, for example, to show my students why wars were waged and other specifics that are involved in the Social Sciences.

About Me

              Hi!  My name is Brianna and I'm from Sheridan, Arkansas.  I have two sisters, divorced parents, and two amazing families.  Some of my "hobbies" include taking naps, going for drives, reading historical fiction novels, daydreaming about moving to other states, walking dogs and petting cats at the humane society, and (you guessed it) binge-watching Netflix!

              I am attending college at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas and I am majoring in Social Sciences of Education.  Why teaching?  Why social sciences?  Well, I can tell you in complete honesty, it's not for the money.  My dad actually groaned when, after changing my major for the fourth time, I told him I was going to be a teacher.  Obviously teaching was never my first choice, but after running out of majors that interested me I finally gave in to the one that had always been at the back of my mind.  I remember swearing on the day of my graduation that I would never take a step inside another high school, but here I am.  Looking back, my quest for knowledge was the only thing getting me out of bed at 7am every day in school, and I have my teachers to thank for that.  Now, in college, I realize that that thirst for learning doesn't die in high school; it is a part of me that I feel compelled to share with whatever future students I encounter in life.
               Ever since middle school I've been a history buff.  History is, to me, a never-ending story about how we've come to be.  And I learn something new every day here at Henderson in all of my social science elective classes.  All things that I cannot wait to pass on to future generations.
               But, throughout the years, a new trend has caught my attention: Netflix.  A lot of people love to critique my generation for having our heads in our phones 24/7, but Netflix is another beast entirely.  It is my stress relief at the end of the day, it gives us sometimes fictional characters to fall in love with, character development, it even gives us a look into the lives of people outside of our immediate lives, it gives us perspectives that most will never achieve through books, and it can even teach us things that we never would have learned about in school.  I like to thank my government teachers for helping me learn how this country runs, but I have to thank 'House of Cards' for giving me a whole new glimpse behind the curtain.
               Overall, this blog will contain my personal opinions about all of the shows I fly through during my Netflix binges, currently I am watching 'House of Cards' season 4 and hope to start posting all sorts of opinions on shows I bulldoze through once I get the hang of my new blog.  Hope you enjoy!