iPad App Reviews

The first app I looked at was the Multi-Lang Dictionary by Denotes Mobile Technology LTD. This app was last updated on January 18, 2012. For free you can look up any word in just about any language and translate it into English or from one language to another. This app would work for my future classroom because it would allow for my students to translate a word much faster than it would for them to flip through a dictionary. I tried typing in a couple words in to test the translators ability and the translator worked very well from English to Spanish and from Spanish to English. This app was even able to translate a certain type of conjugation into the actual meaning of that words significance in English, not all translators, like Google Translate, are good at preforming such a task. If you pay so much money you can also have the translator preform text to speech. I did not purchase the app so I was unable to play with the text to speech section of this app. If my future students wanted to pay for the app the text to speech would help them learn pronunciation in Spanish.

The other app I looked at was Learn Spanish by MindSnack. This app was last updated December 19, 2011. You have to create an account, through Facebook, to play on this app and like most apps you have to eventually pay to unlock certain parts of the app. This app will also ask if you want to share your success on Facebook, which some students might find fun. After you create an account the app asks you to describe your level of ability in Spanish - Nonexistent, Jumbled without structure, or Intermediate. I went ahead and selected Nonexistent, because I figured my future students would be at that level. The app started me off with numbers and I could play two games for free. As you earn points you can unlock other games. The app first reviews the numbers with you (1-20). Then you can play the games. I played fish bowl first. In this game you are given a word in either Spanish or English and below you are given two options. You are to match the English or Spanish word with its meaning in the English or Spanish, for example the word ONE appears on the screen and below your options are UNO or ONCE. You would then press UNO and earn points. However you are timed. In the background there is a fish and the water is moving down around the fish, like your inside the fishes water bowl, so you have to pick the correct word to raise the water back up and if you push the wrong word the fish dies. If you pick the wrong word three times the game is over. This game takes into consideration your reaction time and how many you got correct to reward you points. The other game which I liked better deals with spelling. The setting is a moon where a word in English appears, and birds with letters on them are on a telephone wire. You have to spell the word that appears on the moon in Spanish correctly to earn points. You have a time limit and you can miss as many as possible without the game stopping. The game also shows you the correct spelling of the word before moving on to the next, so you can remember for next time and not just guess.

I could use both of these apps everyday in my class. Having an English to Spanish/ Spanish to English dictionary readily available is very important for learning a foreign language. Having students learn spelling and learn to recognize the meaning of words in both languages quickly are great skills I would love my students to learn. I could give my students 10 minutes at the beginning or end of class to work on those exercises and we could track their scores to see how they are progressing. 

Editorial Cartoon Analysis

I selected these two images for my future students to analyze.

1. What is the event or issue that inspired the cartoons?
 The Spanish-American War inspired these two cartoons. The one on the left is from the views of American citizens and the one on the right is from the view of Spain's citizens.
2. Are there any real people or places in the cartoon? If not what images are portrayed in the cartoon?
Both show Uncle Sam, who is not a real person, but who represents the United States. The images both picture maps. The one on the right pictures a globe and rather racist portrayals of people from other countries. We can see China, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Cuba, and Guam all being represented. We can see text on the chalk board that says "Civilization Plus Education Equals Success" and the book in Uncle Sam's hand that says "ABC's of Self Government." The cartoon on the right pictures an insane and angry looking Uncle Sam, who is reeling in countries, shaped as fish, like Cuba and Guam. You can also see that he is standing on the United States (exaggeration).
3. Identify the specific type of artist techniques used in the cartoon (i.e., symbolism, analogy, exaggeration, labeling, and irony). What is the author trying to show the reader by using these techniques?
The image on the left has all the children labeled as different states. The faces of the "children representatives" are exaggerated to look almost racist. Uncle Sam is rather tall in the image which is also exaggerated. The irony is shown by the text on the bottom which says "Interrupting the Class." The cartoon on the right shows exaggeration by the size of the Uncle Sam. Labeling is used to represent the names of the countries he is reeling in to the United States. In the cartoon on the left the author is showing the immaturity of the countries labeled and how Uncle Sam is trying to teach them about how to become great countries. The image also shows how China is being very resistant to Uncle Sam's teachings. The author of the image on the right is trying to show how Uncle Sam has gone a little crazy and is trying to collect more and more territories by reeling them in.
4. What is the cartoonist point of view about the topic portrayed in the cartoon? Give examples to support your interpertation?
The cartoonist point of view for the cartoon on the left is that Uncle Sam, the United States, is trying to help these smaller countries, but they are being slightly resistant. I believe this because of all the imagery the author has used. The cartoonist point of view for the cartoon on the right is that Uncle Sam, the United States, has gone a little crazy in the process of trying to fish for these countries and make them part of the United States as territories. I believe this because of all the imagery used in this cartoon, especially Uncle Sam's face.
5. Is the cartoon persuasive? Why or why not?
Yes I feel both the cartoons are persuasive. If I only had the opportunity to view one side of the issue from one of these cartoons I would definitely agree with that side of the issue, because the cartoons are persuasive.
6. What other techniques could the artist have used to make this cartoon more persuasive?
I feel that the cartoon on the right is less persuasive than the one on the left. I feel this cartoon would be more persuasive if the author would have used more of techniques like analogy and irony. The author could covey their emotions better if they would have used these techniques more.

WebQuest - Best and Worst

Best - The World of Shakespeare was clearly organized and straight to the point. Had good and relevant imagery. This webquest will defiantly help the students gain an understanding for Macbeth and other plays of that time. The Saving Gorillas is another one of my favorites, because this webquest allows for continued learning and more links here worked than on any other webquest.

Worst - Anti-Earthquake Designer was a little unorganized and some links didn't work. Waves and Sound had too many links and almost too many images. This website was busy and was giving a lot of information at once.

Best means the webquest fit well or had good scores from each of our point of views. Worst means we all thought there was something negative about the webquest.

WebQuest - Worksheet

The Technophile



 Your Impressions

WebQuest	Strengths	Weaknesses
Saving the Gorillas	Great color scheme and pictures. Links work. One of the assignments is to find your own images if possible, which is great. I like that the students can edit the WebQuest and there are links to helping save the gorillas, so this relates to activities students can do to further students education of gorillas and webquests.	There are some typos, and almost too many links. Some of the links are also go to websites that seem a little outdated others go to excellent sites.
World of Shakespeare	Lots of great images. You can make changes to the webquest.	The color scheme is not my favorite. A lot of links did not work. There is a lot of blank space on the Evaluation.
Anti-Earthquake Designer	Good color scheme and funny images. I like that you can give the author feedback.	Almost all the links did not work. He did not need links for the images under each image, especially since he had that on the end in a credits section of the webquest.
Foreign Country Presentation	The links work. You can make changes to this webquest and you can give the author feedback.	Not a lot of images, and some of the links are on there twice.
Waves and Sound	I like the color scheme. Great images. The links real help guide you. You can give the author feedback and make changes to the webquest.	Some of the links don't work. There is some areas of blank space were images would have been nice. Almost too many images.

Double Entry Journal #11

Three Things I Learned

1. Pedagogy and Content are messy on their own but if we bring them together in interesting ways through Shoeman's Pedagogical Content Knowledge we can make them more accessible.

2. "Quality teaching is the transformation of content," (Kohler & Mishra, 2008) just because you are an expert in your field does not mean your a good teacher.

3. Technology is evolving so rapidly that most teachers cannot keep up. "Developing a thoughtful yet playful attitude towards understanding the landscape being created by new technology," (Kohler & Mishra, 2008) can be the answer to solve the overwhelming pressure of using technology that some teachers may feel.


Kohler, M. J. (Performer), & Mishra, P. (Performer) (2008, November 26). Thinking creativly: teachers as designers of content, technology and pedagogy part1 Dr. Geary. [Video podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNoijjIrPT8

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Double Entry Journal #10

"To succeed in today’s Creative Society, students must learn to think creatively, plan systematically, analyze
critically, work collaboratively, communicate clearly, design iteratively, and learn continuously" (Resnick, 2007).

These seven skills that kids must learn to be successful in today's society are not surprising. I agree our society is changing into a more Creative Society where creative thinkers and problem solvers are more sought after than ever before. Everyone should know how to plan systematically, analyze critically, work collaboratively, communicate clearly, and learn continuously. Learning most of these skills should be easier than teaching young adults to actually think creatively. I often find coming up with a new idea or thought difficult as I am sure others do. People in my generation were still being taught through very old school methods, we never did anything with programing or anything really adventurous with projects. So now when I actually have teachers who try to make us think "outside of the box" I am faced with some difficulty. When your taught in a specific way for so long, and that develops into all you know then being faced with a change in direction can be a shock. Whenever we are young we seem to be extremely creative and eager to learn and as we age and that creativity has been squashed we no longer enjoy learning as much. I believe that by teaching our students these skills that we will truly be doing them justice. They deserve to let their creativity to be free in order to help solve the problems that previous generations have left behind. Students can be successful if they develop these skills, but first we need to get more schools involved in developing these types of programs. I hope that before the end of my career as a teacher that I can work in a school that focuses on how creativity can go hand in hand with learning (even math).

I found this video "About Quest to Learn" to go hand in hand not only with the reading for this journal but also with previous journal readings. This video shows an actual school, the first ever located in New York, that has been created on the bases of game design and how they are analyzing and helping their students develop skills for our Creative Society. 






MacArthur Foundation. (Producer) (2010, Feburary 16). About quest to learn. macfound. [Video podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHtj6PCpyLQ&feature=relmfu

Resnick, M. (2007). Sowing the seeds for a more creative society. Retrieved from http://web.media.mit.edu/~mres/papers/Learning-Leading-final.pdf