After 11 Tools: Reflections

I had a great time blogging. My favorite tool is Photo Story. I would use Photo Story in the classroom to recall prior knowledge. I can make a story with photos from field trips, classmates, numbers, alphabet, a story of their favorite book...to many ideas I can do on Photo Story! Another cool tool that I would love for my students to use is to do a Mosaic Maker from bighugelabs.com. This can be use as an introduction tool for the first couple to days of school. Students can make a Mosaic out of family pictures.

Technology has always been important for me to use in the classroom and for the students to use it as well. So many great things come from technology. I know having the iPod touch for students to use will help a lot in their learning and their fine motor skills.

Creating this blog was fun and easy to do...I loved it all!

Tool 11: Digital Citizenship

Digital Citizenship

Being a good Digital Citizenship is knowing your boundaries on the Internet. My student will be able to explore the Internet but with guidelines. They will know not to go into any website that has not been approved by me. They will practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology and will exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology. My students will understand that just like a bully is a person who is not showing responsibility in being a good citizen, a cyberbully is a person who does not obey the rules of conduct when using technology.

Tool 10: Exploring Mobile Technology And Apps

Shape Builder The Preschool Learning Puzzle Game
Toddler Counting Lite - Preschool number adventure

The two above apps are a couple of apps that I would like for my Pre-K student to play with. I have used an iPhone, iTouch, and the iPad and its pretty fun. I don't own a iPhone because I love my Blackberry dearly but maybe in the future I will get one.
My student would benefit on building their fine motor skills while playing with the iTouch (which is very important in Pre-K). Having an iTouch in the classroom will be another way to differentiate learning and teaching. An iTouch will help all different types of learners...Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic.
I've included to different links to websites that discuss iPod Touch in the classroom and the link to the Apple in Education website.

Tool 9: Sharing Information Through Jing & Skype

I haven't used Skype or Jing in my classroom but it would be a great thing to start using. Using either of the two can help you and your students communicate with anyone around the world for free. You can start using it as a way to get in touch with another teacher and her students as a pen pale method. Using Jing will help to share materials so that it can be used as a discussion on Skype.

I've included a video on how to use Skype in the classroom for beginners.

Tool 8: Video Resources

I like incorporating streaming videos in my lesson plans because it gives my students an additonal way to understand the lesson. It helps give my Auditory and Visual learners another way to learn the material other than just hearing it from me. I LOVE using YouTube. YouTube has some many videos that are very helpful in the classroom and for student learning.



Another website I like using is Ehow (knowledge for myself that can help me in my lessons). Ehow is a streaming video site that helps you learn just about anything. I included a link to a video on how to teach your studetns to write numbers.

http://www.ehow.com/video_4983880_teach-number-writing.html

Tool 7: Digital Storytelling

I've started using Photo Story when I was in college for an assisgnment. In the classroom I use Photo Story as a memory...this video was made for my parents while they waited for the graduation party to begin. It's a very easy software to use and I love it! Students would be able to use it to make a project they have for example a video of their family or friends or any given topic. I would give my students to option to explore the software first then create a project.

Using Wikipedia in the Classroom: A Good Starting Point | Edutopia

Using Wikipedia in the Classroom: A Good Starting Point Edutopia

Tool 6: Wikis

http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Technology_in_the_classroom

Students can use wikis to help them researching a specific subject or a project they might have. A teacher can also uses wikis to gain knowledge or refresh his or her prior knowledge on topic. I like using Wikipedia myself when I'm trying to gather important information.
I like the like above because it talks about having technology in the classroom.

Tool 5: Tagging and Social Bookmarking

I decided to join Delicious at http://delicious.com/.

The websites I booked mark are:

http://internet4classrooms.com/index.htm

http://www.preschoollearningonline.com/

http://www.4teachers.org/

and a few others.

Tags I used to locate my information were, internet for the classroom, preschool activities, teacher news, and technology for everyone.

Using Social Bookmarking in the classroom as an educational tool, bookmarking sites can help students to find ways to search for information other than Google indexing. Students who use these sites will also be less likely to lose links that they have found valuable. Students and teachers can move from one computer to another and still have full access to their bookmarks. Students and teachers will be less likely to forget the location of the sites they have used. Students can share their bookmarks with their classmates. Students and teachers can also share collections of bookmarks they have found to be worthwhile. Social bookmarking sites can also help students to quickly find links to important current events and historical events. Some bookmarking sites allow students to subscribe to news feeds on a particular subject of interest. They can then go daily to this site to find the most current news on the subject. For a definition of news feeds go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_feed.

Tool 4: Cool Google Tools

Google Docs is like an IM for email. You can instantly share and collaborate with any document you upload! This can make it easier for the teachers to share Lesson Plans, mini lessons, documents created for assessments or activities are a few items that can be uploads and shared with coworkers.

http://www.google.com/educators/p_docs.html
http://groups.google.com/group/google-for-educators

Tool 3: Image Generators & Mashups

I picked to do a Mosaic Maker, http://bighugelabs.com/, because it looked like a fun thing to do and besides I haven't made one. This website would be use by my students to create a Mosaic of items they love or it can be use for an assignment where they would gather pictures of a specific assignment. Just like cutting out pictures of a magazine and creating a Mosaic but this way technology would be a key factor.

The Wordle, http://www.wordle.net/, I created has words that describe me and my profession. This software would be use to build vocabulary in my classroom.

Tool 2: Building Community & Comments

Building a PLN is an important way to communicate with my colleagues, students, or parents about education. With colleagues we can share ideas or interest about our profession. With students we can share homework, extra study ideas, assistants with problems or question they might have on an assignment. Most important its another way to incorporate technology into your classroom. As for with parents we can give advise or answer any questions a parent might have on an assignment their child has. These are just some simple ideas on how to use a PLN. I'm sure there are a whole bunch of other ways to incorporate a PLN into my profession.

Now for the comment advice its always good to listen on others opinions or comments about a certain topic. A blogger can leave some good advice or sometimes be mean and leave bad or upsetting advice on your blog. But that's why we live in America...Freedom of Speech!

http://11tools.blogspot.com/2010/04/11-tools-transforming-learning-in.html
http://oedb.org/library/features/top-100-education-blogs
http://meyermuse.blogspot.com/
http://steph-bruno.blogspot.com/
http://laclasedemsamaro.blogspot.com/
http://groups.google.com/group/google-for-educators

Tool #1...It's just the beginning...

Creating a blog and a avatar was pretty easy. It took me a while with my avatar but that was because I couldn't figure out what to have her wear...typical women!

Using blogs is a way to integrate technology into the classroom. It can a be a way for parent communication with the teacher or vice-versa if the teacher has some news about the classroom she or he can blog about it. It can also be a way for students to communicate with each other, from questions about homework or just to reflect on what was taught in the classroom that day. Its an opened minded virtual world!