REFLECTION

1. I loved the WIKI idea! There were a lot of classroom WIKIs that I would like to model mine after. I liked the video sites and I love the idea of posting a blog as a center with attachments and questions to be answered. I am very excited about having all of the new tech for the classroom! I am a little worried about keeping the content up to date and note letting them get bogged down with unnecessary apps.

2. I think I am ready to move toward a technology driven classroom. I am thinking that we will have lab WIKIs where the kids can post their conclusions, sketches and pics from the work they are doing. We are like I said before going to have more content driven technology centers on both the MacBooks and the Itouches with the blogs and apps available. We are going to share our learning with our classroom learning community as well as our gradelevel learning community through the WIKI and blogs as well. We will use our Social studies time to learn about being a citizen of our class, school, state, country, ecosystem and now the digital community as well.

I took the first 21 things training. I had fun doing it, but didn't use much of it. I think this training, while containing some of the same items, came at a time when I was ready for the information and will be able to use it readily in my classroom! VERY EXCITED!

Tool #11

Digital Citizenship

1. Security - It's very important that kids have a sense of what they need to do to be safe as they dive into the internet. It is a big deal and assuming kids know not to give out information is a costly mistake. We know our students are careful in day to day life but looking at a computer screen instead of a face could give them a false sense of security! It's really easy to type things that are hard to say. Kids need to be taught to guard their personal information and identity from people they could meet online. I would start with the Brain Pop video and continue with a community circle on cares concerns and questions about internet safety.

2. Cyber Bullying - What it is and how it effects people. I think kids might be drawn to participate in these kinds of activities because of some of the same things I mentioned above. They feel secure behind the screen and not face to face. They might think that their identity is hidden or they won't get caught. Kids need to be aware of what it is and the consequences of these actions. Another reason to bring it to their attention is that they might be the victim already and not think that they can do anything about the bullying. It is their responsibity as a cyber citizen to be respectful and sensitive as they should be in everyday life. Having a classroom environment where kids feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and fears is important to the discussion of cyber bullying. I would start with a community circle on bullying and how it makes us feel, then I would show the brain pop on Cyber bullying and follow up with questions to start conversations about cyber bullying.

3. Social community guidelines - I think it is important to talk to our students about being a member of a social community. They may think that they can post whatever to the site and it's no big deal. They need to know that it can be retrieved and possibly used against them for a job they might want or a college they might want to go to! Have a lesson on what kinds of things would be appropriate to share and what might be better left off.

Tool #10

App Reviews:

Math Drills lite - Looks like a good math workout. Need to look closer to see if it grows with advancing math skills. What I saw, would be great for 1-2 or a kiddo that needs number concepts support with operations.

Blackboard - Looks interesting. You have to enable it as a school and set up sections. The kids can then ask questions and have conversations about lessons. What they understood, what they didn't understand, kids can ask and answer questions.

Dot to Dot - Would probably use it with Kyle, Pre-K or Kinder. Would reinforce number or occupy time.

Brain POP featured movie - LOVE THIS!!! I would put just this app in a station, no matter what the topic in my science classroom. They would watch what ever clip happens to be featured for the day and record OH YEAHs and AH HAs in their science journals. VERY COOL! They LOVE Brain POP and useing this they would be able to take the graded quiz which they are DYING to do everytime we show one! LOVE IT!

NASA - AWESOME! Another great app for science. We take about 6-9 weeks to cover space science. Great resource! Will definately load it on my I-touches.

I am VERY excited about getting and using the I-touches and Macbooks for the classroom! We are going to have LOTS of fun using them!

Tool #9

Jing is FUN!!! I think we could use the screen shots to show the kids how to find their SAN folder, log in to AR or First in Math or even how to post an entry on a blog! The great thing about taking the time to make the procedure clear through the screen shots is that if someone is absent, there you go. If you get a new student, there you go. You can save a lot of time with those forgetful kiddos if you have a place they can go on the computers to find the procedure to review before they go to the application! How FUN!! Hmmm...could be a real time saver and headache cure too! I would love to try Skype if someone wants to down load it and have a chat! Let me know! Justin and Kyle's dad travels a lot, so maybe that's something we need to look into for their evening chats! That would be cool too! I went on Google maps and this is what they had for the new Westwood! I captured the picture, it was sent to Screencast where I copied the embeding code to add here!

Tool #8

This video, Migration, I can use when we teach animal adaptations. I found it on the National Geographic website. Very cool! I could spend lots of time there just hunting around. They had LOTS of stuff on bugs (first grade). I think these would be high interest things for the kids to see. I think we could also attach them to a class blog or wiki and put it in a station for them to watch and comment.



This is also a National Geographic find! I told you I had fun there! It's called Tsunamis. This would be a great way to show what they are and how they effect people while we talk about changes in the earth's surface.

Tool #7

The Photostory was very easy to create! I thought the hardest part was finding the free usable music to add and that was fairly painless. As I type the video is still uploading...taking a few minutes...patience.... We shall see how long it takes and if I uploaded the correct file. Anyway, I liked that it put the pictures into a standard story, then I could edit them as I wanted to and make the story more my own. If I wanted to do a quicky...I could just upload the pics with a cute song and be done with it. I will try the other format too since we will have the Macs in our classrooms. Since we have a classroom camera, this tool can be very useful. They could make stories for just about anything the could take pictures of, from field day to projects and how they progress. I like the idea of the kids doing many of these photo stories to help them remember experiences they had. I also like that they have a digital portfolio in which to store this kind of work. Here's a little quicky tip I have for cameras and organizing student photos. I made a folder on my desktop in which I put a short cut to each of my 60 student's SAN folder. Then after I upload the pictures to my computer I can easily copy and drag the picture to the students folder. My first attempt at this digital yearbook we used a power point...I think this year we will upgrade our digital yearbook to Photostory or I-movie. Still uploading...painless for me...but hmmm! It's up to 83 messages!...153...175...and there was a problem with the upload! That was a long wait for a no!


Went back and loaded the .wmn file instead of the photostory file. It took about 5 min to load.

Tool #6

Wiki's could be a great learning tool for the classroom considering that we will have the MacBooks available everyday for the kids to have access. With our former limited access to the internet through "reliable" computers this might have been a challenge. I looked at one Wiki created by a teacher and it looked like she had a page there for every topic they studied. The kids could import pictures, make comments and respond to the comments of classmates. It is a living document that the kids can add to at any point. Looks safe enough. The teacher can then post discussion questions and have students respond during their computer station time. I like it and I could think of a million different ways to use it in science. Watch out...we'll be eating...wiki-ing and bloging about it!! LOL!

Tool #5

I think I will like the idea of social tagging. When we are doing research for science topics it will be nice for others to be able to look at the things we have found as well as us getting the same from others. I found a COOL science activity that I will definately be doing with the kids this year!! Car baked cookies!! Yes I am a science geek, but that is really something! Not only can they see the effects the sun has and the effects of heat, they can see first hand how HOT it gets in a closed up car! What a powerful and FUN lesson!! The other site I found that I liked was also a food activity...ok, maybe I need a snack! It was the science of cake! Fun...yummy and high interest for kids! Anything we can tie to food will be a hit and they WILL remember it! LOVE IT!! I found these using the science tag. Then I went to projects and found the cake site. After that I though I would search for others and found the cookies! Very cool! The class could use this type of bookmarking to show that they were researching during a computer station about topics we have or are currently studying in science. Wouldn't it be powerful for them to be about to find and share the cool things they found on the internet that pertain to classroom lessons? I think this type of site would encourage them to continue to research and share what they are finding at home!

Tool #4

Google Docs...very cool! I like the idea of being able to collaborate on a document without having multiple copies out there. It will save time for everyone, especially the person who is in charge of making the changes! We use a Excel for keeping track of t-shirt orders. It will be nice to have it saved where we can all add to the same document, instead of sending it back and forth. I am also lead mentor, so I created a survey for new teachers! The Google Reader was interesting! It can help stream line what you are researching or following saving time of loading and floating back and forth between pages. You can suggest feeds to others which could be beneficial if students are watching the same info. I also liked being able to link the blogs that I am watching to the feed so that I can easily see what's new.

Tool #3

I loved the Spell with Flickr! It was quick and EASY!! Love it! Use it for the believe gadget at the top of the page! I then went to the Comic Strip Generator. I very quickly made a strip but had a VERY hard time figuring out how to get it linked, down loaded...WHATEVER!! I got it onto a link on the side, but I really wasn't happy with that so I searched through the other tools. The Kid Friendly Image Generator gave the the same head ache. So...I ended up going back to the comic strip and settling for the link. It's funny! So if ya want to take a look..click the link on the side bar. Very frustrating that it was so hard to capture!

Tool #2

1. I like the idea of a PLN. We created one for the Love and Logic book study. I think it will work well if the people involved will read the questions and give thoughtful comments. We as teachers are always saying we don't have enough time to talk to each other and share ideas...well, here's a way to do it.

2. I liked the reading about how to comment. I agree that comments should be meaningful. I think a "you go girl!" should be followed by what the commentor really agreed with. Also I think it's OK to disagree professionally with someone as long as it is done tactfully without attacking the writer.

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Tool #1

I created an avatar through Yahoo for the 21 things! That was like making a Mi. I liked being able to choose from different characters! Now I have the dog and none of the mess! Blogging is fun! Even more fun to get comments on what you write...so comment folks!!