Tool #11 Reflections

Wow!!! I'm finally done? What a great experience!!!!!!!! I really enjoyed learning all the new things that are out there for us to use to enhance learning and in a way that is really engaging for the students. I see a lot of ways to keep the kids motivated and on task. I can really see kids spending every moment of their time in school learning in a way that is meaningful to them and the best part of it, they're going to WANT to learn. Kids being motivated, on task, and engaged? Is that possible? After everything I've learned I can definitely say yes!!!!

I can see myself using so many things. Of course, 1st thing to do is to teach them to be responsible digital citizens. I can really see myself using WIKIs and Wordle (before and after learning) I really like the SKYPE and the Itouch. These 2 would really be motivational for the kids. I can really see the applications for the Itouch being used in all areas of academics. For my own personal use, I really like the tagging and the way it's organized and I like the PLN. I don't have to spend hours on end looking for new and insightful ways to teach the kids new concepts.

The only unexpected outcome I had was how easy it was once I got to start exploring and really using it. I like exploring on the computer anyway and this was a bonus. I never realized how many new applications for technology there are out there for us to use.

Tool #11

I think before we teach our kids on how to use ANY of the applications we have learned, it is imperative that the kids learn how to be good digital citizens. I feel that before we can teach our student anything about technology, they need to learn how to be good digital citizens and that starts with us. We need to model this to students and even use videos as another resource for students. There are several things that kids need to know, especially in the upper grades where they are very "curious" to say the least and know a whole lot more than what we think they know.

1. Teach the kids about safety. Only go to websites that parents or teachers approve of because of the dangers that are occuring. Remind students to be very careful of the things they are publishing. Once it's published, there's no going back. Many times the kids think if they delete it or put it in the trashbin, it's gone forever. Surprise! It's not. Ask my brother, the police officer.

2. Always give credit where credit is due. Make sure you use the name or source of where you are getting your information, photo, picture, etc.

3. Make sure you get help when you don't know how to do something. Many of our kids (especially our mini adults--the 5th graders) are embarrassed to ask how to do things.

4. Remember, be kind. As with previous experience with our 5th graders, technology is to be used to enhance your education, so use it wisely and not for ill intent.

5. Make sure that you validate your sources. Not everything you see or read on the internet is true. Just like we teach our kids the difference between fiction and non-fiction books, we need to teach our kids about valid and reliable resources. (and what the words valid ad reliable mean)

Tool #10

In my family, my kids have all the neat stuff and I just "borrow" their stuff. Jasmin has the Itouch. I got to play around with the different applications it had to offer and I had the opportunity to download the KenKen strategies. After playing with it for a while, it gets addicting. I could really see it helping my kids with problem solving. This would be a great way to motivate the kids to stay on task in order to use the Itouch for a workstation. It's also a way to integrate Jing (one of the resources we studied from an earlier tool) with the Itouch. I could videotape how to play this game and then have the kids practice on their Itouch. Another application I saw that was great was the Math drills lite. This would be a great way for kids to practice their facts. What I liked about this one is that it tracks the kids progress for you so you can see the kids improvement. You could even set a reward system (kinda like AR) What a great motivation! Kids are so competative and there are so many incentives that could be set up in class or even school wide. There's a thought for the upper grades and helping them learn their facts.

Tool #9

I could really see myself using Skype to not only see my family (most of whom live in the Valley), but I could also see my younger brother who is currently stationed in Columbia. That in itself could be a lesson with the kids to view the country and see how different or similar people's lives are to our own. I would really love to use Skype with students from other countries especially when we are studying about natural resources so that students can see different biomes, animals, and how people really live. I think it would really open our kids eyes up to a whole new world that they can only read about or see on TV (usually it's non-fiction). We always talk about giving our kids experiences that they would normally not be able to experience on their own. How many kids do you know can say they've talked to kids in China or Africa or even Sweden? How excited would our kids be about learning then?

I can definitely see using this to talk to other teachers and I could really see using Jing when doing science experiments and having multiple steps involved in the process. Kids could really benefit from seeing it versus me just telling them how to do it and since I teach only science and math, I could really benefit from videotaping the lesson. Many times kids come up with questions or have insights that the second class may not even consider.

Tool #8

This tool was not hard for me. I use videos all the time in my class so that the kids can really see what I'm talking about. I have found new resources for videos rather than just using video streaming all the time (not that there's anything wrong with video streaming). I LOVE that I have a variety of resources to choose from. The links I chose below show a really cool video of the solar system and solids/liquids and it seems a little more real for the kids than videos I've shown in the past that are sometimes not updated or does not appear modern. I feel that if the kids can actually SEE what I'm talking about versus just reading about it or seeing drawings, it can really help to embed that information into their learning and help them to better understand what I'm talking about. I'm always looking for videos that uses the vocabulary they need to know, but that it is not so far above their understanding that they will tune it out or get more confused. Videos help the teacher enhance the learning. It's another resource that we can use to help our students really understand about the topic.




http://www.teachertube.com/members/viewVideo.php?video_id=17155&title=Solids_Liquids_and_Gases

Tool #7

Once I learned how to do it, it was really fun to do. The kids would have fun doing this to show what they've learned about a topic. They could do this as a home project or in a center. This would be a great way for them to stay on task and do this once they're finished with their daily work. Great workstation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tool #6

After seeing some of the WIKIs being used and how they are used, I can really see students using this collaboratively in order to plan a group project or to create drafts for research. Every one can add their ideas. No one is limited to doing it in the classroom. They can access it from home if they choose, but teachers still have control as to WHAT students are writing. Teachers still have full accountability of their students. Once again, another way for ALL students to be engaged in the learning.

Tool #5

I never realized how easy this was and how many sites I could find this way. It was a lot easier to do it like this than to try and save it in a folder in the favorites menu and then it becomes so unorganized even when you think it IS organized. When you add the tags to your websites, it minimizes the amount of websites that appear and makes it more specific to what you are looking for. The tags I used was education, elementary, resource, activities, curriculum, math and science.

Two websites I found were:

Mathwire.com This website has great acitivities that you can use to challenge your kids.

The other website I found was http://investigations.terc.edu/families/helping/sampleactivities.cfm

This website was very interesting because it not only had activities for teachers, but it had simple every day activities that parents could do at home with their child to encourage meaningful math thinking. These everyday activities seem to offer excellent opportunities for parents to engage their child in critical thinking skills for math.

Tool #4

After playing with the google documents, I can really see how all students can participate in an activity/project. All students will have the ability to participate and have equal access to the process and as well as the ability to have input in the final draft of the project. Google docs will allow the teacher to use technology in her lesson. Google docs allows the student to be creative and differentiated in their presentations as well as have a more meaningful way of learning that students can see using in their academic future. Technology is becoming more advanced and our students need to be able to be knowledgable of what is happening.

Google Reader is a great way for students to organize their resources for a project in one place as well having a place to collects items that are hobbies/interests rather than searching all over the internet for them. The information comes directly to them instead of the other way around.

Tool # 3

Making this wordle was fun, but saving it was an interesting process since I've never done this before. The wordle has a lot of options for uses. I thought about using it for prediction of a topic and then doing one after the students have learned about the topic and then comparing the two to see the differences and to see the before and after learning. It could also be used in learning new vocabulary. (synonyms/antonyms). I can see students really remembering words and their synonyms if they did it this way. Each student could make their own and have their own "wordle dictionary" Anything that is different than the way kids normally do things (paper/pencil) will capture their attention and really get them paying attention to their learning and want them to learn.

Did you not expect me to somehow put MJ in this? Seriously, I thought kids might have fun doing this when they are studying about a topic. Kids could put several images together and discuss key/important points learned about a topic. It's a fun way to write about what they learned versus just writing down in a journal. There's all kinds of pictures for them to use. What a new and innovative way for kids to discuss what they've learned! I don't think they will have time to be talking to their friends or drawing pictures. They'll be so into doing this, they'll forget that they are actually learning.

Tool #2

I think PLN's are a great resource for teachers and students alike. It's a great way of exploring how to do other things and a way to get different ideas on how to do things. I think that the point that stood out the most was that kids are networking WITHOUT any guidance and without a real purpose for learning. I think they could do so much more with it if they had the guidance and the right purpose.

I commented on the following links:

1) Speedlimit20
2) Cashiola's Chronicles
3) Moni-K's musings
4) Maricela@SBISD
5) Sandy's Beaches

Tool 1

This was an interesting and new learning for me. I took me a little time to do, but it was by no means difficult. I think the hardest part was naming everything. I'm by no means that creative. This would be a great way for the kids to express their thinking when they are experiencing new concepts. Kids will have a little more freedom to express themselves and they will want to because it's a new way to do what they already do--journal writing.