Visual Essay Reflection

We had to create a I believe essay.  At first it scared me and I was not sure what the essay entailed. After looking at the "This I Believe" website, I started to feel like the project was due-able. Creating a statement that you believe in can be challenging, but once you find a statement everything else seams to fall into place. Many I believe statements have a story to go behind them. After figuring out what you want to write about and the story. you can come up with an essay. After the essay is created you have to start making the video or recording of your essay. I started recording with garbageband. As recording it would get frustrating because if you mess up you have to rerecord that part over again. When listening to myself, I felt like it sounded bad and had trouble accepting that i wasn't going to be able to change the way my voice sounds. After the recording was done I had to get pictures and start making a video. I found some of the pictures on Google images. Some pictures I got from my teacher I had in 7th grade. I emailed her and asked if she was able to take pictures of the classroom and some of the things we used in the classroom for the video. After all the pictures were collected, I started making my video using Windows Movie Maker. Making the video was stressful trying to get everything lined up perfectly.   I emailed the video completed to my family for there input and feedback to see if there was anything I can improve. They all like the video and thought I did a good job. Once finished I felt proud of what I could accomplish.

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I Believe...

Open Educational Resourses

Open Educational Resources or ORS is a tool online open to everyone for little to no cost that allows them to learn new information. ORE's can include full course material, syllabi, lectures, homework assignments, quizzes, labs and classroom activities such as games or a video.  I think ORE's is a good idea. it allows people to explore new things.  As a student you can use the ORE to see if you would like a certain class, or field of study.  As a learner you can use ORE's to explore new things that may be useful to you as a human being.  as a future teacher ORE's can be real useful for a few reasons. One way they can be helpful is if  I am teaching a certain topic and I am not sure how to plan the lesson, you can use an ORE to get a lesson and then adapt it to fit your needs. Also if you need one more work sheet for the students to do for a subject and you do not have time to make one you can find a already made that fits your needs. I think ORE's is a real good idea that can benefit may people.

 Three sites I found helpful are:
http://www.oercommons.org/
http://www.thinkfinity.org/
https://openeducationalresources.pbworks.com/w/page/24836480/Home

I Believe...

I believe that everyone needs a teacher to believe in them.  I always struggled in school, but in 7^th grade one teacher changed everything.  I struggle for many reasons, but the main reason is because I have a learning disability.  A learning disability is a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do math.  There is no cure for a learning disability and it is life-long.  Children with learning disabilities can be high achievers and become successful with the right help.

 In 7^th grade, I was put into a resource room.  Resource room is where students with learning disabilities go to get extra help in any subject needed.  My Resource Room teacher, Mrs. Gleason, believed everyone could do well in school.  Without having her as my teacher, I would not be where I am today.  I always dreaded reading and would avoid it at all costs.  Mrs. Gleason made reading fun and got me really into it.  I now read all the time, even if it is not for school!  She also helped me to do well in school.  I went from grades in the 60’s all the way to grades in the 80’s and 90’s in a few months of being in her class!  She taught me how to study effectively to do well on tests.  Most people don’t take the time to teach students how to study effectively.  By her teaching me to study effectively, I was able to bring my grades up rapidly.  It felt great that I was finally doing well in school!  My teacher believed in me and eventually I believed I could pass and succeed!  She made it fun. If you got above a certain grade you got a sticker on the sticker board and if you get a 100 you get 2 stickers.  Once you got so many stickers, you got a prize and at the end whoever got the most got a special prize. I t gave me more incentive to do well in school.  Without having Mrs. Gleason as a teacher, I may have never been able to take AP and College courses in high school.  Having her as a teacher made it possible for me to go to college.

People sometimes think that if you have a disability you can’t achieve great things and they are wrong.  Many famous people like Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, and Magic Johnson all had disabilities and look how famous they are.  Without Thomas Edison, we may have never found the light bulb.  Walt Disney had many great achievements like the first colored cartoon, the first full-length animated musical film and his dream of Disneyland Park.  Without either of them, where would we be?  I believe that everyone needs someone to believe in them, even if it’s just their teacher.  I want to make a difference in the lives of children someday soon and I know I will. 

Top 10 Cool Tools for School

1. http://ashleyeducates.blogspot.com/
2. http://bryannabujnowski.blogspot.com/
3.http://karisadurfee.blogspot.com/
4. http://carlyc11.blogspot.com/
5.http://bridgit-walters.blogspot.com/
6.http://leebob13.blogspot.com/
7. http://rlagnello.blogspot.com/
8. http://jonathangreer8.blogspot.com/
9.http://sasyouregonnahearit.blogspot.com/
10. http://irishman207.blogspot.com/

These blog resources made my top ten list because I found them all to be useful. I would recommend the resources to other teachers for their own use. I may use some of these tools in my classroom in the future.

Cool Tool for School

Geometry Toolbox is a great geometry whiteboard resource has a virtual ruler, pencil, compass, and protractor. In the website you can choose among various colors to draw the lines or write explanations.  You can create instant illustrations of geometry concepts, from simple measurement to constructions using angles and circles.  I can use this tool in the classroom in many ways.  I can use this on an interactive whiteboard or projector for students to see.  I can use it in groups of students to practice measuring lines and angles. You can use the tool to teach students how to read a ruler. This tool can be very useful in the classroom.