Last Tool

I have learned so much through this course. I plan on using so many of the sites and tools that I have found. I love Animoto and Wordle. I plan on having the students create an Animoto for one of the Science concepts we will learn this year. I believe that technology is going to really enhance the learning in my classroom. There are other ways for students to represent their thinking and learning besides a journal entry or a worksheet. I will work hard to set up my classroom for easy access to the technology resources we have available. I was really surprised that I found so many new resources and learned so many new skills through this course. Can't wait to get started now!!!

Digital Citizenship

Digital citizenship is modeled throughout the year. Every time I show my students something online I need to model how to find it appropriately. They need to be shown how to find an answer to their question using an appropriate resource. Through Google I can show them that they do not need to necessarily choose the first link they come to. Each suggestion comes with a little blurb that will help them choose. If they choose a link and don't like the site, they do have other choices they can return to. Students also need to be shown how to respond to a blog or post appropriately. I can model this by responding to someone's blog using the correct language and feeling tone. I can also show them what not to do when they understand how to appropriately respond. Also, I would like to show students how to choose appropriate websites to go to. Teaching the idea of digital citizenship make be a little difficult for 1st graders. There will be a lot of explaining the vocabulary necessary to understanding the concept. A flipchart may be the best way to teach digital citizenship. Students are comfortable with flipcharts and this comfortability will allow them to maximize their understanding of digital citizenship. I believe using that same format with parents at Open House or parent conferences will be beneficial. That way they see the same things their student saw. Having taught it this way to students first will allow the students to answer any questions their parents may have as well. Teaching digital citizenship to students will transfer into their life outside of school as well. Many students are on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. and respond to posts in an unacceptable manner. This may lead to cyberbullying. Having had an experience with cyberbullying in my own household I see the importance of teaching students how to act appropriately online.

Apps, Apps, and More Apps

Technology is so important in the classroom. Children have so much technology in their home and if teachers don't utilize technology in their classroom students will become bored which creates discipline issues. We in SBISD are very lucky to have the amount of technology available to us to use. Using technology in a lesson allows students to journal or do a project in a way other than pencil and paper. It also allows us to get rid of the reams of paper we use to run off worksheets. In workstations, it is important to hold students accountable. If students feel like we do not care what is going on during workstations, they are more likely to goof off and learning will not take place. I visited all of the links in the post that are elementary related. I plan on using these websites as workstations. Students can take a screen shot as accountability. As for apps, I was impressed with the number that are available for lower elementary age students. Since iTouch are small this workstation would be easy to set up in any location in the classroom. I would like for students to explore the apps available before holding them accountable. I love Math Zombie and have used it at home with my stepdaughter. She was so addicted!! Some students come to first grade having trouble forming their letters. The ABC letter tracing app would allow those students to practice their letters risk free. Sometimes students get frustrated while writing on paper because they have a difficult time holding their pencil and end up throwing their paper away..wasting lots of paper. This app would allow them to practice their letters and they will be able to practice without that frustration.

The iTouch take pictures or videos, so students can take video as a project in science. These devices are going to open up a whole new world for my students...and for me.

Devices

After viewing the videos on the netbooks, ipads, and itouches I have learned a few things. I didn't know that the netbook had an SD card reader. This will help when I need to transport pictures that I have taken on another device. I am going to make the netbooks a workstation in the first weeks of school since it takes longer the first time the students log on. I am also going to assign certain netbooks to certain students. This way I can know which netbooks are being used by each student. I am familiar with the itouch and the ipad. I am also planning on assigning students to each of these projects. I am going to keep a list of the student's names and the serial number of each of the devices they use.

Part of my weekly job chart will be a technology student. This student will be in charge of taking the devices out of the cart and placing them where they need to go and taking them back up. I am not sure right now if that will be a one or two person job. It might work better with 2 students sharing the job so that they can keep each other accountable for the devices. Also, I plan on having lesson on appropriate handling and use of the devices. If a student cannot handle using the device appropriately, then they will lose the privilege for the day.

I am excited to use these devices in my classroom. I think that this will allow my students many opportunities that they might not have in their home.

Collaborative Project

Because I am starting the year at a new school, I will have to wait until we get back to set up the project with another class. I visited the Classroom2Classroom site and I would like to set up a data collection/bar graph activity about favorite colors the first week of school with another classroom at SOE.

TSW will use die cuts and collect data about favorite in our classroom and another SOE classroom and create a bar graph using the Classroom2Classroom site.

The project will begin the first week of school because that is when we study graphs in the Math curriculum. We will use the site to collect favorite colors from another classroom. We will then use die cuts in those colors and make bar graphs using 1 inch graph paper. After placing the die cuts on the graph paper, students will then color in the bar graph. I will translate the graph to a word document and we will answer questions about the graph the next day.

Twitter and other stuff

I joined Skype and Twitter. I am looking forward to using both in the classroom. I have seen Skype used to have author visits. This is a great way to link students to the authors of the books they read. This gives the students an opportunity that they might not otherwise have outside the classroom. I am planning to use Twitter to show students real time Science concepts. I am following several science communities and plan on finding other social studies and educational communities to follow. Students can read their tweets and respond through drawing or writing their responses in their journals. I also joined Voxopop. I like the idea of starting a discussion and having children respond in real time. I think all of these tools will encourage every child to participate. Students can work together or individually to respond to threads. They can also be used in every content area. One of the greatest struggles that I saw as a Math SIS was having students respond about their math thinking. These sites would help students to respond in something other than a journal and would encourage students to really explain their thinking. Many students are reluctant to write because they do not know how to spell words or find it difficult to physically write. This would help those students to respond risk free.

New Stuff!!

I love Animoto and Wordle!! It took me a little while to get familiar with them, but wow!!!! I could see using Wordle as an end of unit projects. The kids could write down vocabulary they learned in the unit. Animoto is just awesome. There are so many ways that I could use it in the classroom. What a great way for ELL students, especially recent immigrants, to demonstrate their learning without having to worry about using the correct English vocabulary. I played with BigHugeLabs but I couldn't get it to publish my work. I will definitely take more time to explore it later. These websites will be great to use in the classroom, not only for me but for my kids. What a great alternative to worksheets or tests!!! They can show me what they learned without having to get caught up in text they may not understand.

Google Docs

I like the thought of making forms or documents and sharing them amongst your team without there being multiple copies running around.. Google Docs allows everyone to see the most updated version. What a great way to make and share a test or a form to be sent home that needs to be uniform on the team.

I love the Google Apps!! I have used Google Earth before. Kids love looking at a real image of the area. I am interested in using the SketchUp to build models. I will definitely have to explore that more. The books app looks pretty cool too.

Videos

I visited all of the "tube" sites. I really like teacher tube and kid tube. I like to idea of kids making their own videos and having a safe place to save them. I am familiar with You Tube...who isn't!!!?? The two videos I embedded have to do with math and science. As for copyright, I liked the video that was linked but I feel like it might be too hard for my 1st graders to understand. None of the information was reallly new for me, but it was good to refresh it in my memory. It's been a while since I have had to remember all of that. I guess the remix and creative commons filters finds pics that you can use without really worrying about copyright issues? Not really sure. It did have a lot of really cool pics that would be great for writing assignments. I am just trying to finish this course quickly since it seems school is getting closer and closer so I will have to sit down while lesson planning and really dive into finding helpful videos and pics. Onward and upward!!

Online Communities

I like the idea of participating in online communities. It opens up a whole new world where we can learn from each other. I think people should be careful about sharing their opinions online. You have to be careful about how you share your thoughts though. You do not want to upset anyone when you express your opinion. On the www.technologyintegrationineducation.com site the blogger posted a great website that I bookmarked to use in the future. It is www.imageafter.com. The site is full of great clip art and pictures to use in your classroom or site. I look forward to exploring the site in more detail in the future.

1st Tool

Yeah!! Done with this tool. On to the next one!!

ok. So I made a Voki and now I cannot figure out how to place it on my blog. Frustration!!!