After 11 Tools: Reflection...

Wow...in the beginning I thought that I would work through this process kicking and screaming, not wanting to face each day knowing what....I had to face. ha! I hate to admit it - I said I would keep an open mind about this...maybe it would become one of my favorite things to do. Well, I won't say favorite, but maaaan, I do have a new and "positive" thought process toward all this. It grew on me with each passing tool. I would find myself at the computer soon after coffee, ready to move forward toward the finish line. Here I am! I really ended up enjoying this. It is a Tuesday, and my goal was to have it finished by Friday. WHO KNEW? Not me.

Some of my favorite sites are: UTube, PhotoStory3, GoogleDocs/GoogleReader, flickr, Skype, Wordle, and of course, everyone's favorite ITunes. For use in my Reading groups I could certainly utilize PhotoStory3 in either a recreation of a favorite story they read through art design or play format. They love to create character and dialogue! I would utilize GoogleDocs to create an original story that they could all have access to and become artful participants. Then, create artistic designs and read it aloud to be put on UTube for their peers to see. How proud they would be. Each would take turns taking the ipod home to show it to their parents, unless, of course, I download it to my class website for home and school viewing. Oh my....I am out of control. Learning in the classroom for our students has taken on a whole new meaning. With that said...

Can you guess the transformed thinking that has taken place for me as well as the unexpected outcome? Well, if you read my first blog of hopelessness and despair... It's been fun.

I am Technofit!

Tool # 11 Digital Citizenship

This was an incredibly informative tool, although there were no surprises. It is logical thinking. Where we are as teachers, we have been very aware of most of these concepts from which to operate; Really, much like that of the utilization of the library as we know it. What this tool did for me was to bring it to the forefront and initiated how I am going to pass this on to my students with regard to technology. The three primary issues I would like to familiarize my students with are, but not limited to:

• Research: To create a richly creative learning environment, students must learn the rules by which to locate, use, and develop a product. I was glad to see that BRAINPOP has a website to facilitate the teaching of this. It is a format the students are familiar with. The lesson will parallel that of using books and the library with regard to locating information from technology devices. Discussions: plagarism, bias, etc.
• Working Together/Collaboration: There is a method to this in creating a classroom project. Again, the lesson is not far from the concept of using books as a resource for information. The conflict with technology is that they will have so much more information at their disposal, possibly making the decision process a bit more difficult and time consuming. Teachers might be needed here to help narrow the playing field, while still allowing for thoughtful choices. The use of GoogleDocs will be most helpful during collaboration and working toward their final product. I love GoogleDocs!
• Legal, Responsible, Positive:...application of knowledge and all that we have been taught with regard to behavior "on paper". As in life, this ties into the humanistic, the cultural, and the societal elements of behaviors through the use of technology devices. Students should be taught that they practice leadership "both on and off the field". Be respectful and honorable with regard to what you say and the message behind the thought. It is about responsible journalism; Fact or fiction. The students could produce their own documentary about this issue. It would be an effective teaching/reinforcing tool about proper digital citizenship.

Teachers serve as the role model here. Children listen and watch and it is expected that we are held to a high standard in order to pass on the most appropriate habits of learning through technology. No longer just in our safe classrooms, but through technology we SAFELY travel the internet highway together.

Tool # 10 Mobile Tech and Apps

There is truly a world of information to create a perfect world for teaching in the classroom. The applications are vast and varied and we will certainly be hardpressed to navigate to all the wonderful sites. We will, no doubt, focus on the apps most useful to our specialized areas. With that said, I looked primarily at the Language Arts/Reading/Phonics/Grammar, etc. sites. Lit2Go is my favorite to date. It has so much to offer with regard to my needs in the reading world. I think the kids will have fun with it in my small groups. There are audio files that will be quite useful. I recently attended the Ipod Workshop and won a set of headphones that will all plug into a "rockstar" which connects to the ipod; Has the makings for a great reading center. Mad Libs is great and am excited at the propect of its usage on the ipod. Really, there a several apps I am interested in to reinforce learning while breaking away from the "norm" for a high fun factor. Use of the ipod for ibooks for review of a new book, review/reinforcement of one read, implementation of a "read-aloud", and creation of a book of their own, taboot! It would be another great app for centers. If the students happen to create a product for the ipod, they can check the ipod out and take it home to show their parents. It is a wonderful feature! Teachers are able to implement restrictions on the ipod devices for this purpose.

Again, the list of apps is great, and for the sake of this blog, I only reviewed a small percentage of them. During the course of the summer, I will review many more to see what is specifically out there. I really look forward to the implementation of the ipod in the classroom! How lucky our students are to be exposed to such technology.

Tool # 9 Jing / Skype

Introducing myself to Jing and Skype was so interesting! There is some really cool stuff out there.
As far as Jing is concerned...I can see it being used in the classroom for visually enhanced directions for "how to" projects. It would be useful in student centers, possibly, for individual learning and assessment and well as whole group. Could be a little more involved in making ones own instructional video as opposed to finding one on UTube, but certainly could be done if time permits.

Skype could be a blast! I will definitely pursue this on a personal level? Would like to find out if we can use this "within" the school building to have conferences with other teachers if we have an inquiry, for example? How cool is that? And....talk about having the world at your fingertips. It gives new meaning to "PenPal". WebPals!

Not sure where freecam crosses the paycam line though. With a little more research and playing on it for familiarity sake with friends on the west coast and with relatives on trips, this could be great.

On the # 10. It just keeps getting better!

Tool # 8 (1 of 2) Video Resources

This sweet story is "When the Shark and the Fish First Met". It is a story written by a child, read by children. This is not only a great book for Character Ed, but it also shows how we can use video in a positive, powerful way. Children writing books of their own and having their peers read them for others to see...it is a learning tool on many different levels, not to mentin FUN! This concept could be certainly used in the classroom on all grade levels.

See my other Tool # 8 posting for an additional video post of another genre; Equally impacting.

I quess I sort of "botched" getting them on the same post, which is what my intention was. Nonetheless, here they are. I really enjoyed searching for videos of interest. One could spend quite a bit of time in the vast chasm of related/unrelated subject matter. But, must move on the next tool adventure.

Don't forget...the other video....enjoy

Tool # 8 (2 of 2) Video Resources

This posted video could certainly be used for students studying Science/Social Studies current events. Also, in the study of fragile biomes of wildlife and the impact that environmental catastrophes have on them. Language Arts writing assignments can also be created through video research. Videos can create a real-life visionary reinforcemnt to classroom teaching.

Tool #7 Digital Storytelling

Well, what can I say.....creating the video was quite enjoyable. I am very happy with the result considering that it is my first photo story. I saved it to My Videos, played it over and over to ensure it worked, and emailed it to a friend who will certainly enjoy it, opened it and played it to ensure it worked (which it did). BUT, in attemping to upload it to my blog, here, no can do. I seemed to have the same problem that others had in doing the same thing. You know, for once, I could have spent very little time on this tool and walked away happy, but the frustration in trying to complete it became overwhelmingly frustrating. I went to the open house for help regarding this matter, and they were miracle workers. They assisted me in moving the video to my blog...here it is at the bottom of the blog. Awesome!!!! Enjoy "A Little Piece of Heaven"

Students in the classroom will derive a lot of enjoyment in creating stories with pictures, whether creating something on a personal level or creating fiction. It could be used to summarize the end of a unit, to take us on a trip around the world visiting the places they would like to go to some day, report on their favorite "anything", create a biograhical piece, etc. Again, here, there are so

many possiblities, not only for students, but for teachers.

Tool # 6 Wikis

Navigating through Wiki was amazing! I enjoyed working through the suggested sites to gain knowledge for what we have at our fingertips to enhance the education of our students. PBWorks is like having a library in the classroom. It allows for student-centered learning integrating critical thinking skills and allowing for world-wide communications. Teachers can create class notes; scheduling, agendas, workshops, syllabus, and interpersonal collaboration...to name a few. Wikispaces is much the same with a lot of the same features. I think one would choose based on personal appeal and what works best for them. I personally loved Google Sites! That would be my choice for, particularly, setting up a classroom based website with all the bells and whistles. It would be a great way to communicate with students and teachers alike. It is an everchanging document with announcements, homework, upcoming tests, "word of the week", anecdotes, "student of the week" feature...endless possibilities to make it interesting for students. On a professional level it is useful for staff profiles, team projects, plan for meetings, etc. On a personal level, it is a wonderful tool for staying connected with family and selected friends. Students could build and maintain their own websites within the classroom as an ongoing project integrating all subjects, with teacher monitoring.

I would like to build a website from this during the course of this summer. I think it would be fun. Wow, what a turnaround for me. As stated at the end of my first blog......"it might end up being one of my favorite things to do". Who Knew?

Yea....I am half way through the tools!

Tool # 5 Tagging/Social Bookmarks

Once again, Tool #5 was fun to navigate to see what is out there as far as resources. The two sites I visited were Delicious and Diigo as suggested. The videos were quite helpful, although easier than actually getting through it. Nonetheless, I found the information to be quite useful, not only to me but to others as well. I can certainly see how this public website could benefit others within the network in order to share relevant, as well as new, information. When in search of information, it can be more effective, not to mention a more efficient use of one's time, to go on someone else's recommendation. Two websites I found interesting and useful for my teaching venue are: http://www.theteacherscorner.net/dailywritingrompts/ and http://www.readwritethink.org/.

Students can certainly use this process in the classroom in order to network sites they see as interesting resources relative to classroom topics. It can be used in a cooperative venue, in writing research papers, classroom discussions, etc.

Tool # 4 Google Tools

Well, I did have fun with Google Docs and Reader. I did a lot of looking around and am amazed at how these sights can be used. I am not certain that I implemented the learning process correctly, but had fun trying. Anyway, I love Google Documents! It is collaboration heaven! Wow, it really opens up the sharing of documents for group collaboration with regard to editing, adding, fine tuning, and working through a thought process to reach an end result. The segmented emails sent can get overwhelming and this process eliminates all that; like a conference call...all members can be working on the document at the same time; conference editing. I see this as a tremendous teaching tool for teachers/students in a classroom setting when introducing the writing process. It allows for immediate reinforcement of a group lesson with prompt feedback from students... leading to cooperative problem-solving...reaching levels of whole group understanding more effectively. Students can collaborate on assignments after school from their own relative locations, work on a school newspaper, organize an event, fine-tune scheduling, the possibilities are endless, really. As stated in one of the videos..."publish on a world level". The possiblities for professional collaboration are are endless as well.

Google Reader is a great site as well on many levels. Students/teachers can share with each their personal interests regarding reading choices (author, genre), hobbies, travel locations, et al.

These two sights can certainly add interesting reinforcement to classroom curriculum!

Tool #3 Image Generators/Mashups

This process was very confusing for me. It was fun, but couldn't get the product to link; Read, Read, Read. I have added a picture as well as a gadget. This was fun to do, with help from a special person who was willing to give up their time. Unless I do this all the time, I don't know that I could do this again, really. With regard to implementing this into a class lesson...I could make this a special project from time to time to reinforce how "reading is fun!" with regard to my LLI pull out students, otherwise I will be engaged in Support Facilitation in the general education environment, possibly while students are engaged in this process. "Pictures are worth a thousand words".

Tool #2 Community Building

With response to Tool #2, I believe it is critical that we nurture the humanistic approach to teaching in the classroom, while embracing all the valuable, peripheral sources of information made available through the installation of new technologies. As parents and teachers, we should embrace "balance".

My children are grown, so am out of the loop with respect to them coming home from school with all these great, new learning experiences in the classroom. It is all very exciting as long as we do not lose sight of "people".

I chose to comment on Shopping Teacher, Cashiola's Chronicles, Lindsey Buse's Blog, Gann's Gazette, and Ms. B's Notes. As more people "blog in", I will respond randomly. There are a lot of really good ideas out there!

Tool #1 Blog Set-up/Registration

Well.....I was determined to do this on my own, and I assume that I just did. I have to say that it was like walking through mud, bringing the fun-factor way down. I am going to keep an open mind throughout this process, but I have to say that, most assuredly, I would much rather be outside interacting with people and nature on a personal level than clicking the keys of a computer. I don't think this is healthy, on an emotional, social, or physical level. With that said, I will move through this program as I am expected to by my school district, with gusto. Who knows......when it is all said and done, I might add this to my list of favorite things to do. :)

All fun aside, really, this was a difficult process for me. I think I have sat at the computer now for about 3 hours. I do hope I did this correctly. I will look for assurances from those that know before I move to the next tool activity. I am assuming that this is a building process, so I need to make sure the foundation is solid, so to speak.

You will hear from me again, no doubt. Let me know how you all are doing with this. I would love to hear your success stories along with words of encouragement.

Later.