iMovie

Making movies is not really my thing.  In my family, my brother has always been the one to make movies. I cannot tell you how many times we have got some friends together and just gone out and shot a movie.  Then my little brother would edit it and make it look really good.  However, I was basically movie making illiterate.  Doing this movie project actually turned out to be a lot of fun.  I know that the movie I made is not exactly Hollywood material, but I enjoyed putting it together.  I also really liked being given the opportunity to try to figure it out for ourselves, I learned a lot that way.

Digital Story Movie!

This took me awhile but I'm happy with the way it turned out! It was not as difficult as I thought it would be.

Recent Stuff...

Recently in this class we have used some pretty cool technology tools.  We have done Inspiration and have pretty much finished up all the Web 2.0 tools.  For the first time I feel a little overwhelmed by all of them.  It is difficult to keep track of all of them!  I am starting to wonder if I will be able to remember all of these different tools by the time I actually start teaching.  There are just so many of them, I feel like I have already forgotten how to do certain things.  However, certain tools I feel like I can use at anytime I need.  Maybe that is the point though, we remember and use the tools that fit us best, and have the ability to use the other ones if need be.

Inspiration Activity

I really enjoyed the Inspiration activity.  Inspiration is definitely something that I would like to use in my classroom.  There are so many things in English that interconnect (such as Shakespeare's plays for example) and it would be very beneficial to see everything in one place at one time.  I was amazed at how simple Inspiration was to use.  I am a notorious slow worker (I take my time!) but Inspiration was very user friendly even for a person like me who likes to try everything out before I settle on it.  I really liked that rapid fire that would let me just list everything I wanted to be included.  Overall, Inspiration is a very useful tool and one that I will hopefully get to use in my classroom!

Animoto

I just thought Animoto was a pretty cool tool.  I will definitely use this when I teach.  Here is what I made in class.



Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Mark, Sam and Nat's MLB picks for 2011 (a blog for my brother)

Alright ladies and gentlemen, it is that time of year again. The weather is getting warmer, the leaves are growing back, the grass is getting greener...you get the point, but most importantly it is baseball season once again! This year my brother (Sam) my roommate (Mark) and I (Nat) have decided to all do preseason predictions in our blogs. Click Sam Scott for Sam's blog, and click Mark Shrum for Mark's blog.  So without further ado, lets get to my picks!

American League Playoff Picks
Division Winners-Yankees (Best Record), White Sox, Angels
Wild Card-Red Sox
Playoffs Divisional Round
Yankees over the White Sox in 4
Red Sox over the Angels in 5
Championship Series
Yankees over Red Sox in 6

National League Predictions

Division Winners-Braves, Cardinals, Doders (Best Record)

Wild Card-Phillies

National League Division Series

Phillies over Dodgers in 5

Cardinals over Braves in 5

National League Championship Series

Phillies over Dodgers in 5

World Series-Yankees over Phillies in 6

American League East
1.  New York Yankees
    I know everyone is picking the Red Sox, but lets just call the Yankees a hunch.  The back end of the rotation will be the key, if they can get .500 ball from the fourth and fifth starters they will be tough to beat.  A-Rod will have a rebound of a year and hit 40 homers, plus throw in Tex and Robinson Cano and you have got quite the offense.  Oh, don't forget Jeter.
2.  Boston Red Sox
    I'll give the Red Sox the wild card, a good team, but not as great as everyone thinks they will be.  I like the addition of Crawford, but he is not going to be enough to push them over the top.  The rotation is solid, the closer is really good, the offense is solid, it equals out to a wild card team.
3.  Baltimore Orioles
    This is the year the Orioles make their move, out of the basement that is.  Buck will make a huge difference for this team, they improved a ridiculous amount under him last year.  Will it be enough to compete with the Red Sox and Yanks? No. But it will be enough to move up to third in the East.
4.  Tampa Bay Rays
   Certain parts of the Tampa Bay Rays are great.  You have an MVP caliber third baseman in Evan Longoria, an Cy Young worthy pitcher in David Price , but outside of that there is not much.  They lost a lot, and got Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez.  All this equals out to the stock being down for the Rays.
5.  Toronto Blue Jays
  The Blue Jays have been on the cusp of a breakthrough for years, but they have never been able to get over the top, and this year they will implode.  They can hit, but they can't pitch.  If the hitting goes away they are in trouble, which I think will happen this year.

American League Central
                                                                                    1. Chicago White Sox

  Ozzie Guillen is nuts.  Adam Dunn can hit the ball really far.  The rest of the White Sox are all still really good (Konerko anybody?).  The rotation is not great, but the hitting is more than enough to make up for it.  The starters don't have to be great with a line up like the White Sox have.  The White Sox are good enough to win the Central, and possibly the whole thing.
2.  Minnesota Twins
  The Twins are always solid.  Chances are they will do what they always do, a slow start, then come on like wildfire at the end of the year.  Joe Mauer is the best in the game at catcher, and the rest of the line up is solid, but not quite solid enough to put it together for the whole season.  Sure bet though, their best months of the season will be August and September.
3.  Detroit Tigers
  The Tigers have disappointed since making the World Series a few years ago.  Miguel Cabrera has been an absolute stud, and the starting rotation is very top heavy, but last year they just could not quite pull it together.  The team was close for most of the year but faded late.  There is just nothing about this years club that points to it being any different than last year.
4.  Cleveland Indians
  Poor Cleveland, they just can't seem to win anything these days.  But hey, at least they are better than Kansas City (I think).  If they finish last they should consider calling Rick Vaughn up to see if he will come pitch, oh wait, calling Charlie Sheen is never a good idea these days, unless you are in the market for Tiger Blood.  Yes, the only way I could make the Indians entertaining was to talk about Charlie Sheen.  Hey maybe one of his concert tour dates will be in Cleveland! Will be the only sell out all year.
5.  Kansas City Royals
  UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. Did you know the Royals have won the World Series before?  You would not guess it the way things have gone the last few years (or decades).  Poor Royals, at least they and Cleveland will have a good battle for fourth place.

American League West

1. Anaheim Angels
 Outside of last year the Angels have been a mainstay at the top of the A.L. West.  This year things should return to normal.  This was a club that kind of fell apart last year after a couple of injuries, so if they stay healthy I see no reason why they cannot win the West.
2. Texas Rangers
  No Cliff Lee? No division title.  Last year the Rangers were a great story, but not this year.  Josh Hamilton will be great, but probably won't hit .355 again.  The loss at the top of the rotation will be too much to overcome.
3. Oakland As
  The As are getting better it seems every year.  The one thing the As are missing is that superstar face of the franchise.  That one player that people think about when they think of the As.  This team is close to being great, but still not there.
4. Seattle Mariners
  Poor Felix Hernandez.  He is probably the best pitcher in the game, but he is on one of the worst teams out there.  He won the Cy Young on a team with a losing record.  That is impressive.  While he probably will not repeat as Cy Young winner this year, Hernandez will be really good, the rest of the team will not


National League East
1. Atlanta Braves

  Yeah thats right, I'm going with the Braves.  No one seems to remember that the Braves lead the East until September last season.  I know the Phillies are loaded at pitching, but not hitting.  The Braves are all around solid, and the pitching could be great.  Hudson and Lowe are always good, but I think Tommy Hanson is going to have a breakout season.  I am looking for him to win 18+ games and be in contention for the Cy Young.  With the addition of Dan Uggla at second base the Braves improve their hitting exactly where they needed it most: power.  If Uggla can hit 35 home runs and get over 100 RBI's look for the Braves to be one of the best in baseball under new manager Freddi Gonzalez.
2.  Philadelphia Phillies
  The rotation may be the best since the Braves of the mid 90's, no one can argue that.  Halladay, Lee, Oswalt and Hamels make up the best staff in baseball.  The bullpen could be a weakness.  The main problem is with the bats.  Chase Utley is always hurt all of a sudden. Ryan Howard struggles when he does not have Utley protecting him.  More importantly no one on this team hit over .300 last year.  Pitching wins in the playoffs, but the Phillies need some hitting to help out.
3.  Florida Marlins
  The Marlins always seem to be up and coming, and you know the Marlins will have pitching.  I look for the Marlins to improve this year.  They will be in the running for the Wild Card,  but will not improve quite enough to make the playoffs.
4.  New York Mets
  What has happened to the once promising Mets?  A couple years ago the Mets were always the pick to win the N.L. East, but things have kind of unraveled for the other team in New York.  They have gotten old, Jason Bay has been a bust, and Johan Santana has not been all that Mets fans hoped.  The Mets need to start from scratch and build up around Reyes.
5.  Washington Nationals
  How long until Stephen Strausburg comes back?  The most exciting thing that has ever happened for the Nationals franchise inured his golden arm last year and will not be back until late in the season.  Oh well, we can pay attention to them when Strausburg comes back.

1.  St. Louis Cardinals
 Is this the last year of Albert Pujols in St. Louis?  If it is they will go out with a bang.  Sure the pitching staff is in trouble with injuries, but look for the Cardinals to rebound and take the Central behind the bat of Pujols.
2.  Milwaukee Brewers
  The addition of Zach Greinke will pay out big time, when he comes back from injury.  The bats are either hot or they are not (come on Prince Fielder) but I think they will spend most of the year hot.  The improvement in the starting rotation will be enough to make the Brewers better, but not good enough to win the Central.
3.  Chicago Cubs
  This year is still not next year, but the Cubs will be better than last year for sure.  The Cubs made great strides under the new manager, and look for that to keep up this year.  If Aramis Ramirez can stay healthy the Cubs could contend for the division crown.
4. Cincinnati Reds
 I know what you are thinking, the Reds won the Central last year and made the playoffs.  Not this year, not this year.  Joey Votto is an All Star, but the Reds will hit a "sophomore slump" this year and slip to fourth in the division.
5.  Houston Astros
 The Astros haven't made the playoffs since 2005, and they won't in 2011.
6.  Pittsburgh Pirates
Haven't had a winning season since....ummm.....the early 1990's.  That's winning season, not playoffs.

National League West

1. Los Angeles Dodgers
  Don Matttingly will make all the difference for this club.  The Dodgers will dethrone the defending champs and take the division.
2. San Francisco Giants
 Call it a post championship hangover, but the Giants will  not be quite as good as they were last year and will slip to second in the division.
3. Colorado Rockies
  Have one of the best pitchers in the game at a hitters park, the Rockies are just kind of strange like that.
4. San Diego Padres
 Consistently average the last few years, more of the same.
5. Arizona Diamondbacks
 Have not been relevant in quite some time now.

Miscellaneous picks

A.L. MVP-Alex Rodriguez
N.L. MVP-Albert Pujols
A.L. Cy Young-C.C. Sabathia
N.L. Cy Young-Roy Halladay
A.L. Rookie of the Year-Jeremy Hellixson
N.L. Rookie of the Year-Craig Kimbrel

Bold Predictions-Orioles finishing 3rd in the A.L. East (surprisingly close to the top 2).  Alex Rodriguez has one of his best all around seasons to win the MVP.  Tommy Hanson finishes second in the NL Cy Young.  Cliff Lee finishes no better than 2 games above .500 (but dominates in the playoffs).  RamJets make the semifinals.

Verb Scavenger Hunt!

Website for Austin East

After learning how to make a website using Google Sites I have decided to try to make a site of my own.  I work for the Austin East football team, and have noticed for a long time the lack of having a good website (like most schools have).  I have taken it upon myself to make a site for the team.  I created a site as a rough draft to run by the coaches.  It is called AE football test site.  I ran the test site by the coaches and they really liked it.  They just wanted a couple of things to be changed up a bit, which I am currently working on for the real site.  I will blog about the real site once I get it up and running.

Collection

Lesson Planning

The lesson plan with technology was without a doubt the most practical thing that we have done in class so far.  I have really enjoyed everything we have learned, it was just cool to see how some of it might look in the classroom.  It was not too difficult to come up with a topic, and it was actually kind of fun to come up with a way to use technology with it.

One idea that I really like is having a classroom wiki.  A wiki could more than anything just be a common place for students to get together and work.  Instead of having to give out thousands of papers and handouts throughout the year, working on a wiki could really help with collaboration amongst students.

This assignment also really got me thinking about different ways to use technology in my classroom.  It has really hit me that there are so many options!  And they honestly are not that difficult to implement, I am excited about planning my classes with technology.

Twitter!

I absolutely love twitter.  Most of all I find it to be very entertaining (my twitter id is natkscott so follow me!).  I got a twitter basically because all of my friends did and they said it was fun, so I gave it a shot.  At first I found it to be kind of pointless.  Why did I care when my friends were bored with doing homework? But the more I used it the more I liked it.  It was especially useful over the summer when I was curious as to what my friends may be up to but actually did not want to go into an all out text conversation about it.  I also really like following certain celebrities, mainly Conan O'Brian and sports stars.  I think it is really interesting to see what they like to tweet about.  Some of them are really interesting and talk about behind the scenes stuff that is really cool, while others are kind of lame to follow.

I had never really thought of using Twitter in the classroom cause I was not sure how useful it would be.  One use would be for it to update students on homework and stuff everyday.  There could be a classroom twitter that I could control, and then tweet updates on homework and reminders everyday.  The students could then have it sent to their phone so they would be sure to get it.  How cool would that be?  Twitter is definitely something I will consider using in the classroom.  But not my own personal twitter account, I would create a classroom account.  I would not really want my students to know what I was doing all the time.

Inquiry Based Learning vs. WebQuests

There are obviously positives to both of these technologies in the classroom.  In many ways, I feel like WebQuests would be better for younger students and inquiry based learning better for older students.  Younger students are more prone to enjoy the way a WebQuest works, especially when they are cheesy and make you act like you are someone else.  For some reason I do not see High School seniors being all that crazy about WebQuests, they would not be into it as much.  A WebQuest often times takes a lot of imagination which is much stronger for younger people.  However high school students would probably thrive in the inquiry based learning because there is a set goal for it, and it is actually obvious what you are learning.  I still see ways that they can both be useful in my class.  When I want something a little more epic and to get the entire class involved I would probably do a WebQuest.  On the other hand inquiry based learning seems like it will be better when I want them to work as individuals and learn on their own.

WebQuests!

My experience with WebQuests so far has been very mixed.  There are certain aspects of it that I think could be very useful in my classroom, but other parts just seem like they would give me a headache.  I like the fact that they get students thinking and using technology.  To do a WebQuest (at least one I would choose for my classroom) would require the students to think critically.  Most of the WebQuests I saw also required them to use technology beyond just being on the website (like the one that required students to create Facebook pages for all the characters of Romeo and Juliet...hilarious).

I am a little cautious though because a WebQuest seems to present the opportunity for students to get very off task, especially if they do not enjoy the WebQuest that we are doing.  It is highly unlikely that there are many WebQuests out there that an entire classroom would all love.  That means that while there are certain students who would love the WebQuest assignment, others would loathe it.  I would just tell them to suck it up and do the work, but the fact that they are on a computer gives them the opportunity to do other things without me knowing about it.

Overall, if there was a WebQuest that my entire class would enjoy I would probably do it.  I am sure they would enjoy doing something interactive and using technology, the key is just to provide one that they would actually get something out of it.

igoogle

Look, igoogle is a pretty cool thing I am not going to lie.  It has many uses that I find practical and just very useful.  I now use it as my homepage on my own computer.  The Google reader tool blew my mind.  I had no idea that you could have a program that would automatically update the websites and blogs that you read, and even narrow it down to certain ones! I also like how personalized it is.  I have my twitter (yes I have twitter) and facebook set up on my igoogle.  I also have links to my favorite news sites and sports sites.  It even has live scores!  Throw in the weather and igoogle is basically everything I need on the internet without having to go from website to website all the time.  It is one of my favorite things we have learned so far.  Check out igoogle (click on it).

Also to read more on igoogle, Kate Rutkowski is in love with igoogle, but she uses it in different ways than I do.  So to check out why she loves igoogle just click on her name.  Be warned, she is obsessed with it.

Picnik?

So for my Web 2.0 project I will be using the internet tool called Picnik.  Here is my experience so far with Picnik: crazy people on Facebook taking normal pictures and turning them into collages of madness.  I'm confused as to why people would want to take a picture of a couple people and put a frame of dandelions or daisy's around it, but apparently it is really popular (but not so much with guys).  Oh well, guess we will have to wait and see how it goes.  Perhaps I will find some more productive uses for Picnik than other people on Facebook have.  In fact that is my goal for this project, to try to show people that Picnik can be useful for other things than just spiffying up pictures on Facebook.

Here is an example of what I'm talking about...does this seem necessary?

So many comments I could say right now about this, but for the sake of professionalism I shall refrain. (But is the heart really needed in the middle of the "A" in Canada? Come on Canadians!) okay that was my only comment.  (But is this not the most stereotypical picture of Canadians you will ever see?) okay I'm done.

Reflection on Evaluating Websites

Before the assignment on evaluating websites I always knew that it was important to do research on them before they should be used in class, I just did not know how to go about that exactly.  I especially did not realize that there were so many websites with expertise on how to evaluate a website.  I assumed there would just be one correct way to go about it that everyone accepted.  The website that I evaluated was EasyBib.com.  It is a website that I have used for every paper assignment I have had since my senior year of high school.  I have always thought it to be a pretty refutable website, but I never thought of evaluating it to make sure.  Now I am glad that I have evaluated it because it confirmed that it is a very good website indeed.  I was worried that it might not be accepted in certain academic fields, but after evaluating it I see that it is a good reference point.  I learned a lot from evaluating websites, and it is something I will definitely use in my classroom.  For most of my career as a student I have just used any website I could find that had the information I needed and wanted.  Instead, I want my students to use websites that are respected in the learning community.  I doubt I will make my students evaluate every single website they want to use for class (that would be tedious) but it is something I would definitely make them do when they are working on a major project or are wanting to use a new website.

Website Evaluation Site

The site that I found for evaluation is run by Lesley University.  The website is run by Lesley University (click on it to check it out).

I found this site to be very useful for college aged students as well as teachers.  It gives a list of eight different things to look fro when evaluating a website, and then goes into specific detail about each of them and also includes examples.  Some of the options covered by this website seem to be more geared towards teachers because it asks questions such as if the website is appropriate for your classroom environment.  It also provides real websites for each of the eight different things to look for about a website so you can check it out on your own.  For example, one of the things to look for is currency, and it provides a link to CNN to see how current some of the articles are.  Overall, I believe this is an effective website evaluation site for teachers and older students.

Wikis

Honesty, before this class I had no idea how wikis worked.  I knew what they were, mainly because of Wikipedia.  We used wikis on blackboard for one of my classes last year, and even though I used it I was not sure how it worked.  I thought that wikis would be a lot more difficult than they are, which is why I was a little scared of them at first (okay not scared like terrified, but just gun shy to use them).  Now I can say that wikis really are quite simple and useful.

Posting on the wiki was actually really simple.  I did not have any problem when posting my information on it.  The first problem I ran into was trying to highlight words and make it so you can click on it and go to that link.  The first couple of times I tried I failed.  Every time I would try the entire link would show up instead of just being able to click on it.  For example. http//www.utk.edu would show up instead of just The University of Tennessee and being able to click on it.  I did not figure out how to do it until I came to class the next day.  Once I got it though it was really easy.  The other problem I had was with my picture.  I could not figure out how to do the wraparound text.  I tried about 13 different things on my own but just could not get it.  I ended up just putting the picture at the top.  It was not until I got to class that I saw that all you had to do was double click it and choose the edit picture option.  Once again, once I got it figured out it was easy.

Wikis could be very useful in an English classroom.  Students could use wikis to work on group projects or even group papers.  Another useful thing could be to have a wiki set up for students to work on their grammar.  There could be different links to click on that would take them to different grammar rules and have examples.

Learning Expectations for the Class

I kind of expect to learn a lot in this class.  My experience with technology so far in my life has been to use the easy stuff that I can understand, but to run away and hide from the harder stuff that might frustrate me.  I'm hoping that in this class I will learn to keep pushing when I do not understand something and try to figure it out.  Most of the time when I don't know what is going on with technology I just call my brother to help me out (he is a genius when it comes to technology) and if he can't help me I just wait until he can.  I know that we are just a couple of days into class, but so far I have really enjoyed it, which makes me cautiously optimistic for the rest of the semester.  I noticed in the syllabus that we will be doing some things that I have never tried before when it comes to technology, so we will see how that goes.  Also, as a future English teacher, I hope to learn ways to integrate technology into my classroom.  Technology was hardly ever used in my high school English classes, and basically never in college either, so I think it will be beneficial to learn ways to change that when I teach.  Just because a class is about literature does not mean that technology cannot be used in some way, in fact it could really help.  Hopefully I can learn to do some of that in this class.

Introduction to the class

My name is Nathaniel Scott (but I have always gone by Nat for some reason) and I am from Johnson City, Tennessee.  Before coming to school in Knoxville I lived in Johnson City all of my life where I attended Science Hill High School.  My license is going to be in Secondary English Education.  Teaching is something that I have always wanted to do, basically since I can remember.  I want to have an influence on young people, specifically at the High School age.  I just feel like high school is a time where young people start to find out who they are, and need positive influences in their lives.  I really got hooked on teaching though starting in High School when I worked at an after school mentoring program that allowed me to work with kids a lot.  I have also spent the last three years working at Austin East High School with the football team which has also spiked my interest in wanting to teach.  My area where I am getting my license is secondary English.  I do not know yet where I am interning, I am supposed to find out this semester sometime.  My main hobby is running, which I realize is kind of stupid sometimes.  I ran my first marathon last month in Memphis (I cramped at mile 16 and ran the last ten miles with a leg that kept cramping up).  I want to someday run the Boston Marathon.  Another main hobby of mine is coaching.  I haven’t decided yet if coaching is something I want to do when I teach, but I really love doing it.  Besides that I’m just a pretty normal college kid, I like going to sporting events and hanging out with friends, and going to Church and stuff like that.