Tool #8

I love incorporating videos into my lessons any time I can. It helps students build background knowledge or simply just reinforce a lesson just learned.
A new way I began using videos this past year was for extra motivation. This first video is an example of how I used it for that purpose. A few weeks before the reading TAKS test I began showing this video right before my reading lesson to get the students motivated about the long reading selections they get. I would tell them to imagine that their reading selection is like a book...watch and see! Soon the kids were singing the lyrics and moving their reading papers along to the music.



This second video is a short explanation of how the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico got started. With complicated topics like the massive oil spill we recently had, the shorter the explanation, the easier for kids to understand. So when I saw this video, I thought it was perfect.

Tool #7

I had never experienced how to utilize and create a digital story. I loved it! It was challenging to organize the pictures I wanted to use and decide on what I wanted to write but it was worth it. I loved the outcome! I think this would be a great experience for the students. They can work on a group project or even on an individual writing assignment with the use of pictures. To sum it up, I really enjoyed this tool. Although my photo story is personal, many can relate to it.

Tool #6

It seems to me that Wikis are very similar to Google Docs, but maybe a bit more kid-friendly for our students. I believe a good use for a Wiki in the classroom would be for book clubs or book reviews. This could be their journal writing assignment after reading the part of the book that was assigned for their book club. A Wiki could also be for students to express their reviews on a class novel or even on independent reading books that are very popular amongst the students in the class. Very cool tool!
A good use for the grade level team to use a Wiki would be for planning team meetings. Issues/ideas that want to be brought to the table could be arranged on a list and then have ready to discuss when the meeting is arranged.

Tool #5

Man, this was a time-consuming tool for me to understand, but I finally got it done!
The social bookmarking site I registered into was Delicious. The 2 websites I bookmarked are Time for Kids (tags: news articles for kids) and Printable Math Worksheets (tags: math holiday worksheets).

This is a good tool to have all those kid-friendly websites bookmarked onto. I usually bookmark the websites my students can use on the Activboard together with my personal websites. As I was bookmarking, I noticed a check box to mark it as private. So I guess you can have a tag for those to share with students and those to keep as personal.

Tool #4

Wow! I had no idea about these new resources that are available out there. Google Docs will definitely be useful when working with grade level team and doing lesson plans. This way everyone can input into one document instead of having several copies and then merging. Being a language arts teacher, I think it would be perfect when a group of students is collaborating in a narrative story. One student can do one part of the story as everyone else is following on Google Docs and then add their part into that one document. At the end it would be a finished product in which each student can be accountable for.
As far as Google Reader, I think this would be a more useful resource for those who follow up online on a regular basis. As a teacher, I'd subscribe to my students' and my colleagues' school blogs.

Tool #3

I'm sure this image (from Flickr Photo) would definitely catch the attention of my students and have each one of them blogging about it. It has been all over the media! Having students express themselves about something like this will open the doors to their world and will let me, as the teacher, learn more about each one of them and how they think. Don't you find a child's perspective on life fascinating?

Tool #2

Wow! It's amazing how far technology has come. I was truly impressed after reading about the statistic that by 2024, 80% of high school courses will be online. This is why it will be crucial for teachers to start building their own personal learning network in order to be onboard with what the students are experimenting at home already. Technology definitely tweaks the learning!

The point that stood out most for me as far as the commenting advice was the part of asking a question in the blog. A question will then invite the reader to post an opinion.

I can definitely see the commenting part of a blog being very beneficial in the classroom online community, especially for those kiddos that are more on the quiet side this is a good way to get them to express themselves.

Tool #1

Hello to everyone and welcome to my first blog. I've got to say that I am BRAND NEW to blogging so it did take me a while to understand how to set it up. To be honest, I had to read the directions several times before I tried it out. I like technology so I am so ready to learn some more. I am sure that after this first tool, the rest of them will be much easier.

The way I would incorporate this into my classroom is by creating a blog for parents to let them know what their children are learning and of any important upcoming events. Of course for this to be successful, a class for parents on how blogging works would be ideal. I would also like for my students to learn how to blog about their reading selections and/or how they are applying strategies to become a better reader, and then have them comment on each other's blogs. For this, I do have several questions which I am sure will be answered as the new school year gets started or maybe as I read through the rest of the tools. One of my questions is when will the kids be given some time to learn how to blog? Overall, I believe it's a useful new way to incorporate technology into the classroom.