Journal 6: Software Review

"Kidspiration Assignment"

I really liked the Kidspiration program. I think it is a fun tool to use in the classroom, and I believe that it would motivate kids to complete their assignments. It is also an excellent way to introduce kids to a new kind of technology. I found the program to be very user-friendly and fun to use. I enjoyed drawing with the paintbrush option and glancing over all the different types of ideas that Kidspiration could be used for in Reading and Writing, Social Studies, Science and Math.

I found it very easy to incorporate this technology in my classroom. My project is intended for fourth graders. During one of my observations for EDUC 350, I observed a fourth grade classroom. The teacher asked his students to write a page about what they did over their Thanksgiving Break. I thought this would be a great assignment for Kidspiration. “What did you do over Christmas Break?” Students are required to both write and draw or use a symbol of what they did over the holiday. Here is an example:



I believe that by adding this visual portion to the assignment, it will not only give students a chance to express themselves, but they are also able to practice grouping items or events together.

I found Atomic Learning to be a very useful and helpful tutorial. I started from the beginning and went through each tutorial on how to use Kidspiration. After watching the first 5 or 10, I went back to Kidspiration and began to play around with the program which was really fun. I am glad I watched the tutorial because I found out a lot of convenient stuff while navigating the program. For example, I liked how you could turn off the audio voice that repeated the name of each item when it was clicked on. I am working in the middle of the night, and don’t want to wake anyone up:) The audio option is helpful, however, when teaching English Learners, as was discussed in class.

I do enjoy self-tutorials because it gives me the chance to learn something at my own pace. For example, the last Friday and Saturday we had class, we had so much to go over. We were trying to learn everything in a matter of a few hours. With the self-tutorials, I am able to go slower, and actually comprehend what I am learning as I am doing it.

"iMovie Assignment"

Using iMove was a very fun experience for me. We were able to choose from several prerecorded clips, and then edit them together. I had never done any sort of editing before, so this whole process was new to me. I found iMovie to be very simple to navigate. Once I got the hang of it, I enjoyed adding the different transitions and special effects to the clips. One of my clips featured a waving blue CSUSM flag, and I was able to make it a mirror image, which gave the clip an interesting effect. Adding music to the final cut made the movie complete.

I am excited to create and edit our own movie in 422C. My classmates and I had fun taking crazy pictures of ourselves in class; I can only imagine the excitement when we are creating our own movie!! I think this is a great learning tool for students. Kids can learn technology and have a blast doing it. I might use this in an upper elementary classroom. Kids could make and edit a movie as part of a presentation assignment. For example, instead of performing a skit in class to demonstrate a concept, they could simply create a movie of their skit. This would allow the students to not only show that they understand the material, but it would give them a chance to show off their talents using a iMovie. Most of all, they would have fun doing it.