Ignite Format Presentation

What a fun afternoon...I think I got it though. Thanks for viewing my embedded presentation on short and long vowels presented in ignite format.

Embedded Presentation

Standards Covered:

2 - A, B, & C
3 - A

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Short Vowel Sounds Power Point

View more presentations from jslonaker12.

Power Point Presentation

For my PowerPoint presentation, I presented a lesson on the short vowel sounds. This is a PowerPoint that I can utilize with my elementary special needs students. This assignment helped me to become motivated to be more proficient with PowerPoint as I haven't used the program in awhile and would like to sharpen my skills. It's a great tool for presenting lessons to my particular group of students.

My Short Vowel Sounds PowerPoint Presentation

Thanks for looking!

Standards Covered:

2 - A, B, and C
3 - A

Social Networking Site for Educators

I just came across a social networking site dedicated for educators. Check it out!

I just registered, so I'll give it a try here soon.

Frustrated with.....

My effort on our Image Quiz!!! A 60%? I was expecting an easy 100%, but it's all good. I think the question about how many graphs confused me, I wasn't sure whether to consider both venn diagrams on Crappy Graphs as one or not. Nonetheless, I think I'll do just fine in this course.

Secondly, I'm beginning to understand how boring and frustrating being unemployed must be. I want to be back in school working with my students! But we are closed again tomorrow, and the rumor is the kids won't likely be there Wednesday, but teachers will have to report in order to make up Monday's Staff Development hours. I was able to get into my building this morning, and was able to get tons of things done before the custodial staff ran me off.

And a left field topic, the NBA All-Star Weekend was an absolute joke. Saturday's events were very boring, and the game really doesn't attract my attention like it used to, and cannot compete to the MLB All-Star game. And last but not least, my favorite basketball team, Washington Wizards, traded my favorite player to Dallas for pretty much next to nothing. I feel the organization does not care about it's fans who spend hard earned money to support that team!

I feel much better....:)

New Web 2.0 Article

I just finished reading the chapter on Flickr this morning. It's a very interesting site. I plan on uploading all my photos to it today, and do some exploring. But as I was searching the web, I came across an article related to Flickr's co-founder who is launching a new web-based game, Glitch.

Flickr co-founder rolling out new on-line game

Thanks!

Wordle

I completed a Wordle for both my Delicious tags and some random words that came to mind. This is my first attempt with HTML, but should be as simple as copying and pasting. Let's cross our fingers...And it worked perfectly. Pretty cool tool. Thanks for checking out my post!

My Delicious Wordle:

My Personal Wordle:

Standard Covered:

3C - I felt as though this activity was a great way to communicate information and ideas effectively. Plus, I'm sure my students would think it was pretty cool to use Wordle for an activity with spelling/sight/vocab words.

Awesome Web 2.0 Program

While searching here to find a program to convert my media, I found an awesome new program called KeyLemon, which is a program that uses facial recognition software rather than having to remember or actually store your passwords on your computer. To utilize this software, you obviously have to have a webcam compatible computer. The free trial version is available to test out though before making the decision to purchase the software. Check it out if you get a chance.

Picasso Self-Image

While I'm waiting for my .swf file to convert to a .wmv, I decided I would go ahead and post my self-portrait. I feel this self-portrait is a good representation of myself as I consider myself a little silly, yet serious when I need to be. And I also included as much color as possible as I feel I'm a bright, vibrant person. This was a very fun, creative activity. Thanks for checking out my blog post.

Link to portrait: http://www.mrpicassohead.com/search.html?skin=original&query=Justin+Slonaker&x=19&y=5

Link to program utilized to create portrait: http://www.mrpicassohead.com/create.html

Standard Covered:

3A - I believe this activity was a way to demonstrate fluency in technology.

I'm not sure how I could use an activity like this within a special needs classroom in regards to my students' content standards, but it would definitely be a fun activity that I'm sure they would enjoy!

Jing Screencast

What a cool activity! I am actually having fun with this. It's much better than being out in the cold shoveling, though that's next on my to-do list. I provided a link to my screencast of myself snipping several images from the internet, and inserting them into a blog post. I saved the screencast to both my Google Doc's page, and also to screencast.com. I have provided links to both just incase. Thanks for checking out my blog spot. And I decided not to delete my initial post, as I feel it shows my process and that learning is definitely going on over here! :)

Link to simply view: http://www.screencast.com/users/jslonaker12

Link to download & view: http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0Bym0ogu-aFsUNzljYzBhYTUtZDlmNC00NGJhLWEzZGYtNWVhYmY0NzdlNjU0&hl=en

Tools of the trade:

Images snipped from: http://www.fcrr.org/curriculum/PDF/G2-3/2-3PA_1.pdf

Jing: http://www.jingproject.com/

Host of screencast: http://www.screencast.com/


Standards Covered:

3 - A

This was an activity that undoubtedly displayed my fluency in technology systems, and the ability to transfer current knowledge to new technologies. A great way to share technology with your friends, family, and co-workers.

Second go-round!

Here we go again. This is my Jing video footage of myself snipping an image from the internet, and inserting it into my blog post. So this will make three blog posts for one assignment :) Nonetheless, thanks for checking out my blog post.

Standards Covered:

2. A-D

Making video of myself posting snipped image into blog.

Sorry for the long title. I am currently "filming" my video of myself snipping several images and inserting them into a blog post. Just one of the many cool Web 2.0 features that I've learned through this course. Thanks for checking out my post!

Jing Image

Here is my image that I created with Jing. Very cool program! Another great tool that I've learned that I can utilize with my new Smart Board. I chose an activity that would be fitting for my special education elementary students. Having my students pay attention to detail and show some critical thinking skills is a great skill set that will help them succeed. Thanks for checking out my Jing!

No laptop :)

I hope everyone survived the blizzard. I haven't been out of my townhouse except to shovel our cars out since Thursday evening. And with this next storm coming tomorrow night, I'm not sure when I will get out. Nonethless, the little thing that connects my AC adapter to my laptop broke and fell into my laptop on Friday morning, so I'm without my laptop until I can get it fixed ($150 for a $3 part & labor!!!). Thankfully my lovely fiance has a laptop that I can utilize for this course and lesson plans for whenever we get back to school. Just a personal blog post, will be putting up my Piacasso image here soon (whenever I receive it in my inbox, had to do a second one since my first was stored on my laptop) and will see what this Jing is all about. Best wishes!

NAEP Data Mathematics Chart (WV Vs. National Average)

Hey guys! I found this assignment to be interesting to complete, but very unfortunate to see as a WV educator. When we reviewed our WESTEST data at the beginning of this year for our particular school, our prinicpal brought up our huge Math deficit we are showing in regards to our schools in our county, state, and nation. I've tried to differentiate my instruction as much as possible in all my subjects, but especially in Math. If you think students are having a problem with Math, imagine how low special education students are performing on the same standardized tests, where they are held as accountable as gen. ed. students (so unfair!!!). I've included links to both of my charts/summary on my Google Docs page, where data was gathered from, and my graphing tool utilized. Thanks for checking my blog!

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ASm0ogu-aFsUZGd3NXNxOXNfOHhjZmN2cmY5&hl=en (8th Grade Chart/Summary)

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ASm0ogu-aFsUZGd3NXNxOXNfMTBjNHpyZjJmYw&hl=en (4th Grade Chart/Summary)

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states/ (NAEP Data)

http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/graphing/classic/ (Graphing Tool)

Line Diagram

Yo! What a day at school, the kiddos were very excited to learn school was cancelled for tomorrow. I've found it's a double edged sword for me. Do I enjoy a paid Friday off to spend with my family? Yes, but I miss my students, and often find myself being concerned with their safety and health when not at school which makes it hard to truly enjoy your time off. Nonetheless, should give me some time to keep up on course work. But I have embedded my line graph, and also provided a hyperlink. Thanks for checking my blog!

http://crappygraphs.com/user_graphs/?id=5320

Delicious tags!

I finally understand how these tags w/ Delicious work! And wow! Very cool Web 2.0 feature!

Added some new gadgets!

Taking a break from writing lesson plans, and added some new gadgets to my blog. Some pretty cool features are available, and very easy to add.

Read first chapter of Web 2.0 for Schools

I was able to catch up on some things today with the snow day here in Berkeley County. One of the things I was able to scratch off my to-do list was to read the first chapter of Web 2.0 for Schools. Very interesting, yet easy read. Looking forward to reading more, and grasping this Web 2.0 movement!

"Look at my drawing Mom!"

Sorry for the cheesy title, but I would always say this when I came home from school on days we had Art class. I put together a collage of our tools by snipping the images, and then posting them into Paint. I used several paint tools such as fill with color, paste from, text, etc. My file is a .jpeg file that opens with Windows Photo Gallery, and is 74KB in size. Also, from yesterday's activities, I believe I forgot to mention five tools that we may seem in an image program such as Paint. Without taking the easy route and looking at Paint, I would say copy, paste, cut, edit, undo, crop image, etc. Along with adding the actual image to this blog post, I added a link to my GoogleDocs as well. Another cool activity! Thanks for looking.

http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0Bym0ogu-aFsUY2RjOGY4NGItNWY0YS00MDI1LTg4MjgtODJkYjFmY2Y5ZDI2&hl=en

Created Graphic

I have posted an activity that I could utilize teaching a lesson on opposites with my elementary special needs students. I considered using any of the Microsoft Office programs, but as several of my fellow classmates mentioned, I felt most comfortable using Microsoft Word. Rather than saving as a .doc file, I chose to go out of my "box" and publish as a PDF file. The PDF file is 120 KB. This file would be a great tool to use with a Smart Board. I love utilizing graphics found on-line and in programs to incorporate into my lessons and assessments. Most students, especially elementary aged special needs students respond well to graphics and the inclusion colors more than the standard black type on white paper. The graphic file utilized in my document is SmartArt graphic found within Microsoft Office products (or at least Microsoft Word). This was the first team I've used this tool, so I'm very excited to have learned a tool to utilize. I felt this assignment was very purposeful as not only did I create a graphic that I can and will utilize with my students, but also discovered a new tool. http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0Bym0ogu-aFsUNDdjMTM5MWUtMTViYi00NTA3LWEwMzYtNWQ1ODZkMjAyNzJk&hl=en


Standards Covered:

2. A-D
3. A-D

Image of Snipping Tool

Here is an image that I snipped of my delicious webpage. This is a tool that I definitely feel I can use within my profession. Looking forward to learning more about the benefits of snipping. Thanks for looking!

Standards Covered:

2. A-D