My favorite tool has to be tool 3. I learned about so many cool image generators that I can't wait to put to use in my classroom. In fact, just next week my students will be creating wordles as a culimating activity for our in class author study of Eve Bunting. Each student has chosen their favorite book and plans to represent the theme and major issues within the book through a wordle.
This whole process has broadened my thinking about technology in the classroom. I always knew that the use of technology was extremely important. What I was surprised to know was the vast number of resources available to me and my students. I look forward to using them throughout the year.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Tool 11
As teachers, we often have to adjust our teaching to the times we live in. Digital citizenship is a perfect example of this. As a teacher the three most important things I teach my students are:
1) Anything you say/type on the internet can be just as hurtful as the things you say in person. Cyberbullying is very real and should be talked about at a young age.
2) Is is extremely important to give credit to those you borrow information from. Just like citing sources in a book, we must cite our sources on the internet.
3) Not everything we read on the internet should be taken as fact. We must be careful to evaluate the validitly of the sources we use.
In the classroom, I present these ideas to my students in context. When we blog or post things on googledocs we talk about cyberbullying and making appropriate comments. When we conduct research we talk about how to evaluate the strength of a website and how to give credit to our sources.
1) Anything you say/type on the internet can be just as hurtful as the things you say in person. Cyberbullying is very real and should be talked about at a young age.
2) Is is extremely important to give credit to those you borrow information from. Just like citing sources in a book, we must cite our sources on the internet.
3) Not everything we read on the internet should be taken as fact. We must be careful to evaluate the validitly of the sources we use.
In the classroom, I present these ideas to my students in context. When we blog or post things on googledocs we talk about cyberbullying and making appropriate comments. When we conduct research we talk about how to evaluate the strength of a website and how to give credit to our sources.
Tool 10
As a mobile phone and ipod user, I've often played with various apps. However, before this school year I didn't have very much experience with educational apps. After receiving my loner itouch I quickly began playing around with it. I tried baby flashcards for my own children. They loved it! My four year old also likes using abclite to practice writing letters. Here at school I've tried Flashcard study helpers, ABC magnets and mylanguage. All have been so helpful with my ESL learners especially. I look forward to the chance to add more apps throughout the year!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Tool 9
I think screencasts are a great tool for students and teachers. As teachers, we can create screencasts to help supplements instruction. Students can create screencasts to teach each other how to do different tasks on the computer. I might use this in my classroom to show students how to navigate the web to a website like Odyssey, Easy Tech, Brainpop or tumblebooks. I could even highlight the steps for a Wordle. For language arts, the opportunities are endless!
Skype is another useful tool for the classroom. Videoconferencing is a perfect example of students being able to instantly interact with others without ever leaving the classroom. One of my goals this year is to Skype in bookclubs with other classrooms across the state. In addition, currently I'm using it with a colleague who couldn't be with me to learn the ins and outs of sharing information through Jing and Skype. It is like she was never away from us. Taking it a step further, parent conferences are coming up and she will easily be able to participate even though she can't be on campus! Skype is just another example of one of many numerous ways the Internet brings people together across campus, towns, nations and even the world!
Skype is another useful tool for the classroom. Videoconferencing is a perfect example of students being able to instantly interact with others without ever leaving the classroom. One of my goals this year is to Skype in bookclubs with other classrooms across the state. In addition, currently I'm using it with a colleague who couldn't be with me to learn the ins and outs of sharing information through Jing and Skype. It is like she was never away from us. Taking it a step further, parent conferences are coming up and she will easily be able to participate even though she can't be on campus! Skype is just another example of one of many numerous ways the Internet brings people together across campus, towns, nations and even the world!
Tool 8
Videos have always been a helpful aid in the classroom. They can grab the students attention and keep them focused on the material...sometimes better than the teacher. This video is perfect for our author study of Eve Bunting in language arts. With Halloween right around the corner, this video allows us to see a fun book and celebrate the season as well! Check out In the Haunted House and see for yourself!!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Tool 7
Photostory is an incredible classroom tool. I've actually already had the pleasure of seeing it in action in my language arts classroom. It was especially useful during our author study of Eve Bunting and her picture books. Here is my fun photostory based on our "Pie Your Teacher in the Face" day in fifth grade. I thought I could show the kids and give them something fun to look forward to...
Monday, September 27, 2010
Tool 6
After visiting a few wikis online, I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn't sure how wikis would apply to me, or how they would be a better choice than a blog or google docs. I quickly learned that wikis would be the best choice for LA when the kids are hoping to collaborate instantly. They could work together on vocabulary, spelling or even book reviews! Book clubs could create discussions, add to it, change it and see it instantly! What a great new tool that I can't wait to use. If you've implemented wikis in your classroom, I'd love to see them. Please send me a link!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Tool 5
Social bookmarking is something I had no experience with prior to learning about it through Tool 5. At first I was thinking, how will this be better than regular bookmarking? I quickly learned that it is such a help to be able to get to my usual bookmarks from any computer. Better yet, I can share new education sites from the various tags easily with others. This will be super helpful within LA because my teammate and I can quickly share the bookmark for a new site.
After joining Delicious, I decided to search through popular bookmarks with the tag "education" to see what came up. Instantly I was drawn to Live Mocha, when I read the description for free online language learning. I always wanted to try Rosetta Stone, but I didn't want to part with the money. Live Mocha is very similar in style. Plus, I could have my ESL students use their google accounts to gain access to use friendly English lessons. I could even use it as a language arts workstation for other students who are just interested in learning more about a particular language.
My second choice was Snappy Words. This visual dictionary is so fun to use and could be implemented in multiple ways. It gives kids the ability to learn the definition of a word, synonyms, antonyms and parts of speech in a fun new way!
After joining Delicious, I decided to search through popular bookmarks with the tag "education" to see what came up. Instantly I was drawn to Live Mocha, when I read the description for free online language learning. I always wanted to try Rosetta Stone, but I didn't want to part with the money. Live Mocha is very similar in style. Plus, I could have my ESL students use their google accounts to gain access to use friendly English lessons. I could even use it as a language arts workstation for other students who are just interested in learning more about a particular language.
My second choice was Snappy Words. This visual dictionary is so fun to use and could be implemented in multiple ways. It gives kids the ability to learn the definition of a word, synonyms, antonyms and parts of speech in a fun new way!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Tool 4
This tool showed up at the perfect time because it allowed me to work on my user knowledge of google apps. Recently, our school took part in a training on google apps in preparation for the new computers our campus will receive. Now that every student will have their own google account, it has become increasingly important for us to be extremely knowledgable about the ins and outs of the applications.
After reading about Google Docs I decided to make my first document useful to my Language Arts curriculum. We've recently been studying the three types of connections in our LA classroom so I typed up a fill in the blank excercise to encourage my students to go deeper with their individual connections.
Three Types of Connections
I loved how easy it was to share my document with my LA teammate, Kendall. She was able to look at it quickly and make any changes she thought we needed and I could see it immediately. In addition this handout would be perfect to share with kids on their individual Google Accounts. This way they could access it easily anytime they needed to refer to it. I can't wait to try it in the classroom!
Going right along with Google Docs is Google Reader. It's so cool that all five of my followed blogs are right up on one page! I can easily see updated posts from each one without having to toggle between several different screens. In the classroom, I've planned to introduce blogging as a forum for book club discussions. This will make it extremely easy for me to monitor each each blog from one screen. What a timesaver!
After reading about Google Docs I decided to make my first document useful to my Language Arts curriculum. We've recently been studying the three types of connections in our LA classroom so I typed up a fill in the blank excercise to encourage my students to go deeper with their individual connections.
Three Types of Connections
I loved how easy it was to share my document with my LA teammate, Kendall. She was able to look at it quickly and make any changes she thought we needed and I could see it immediately. In addition this handout would be perfect to share with kids on their individual Google Accounts. This way they could access it easily anytime they needed to refer to it. I can't wait to try it in the classroom!
Going right along with Google Docs is Google Reader. It's so cool that all five of my followed blogs are right up on one page! I can easily see updated posts from each one without having to toggle between several different screens. In the classroom, I've planned to introduce blogging as a forum for book club discussions. This will make it extremely easy for me to monitor each each blog from one screen. What a timesaver!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Tool 3
I was recently exposed to the wide world of image generators and mashups. Who knew? It blows my mind that people are able to create these amazing generators that can entertain for hours! My first attempt was with the Wordle. I decided to pay tribute to Twilight. Yes...I must admit I am a "Twihard." I've read every book and seen every movie to date. It is nothing but fun to sit back and read good book from the saga. It is my escape from reality.
For educational purposes I love the idea of using a Wordle as a book review format. Kids could have a really out of the box experience as they worked to describe their novel with choice descriptive words, events and character names. Love it!
My second image generator came from Spell with Flicker. I loved that I could use it to create a photo mashup of my blog identity. Super cute and cool! In the classroom, kids could use this as a creative way to dress up their own projects or even spelling and vocabulary words.
For educational purposes I love the idea of using a Wordle as a book review format. Kids could have a really out of the box experience as they worked to describe their novel with choice descriptive words, events and character names. Love it!
My second image generator came from Spell with Flicker. I loved that I could use it to create a photo mashup of my blog identity. Super cute and cool! In the classroom, kids could use this as a creative way to dress up their own projects or even spelling and vocabulary words.
Check out my "Ode to Twilight" below and my Spell with Flicker creation at the bottom of the blog. Let me know what you think!
Tool 2
I think building a PLN is just another avenue for collaboration with colleagues. I've gotten some of my best ideas for the classroom through discussions with other teachers. Belonging to a PLN will make it that much easier to stay in contact with other educators in the language arts field.
My favorite hint for commenting on a blog was about inviting comments. I never really thought about the need to make your blog post sound "inviting" to others. However, after reading about it I realized that in all my online communications I tend to react best to those that seem friendly and willing to share. Others, who appear to be reporting the facts end up leaving little room for others to feel brave enough to jump in. I'm hoping I can learn to be a friendly blogger like the blogs I enjoy the most.
In an effort to practice my commenting abilities, I've commented on Dorothy Bean, Math Rules at BHE, Blogging and BHE, The Book Nook, and Science Rocks. I've mostly commented on their blog layout and vokis because they are what little skills I have any knowledge about. I'm still not brave enough to venture out and comment in any type of deep thinking way...maybe one day...
My favorite hint for commenting on a blog was about inviting comments. I never really thought about the need to make your blog post sound "inviting" to others. However, after reading about it I realized that in all my online communications I tend to react best to those that seem friendly and willing to share. Others, who appear to be reporting the facts end up leaving little room for others to feel brave enough to jump in. I'm hoping I can learn to be a friendly blogger like the blogs I enjoy the most.
In an effort to practice my commenting abilities, I've commented on Dorothy Bean, Math Rules at BHE, Blogging and BHE, The Book Nook, and Science Rocks. I've mostly commented on their blog layout and vokis because they are what little skills I have any knowledge about. I'm still not brave enough to venture out and comment in any type of deep thinking way...maybe one day...
Thursday, September 9, 2010
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