Reflection

I really enjoyed Google Docs and Digital Storytelling. The only downfall to Digital Storytelling was that it took me over a day to get it posted to my blog. Now, that I know how to post it and save it correctly, I look forward to teaching my kids how to use it. It could be a fun project where each student makes a story showing us their family and us getting to know each person better. This would be a a great community building activity.

I have definitely transformed my thinking of learning in my classroom to include technology. With a new school and with more technology resources available, I think that it will be easier to create lessons revolving around different technology tools.

I was surprised that I survived. I think technology is great, but I always start off thinking new tools are going to be hard. After, learning several new tools and not giving up on learning them, I have a better attitude that I can teach my kids more tools to take them into the 21st century of learning!

Tool #11

I like the terminology "Digital Citizenship." It only makes since to explain and model how to be a good "Digital Citizen" since technology encompasses our daily lives and continues to grow at a fast pace. We teach our kids how to be good classroom citizens. Now, it is important to include the component of Digital Citizenship. Three components of being a good digital citizen that I would want my kids to understand are digital literacy, proper etiquette, and safety. In my classroom, I plan to model and teach the different ways to use technology ( example: email,I Touch, social networking sites, google docs, different programs, and many others). Students need to be taught a variety of technology tools. Next, I would model and have my class discuss proper etiquette. Do you think it is polite to text or talk on the phone when someone is speaking to you? So many people today have bad etiquette. Lastly, I think it is important to discuss safety. Kids need to know what to do if cyberbullying takes place. Of course becoming a good digital citizen requires all of these components and more. Children need good role models in order for our expectations of them to be attained.

Tool #10

I downloaded a few Educational Apps and tried to sync them to my I Touch. Unfortunately, I was not able to sync all of them because I think I have the first generation I Touch. I was able to sync the "Guess My Age" app. This app calculates your age based on placing numbers on the screen and you answer yes or no based on whether your age appears on the screen. Then at the end it is able to tell you your age. I have ssen this done before when I went to a training with Anita ? at Summer U and TxTeams. She would guess a number that we all picked by asking us if the number appeared on different slides. There is a method and pattern to this.

Last school year, I took my kids to the library to explore our school set of I Touches. My kids used different apps. This year all of our kids will have access to an I Touch. I look forward to exploring more apps, finding educational apps for my kids to use, and taking it a step further other than just exploraion and navigation.

Tool #9

Jing:
Today, I watched some introduction videos of Jing and downloaded it. I have the sun on my desktop. I captured a web page to send thru screencast, but it did not work. I will have to try later. I can see how this would be neat for our kids, but I will have to play around with it more to really understand how it would be beneficial in the classroom.

Skype: I have seen Oprah use Skype on her show. That is the only connection I could make to it and the only experience I have had with it. After listening to the introduction video it seems very easy to use. I look forward to being able to use it with our new computers in our classroom. Unfortunately, I am unable to use it right now. I do not have the necessary equipment, but this is definitely something I plan on using in the future. My kids can discuss different objectives and learning activities with kids all around the world. What a great way to bring different cultures to the classroom especially when we do different holidays around the world and when we do our continent project in first grade.

Tool #8

The link below is a short video about the lifecylcle of a butterfly created by two first graders- Kelly Chan and Catherine Chen. I found this on Teacher Tube!

I think that it is neat to show your class videos that are educational that other students have created. This is a great tool to actively engage your class in learning the content, to motivate them to create their own videos and a fun way for them to learn.

http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/butterfly-life-cycle3059/fyHFd0M7KwzwaIH1yCNaTQ

Below is a video with three story problems created by a class and posted on U Tube!


I found this version of Goldilocks by James Marshall on U Tube! Children like to watch videos of stories instead of always hearing the teacher read them. In addition, U Tube or other video sites like Discovery Education are great resources to find materials that you may or may not have in the classroom to assist with your teaching!



Unfortunately, there may be problems or downfalls, sometimes. When I was trying to watch a video it had an advertisement that would not close at the bottom of the video. Also, videos do not always upload when you want them, too. In the past, I had problems with Discovery Education. When this occurs, I tell my kids that we have to be flexible, but it still can be frustrating.

I definitely plan to bookmark the site http://www.blinkx.com/ for further use and tag it as an educational resource.

Tool #7

Well, I have been working on uploading my photostory almost all day. I think I have tried everything. I saved it to a disc, emailed it to me, and used two different computers. No, luck yet! :-(

OK, I took the day off and came back to it to figure out what I was doing wrong. I read some other blogs and got help! I was saving it wrong! Well, really I was retrieving it from the wrong place. I should have been going to "my documents" and then to videos. So much of my energy and time has been put into this that my mind could not function as well. Anyways I am glad that I took some time away from it and read some helpful information. I hope no one else makes the same mistake! I would love to go back and edit some of it to make it better, but I think I will take a break from now. :-)

Lastly, I really enjoyed making the photostory and I can definitely see myself using it in my classroom. This is a great way to engage kids and to get them motivated to learn more about technology, excited about writing, and about creating a story!

Google Doc

I tried to complete a photo scrapbook on Google Doc but it would only upload three of my photos. I tried to save the photos to a disc and insert them that way, but I could not get them to upload into the scrapbook. Maybe better luck tomorrow. Any suggestions? I am browsing from the "my pictures" under my documents on my computer.