Using Application Gadgets for Teaching - Essay Example

As such, teachers should learn the various technology-based instructional products available on the Web. This paper identifies an application gadget that teachers of all levels and subjects can use. In the software industry, computer applications are likewise called gadgets. Application gadgets aid in various classroom activities, such as teaching, research, portfolio-making, and evaluation. They provide creative ways to promote multiple intelligences through a variety of interactive activities for students.

One very interesting application gadget is the Xtranormal Studio. This application gadget allows the teacher to make their own short movie clip that could serve as a springboard activity to the lesson. Xtranormal Studio can be found easily on the Web. To create a movie, first, one has to sign up for free membership. Second, the user chooses the characters, background setting, and sounds. There are lots of options to choose from, thus teachers handling different subjects can easily find one that relates to their subject.

Third, the user types character dialogues, and assign facial expressions and gestures to the characters as they talk. Some options for facial expressions include happy, surprised, sad, and so on. . Movies made in the Extranormal Studio can vary according to the author’s intent. For example, for Social Science, teachers can make up a scene in a talk show where a politician or a socially prominent person is being interviewed by a host. For teaching ESL, teachers can create a movie with two friends having dinner together.

Likewise, for Mathematics, they can have cartoon characters or animals to state problem to be solved instead of having the problems written on the board. These activities make learning fun and exciting, thus motivating learners to participate and listen well to the lessons. For my eighth grade Science class, I created a short movie to introduce the lesson, thus the movie served as a motivational activity to arouse interest and elicit reactions from my students. The lesson was all about energy.

Normally, Science teachers would ask students to enumerate some objects that function through energy. However, in my class, I use a series of short movies I made with Extranormal Studio to make students understand concepts, for instance, matter, energy, etc. In the movie, there are two friends who are sharing a room in a dormitory. One of the characters is older than the other, thus the younger one asks help from her friend on topics she needs to understand. The other one gives examples and at the end addresses the audience to give other examples or explanations regarding the present topic.

This way, students are motivated to join in the discussion. Likewise, I use the gadget for informal assessments and synthesis. As an assessment material, I ask students in groups to make their own movie to answer some questions about our topic. Likewise, for synthesis of the lesson, I ask students to make a short movie to illustrate what they have learned