Tool #11 Reflection

Well, overall I must say my favorite tools for me are google reader and google docs! As for my kids, I am super excited to incorporate I touches and apps into my workstations! I think it will really motivate the kids. I also plan on setting up a blog for my classroom and hope to let the kids post things. I also know I will have the kids create a photo story that incorporates science or social study concepts! We did this last year with famous people and the kids LOVED it!

This 11 tools experience has been good! It has provided me with hands on learning so that I am more comfortable with incorporating various aspects of technology into my class. The kids NEED this, so I will for sure be using it more for products that the students produce.

There were no unexpected outcomes other than the fact that I feel more knowledgeable and comfortable using technology in my teaching! I really BELIEVE I can do it now! :)

Tool #11 Digital Citizenship

One of our units in Social Studies is teaching about being a good citizen. We discuss the qualities of a good citizen...what does one look like, sound like, and act like. We model examples of being a good citizen and not being a good citizen. Now that technology is a major part of our world and our classroom, I think digital citizenship should naturally be a part of our curriculum and teaching. Students must understand the proper way to use technology as well as the improper. Kids always get a kick out of the "incorrect" way to do things. I can model something as simple as deleting someone's hard work and the consequences or I could do something even more serious, such as posting something on a blog that should not be posted! I think the kids would see first hand the effects these 2 actions would have and how it is NOT showing digital citizenship! I want my kids to understand that once you act and do something, you cannot erase it, it is done and you must face the consequences. In addition I want my students to know that they can trust me and be honest with me. If they make a mistake, please let me know. Finally, I want my students to know that they must follow the rules just as any other rules and guidelines we have. Using analogies will be a major part of my digital citizenship lesson so that students can connect to what I am saying!

Tool #10

I have NEVER used an Ipad, I phone or I touch...they seem really cool, but just never used one. WOW...the possibilities seem endless using this technology in the classroom! There are SO MANY apps that kids can use in stations, projects, or I can use to teach whole class or in small groups! Some of the free apps I found were Learn to Draw Dinosaurs, Read me Stories by 8interactive limited, and Sequence Search: Search for arithmetic sequences (like 2,4,6 or 3,7,11) in a number grid. Like word search, but with numbers. I am going to use the itouch as a literacy center and hopefully the students could learn how to use a new application each week or so. They are going to love it!

Tool #9 Skype and Jing

Ok...so these were both VERY new to me, but I think both would be useful in my 2nd grade classroom. We had penpals last year, so I think using Jing to take snapshots of things in houston,etc, and creating a slideshow etc to send to our penpals would be cool. The kids could choose what was important or critical info. As for skype...YEAH.... now my kids can talk to their grandparents! We have tried other video messaging things, but this really worked the best! The kids loved it and I can see skyping with penpals next year! I think it would also be beneficial to observe teachers teaching from a distance! What an amazing asset that can contribute so much to teaching and learning!

Tool #9 Videos in the Classroom

Purple Martins have become a HUGE part of second grade since we won several grants and put in purple martin housing. Attached is a live video of a purple martin using a video camera that we will hopefully be able to purchase in the fall with a grant that hopefully we will get! :) This video will give students and up close experience of a real purple martin!



This 2nd video is of a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. We study caterpillars and life cycles in 2nd grade. However, all too often, the kids miss the actual emerging of the butterfly, so this will allow the kids to see what happened while they were away!



Videos play a huge role in my teaching because they can show children what concepts look like "live"!! These are just 2 of the videos that I have found and posted. Videos can capture what photos and words cannot!

Tool #7 Photo Story

Making photo stories is so much fun! My students last year made photo stories about famous people they were reading about and presented them to the class. The children LOVED the project and all were actively engaged!My husband took my daughter on her first plane ride and they went to Seattle. I was working on her pictures, so I decided to make a photo story using them! Enjoy!Ok...so this isn't working..and I am on a different computer....so I will move on and then get back to it when I get home! I am curious why it didn't work? Oh well! Will try again! :) Moving on....hope that is ok! Ok...so I made that video on my husband's computer and tried to change it to AVI format. I am still going to work on it, but until then, I took photos Ihad of Dr. Suess on my Dell and made another one! Cross your fingers...

Tool #6

Searching through the suggested sites, I was still not sure how I would use the wiki with my 2nd graders! Then I found a second grade wiki site and thought what this teacher said is a great way to begin:

"All the students in our class will be able to add content so they can show off what they know any time they want. They can do it any time they have access to a computer, either at school or at home. This is a new way of using computers for us, and our wiki can grow and change as our needs change."

Looking further into this site, I saw many unique and interesting things that children have posted including animoto videos with children's artwork, a variety of dinosaur stories using glogster, google videos of students reading letters to President elect Obama, students performing poetry, and the list continues. I think allowing students the freedom to explore the wiki and posting new creations is perfect. In addition to the childrens' posts, the teacher has posted links to beneficial websites as well as other info about her class. Other suggestions I have found about using wikis in class are allowing kids to type stories or poems and then other children can go in and edit or make suggestions. I am not quite sure how this would look in second grade, but it is a possibility.

As far as my use of a wiki, I have already started putting together a classroom wiki in which I can post assignments and classroom information. Our team could possibly use the wiki for team planning. We could set up a page for each subject and type ideas that pop in to our heads as they always do at different times. Using the wiki, we can all post ideas and collaborate from our own homes and then compile our ideas and lessons together.

I will continue to work on my classroom wiki page and search for additional ways to use a wiki to aid in my students' learning.

Tool #5 Bookmarking

I must admit, and you can tell by the dates of my assignment posts, this was not one of my favorites. I think having my bookmarks in a central location is nice, but it has been a little difficult to establish! I can see myself maybe using it once I play with it more, but I have worked a long time on this one!
I added one of my favorite sites to my bookmarks called The Reading Lady and I also added her blog to my google reader and blogs I follow! This is a great site! The link is listed under My Favorite Links, so please check it out!
Last week I attended a multi-sensory grammar workshop at Neuhaus. I learned some good ideas to incorporate into my Multi-sensory grammar teaching that I began last year! I am excited to see the benefits this program could have school wide! It seems to meet the needs of all learners! They suggested we join the Reading Teacher Network, so I have included it in my bookmarks. I have also become a registered user and subscribed to their newsletter so I can keep up with the latest learning trends and information to support my divers learners in the classroom! Please check out this great resource by clicking on the link in My Favorite Links.
The Daily Cafe is another site I just had to include. The Cafe, by the sisters, is an amazing resource for teachers of all grades. It provides an organized method for planning small group/individualized instruction in reading!It is a MUST read for sure! Just click on the link in My Favorite Links section to have instant access to this site!

As far as the TAGS for my bookmarks, I used comprehensiontools for the reading teacher and reading lady websites. I used this TAG because both of these sites provide tools for learners to use and improve their reading. For my third site, differentiating reading instruction for struggling readers, I used differentiation. This is huge in my classroom because NOT ALL LEARNERS are the SAME! Having access to ideas for differentiation will be something I continue to search for so I can add those sites under this TAG.

Ok, so the bookmarking is getting easier...but still a little more work than some of the other tools!

Tool #4

Ok this Google Doc thing is AWESOME! One way I KNOW we will use it next year is to create our weekly newletter. I can't tell you how many emails go back and forth to add birthdays and update what we are doing for the week. I created a newsletter already and this way all of my team can enter infor from the leisure of their own computers! This will save time and make collaboration much easier! I can also see kids typing poems and me being able to comment and look/grade form home! So nice! The google reader is also really neat because I can look at all of my blog updates in one location as well as my google docs. I can't believe how much I am learning!

Tool #3

The past few days have been fun playing around with all the different cool things you can do with words, pictures, and videos. I am currently working on an animoto video about our new baby purple martins that I hope to post soon! All of these creative websites would be awesome for children to choose from in order to present information to the class, make projects, or just have fun exploring technology like I did! I definitely will use the videos created by some second graders this year to help introduce and tell about our purple martins to the grades yet to come! I still have lots to learn, but my Purple Martin Wordle and my picture collage sure were fun to create and really did not take that much time at all!

Tool #2 Online Education Community

Wow! I think having an online education community would be great! Having the opportunity to communicate with other educators who share similar interests, teaching styles, etc. would allow me a chance to discuss new methods in teaching, ask questions, and extend my knowledge to become a better teacher! Education is always changing and each year brings a totally different group of learners. Trying to meets the needs of each child can be challenging, but being able to turn to others who are not on my campus would allow me a chance to maybe learn some new ideas and ways to help!So, I am excited to start blogging on the PLN!

Looking at the "advice on commenting" blog, I loved the part where it said teach children to blog! She posted a child's comment where he noted how comments made him feel important because he wrote things he wanted to share with everybody! I think of my pirple martin site! I write the blog to inform and to get others engaged it this amazing experience. Reading comments from the excited children and interested readers makes ME even more excited and know that my work is appreciated! I also liked the part that says "crticize kindly". What I write is important to me and if someone was being negative or putting me or my blog down, I know I would take great offense and be a little heartbroken.

I have looked at a bunch of the blogs and these are the ones that I have chosen to comment about:

http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/
This blog is interesting!

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
Great blog that provides new ideas for integrating technology into the classroom!

http://langwitches.org/blog/
This is another site that offers really cool technolgy project ideas!

http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com/
This class website is a good model for me as I begin my class site! :)

http://kimcofino.com/blog/
The last post on this blog has a great reflection about the format of workshops for teachers! Kim has it right on the money!

Tool #1 Using a Blog in the Classroom

Creating a blog was VERY easy. I have already started using the blog as a way for my students, parents, and the whole school to keep up with our Meadow Wood Purple Martin nest in our houses. This was a second grade project and the blog has allowed me a place to post updates as well as photos and videos of the birds that the children have taken. In addition, parents and students from previous years can see the beautiful birds and our first nest! I think I could also use a blog for a homework as well as for posting pictures and information about what is occurring in class. Parents could easily look on the blog to get information!