Technology Reflections

I named this blog Technology Reflections because I intended to use it as a place where I could reflect on my use of technology in my Computer and Reading classes. As I was moving posts back over here from wordpress and reorganizing stuff here I began reflecting on the nature of my posts.I do feel that I reflect on my technology use in the classroom, but I’ve also started to blog about technology use in other areas of my life. That’s OK - I can live with that because often the technology that I encounter outside of school impacts the technology that I use in school.

An example of this is something that The Reflective Teacher posted a while back - The Literature Pocketmod. I thought it was really cool and I began thinking of ways to use it in my classroom.

We have state tests coming up and I decided to use it to review the terms the kids would see on the test. Well, being the geek that I am, I decided that I needed to figure out a way to have the kids do this project on the computer. The challenge was to figure out what went on each page before it was folded and cut so that when it was folded and cut everything would be in the right places.

After a few false starts I think I have it figured out. One big obstacle was how to get text upside down. Word does not allow for upside down text - even if you rotate a text box 180 degrees, the text stays right side up! I solved this problem by typing text in Photoshop Elements and inserting it into the word document as an image and then rotating the image.

I’m in the process of finalizing the template and instructions and creating a sample of my own. I have found that the kids will be able to understand complex projects like this better when they can see a finished product. I’ll come back to this post and link the template and instructions when they are finished.

PocketMod Planner

PocketMod Template

PocketMod Sample - this is graphic heavy - be patient with the download

I will use this project for my 8th grade computer class. I think it will be too difficult for my 7th grade Reading classes to do on the computer, but I will still have them complete a handwritten Pocketmod to review those test terms.

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