As I was working on my classroom website I came upon this other teacher's website. It had so many resources and she also even has a blog all about using technology in the classroom! Check it out!
http://helloliteracy.blogspot.com/
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Thing #16
Experiences on Facebook: I started a facebook account my sophomore year in college. I remember not having any idea what it was but hearing about it so much so I was curious and gave in. At first I did not want to create one. I thought it would get in the way of my studies because I always saw how addicting it was for others. In the end though I only visit it here and there. I don't really have too much time to surf on it. I like how there are news updates so I know what is going on with my friends.
Benefits of Facebook for teachers and students and the general population: Facebook has grown so much since I first started using it in college. It is a great way for people to keep in touch and find new people that you meet without having to ask for their number etc. People just say "add me as a friend" on facebook.
Teachers : As a teacher I have kept in touch with past co-workers and current teachers I work with through facebook. Our class has even created a group so we can communicate more easily with one another. I can see students and teachers using Facebook as a way to communicate.
The drawbacks: I would have to say since Facebook started out as only being available to college students but now is open to anyone. There were things I use to have on my facebook that I don't have anymore. With Facebook there can be issues with privacy and what you might not want to post on there.You may also have students who want to add you. Overall I like facebook and think it is a great social networking tool. I mainly use it to keep up with family and post pictures of food and celebrations :).
Evaluation:
1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? I pretty much enjoyed most of them. I learned about a lot of new web tools. I also especially liked it when I successfully put things on my blog like videos and pictures. Any interactive and collaborative activities like wikis, Twitter, and Skype were fun.
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? It has help add to my knowledge of web tools and ways I can use the internet as an educator and not just for personal reasons. It has helped me to look at things through the perspective of an educator when it comes to technology. I use to see cellphone, blogs, websites, etc. as thing I would only use myself but this program has help me be a life long learner about technology. There will always be something new out there I can learn about when it comes to technology.
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I did not know I was going to get to make and experience using so many technology apps and tools. This journey especially was an innovative way to teach us through blogging. All the movies and projects I made surprised me because I didn't even think I would ever make something like that. Looking back it makes me proud and happy that I actually accomplished all of the things we had to do for class.
4. What could I do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? I think just to consistently update and keep up with anything new and innovative in technology that is coming up that educators can use as a tool in the classroom. Technology is changing and improving so much I know I will need to keep up with it!
Benefits of Facebook for teachers and students and the general population: Facebook has grown so much since I first started using it in college. It is a great way for people to keep in touch and find new people that you meet without having to ask for their number etc. People just say "add me as a friend" on facebook.
Teachers : As a teacher I have kept in touch with past co-workers and current teachers I work with through facebook. Our class has even created a group so we can communicate more easily with one another. I can see students and teachers using Facebook as a way to communicate.
The drawbacks: I would have to say since Facebook started out as only being available to college students but now is open to anyone. There were things I use to have on my facebook that I don't have anymore. With Facebook there can be issues with privacy and what you might not want to post on there.You may also have students who want to add you. Overall I like facebook and think it is a great social networking tool. I mainly use it to keep up with family and post pictures of food and celebrations :).
Evaluation:
1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? I pretty much enjoyed most of them. I learned about a lot of new web tools. I also especially liked it when I successfully put things on my blog like videos and pictures. Any interactive and collaborative activities like wikis, Twitter, and Skype were fun.
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? It has help add to my knowledge of web tools and ways I can use the internet as an educator and not just for personal reasons. It has helped me to look at things through the perspective of an educator when it comes to technology. I use to see cellphone, blogs, websites, etc. as thing I would only use myself but this program has help me be a life long learner about technology. There will always be something new out there I can learn about when it comes to technology.
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I did not know I was going to get to make and experience using so many technology apps and tools. This journey especially was an innovative way to teach us through blogging. All the movies and projects I made surprised me because I didn't even think I would ever make something like that. Looking back it makes me proud and happy that I actually accomplished all of the things we had to do for class.
4. What could I do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? I think just to consistently update and keep up with anything new and innovative in technology that is coming up that educators can use as a tool in the classroom. Technology is changing and improving so much I know I will need to keep up with it!
Thing #12 & 13
This is the movie trailer from The Little Princess that I absolutely love. I have the video tape of it from when I was a little girl and I haven't seen it in so long. It brings back memories for me when I watch it. I saw the Fauzia also had it on her blog! :)
Likes and dislikes:
As I was looking around YouTube it was pretty easy to search and find videos that I was looking for. They have pretty much anything there. If you want to find instructional videos on how to do things you can easily find those too. I had to learn how to pin up my hair in curls once and so I searched a video and found one that taught me how. My cousin also likes to make his own videos and upload them onto here and he taught me how. It is pretty easy. The only dislike I would have is that there maybe some content on here that people may not want to see or have their kids watch.
Ways I can use YouTube for my class:
If I had access to YouTube at school I would use it as a resource to find videos I could show my kids to teach a concept. It can be a great resource to make Teases and music videos.
What would be some advantages of having teaching/learning videos available online at sites like these?
Teachers and students can always go back and watch lessons and educational videos anytime. Students who miss class can catch up this way. Teachers can get good ideas from other teachers by searching videos on teacher tube.
What about student created work -- would there be advantages to having it uploaded?
Yes, the advantage can be that all student projects can be easily accessed and watched and it is very simple to upload. Here is a video of my Tease I uploaded to YouTube.
Thing #15.5
I started using Twitter and have been currently using it a lot of follow Sprinkles cupcakes because they have a "secret word" they tweet about and if you are lucky you can be the first 50 people to go to any location and whisper it for a FREE cupcake that day! I have done it twice and enjoyed it so much! :) I can see how businesses use this to get customers to come! I also follow other twitter accounts for music and food. If you want to check it out my username is Toastboxx. Tweet me!
Ways you can use it professionally:
-Networking with others (teachers from staff developments)
-getting feedback quickly from others
-quickly post news fast
-promotions
Ways you can use it professionally:
-Networking with others (teachers from staff developments)
-getting feedback quickly from others
-quickly post news fast
-promotions
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Thing #15
Blog about your experiences with Skype: I have used Skype before to talk to my friends who are overseas in Asia. I have also used Skype with Rachelle and Cindy to chat and talk to them about class. It was easy to skype. I just had to add the person's name onto my list and then I could begin calling. The only issues I had were the computer would freeze sometimes. The chat feature also makes it easy to talk if the video is not working well. When I was chatting though I put my status as Skype me so I was getting calls and messages from other people I did not know. That bothered me a lot so I changed my status. That is something to be careful about because if it were my students I would not want them talking to strangers.
Ideas for classroom use: As I looked at the 50 ways to use Skype in the classroom, it gave a lot of great ideas I had never thought of like.....
-author visit
-virtual field trip
-student performances
-learning from other students in other countries
-online classes
-parent teacher conferences
-teaching feedback
-professional development
I can start using these ideas! :)
Ideas for classroom use: As I looked at the 50 ways to use Skype in the classroom, it gave a lot of great ideas I had never thought of like.....
-author visit
-virtual field trip
-student performances
-learning from other students in other countries
-online classes
-parent teacher conferences
-teaching feedback
-professional development
I can start using these ideas! :)
Thing #14
I went to podcastalley.com and looked up National Public Radio (NPR) and found a podcast about technology. I listen to NPR sometimes in the car to keep myself updated about news going on in the nation so I search for it and found it. I never listen to a podcast before so it was neat to see that I could easily look it up and listen to it through iTunes whenever I wanted. I don't need to turn on the radio or be in the car in order to listen the NPR. I went to my bloglines account and searched for NPR and added it to my content. I found a lot of NPR news feeds I could add that would be helpful to me for keeping me updated on news.
Look for some interesting classroom related podcasts like book review podcasts or teaching and learning, or technology news:
Podcasts are a great way to upload lectures, sermons, stories, etc. Some podcasts that I could use in the classroom are StoryNory or BigTimeStories. Students can listen to these stories to improve their reading skills. My ESL students would benefit by exposing them to listening to the English language. For older students there are podcasts for learning new languages and teaching English as a second language to improve listening and speaking skills.
Look for some interesting classroom related podcasts like book review podcasts or teaching and learning, or technology news:
Podcasts are a great way to upload lectures, sermons, stories, etc. Some podcasts that I could use in the classroom are StoryNory or BigTimeStories. Students can listen to these stories to improve their reading skills. My ESL students would benefit by exposing them to listening to the English language. For older students there are podcasts for learning new languages and teaching English as a second language to improve listening and speaking skills.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Thing #11
I clicked on the link and went to education and found the tool docstoc. I played around and immediately saw a book on 1st grade vocabulary worksheets from Sylvan Learning. I clicked and scrolled down.
Likes: This tool provides lots of documents that you can look at and search for by topics. You can go to their resources tab and look at free documents, videos, and articles. I stumbled upon a document called the Bloggers Handbook and found that it had lots of information on how to create and learn about blogs. I defined words that we have been learning about like Wiki, RSS feeds, and so on. When I tried downloading I had to register either through email or facebook.
Dislikes: It was very easy, but the down side is that not everything you may look for is free. You will need to pay to download somethings. This is a tool that I could use as a resource but may not be useful for my first graders.
Another larger tool I played with was called keepsy. This online photo album creator is very fun and easy to use. I just started to create one called family and put pictures of my family and friends in there. This gave me the idea that I could create one as a birthday present or keep sake.
Likes: You can invite friends to add pages to your photo album! This a fun way to collaborate and add everyone's photos that they may have.
Dislikes: Nothing really, only the fact that it can get pricey if you make a lot of albums and order them :(.
Ways I can use this in the classroom: I can create a photo album with all the pictures I take of my kids as a keep sake in the classroom. If parents want to they can order one for their child. Kids can even use this as long as they have an email they can register for free!
Likes: This tool provides lots of documents that you can look at and search for by topics. You can go to their resources tab and look at free documents, videos, and articles. I stumbled upon a document called the Bloggers Handbook and found that it had lots of information on how to create and learn about blogs. I defined words that we have been learning about like Wiki, RSS feeds, and so on. When I tried downloading I had to register either through email or facebook.
Dislikes: It was very easy, but the down side is that not everything you may look for is free. You will need to pay to download somethings. This is a tool that I could use as a resource but may not be useful for my first graders.
Likes: You can invite friends to add pages to your photo album! This a fun way to collaborate and add everyone's photos that they may have.
Dislikes: Nothing really, only the fact that it can get pricey if you make a lot of albums and order them :(.
Ways I can use this in the classroom: I can create a photo album with all the pictures I take of my kids as a keep sake in the classroom. If parents want to they can order one for their child. Kids can even use this as long as they have an email they can register for free!
Thing #10
This in Zoho Writer.
You can paste pictures from your deskop computer.
I also looked up zoho notebook online and it is very neat!!!
Ideas:create projects using this tool with my class
-brainstorming story writing
-creating story maps
-plan scripts
-create and solve math word problems
Above is the document I created using Zoho Writer. I played around and pasted a picture and a link. Somethings I discovered as I explored this tool is that it is so easy to use! Initially it reminded me very much of google docs. As I searched web 2.0 tools I also found Zoho Notebook which is a great productivity tool that allows you to create multiple contents and share them with others.
This would be a great tool to show my kids how to use! I think they would get a kick out of seeing that more than one person can work on a document simultaneously and change it. My co-worker requested to our principal that we get our gaggle account activated for first grade and when I went to look up Gaggle I found out that they use Zoho tools! This makes it even easier for my kids to use this!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Thing #9
For this exercise I am to add an entry or two to the Technology Poppers Wiki that Dr. Wilson created coming up with a way to integrate technology in the classroom.
This is what I posted:
Kathy: This year I had my students play around with powerpoint and create a presentation on the frog life cycle. Each slide had pictures and text of each life cycle. The kids enjoyed it very much and loved looking at the clip art or going online to choose pictures. In the future I could integrate other tools like LivePresentations that could make presentations more fun for my kids.
Create a post in your blog about the experience:
It was really neat getting to play around with wikis and see all the interesting postings and ways people can share and communicate with others. I really liked the way everyone could share their ideas about technology on all sorts of topics.
Can you think of ways you could use a wiki either personally or professionally?
Personal: I can use a wiki as a way to chat and share information with friends and family. This can be a good way for everyone to update each other and make plans.
Professional: I can use a wiki to collaborate and plan with the teachers on my team. This would be great for us to make postings on our own time when we can't always meet. We can share all our ideas about lessons.
This is what I posted:
Kathy: This year I had my students play around with powerpoint and create a presentation on the frog life cycle. Each slide had pictures and text of each life cycle. The kids enjoyed it very much and loved looking at the clip art or going online to choose pictures. In the future I could integrate other tools like LivePresentations that could make presentations more fun for my kids.
Create a post in your blog about the experience:
It was really neat getting to play around with wikis and see all the interesting postings and ways people can share and communicate with others. I really liked the way everyone could share their ideas about technology on all sorts of topics.
Can you think of ways you could use a wiki either personally or professionally?
Personal: I can use a wiki as a way to chat and share information with friends and family. This can be a good way for everyone to update each other and make plans.
Professional: I can use a wiki to collaborate and plan with the teachers on my team. This would be great for us to make postings on our own time when we can't always meet. We can share all our ideas about lessons.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Thing #8
A wiki allows a group of people to collaboratively develop a Web site with no knowledge of HTML or other markup languages. Anyone can add to or edit pages in a wiki -- it is completely egalitarian. Anyone can create new wiki pages simply by creating a new link with the name of the page. Pages are connected not hierarchically, but by hyperlinks between pages.
After clicking on resources and learning more about what wikis are, I learned that wikis are collaborative and that anyone could put input into one. I use wikipedia a lot so it was interesting to learn more about what it is and how wikis can be used to help libraries and students.
Here is what I learned from library wikis:
SJCPL Subject Guides - When I opened this wiki I found that it gave the user so much information at your fingertips on how to write a biography or memoir. It teaches you about blogging, which I thought was a great idea! It even gave you tips of how to scrapbook using technology. It definitely is innovative. There are also links on the right that will take you directly to the library's databases to search for books on specific topics.
Book Lovers Wiki - On this wiki, I found that it was well organized. It has a navigator on the right for you to navigate and find books based on categories and genres. It also give great summaries on books to let the reader know what it is about. It also teaches you how to create a new page in wiki in only two easy steps! I can really see how this wiki is beneficial to students and the libraries.
Library Success: A best practices wiki- this wiki can help libraries start a wiki page and learn how to become more successful. I would love to share this with our librarian at my school. There is a contents box on the right that outlines and allows you to click on certain information and sections in order to learn about how to successfully make a wiki.
The Bull Run Library wiki- this wiki reminded me a bit of the Book Lovers Wiki in the way it is organized, but I noticed this wiki has more information about upcoming events happening at the library including summer programs. This is a great way to market the library and let people come. A great idea would be to have announcements on our own school wiki and host more reading programs at our school to get parents and the community involved in helping out students excel in reading.
Educator Wikis/Teacher Wikis - these wikis were amazing and a great way to get students interested in their classes. There is so much posted on these wikis like homework, discussion, etc. It allows students to also go back and share with others their learning or even ask for help. If I wanted to start something like this I would need all my students and parents to get onboard too and teach them how to use it. I know my students would love the idea that they can still learn from their teacher without being at school. This kind of technology intrigues and excites my students. The younger you start teaching them how to use technology appropriately the more literate they will be in the 21st century.
After clicking on resources and learning more about what wikis are, I learned that wikis are collaborative and that anyone could put input into one. I use wikipedia a lot so it was interesting to learn more about what it is and how wikis can be used to help libraries and students.
Here is what I learned from library wikis:
SJCPL Subject Guides - When I opened this wiki I found that it gave the user so much information at your fingertips on how to write a biography or memoir. It teaches you about blogging, which I thought was a great idea! It even gave you tips of how to scrapbook using technology. It definitely is innovative. There are also links on the right that will take you directly to the library's databases to search for books on specific topics.
Book Lovers Wiki - On this wiki, I found that it was well organized. It has a navigator on the right for you to navigate and find books based on categories and genres. It also give great summaries on books to let the reader know what it is about. It also teaches you how to create a new page in wiki in only two easy steps! I can really see how this wiki is beneficial to students and the libraries.
Library Success: A best practices wiki- this wiki can help libraries start a wiki page and learn how to become more successful. I would love to share this with our librarian at my school. There is a contents box on the right that outlines and allows you to click on certain information and sections in order to learn about how to successfully make a wiki.
The Bull Run Library wiki- this wiki reminded me a bit of the Book Lovers Wiki in the way it is organized, but I noticed this wiki has more information about upcoming events happening at the library including summer programs. This is a great way to market the library and let people come. A great idea would be to have announcements on our own school wiki and host more reading programs at our school to get parents and the community involved in helping out students excel in reading.
Educator Wikis/Teacher Wikis - these wikis were amazing and a great way to get students interested in their classes. There is so much posted on these wikis like homework, discussion, etc. It allows students to also go back and share with others their learning or even ask for help. If I wanted to start something like this I would need all my students and parents to get onboard too and teach them how to use it. I know my students would love the idea that they can still learn from their teacher without being at school. This kind of technology intrigues and excites my students. The younger you start teaching them how to use technology appropriately the more literate they will be in the 21st century.
My thoughts:I think wikis would help teachers a schools a lot. It allows teachers to be more creative and learn now things as well as making students more engaged in their learning. It helps them take responsibility for their learning. It makes learning life long and not just at school. In the future I would love to start a wiki or perhaps help my school create one to help us collaborate more. My principal at my school has just created a blog for our school during the summer to keep us all connected on things to think about and provide input to her about. I know you cna do some much with technology and it has no limits.
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