After 11 Tools Reflection

I really enjoyed making the Imovie and look forward to using Photostory with my students. I think it is a great way to publish a piece and bring their writing to life. I think it will motivate those hesitant writers to finish a story and be proud of their finished product. The I-touches will be a great resource for research and to reinforce concepts. I know they will love using them.

I am still a little nervous about how this will all play out in my classroom. It is a lot to take in. I think it will be fun, and my students and I will just have to learn together as we go along.

I didn't realize how many programs are out there and just how behind in technology I am. It is very time consuming trying to figure it all out. I am hoping that it will get easier the more I use it.

Tool #11

As with every subject we teach, MODELING is the most important thing we can do to teach digital citizenship. Now with the Activboards in our classroom this is much easier to do. Students can see first hand how we choose sites and hear as we "think aloud" if this site has valid information that we need. They need to see the thought process that we go through so they can in turn use the same problem solving skills when they are on the internet. This is not something that we can do once, but we must continue to do it and they will grow in their knowledge of digital citizenship. They will also start to hold each other accountable for the actions that they are taking on the internet.

Tool #10

I got an I-touch for my birthday this past year, and love it! It is so handy and fun. I cannot wait to use it in class. I know my students will be very excited to discover the new apps with me.

I love the Sudoku app but it is too hard for most second graders. I know a few may get the hang of it. When I taught 4th grade, my students loved doing the puzzles. I like the USA Factbook app and the idea of students using it to research states. Math Drills Lite is a great app for having students practice math facts. I like that it shows them how the answer is calculated with different objects. This is very concrete for them, and not as abstract as just using flashcards.I am looking forward to trying these apps with my students.

Tool #9

I like the idea of using Jing to make step by step instruction videos for the kids to refer back to. I think it would be really helpful in this instance when we are going to have so many new technology gadgets. This would refresh the students on how to use each program before we used it. Also would help when we get new students or a student is absent. I would not have to take time out to explain the directions again. They could just watch the video.

It would be fun to use Skype with pen pals. We could write letters to another second grade class in the district or in another state. With Skype we would get the opportunity to talk to them and see them to help put a face with the name. It is a great tool for communicating with others all over the world.

Tool #8

Videos are great in the classroom! They allow you to bring in real examples to the classroom and define content for your visual learners.

This is a rap video that explains the types of clouds:

http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/cloud-rap/s10tUCc2j8qUwf38bioxyw

This is a video that also explains the types of clouds:

This is a song that explains the water cycle:

Tool #7

I used iMovie to create a short movie of my family on my husband's Mac laptop.

iMovie is pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. I am still trying to adjust to using a Mac instead of a PC. Things are so different! I really liked how you have so many options for your video by just clicking a button. Themes, fonts, colors, etc. This will be so much fun for my students!

Tool #6

I had never heard of a wiki before! I am start to feel very out of touch with all this technology stuff. I really like the idea of using a wiki for writing narratives. Writing is a difficult subject to teach because it is hard to get some students involved and motivated to write. By writing using a wiki I think that would really draw those students in. Not to mention it would be a great way to do peer editing. We could start out doing a shared writing and editing it together using a wiki and displaying it on the activboard. Then each child could have their own wiki and peer editing could be done as part of a station. Students could see how much their story changes!

I think it would also be beneficial for teachers because it is another way to collaborate and share ideas with others.

Tool #5

I found the delicious site to be kind of confusing and a little overwhelming to just bookmark and tag websites. I have to say that it is my least favorite tool so far. I did manage to find

www.readinga-z.com when I searched for Reading. I love all the leveled books and activities this site provides for reading groups in English and Spanish.

I also searched for Math Games and came across this site. www.mathplayground.com

It has lots of games that students can play to reinforce concepts learned in class as well as math problems that they can solve.

Tool #4

1. I created a School Supply Checklist Spreadsheet. I sent it to my team members so we can use it the first week of school to keep track of what supplies each child brings.

2. I became a follower on various blogs to see what ideas others have and look forward to learning new things.

3. I think that both of these tools would be very helpful in the classroom. We can share so much with others and save time by not having to "reinvent the wheel". We can collaborate with colleagues and divide the workload.

Tool #3

Wordle is a great tool to use with my bilingual students. It can help them to learn and use vocabulary on new concepts. It gives them a way to express their learning in a fun way.

Spell with Flickr is a creative way to showcase titles for projects and presentations. It is also a neat way to have students make nametags to display their work.

Tool #2

1. What are your thoughts about building an online education community and participating in a PLN?
I think it is great and will help us learn so much more. It gives us access to many new ideas and allows us to collaborate with others who can relate to what we are experiencing.

2. What point stood out to you from the commenting advice?
How people will react to your comment really stood out to me. I think it is very important to keep this in mind when commenting. Those that do not know you or anything about you can misunderstand your comment. You have to be constructive and add to the discussion and consider the blogger's feelings. I think people can be harsh on the internet since they are not face to face with people, and often forget how the blogger will feel.

3. What five blogs did you select for your comments?
Go Jump in the Lake
SuperThorn2
SuperThornDos
Mrs. Hoover's First Grade
Miss Williams First Grade

Tool #1- Getting Started

Creating a blog is easier than I thought. I think it would be fun for my students to publish their thoughts and ideas on concepts we are learning. I know that they would love creating a Voki and recording their voices.