Reflection

I can't believe I made it through this! It was a definite learning experience and I did have a great time exploring all technology that is out there. I really liked using the word mosaic at imagechef.com I think this tool could easily be used with my students. At the beginning of the year we could make a mosaic of all the students names and then laminate and put it in a learning center. The students could use wiki stix to circle each others names or even use dry erase markers to circle them. Later in the year, we could make mosaics to go along with letter sounds that we are studying. Students could brainstorm words that start with a particular sound and we could input them into the computer in the shape of that letter.

This was a great experience and I am glad to have these new tools under my belt so that I can become a 21st century teacher and I can help students become 21st century learners.

Tool #11

Becoming a digital citizen and teaching our young students the safety and responsibility that comes along with using technology is important for teachers to remember. Students need to be taught that not all websites are safe and they need to know that they are not allowed to go to any websites that I do not approve in the classroom. They also need to be told that there are strangers on computers that may try to talk to them and they are not allowed to talk to anyone on the computer in my classroom. As students get older, they need to understand that not all information on the internet is true. We need to teach students to have good judgement and teach them how to make responsible choices with the information they are reading and sharing with others.

Tool #10

I do have an iphone and absolutely love it! But, my 8 year old loves it even more! I have put games on there for him such as Hangman and wordhunt. He also plays with other games that aren't so educational. He attends a school in SBISD and their librarian had a few itouches for the kids to use last year. He loved it and came home to ask me to put those apps on my phone. They used Traffic attack (great for visual tracking) and Waterslide (also for visual tracking and hand/eye coordination). My son has also watched some educational videos (sesame street, Dora) and I am telling you, having an itouch available in the classroom will be a great learning resource for the students.

Great Tool!

Tool #9

Skype and Jing are both new to me and I enjoyed researching them to find out how they can be useful in the classroom. Jing seems like it would be great for reteaching topics for student review. It also seems like something students could use from home to review for tests or homework assignments. Skype could be used for students to communicate with each other about current topics of study. Wouldn't it be cool if students could connect with students abroad and ask questions to each other about their community. It would be a great first hand learning experience about different cultures. I remember when I was in elementary school and we would get a pen pal from a different country. We would communicate via snail mail to learn about each other. Skype would allow students to do this in real time and even see visuals of what another country looks and sounds like. Technology is such a great classroom learning tool!

Tool #8

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=187308&title=Alphabet_Song

http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=171857&title=Alphabet_with_Animals

I am sad to say that I have never visited Teacher Tube until today. This is a great website with lots of great resources for teachers and parents. I found two great videos on the alphabet. The students would love watching these videos and they could be used as great teaching tools as well. We could recreate the videos into classroom books or even make posters with the same pictures from the videos and then dramatize the video as a whole group activity. What a great extension of the movie maker tool we just did. Students could create their own alphabet movies and we could even share them with our class next door.

Here is the video for one of my alphabet videos off of teacher tube....check it out!


What an excellent tool!!

Tool #7

This is my first time using movie maker software. I really enjoyed working on this tool. Working with movie maker was very easy....I made a photo story! All it takes is a little clicking and dragging and you instantly have a cool movie! I made a movie using pictures from my classroom when we had a petting zoo come visit. My students are always asking to see the pictures we take and I think this would be a great way to share these things with them. I also think parents would love seeing their children in these cute, short films. I could play these movies during open house events or during end of the year graduations. I could also send these movies out through email to parents throughout the year. They would love sharing them with other family members.

What a great tool! Thanks for letting us do this project!

Tool #6

Here is a link to Wikis on Wikipedia
http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Technology_in_the_classroom

I made a group Wiki in during my online masters courses at SHSU. It was a great way for us to gather information and put it together to make a complete learning unit. I think students could do the same thing. By working together in cooperative groups my students could research a topic and we could create a classroom wiki. Students could then share this with their families at home and would feel such a great sense of accomplishment to share with their families what they did at school.

Tool #5

http://www.autismspeaks.org/
http://www.p21.org/

I joined the following 2 websites through Delicious. I used 21st Century Teaching and Autism tags to find my websites. This whole idea of teaching in the 21st century is a really hot topic! Please visit my tagged site and check out the great ideas on teaching in the 21st century.

Our students are very aware of computers and probably have some of their own websites that they like to visit. We could allow them to share these with friends or we could even tag a new class topic and then research all related websites they could visit in a learning center.

Tool #3

This was lots of fun! I have never used a format like this and I enjoyed experimenting with it! I think the students would love using this in the classroom. We have digital cameras in the classrooms and we could have them each take a picture from a nature walk and then create a Pop Art Poster. We could then print them out and make a classroom book for the library! Great fun!

I also made a Word Mosaic and I think students would love doing this. We could have students create a list of words to go with a chosen beginning sound and then print them out for further learning.

Tool #4

Google Docs is a great tool. I also teach online courses and I have had students send me documents through google docs before. They are much easier to open and I can access them anytime I am on the computer. I think this would be great to be able to share ideas with coworkers and parents.

I developed a document that has one of my favorite books by Dr. Seuss...Oh the Places You'll Go. I shared it with a co-worker (Simon Says) and I hope others take the time to check it out as well. It is a great book!

Here is the link:
http://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1B2wVvZPPotDzoOKvs4tntCgOAwiq10LtvG_uPiR693M

I think Google Reader is a fantastic way to stay updated on your favorite topics. I subscribed to some autism sites and I will get notifications whenever the page is updated. I think this is a great way to stay educated about the latest buzz in education.

Tool #2

I think that teachers could really benefit from being in a PLN together on their campus....or even among different campuses. This is a great way to share ideas and communicate with one another about new ideas in education. I have enjoyed learning from the other blogs I have visited and reading other comments from visitors. I think it would be great if all of our early learning centers could create one blog where we share ideas on great ideas for the classroom. We all have fabulous ideas and could learn so much from one another. Being able to share in this type of forum allows us the flexibility to learn from each other at home or at a time when it is convenient for our our own lives.


I commented on the following blogs:

erin's Blog
11 Tools for the 21st Century Learner
Simon Says
11 tools for 21st century
11 Tools

Tool #1

I have created an avatar....isn't it cute? Can't wait to see what is next. I think having a classroom blog will be a great way to communicate with parents and co-workers.

First Night

Well, I have my first Blog....never knew I even wanted one. But, this is kind of cool and I can't to see what I learn from here. I am very interested to find out how this will benefit my PK students :)