Reflections

I'm finally done!

My favorite tools are Google Docs, social bookmarking, digital storytelling, and Skype. I plan to use all these tools! I would like to use digital storytelling with my students when we do our hero unit in social studies. My students would work in groups and each group would be assigned a hero. Prior to this assignment I will expose and engage them in Photostory so that they will be prepared for this awesome task!

I wasn't really sure what to expect when starting the 11 tools assignment. While I am lucky to have had previous experience with several of the tools, this assignment made me think about them differently. I now see how each tool could be beneficial to teachers and learners. This experience reminded me that we are so fortunate to have access to all this technology; it is important to stay informed so that we are able to maximize all the benefits!

Digital Citizenship (Tool #11)

I enjoyed reading the articles and seeing points of view regarding this topic. I agree with the author of "Digital Literacy and the Classroom" when she asks, "as teachers we don't just expect our kids will just figure out the general content areas on their own, so why would think technology would be any different?"

I want my students to learn to be digitally literate. For me this means that I want them to understand the validity of websites and how to form their own opinions. I know that as a young child I tended to be naive and probably believed anything I read. If someone wrote it in a book, it must be true, right? So I can only imagine that my students might think, if someone wrote it on the internet, it must be true! Luckily, there are so many great search engines and resources I can share with my students in order to point them in the right direction. Perhaps the bottom line would be "if it seems to good to be true, it probably is...choose a different website!"

Online safety is another huge lesson! I know Brainpop has some good videos that I will definitely share with my students. While I think social networking is great for adults, it really makes me nervous that so many children are getting involved! Since I know some of my students will participate in social networking and use computers at home in addition to what we do in class, I will teach and continue to reinforce online safety in my class.

Online etiquette will be another important topic to cover. I want my students to understand that whatever they put on the internet, will stay there forever! I will remind them not to write or post anything that they would not want their teacher, their parents, or their future boss to see!

Mobile Technology & Apps (Tool #10)

I am big Apple fan. I have a Mac and iPod, and hopefully soon I'll be getting an iPhone! My students are very interested in all the latest Apple creations as well. I think iTouches are great and very user friendly; I have seen my students use them without much difficulty. As for iPads, I would LOVE to have one for myself and I know my students would be very happy to have one in the classroom!

iTouches (or iPads) could easily be used by students independently as a workstation. The students will be so excited to use the "cool" technology! I would like to get some suggestions on apps to use, though. I have found a few that look "fun" to me, but I would like to find some (free) that would be relevant to the content we are studying in second grade. I'm going to keep looking!

Jing & Skype (Tool #9)

I think Jing could be helpful in teaching new technology concepts to students. It might be a bit much for second graders, but the screenshots are definitely beneficial to visual learners.

Skype is great! I took an infosystems class in college and had a chance to use it at that time. I would love to use it with my class. It would be neat to talk at other students from around the country, or even around the world! What an awesome way to teach the concept of global address!

Video Resources (Tool #8)

Here are two videos I found:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqJs5am0m7c

(How to write a friendly letter)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEqRo7J_Y0Q

(VERBS!)

I already use video resources in my classroom, most often for science. I picked the first one because it involves a student explaining the process and purpose of writing a friendly letter. I think I could use this as a reinforcement when we are in our letter writing unit. The next video is an old School House Rock clip! (I never realized I could find this on the internet!!) Grammar is usually a challenge for my students and I think this video perfectly illustrates what a verb is and why every sentence needs one!

Digital Storytelling (Tool #7)

I had never used PhotoStory before, so I decided to give it a try! In college I used I-movie several times on my Mac, and I think prefer that program. PhotoStory was very user friendly though, and I didn't have any problems. I had a lot of fun creating my movie, and I think my students would be able to use this. I might use this at the end of a unit as a group project.

I hope everyone enjoys my movie!

Wikis (Tool #6)

Wikis are great way for students to work together. I saw a few ideas about using a wiki to create a story as a class. This could be really fun! We could start out doing it together as a class and then later the students could add/edit on their own. It would be a great way to get students excited to write, and I think it could really help them grasp the concept of editing and revising.

Tagging and Social Bookmarking (Tool #5)

Wow- I can't believe I didn't know about this before! What an excellent way to share resources...

I created an account on delicious and started searching by tags. I found several interesting sites. At first I searched using "second grade" and I found this website. It seems to have a lot of great math games for second graders that could be used on either the computer or ACTIV board.

http://www.allentownsd.org/EETT/secondgrade.htm#A.__Numbers_and_Operations

Next I searched using more specific tags. I've been wanting to do a book study with Magic Tree House, so I used those tags. I found some things but most of it was more "cutesy." I'll have to look into that some more. I also read aloud a lot of Kevin Henkes books at the beginning of the year, since they go along well with making connections. I've been thinking this year I would branch out and do a more formal author study. I searched "Kevin Henkes" and found several helpful sites, especially this one.

http://hkidshighlights.blogspot.com/2009/03/kevin-henkes-so-much-to-talk-about.html

This is actually another teacher's class blog, and it has some great information and ideas on a Kevin Henkes author study.

I'm so excited to use social bookmarking this year! It will help me find great resources and keep track of them in one place!

Cool Google Tools (Tool #4)

I think Google Documents could be a great way to share roadmaps and lesson ideas with team members. It seems this would make it easier to make revisions or suggestions to a document. I would like to use this with my team this year!

I set up my Google Reader and I am now following several other teachers' blogs. It makes it easy to see it all in one place!

So far I am not sure how my students would use these tools, but I know they will be helpful to me as a teacher!

Image Generators and Mashups (Tool #3)

First I used Spell to create the "2nd Grade" banner under the header of my blog. This website was easy to use and it could possibly be used in my classroom as a spelling activity/workstation. It didn't take much time and I know second graders could use it!

Next I tried Wordle. I made this word cloud.



I think this could be used at the end of a unit. Students would have to recall everything they have learned about a particular topic and then could present their creation to the class. Since it is pretty easy to recall words I would want them to explain their thinking a little further. Again, this was quick and easy so it is something students could hopefully do independently as a workstation or follow up activity.