Ideas-Videos in the Classroom

Grade Level: K-5th Subject: Social Studies Topic: Historical Figures TeacherTube, YouTube, Vimeo and other video-sharing sites have made the possibility of learning information from someone else or in another place that much more accessible. As an elementary teacher, I have been able to incorporate video on a daily basis in my lesson planning. The great thing about these video-sharing sites is that one can find a plethora of different types of videos, ranging from music, home-videos, and educational. As far as the educational videos, I have most frequently found videos for my science and social studies lessons. For science I have found videos from Bill Nye the Science Guy and my students are always fully engaged with the music and video. In a way I find that they grasp the concept better. Video is great for students who are visual and auditory learners. The way I have used videos in my classroom is as an introduction to the lesson I will be teaching. The videos give the students a background knowledge they may not have had before. As far as for a social studies research lesson, I would have my have a collection of videos ready for my students to watch independently when we go to computer lab. Here they can take notes and pause the video at their own convenience. Another great way to use videos is having the students make their own videos using sites such as Animoto, Windows-movie maker or iMovie. Students can make a video as a reading project. After students read a novel, they can with pictures or actors recreate the story including setting, characters, and the plot. Although making an actual video themselves requires time and effort any grade level from 3rd and up can easily do this. This could be an activity that can be using for a unit in reading, where more time is given to the students to complete quality work.

Benjamin Franklin-Video

Flickr Slideshow

Social Bookmarking and Education

Social bookmarking is being able to save your favorite websites in an organized way. With social bookmarking, one can access one’s bookmarks from any computer at any place and any time. Social bookmarking is the ability to also access other people’s bookmarks from around the world with similar interests as one owns. Social bookmarking is important to education. It is important for educators to collaborate and exchange ideas. I have not really used Delicious as much, but I have used Pinterest in the summer and I always looked at the Education category. I have been able to gather so many ideas in a matter of seconds. One idea lead to another and another. Aside from teachers using social bookmarking, I can see students using these tools as well. When it comes to doing research, students can start compiling a lists of links that can be shared year after year. Teachers can also have bookmarks for specific subjects that students can access when they are required to do research on a specific topic. Social bookmarking is great for students who have difficulty using the internet to research. Many times students want to access any site they Google. Social bookmarking is a start for those beginner students who need that extra help when researching ideas.

Lesson Design: Twitter, Glogster, Video Conferencing

A lot of the Web 2.0 tools we have discussed in this class so far, I was already familiar with. Twitter is something I have been using for about two years now. However, I never thought I could actually incorporate it in the classroom. Learning how to integrate Twitter in the classroom got me thinking of ways I can use it on my technology-integration lesson. I have a few ideas on what I would want my technology-integration lesson to be on.

The Web 2.0 tools I will incorporate in my lesson are:

1.    Twitter,

2.    Video Conferencing, and

3.    Glogster.

The grade level for this lesson will be:

 3^rd grade, social studies, and focusing on historical figures

The reason I want to focus on this lesson is that I find it very difficult for me as a teacher to teach social studies, let alone make it fun. I personally have never really enjoyed social studies, but I feel that incorporating technology lets social studies take on a new meaning. I have already incorporated these type of lessons in my classes so far and I have seen the students very much engaged.

Lesson:

Each student will be assigned a specific historical figure (Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Boone, Benjamin Banneker). After we have read facts about these individuals and students have taken notes they will be required to create a Glogster for their assigned historical figure. This assignment will be a collaboration with another 3^rd grade class in Texas that is studying the same content. The students will be connected with the other students from another school via Twitter. Each student will create a Twitter account for their historical figure. They will compose tweets that give facts about their individual to help them gather more information on their figure. This will guide the students with their online interactive poster, Glog.The students will be given a rubric of the requirements (include 1 video, 1 audio, 3 content appropriate graphics, and 4 texts).  At the end of their project the students will connect with each other via Video Conference. They will present their Glog to the other classroom and provide questions and feedback. This is a great opportunity to collaborate with others across the country!

Twitter in the Classroom!

One of the things I learned from the people I follow is that there are many resources out there at our fingertips. On Scholastic Teachers (@ScholasticTeach) it gave a lesson plan idea on what is happening with Sandy and it's effects of it. These tweets are current and help us teachers provide current events to students, so that they know about what is going on in the world around them. I have been following tweets from local media, educational organizations, and educators. Personally, twitter for me is a great QUICK resource to use to be up to date on what is going on in the world around us. One can easily attach a link to their twitter and it includes only 140 characters so reading the tweets is not overwhelming as other social networking might be to some.

At first I have never thought of using twitter in the classroom, but after reading some of the articles it included many great ideas that I could start using in my classroom as of Monday. I will mention my top 3 favorite ideas I read from Steve Wheeler that seem doable in any classroom.

1. ‘Summing Up’: Ask students to read an article or chapter and then post their brief summary or précis of the key point(s). 

I would love to use this in my classroom to teach summary. Many times my students have a difficult time with it comes to having to summarize books they have read. They like to include too many details that are irrelevant. But, their task would be to only include information that happened in the beginning, middle, and end.

2. ‘Time Tweet’: Choose a famous person from the past and create a twitter account for them – choose an image which represents the historical figure and over a period of time write regular tweets in the role of that character, in a style and using the vocabulary you think they would have used (e.g. William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar). 

I feel that most teachers in elementary have a hard time incorporating social studies into their curriculum that many times it gets left behind. But, with incorporating Twitter and Social Studies the students will have a lot of fun and more of it can be done in the classroom. I like the idea of assigning the students to take the role of a historical figure and pretend that they are them and twitting ideas and facts about that individual. This will really allow the teacher to see what the student has learned about that person.

3. ‘Twitter Pals’ Encourage students to find a Twitter ‘penpal’ and regularly converse with them over a period of time to find out about their culture, hobbies, friends, family etc. Ideal for learning about people from other cultures. 

Having twitter palls will give the students an opportunity to build a community with other students in the same grade level, school, community, or state. Depending how the teacher wants to do it. 

Wheeler, S. Teaching With Twitter. Retrieved November 3, 2012, from http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/01/teaching-with-twitter.html.

Week 9

When I was first introduced to Podcasts, the first thing I thought of was having my student's actually create their own Podcasts. Although last week we did our own personal searches for Podcasts to be used in the classroom, I still feel that students creating Podcasts of their own would be more beneficial to them.  After creating my own Podcast using Audacity in my other EDT class, I quickly started thinking of how I could implement this into my own classroom. In third grade, poetry is a key factor in a child's success when passing the STAAR exam at the end of the year. Because we are covering poetry on a daily basis, I thought an engaging activity for my students could be to have them recite their own poems on a Podcast. This is a great strategy to get my students practicing their fluency because it is not easy to read with expression. I would have my students recite different forms of poetry such as humorous, narrative, and lyrical. Having them recite the poem with expression will help them understand the tone of the poem. Students could also practice pausing after line breaks and stanzas. Once the Podcast was created the Podcast could then be shared with teachers, parents, and other students.  Most teachers in my district have their own personal website for students and parents to access. With this tool, the student's work could be posted on the website for them to listen to and for their parents to hear, as well.

            Another way to use Podcasts in the classroom would be as a listening center in the classroom. I would save different genres of Podcasts, depending on the content being covered that week. The students would then choose which Podcast to listen to during a math or reading center. One podcast they could listen to would be a collection of past students' recited poems.

Week 8: Podcasts

One of the things that make podcasts engaging to students is the accessibility. Many students are fascinated when they get to use technology in the classroom. I have many students who instead of reading their books from the library prefer to read their eBooks from home, which similar to podcasts are read to them. As Hew (2009) states, auditory learning is the most portable form of learning.  This allows students to access their learning not only at school, but at home.  This article finds that podcast actually increases the learning of lectures covered in class. Podcasts do not necessarily have to be the only form of learning, but instead be the extra emphasis that some kids need. Although, the studies do not validly confirm that students who do not learn from podcasts perform lower, podcasts are without a doubt a create resources for students and teachers. One cannot argue that students enjoy using podcasts in the classroom and at home. Eventually, teachers can gradually move into having their students create their own compilation of podcast throughout the year.

 Hew, K. F. (2009). Use of Audio Podcast in K-12 and Higher Education: Review of Research Topics and Methodologies. Educational Technology Research and Development, 57(3), 333-357

Wiki Classroom Dictionary

One way I would use wikis in my elementary classroom would be to bring an emphasis on students’ academic language. The grade level could be for any grade, but since I am a third grade teacher, I would do this with my third grade class for all academic areas. At this age, third graders are already skilled on using the internet. I would more than likely have to help them set up their accounts to help them get started on how to use wikis. As we know it, teachers are accustomed to teaching vocabulary words the same traditional way. Students receive a group of words from a list and finally instructed to find the words in a dictionary to later be copied onto paper. However, wikis can change the old way of learning vocabulary words. Students in the classroom would create their very own Academic Language Wikis. I would have a wiki glossary for each subject, such as for reading, math, science and social studies. I would assign the students to groups where each group would take on the vocabulary words for one particular subject for that week. Whatever vocabulary words for that subject were taught, the group would be responsible for adding the definitions to the class created wiki dictionary. The vocabulary words would need a definition, illustration from uploaded photos or Google images. The students could also add links such as videos to give more description on the vocabulary words. Richardson (2010) suggests that wikis also allow for PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets, and audio files where students pronounce the word. Every week the students would rotate subjects so they always get a chance to explore vocabulary terms from all subjects. Not only are the students creating their own resource guide, but also have access to their vocabulary words in school or at home. In addition, not only can this wiki be a resource for my classroom, but “for anyone in the world to view” (Richardson, 2010, p. 63).

Google Docs on SMART Notebook

Survey

Educational Technology Blogs-Kidblog/Wallwisher

It was a coincidence that this week we are learning about blogging. Through an educational technology blog I subscribe to, I discovered a kid-friendly blogging web 2.0 tool, Kidblog. Kidblog is a friendly kid-blogging tool that any teacher can easily set up for their students to get the blogging started. Another great thing about this tool is that it is free! Kidblog is a great site for any student to use because as we all learned this week, blogging can get students engaged and writing at any grade-level.  Not only is this a great tool to use, but many times certain websites are blocked in districts. Blogger.com for example is a site that is blocked at my district so this would not necessarily be a great tool to use at my elementary school. This video I provided from Youtube explains how to get started using Kidblog. Enjoy!

Another tool I found from my blog subscriptions is Wallwisher. Wallwisher is simply a tool that allows students to "post" like a post-it onto an interactive wall online. Wallwisher starts off with letting the teacher pick a background for the wall and allowing you to pose a question or reflection. Once students have access to the link of the wall you have created, students can then comment on the wall. I feel that this is a good way to start off getting the students commenting and writing. Blogging at first may be difficult for students, but Wallwisher is a great beginning tool to eventually lead the students to blogging and commenting. What is neat about this tool is that it can be set up where the teacher/creator of the wall can set up the comments where they need to be approved before being posted for everyone to see. I have already used this tool in my classroom this year and I have found it really gets my students engaged. It is a quick way to have students commenting and reflecting.

Week 4: Classroom Blog

Currently I teach third grade in a self-contained classroom. I think introducing blogs or any other Web 2.0 technology in an elementary classroom can be a very overwhelming task. However, once that obstacle is faced blogging can be rewarding. Once students are in junior high or high school, students have already been more exposed to a form of “blogging”.  In middle or high school, they start experimenting with the social network websites such as Twitter, Facebook, or Myspace. Students in elementary may have heard of these sites, but have either been restricted to use them by parents or simply just never been exposed to them.  However, we are in the 21^st Century and we need to start giving our students an education that is relevant to their daily lives and future world.  Blogs are a tool that will help students be “engaged readers with ideas and questions and links. They ask readers to think and to respond. They demand interaction.” (Richardson, 2010, p. 18).  I recently found a kid friendly blog through a blog I subscribe to that I want to add in my classroom this year. It is called Kidblog.  I already starting thinking how this blog could be used to help enhance all my subject areas, reading, writing, science, social studies, and even math.  After reading chapter 2, I started brainstorming ways that my students can use our classroom blog through Kidblog.  One of the first things I came across was to first provide a lesson on internet safety where students sign a pledge.  It is also important that when starting a blog with students they understand what is acceptable blogging “etiquette.”  This would include appropriate language, commenting respectfully, and maintaining school rules regardless of where the blog was accessed. Once these have been discussed then successful blogging for the rest of the year can be expected. Some ideas I plan on doing in my classroom is sharing in depth discussion about characters from the stories we are reading. Students will blog about important themes and characters they have read about from their independent reading. Students will then comment on connections they make from other students characters and themes.

Week 2

Web technologies has greatly helped educators teach a curriculum that is suited for our 21st century students. Students are being engaged in the classroom in their learning style, through technology. In our generation, the web is not only being used to search information, but to search people. We are networking socially through the web, via Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Edmodo, and so much more. We can take virtual tours to various parts of the world right from our home. Technology makes field trips more accessible to everyone without the liabilities and financial constraints. Furthermore, education is transforming the way we communicate with each other. Teachers can connect with other educators through the web to collaborate on lesson plans. Websites such as Pinterest makes it easy to share ideas used in the classroom. Students can also connect with their classmates outside of the classroom, through technologies such as Edmodo and Kidblogs. 

Personal Learning Environments allow teachers and students to self teach themselves through web technologies. Search engines such as Google helps students and teacher find quick information. Students can complete projects at home through the internet along with their traditional references, books. YouTube is another resource students can use when wanting to learn how to solve a math problem or learn life skills such as cooking a dish. No longer are students needing to pick up a book, but instead by the click of a button they are discovering the outside world. Personal Learning Environments is a technology that is suited to the learner’s individual needs. The student can get online and bookmark specific websites that are suitable for their needs. Google Reader, TED, and blogs can be a source that any learner young and old has easy access to. The learner can gather information at their own pace, own convenience, and whenever, wherever they want.

Week 1

I feel that K-12 students are similar to my generation in certain aspects. When I was in grade school, computers were beginning to become “popular” or starting to surface in education. Internet was something that students were starting to use on a daily basis. However, I see that students today are more computer literate at a very young age. Nowadays, even two-year olds are capable of using an iPad. Of course, when I was in school we did not have access to all these forms of technology. I feel that because of the new advancement in entertainment with technology, students are expecting “entertainment” in the classroom. I think that students today do not focus on their handwriting or writing skills because of the constant use of “computer language” used in texts or social media networks. When I was in school, it was a privilege to use a computer or to even use any form of technology. However, I like that students today are computer literate coming into grade school because it makes it easy to introduce Web 2.0 tools that they can easily utilize.

Our current education system is failing our students when it comes to too much pressure on testing. I do not remember being in grade-school and having the pressure that students today have on assessments. When my students come into third grade, the first thing parents and students always anticipate is the state exam third graders are required to take. I feel that because of this it makes it very difficult for teachers to focus on critical thinking/problem solving skills. The arts are pushed to the side or sometimes even removed from the curriculum. In effect students are being punished. Teachers are almost forced to “teach to the test” so that their students can pass state mandated exams. Of course, there are also things that I see our education system advancing in. The constant push in technology use for the classrooms is really benefiting our students so that they can have 21st century skills they need for future jobs. Last year, I realized that simply incorporating technology is not going to make our students critical thinkers and problem solvers. However, many Web 2.0 tools if used correctly can benefit our students greatly when it comes to problem solving skills and expressing creativity.

Week 11: Explore Two Tools

Chapter 9: Visualizing with Technologies


Tool: Photo Story 3/Digital Camera
A tool that can be useful in the classroom is Photo Story 3. This software can be a challenging software to students, however, once they get started they become very creative. Students will explore how to use visual images, text, and sound.  They will need to use these three elements to creative a cohesive presentation. This will develop a student's critical-thinking skills. First the students need to create the story, write it, organize the information for the story and finally create the story.  Students learn to work collaboratively and learn to "establish a connection between the creator and the viewer." Photo Story is a tool that can be used at any grade level. Any student can pick up a camera and create a story that will be meaningful for them.



Grade Level: 3rd Grade
Subject: Reading/Language Arts
Topic: Story Structure
Learning Objectives: Students will learn the elements of a story: plot, characters, setting, problem, solution
How students will use this tool: Students will fill create a written story in their writing notebooks. They will need to make sure that they include characters, setting, a problem, and a solution. Once their story is complete and they have all the elements needed for their story they will then take pictures of illustrations they have made or pictures of their friends acting out the parts of their story. They will then insert these photographs in Photo Story 3. After the images are uploaded in their project they can include the audio to their story. This is a great opportunity for the students to be creative and learn more about the important elements a story needs. 

Tool: Digital Cameras
Another tool that students can use are digital cameras. Digital cameras are very useful for students to think critically and be able to show others their perspective through their digital camera lens. They can explore the classroom and take a "field trip" around the school and capture images that can be later shared with their peers.  Students can use their creativity this way because everyone takes a picture differently. This tool promotes creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking. The NET Standards that are met in a lesson like this one are creativity innovation, communication and collaboration, Research and Information Fluency, Critical thinking, problem solving and decision making.


Grade Level: 4th Grade
Subject: Math
Topic: Geometry (parallel lines, perpendicular lines, intersecting lines)
Learning Objectives: Students will be able to identify parallel, perpendicular and intersecting lines.
How Students Will Use this Tool:  In this scenario students will be divided in groups of 2-3. They will be going around the school and outside of the school to explore the different types of geometric lines: perpendicular, intersecting, and parallel. They will need to find at least 5 examples of these types of lines for each line. They will use the digital camera to take the pictures of each of these types of lines. When they are finished taking the pictures they will print out their photographs and will post them onto a poster to display to the class.

Week 11: Developing Ideas for Final Project

My lesson plan is designed for a third grade science class.  I will divide the students in groups of two and each group will get a different habitat: forests, grassland, oceans, and deserts. The learning goal will be to research what types of animals and plants live in these  different types of ecosystems. By the use of Google and Gale Online Databases the students will do much of their research. 

Once the students have acquired most of their research they will be ready to make their information presentable. Students will log on to edu.glogster.com to create their Glog with the information they have learned. They will be required to include text, audio, video, and graphics to display their research onto their glog. When students are finished, they will present their glog to the class through Smartboard. This will be an interactive presentation for the entire classroom.

Week 10: Exploring Ideas and Resources for Final Project

For my final project I want to create a science lesson plan that will incorporate the use of technology. There are many ways to communicate with various technologies and Glogster is a student-friendly tool students can use to share information that has been researched. In my third grade class, my students have been learning about different habitats: deserts, oceans, grasslands, and forests. In groups I had my students do research on these different habitats in cooperative groups. Glogster is a presentation tool that will allow my students to insert pictures, text, links, video, and audio to illustrate what they learned about their unique habitats.

The great thing about this lesson is that it can be used for any grade level. I chose to use this presentation tool for a science lesson, but I could also use it for social studies, reading, writing, or math. I am excited to be able to explore this tool with all the other subjects. Just like it can be used for all core subjects, it can be tailored to any-grade level. Students can get as creative as they want. The younger the student the more graphics and less text on their Glogster; however, the older the student the more text and different features can be expected.

Chapter 5: Communicating with Technologies

Chapter 5 Communicating with Technologies 
This chapter explains how technology can be used to communicate with others.  There are many different forms of communicating with people through the use of computers, internet, and others forms of technology. Through technologies students can communicate with peers outside of their classroom, school, city, and even country! This chapter explores the many different tools that can be used to communicate through the use of technology. Students can interact through discussion boards, instant messaging, presentation technologies, video conferencing, and podcasts.

Discussion boards are a tool teachers can use to get students to communicate their learning with their peers. This is very beneficial for those students in the classroom who express themselves better through writing as opposed to speaking:

ePals

VoiceThread

Chats and Instant Messaging some programs that support chatting among peers are Skype, GoogleTalk, AOL Instant Messaging, and Windows Live Messenger.  All these tools can help students get a better way of communicating with more than one person from different parts of the world. However, every teacher should follow certain safety guidelines for online communication.

Presentation Technologies is a tool to help present information in a more interactive, creative way. Some popular presentation software are Google presentations, SlideShare, Glogster, and Prezi. Each software has a their unique way of putting gathered information into an organized, visual presentation.

Video Conferencing is a great tool teachers could use whenever they may want to talk to someone outside of the classroom. Many times students cannot always take field trips or have presenters come to their school due to scheduling conflicts. However, video conferencing is a great opportunity to be able to hold video conversations with experts in another profession outside the school.

Twitter: Week 9

@weareteachers

One of the resources I found on twitter was from @weareteachers. They posted an article "The Teacher's Quick Guide to Pinterest." This site allows users to "pin" any information they have on an interactive "bulletin board." It is a very similar site to Delicious. This article makes it easy for teachers to get started using Pinterest. The reason that this site is useful to teachers is that it can provide many ready made lesson plans made by other teachers.  The only "bad" thing about Pinterest is that it's an "invite-only," however you can sign-up and request for an invite and after that you can start pinning.

@teachersnet


I read an interesting article linked from @teachersnet. This article was titled "Teach Anger Management – Five Ways to Help Students Deal With Anger Constructively." Many times we think that because we are not dealing with SPED students that we will not encounter students who are emotional. My very first year teaching I had a student who would become very violent when he was angry. Being a first -year teacher, I was shocked and did not know the best strategies on how to deal with this behavior in the classroom. As teachers, it is difficult to deal with these issues in the classroom because we do not know the best ways to help students. This article is great for any student, teacher, parent, or individual who wants to learn how to help students deal with these emotions. The following are five tips in which to help:


1. Teach students the difference between primary and secondary emotions
2. Help students recognize physical manifestations of anger
3. Teach students positive self-talk
4. Tell students to own their emotions
5. Teach students to keep their power

Twitter: Week 8

@PBSteachers 

This week on Twitter I followed @PBSteachers. They posted an article that discusses how an elementary school targets students with disabilities early on. Some of the strategies they use at this school is to use art and technology as an early intervention to help lessen the dropout rates that seem to occur twice as much more with LD students as opposed to their peers. What I found interesting in this video was when they showed two products from a student one using a computer word processor program, while the other was simply hand written. When the LD student used the computer program his work was on grade level, because many times students with dyslexia tend to take longer to process information when reading and struggle writing information down. Overall, this video shows how computers, iPads, arts and digital audio programs are great tools that allow students to learn at their own pace and succeeding.

@21stCenturyTch

One of the resources that will be very useful from this follower is an article for the Top 10 Technology Blogs for Education. After reading this blog I have already subscribed to many of the blogs on here so I can have more resources that I can use. My favorite two blogs from this top ten are http://blog.web20classroom.org/ where they provide many web2.0 technologies to use in the classroom and http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/.

Delicious: Week 7

After learning more about WebQuests, I searched on Delicious for a stack that could possibly have links to more information on WebQuests. I enjoy looking at other teacher created WebQuests to give me ideas of what I can use in my classroom. By searching "WebQuests" on the delicious search I found a stack titled "WebQuests" by amast. This stack provides many useful links such as how to create WebQuests, how to make webquests, and examples. The following are some links found on this stack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyht-ehlAWY

http://webquest.org/index.php

Tools: WebQuests and Surveys

Tool: WebQuest

A tool that will help students inquire with technologies are WebQuests. Webquests are a great tool to where students learn to work in collaborative groups, think critically, and explore "open-ended student directed research projects." Through the use of WebQuests, the students are able to all share in their individual strengths in a team. For a WebQuest there are different roles for each student. This holds every student accountable for their job in their group research project. What is great about WebQuests are that they can be used for any subject.

The way I would use a WebQuest would be in science. An example of where students can use WebQuests:
Grade Level: 3rd Grade
Subject: Science
Topic: Weather
Learning Objectives: Students will explore the different types of weather: tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzard, thunderstorm
How students will use this tool: Students will research information about each of the types of weather. Each student will have a role either that of the Designer-find a layout on PowerPoint that will help present information found, Researcher-use the websites to gather important information, Manager-make sure everything is getting done, help whoever needs help, Recorder-will write down the important research found.

Tool: Survey

Another tool that can be useful in the classroom are surveys. Surveys can be found online such as (SurveyMonkey,Cool Surveys, Zoomerang). These can be used in all subject areas. However, a way I would use surveys in my classroom is create a survey where we gather data from our class to create a bar graph or pictograph.

Grade Level: 3rd Grade
Subject: Math
Topic: Bar Graphs/Pictographs
Learning Objectives: Students will explore bar graphs and pictographs using the information gathered from the online surveys.
How students will use this tool: Students will fill out the survey. Once the survey is filled out as a class we will explore the data. With the data gathered, the students will create a bargraph/pictograph.

Delicious: Week 6

This link I found on Delicious.com by typing in the search bar "web tools." I wanted to learn about other sites that give more information on different web tools. This link was a neat find because it has a list of online tools and applications.  The tools can be sorted according to tag. This website also includes a blog with further information.

I also found another link called Glogster. I searched through people that had also saved Glogster and found the user "ddiieno" who had saved this Quizlet link. This link allows one to create flashcards in order to study. It is a great way to study interactively. 

Visualizing with Technologies: Chapter 9

Many people would agree that the majority of us are visual learners. Everything around us is first perceived from an image. As the saying goes "a picture is a thousand words" because from one visual representation we can get so much. I chose this chapter because as an elementary teacher many of my students are visual learners. Visualization tools as described in this chapter will help both "visualizers and verbalizers to reason and represent ideas visually without artistic skills." This is very important because many times to create a visual representation such as a poster (as I have done in my classroom) I receive the same response "I can't draw. I'm not an artist." However, with visualization tools students do not need to "produce original illustrations."

Two major uses in visualization tools are that they can be used to be interpretive or expressive. A student can use these tools to better understand text information (interpretive) or to communicate more effectively ideas they want to share with other viewers (expressive). This chapter discusses many visualization tools such as: draw and paint programs, scientific visualization tools, mathematical visualization tools, GIS tools, sketching tools, digital cameras and mobile phones, video productions, and video modeling and feedback.

Digital Cameras, Mobile Phones and Video

Through the use of digital cameras students can create documentaries to tell a story about local or controversial issues. With the use of technology, students can think critically with this great tool. To introduce this activity, students can create a personal documentary and be creative.  By adding audio and a moving picture students can create a story with video cameras. Students in a group can create a digital story on paper, shoot it, and edit it through a video editing program.  This could be great for building collaboration and reading skills. Students can create a story and represent the elements of a story: exposition, rising action, climax, and falling action.
Video is also a way for students to evaluate themselves. If students are recorded on an activity they can then view the video and give themselves constructive feedback.

Week 5: Blog and News Alert

This week I found some more links on fun interactive games for President's day. There are five different activities to choose from from this website. I have really enjoyed my subscription to Sharing Technology because it always has a great deal of online, interactive activities that relate to holidays, yet also educational.

They also introduce different web 2.0 tools. So far my favorite post they put was on collaboration. They included different web 2.0 tools online that supports collaboration in the classroom! Great ideas! I really liked the Wallwisher because you get immediate feedback from students. You can pose a question and students post their "interactive sticky note" on the "wall" with their answer. It is a fun way to collaborate in the classroom and receive feedback from students.

This is an example of how you can use it:

Week 4: Blog and News Alert

Through Google Alerts, I found another blog, Math Coach's Corner. This became very useful because one of the blog postings introduced free Smart Notebook activities where students can practice their multiplication facts. Being a third grade teacher, one of the key things students need to learn beginning third grade is their multiplication facts. What better way to learn them than by doing fun activities with technology.

I found that by my personal Google Alerts and blog subscriptions, I have already been able to incorporate many activities in my classroom my students can do with technology. Before getting this blog,I would not have been aware of this information that was simply a click away. Every week I am eager to find new tools I can use in my classroom. Blog subscriptions and Google Alerts is a great way to find resources that can be used rather quickly in the classroom.



Zoom.it is another tool I found through the blogs. It allows one to zoom any image on the web and get a closer look at it. One can apply this tool to get students thinking critically. The teacher can zoom as far as one can to an image and have the students predict what it could be. As the teacher starts zooming out the student can be changing their predictions. This is a good way to introduce any subject. 

Constructive and Cooperative: Meaningful Learning with Technology

Constructive (Articulative/Reflective): Technology can promote the constructivist characteristic by using programs such as the one I recently found on my blog subscribtion called Glogster. Here students are given the tools to use to articulate the information they researched with a group of students. What I like about this tool is students will need to figure out how to articulate their information through using a video, text features, sounds, hyperlinks, or graphics that will show a reflection of their learning. I have had my students complete social studies projects where they reflected their information onto a poster board, however, I noticed that they would find information on youtube videos but how do they transfer that on a poster board? They can't. That is one of the reasons I really like the idea of these glogsters because actually videos can be posted on their globster. But, an even better idea would be to have the students create their own video and post that video on their glogster.

Cooperative (Collaborative/Conversational): Cooperative learning is a tool for any classroom when a students wants to engage in meaning learning. Students can use the characteristic of cooperative learning with technology such as using Skype. Skype is a video conferencing tool where students can engage in conversations with students from other schools in the district, state, and country. Projects done by two students from different parts of the world can come together through video conferencing and share their information. When we think of cooperative learning we usually think of within the classroom. However, this tool goes beyond the classroom and into the outside world. It is almost a virtual field trip. Skype gives students an opportunity to articulate with students from around the world in a conversational way. 

Week 3: Blog and News Alert

One of the blogs I have really enjoyed this week and last week is Sharing Technology. The information given in this blog has been real useful in my teaching. Incorporating new websites in my classroom that are interactive for my students has helped engage my students in subjects they may have otherwise found difficult. I liked how this blog included a link to a website that has story-ebooks for Science. My students can use this during computer time or I can post this link on our classroom website for them to learn more about a certain topic, such as the watercycle. 


Another thing I found through my blog subscription is a link to a site called Glogster Edu. I was so excited to see this website because it allows you to create an "interactive poster" online. I can already start using this tool with my students because whenever we do research projects I have my students put all their information on a poster. However, this goes beyond paper and pencil. The students can include graphics, text, and video to share the information they learned on a particular subject. This link includes student samples of what kids can do with glogster with all the core subjects! 

Week 2: Blog and News Alert

     After reviewing my Google Reader I enjoyed reading the blogs I had subscribed to. One of the blogs I subscribed to is called Sharing Technology. I wanted to find blogs that give teachers various ideas in which to use smart notebook lessons and/or websites to engage students in reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. This blog introduced me to three websites in which to engage students in writing stories.  One site is called Wicked The Zoo, where students can create a story from a picture. Navigating the site, I found other activities students can do such as Missing Words and Word find. Another website is RIF Reading Planet Story Maker. Students again select an image and can begin creating a story from the image they choose. Lastly, A Timely Tale is the other website in which students can create their own stories.


     These websites are great to get students comfortable with writing. The images and engagement through technology helps the student not have writer's block when creating a story. These are tools that will help any child get rid of their fear of writing because they are guided in a fun interactive way.

Week 1: Improve Productivity

I am a third grade teacher and some of the tasks I would like to improve productivity in my classroom are:


1. Emailing parents/students: I would like to have more frequent communication with my student's parents and students. Most households nowadays own a computer at home with internet, so instead of sending out letters and wasting paper emails seem to be the best choice. Knowing how to create mass emails that will be sent to parents for weekly reminders would be very productive. I have sent emails to more than one person before, but if there is a program that will save time I would like to learn how to use it.


2. Saving files: One of the things my school lacks is having more than one computer in the classroom. The only time my students have the opportunity to use a computer is once a week and for 45 minutes. I like to use the computers so that my students can practice their word processing skills and doing research projects. However, being that my students are in an Elementary school they do not have their own personal folders where they can save their files. I would like to learn of an easy way to be able to save files maybe like Google documents for my students.


3. Kid-Friendly Research Websites: In my classroom my students enjoy doing research projects for Science and Social Studies. However, many times my students have difficulty finding useful websites that will make their research more productive. I would like to learn of popular, useful websites that make research simple and fun for elementary students. I have tried Webquests before and would like to do something similar to that.


4. Smart Notebook Lessons: Recently I started using Smart Notebook for many of my lesson. I would like to learn of websites that teachers can use to share Smart Notebook lessons. 

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!