Reflection

My favorite tool was #4. I have previously used Google Maps, Google Images, and the Google search engine, but I had no idea about Google Reader and Google Docs. I know I will continue to use these Google resources personally as well a professionally. Google Docs will make it so much easier to communicate with my team, and Reader will definitely help me to keep track of my online resources.
The first activity I will most likely attempt with my pre-k students in making a Voki. This will be a good starting place for them and for me. It will give them an introduction to the tools while allowing them to be creative as well. Digital citizenship will be a tool that will be an ongoing teaching point for me.
The tools have completely transformed my thinking about the learning that will take place in my classroom. I never thought much beyond computer games and Kid Pix for my students as far as technology goes. Hopefully I will be able to find creative ways to use these tools with such young students.
I wasn't really surprised about the outcome from this program. I knew I would learn new things, and I knew that my lack of technology skills would make this a difficult task. It did prove to be very difficult...but well worth it.

Tool 11

Teachers, as well as parents, need to assume the responsibility for our children's digital citizenship. I think that if we want to prepare kids for the world beyond the classroom we need to teach young children safe ways to use digital information rather than simply not allowing them to use it.

These are the things I want young children in my class to know....

1. Talk to your parents or teacher if you see something online that upsets you or makes you uncomfortable.
2. Keep personal information safe. Never give out your name, photo, address, phone number, or password.
3. Check with parents or teachers before using a website or talking to people on the computer.
4. Be nice to people you talk to on the computer, just as you would on the phone, or in person. Being mean to people on the computer is bullying. If you wouldn't do or say something in person, don't do it online.

There are many ways to begin teaching young children in pre-k about digital citizenship. Pre-k teachers can model digital citizenship in the classroom on a daily basis. I also found many great books, videos, and websites that would be helpful with this as well. There were a lot of great resources for teachers and parents on a website I found called www.ikeepsafe.org.

This is the first tool that I actually had some experience with and didn't have to spend 3 hours on! I don't have an iphone or ipad, but my son has an itouch. I have played around with it quite a few times. Also, my phone is a Droid which also has a wide variety of apps that are educational and similar to the apps found on an itouch.

I have listed some apps below that I feel could be useful in the classroom. There are apps from NASA that could be used in science, Art apps that could be used to promote creativity, apps about the Constitution and Declaration of Independence that could be used in social studies, and a math app that deals with solving puzzles.

I think kids would enjoy using these in the classroom. A lot of kids already have experience with apps, but most of them are probably not even aware that there are educational apps available to them.

I found some apps that looked good, but were not necessarily free. There were apps that teach letters, sounds, and beginning reading and writing. It has been my experience that even the apps that are not free usually don't cost more than a couple of dollars.

Listed below are the free apps I found interesting....

NASA 3D Sun - rotate the sun and see all views. Look at flares and sunspots up close. Three-dimensional version constructed from real-time photos & movies.

Art Lite information
database containing over 700 works of art from 10 renowned artists. You can view the biographies of all the artists and examine their most influential works. Use the iPhone's touch controls, like pinching, to really get in close to see details

NASA 3D Sun - rotate the sun and see all views. Look at flares and sunspots up close. Three-dimensional version constructed from real-time photos & movies.

Level - carpenter's bubble level, inch ruler, and centimeter ruler! information

Constitution for iPhone & iPod Touch (Clint Bagwell Consulting) - information

Declaration (of Independence) for iPhone & iPod Touch (Clint Bagwell Consulting)

Google Earth App

KenKen Lite - uses math concepts to solve puzzles similar in looks to Sudoku

USA Factbook Free (ADS Software Group, Inc.) - states' info. Includes maps. Information

HearPlanet (Lite) - Talking tour guide(book) of famous places. Look at a picture of the location while information about is being said to you! The Lite version is free.

Tool #9

I have never used Jing or Skype personally or in my classroom. I thought of a lot of uses for Jing for older students. Teachers can share a narrated video of how to do something on the computer rather than having to teach the same thing over and over. This would save teachers from having to re-teach students who did not understand something the first time it was taught. An example would be video tutorials on things such as how to create a blog, how to save, store, or find information on the web. I think technology teachers would be able to find Jing extremely useful. I really couldn't think of any instances on how I would use Jing in my pre-k classroom.

Skype would be great to use in the classroom for all ages. It makes it easy for children to connect with people from other cultures and countries. Skype could literally bring field trips right into your classroom. This would be especially useful to schools that have limited budgets for field trips. Children could also have the opportunity to talk to and see pen pals from other countries they may be communicating with.

Tool #8

Young children often enjoy learning new things by watching videos on a computer. When discussing a certain topic such as zoo or farm animals teachers often read books about the topic. Showing videos is another good way to engage the children in the learning process. Using a video can also allow children to see things or places that they may never be exposed to otherwise.

I chose two videos from Teacher Tube. These videos would be good to show the children in preparation for field trips to the zoo and the farm. I have posted the hot links to both videos below...


http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=1261&title=Farmer_Brown__The_fastest_farmer_in_the_world

http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=121794&title=Zoo_Animals

Tool #7

I had a difficult time with this tool. It took a long time to figure it out and download it. The kids in my class definitely would not be able to make a photo story on their own. I think I could help the kids in small groups to make a photo story and allow them to choose the pictures, captions, and music. It would be a great experience for them and they would be thrilled to see their finished product come to life. They would also enjoy sending it to their parents for their parents to view at home.

Tool #6

A Wiki is a tool that allows students to interact with each other, and with other classrooms and students across town or around the world.
Using Wikis would be helpful for students in older grades by allowing them to collaborate with each other while sharing and storing information. Often times it can be difficult for students working on group projects to finish their work together during limited class time. With the use of a Wiki students could work together even while they are not at school. I read that some teachers like using the Wiki because often times it is difficult to assess student participation on group projects...but with a Wiki the teacher can easily see what each student contributed to the project.

I think that from a pre-k teacher's perspective it is difficult for me to imagine how the students in my class would be able to benefit from a Wiki. I do, however see many uses for it for me as a teacher. The teachers on my team have often tried to collaborate with lesson plan ideas for our classrooms. This can be time consuming and difficult trying to set up meetings to share, or even having everyone email each other various ideas. Having to deal with emails flying at you from every direction, and keeping track of the various ideas is not an easy task. Trying to organize them is even harder. By using a Wiki teachers could all add their ideas to a single lesson plan to share, thereby avoiding redundant ideas, by adding only ideas that have not previously been stated by someone else.

Tool #5

I chose to join Diigo for Tool #5. I was able to find many websites that will be useful me to me in the future and put them in my Diigo library. Diigo even has Educator Accounts. These are special accounts provided specifically to K-12 & higher educators that have options and privileges not available to the general public. Here are several websites that I found and added to my Diigo library.

more from www.internet4classrooms.com

Pre-K and Preschool Resources for Ages 3-5 at Internet 4 Classrooms

Tool #4

Tool #4 was very beneficial to me. I had no idea that google could be such a great resource. I learned a lot of things that will be useful not only professionally, but personally as well.

I used google reader to subscribe to four teachers' blogs from my school (Tiger Trail) and to Nancy Ray's blog from Bear Boulevard.

I created a google doc that will allow all teachers to add their ideas for field trips to a cumulative list. When I have done this in the past I have had to keep track of separate emails from every teacher and compile a list of proposed field trip ideas. This is so much easier! The document could be used again to have everyone vote for the field trip they want. I will share the document with other teachers when school starts. I tried to post a link to my google doc but since I was not sure who would be viewing the doc I was not able to grant permission for it to me viewed.

Tool #3

Captioner
Mosacic



I used Big Huge Labs for tool #3. I had a very difficult time with this tool. I could not figure out how to post something I created on Big Huge Labs into my blog. I looked at other peoples blogs and saw that someone else had saved what they made to pictures and then used the add image button at the top of the blog box. This worked for photos, but not slide shows or other things you could do in Big Labs. I got very frustrated because the directions they gave in Big Huge Labs on how to post things to your blog did not work for me. If anyone can help me please leave a comment!

The mosaic maker could be used for a lot of things in a classroom. I teach pre-k, and although it would not be possible for the kids to create mosaics on their own, the teacher could use it to create mosaics of special things such as photos of fieldtrips or pictures of the class for the yearbook.

The children would probably not be able to do the captioner on their own either, however it would be fun to have the children try to come up with funny captions for photos taken in the class.

Both the mosaic and the captioner would be good additions to a classroom blog to display photos of various classroom activities so the parents could visually see some things their children are doing at school.

Tool #2

I think it is beneficial for educators to participate in personal learning networks. It is a great way for teachers to be able to connect with other teachers in their school, district, and around the globe. By doing this we can grow professionally and gain new perspectives and have access to other professionals' experiences and ideas.

I think it would be a good idea to have a PLN which includes, and is geared towards communicating with the parents of children in our classes. A lot of parents would feel more comfortable asking questions, commenting on things going on in their child's class, and communicating with other parents using a PLN. The majority of parents use the Internet on a daily basis, but very few have the time to personally talk to their child's teacher about what is going on in the classroom. A PLN would be an easy and fast way for parents to communicate with their childs' teacher in a convenient way with out having to schedule a parent/teacher conference every time they have questions or need advice.

A lot of good points were brought up in the commenting advice. One point that stood out to me was that comments can turn a statement into a conversation which creates a culture of interactivity.

Our children are already doing a great deal of "commenting" through sites such as My Space and Facebook. I think we need to use the advice from Tool #2 for ourselves and also teach children about responsible commenting as well, by helping them understand the potential their comments have on their peers.

I commented on the following blogs:
Esther Gaytan
Jennifer Carney
The Baby Goat
Aggie Mom's Blog

Tool #1

Well....I'd like to say this has been an easy task so far...but I would be lying. My technology skills up to this point have been pretty lacking, to say the least. However, with a little help from my 11 year old son, I have done pretty well I think.
Creating the avatar flower was fun, but I spent so much time playing around and changing my mind that I have been working on Tool #1 for two days already.
Creating a classroom blog to communicate between the classroom and parents would be a great idea.