11 Tools Reflection

1. I think that Tool #3 was my favorite. I loved making the short video on animoto using pictures from my computer. After my experience with imovie, I realized that this program was a lot easier to use. I also loved the website that allowed you to create wordles. They are so simple and fun and I know that my first graders will love them. It is something that I know they will be able to do with little assistance from me!

2. I am excited about the technology that will be in my classroom this year. After attending trainings to learn about it and completing the 11 tools, I have a greater understanding of how it can be used. After figuring out some of these tools on my own, I am excited to pass the information along to my students. This technology will enhance their learning in ways that were not possible before. Not to mention, some of these tools are very useful to me in making my life easier. They will help me to stay organized throughout the year.

3. What surprised me was how many different tools I learned about in this process. At first I thought 11 tools was overwhelming, but now I am glad that I know how they work. With each tool, I could see how to incorporate it into my classroom.

Tool #11

I think that it is important that we mold our students into good digital citizens. Here are the three things that I think are the most important to impart on them.

• Digital Literacy - I want my students to feel comfortable with using the different types of technology that are available. I would like for them to know how to use and why it is enhancing their learning. The technology is not going to do any good if the students do not know how to use it effectively.

• Digital Security and Safety - As there is so much for the students to learn when it comes to technology, we must ensure that they do so in a safe way. The students need to be aware of the dangers that this technology can present and how to avoid it. It is not our job to scare them with the bad things that can happen, but to educate them so that they are prepared.

• Digital Access - The students need to be fully knowledgable on the different types of technology that are out there. They need to know where to go to find information and what to do with it. Technology is being used to enhance their learning, so the students need to know how to benefit from it. There are so many things that are available for them, so it is our responsibility to teach them to use it the right way.

Tool #10

1. I attended one of the district itouch trainings because we will be receiving five of them for our classroom in the fall. During this training, we had the chance to play with a lot of the apps and learn how to download them to the device. One of the apps that I came across was called "Oops! I did it again" and it focuses on improving spelling. There will be four different ways to spell a certain word, and you have to decide which one is correct. I thought that this would be a fun way for the kids to work on their spelling and recognizing which one is correct. Another app that I thought would be helpful in the classroom is called "Alphabetically". You have to tap the letters in order as fast as you can. I thought this would be a good tool to practice letter recognition as well as practicing their ABC's at the beginning of the year.

2. I have had the chance to play with the iphone and the itouch. I am always amazed with all of the things that they are capable of. They are so much fun to play with and you could be entertained for hours. Several of my friends have iphones and I love to borrow them so that I can play with all of the apps that they have. I love that you can find an app for just about anything that you can think of!

3. I am very excited about the new technology that I will be receiving in my classroom! The five itouches will be very useful and I know that they kids will love them. I plan to incorporate the itouches as a center for the students to rotate to. I hope to download several of the free educational apps so that the students can have a choice of which ones to use. I plan to use them for my math block so the students can practice number sense, number recognition, and other math concepts.

Tool #9

1. I think that Jing could be an excellent resource in the classroom! I read the example about the school librarian and how she used it to teach research skills. I think that Jing could really help me when I am teaching my first graders about computers. A lot of times, teachers give up on six year olds navigating a computer by themselves and simply do it for them. How will they ever learn if that happens? By using Jing, you can make a video of how to get to a certain site, how to log in, or any other necessary actions that they will need to do for themselves. This way, you would not have to show them or repeat yourself 22 times. You could simply show the video and thats it. Not to mention, if a certain child still doesn't understand, they could just watch it again!

2. I love that Skype was included in the 11 tools because it is something that I actually have experience with. The program is so easy to download and use that it would be easy to incorporate it into the classroom. I think that a fun way to use Skype would be to talk to people from other countries. In our social studies curriculum, each class chooses a country to study for several weeks. I think that the kids would benefit from being able to talk to someone who is from that country. For example, say I have a family friend that is living in Australia. If this is the country that my students chose, they could each come up with a question of something they still wanted to know. Then, you could call the friend on Skype and have that person answer the kid's questions. Seeing that actually visiting the country would be out of the question, I think that this could be the next best thing.

3. I have used Skype for many different reasons and I think it is an incredible tool! When I was doing my student teaching overseas, Skype was the only means of communication that I used to get ahold of my family. I also use it currently because my sister lives in the Middle East and phone calls would simply be too expensive. I like that Skype gives you the option of typing out a conversation like an instant messenger or the option to make an actual phone call. Not only can you make a phone call, but with my built-in camera I can actually see the person that I want to talk to. When you have a family member who lives that far away, being able to see them as you talk is a precious gift.

Tool #8

This video is called "Life Cycle of the Monarch Butterfly" and I found it on the Teachertube website. I originally started looking on Blinkx, but found it hard to narrow it down to educational videos that were suitable for the classroom. So I went to Teachertube instead knowing that most of the videos would be appropriate for students. When I typed in life cycles, this was the first to pop up. In first grade we spend the first nine weeks on life cycles and we do a different one each week. The lifecycle of the butterfly is one that we study, so I know that this will be a valuable tool for my classroom. My students love to watch videos on the activboard because it is like a big screen TV for them. So, if I can find a video clip on a subject, I use them a lot because the kids are always very engaged.

This video is called "Soil is like a Chocolate Chip Cookie!" and I also found this on the Teachertube website. Soil is another science concept that we teach in first grade. I was immediately intrigued by the title of this video because of how they compare it to a cookie. I think that this comparison will not only help the kids understand, but it will catch their attention. Cookies are definitely something that they can relate to, so I think they would be excited to see this video.

Tool #7

This posting was, by far, the most frustrating for me throughout the whole process. I got to Tool #7, created my imovie, and had extreme troubles in posting it. Even with it being in the correct format, it still refused to post. Since I was going out of town soon after I made my movie, I left it for several weeks and decided to finish when I got back. However, I still had no luck so I decided to go on and finish the other 11 tools. Now that I have attended another help session, I have heard that blogger is being very particular about posting movies. Luckily, I have full permission to complete this process without it.

I made my movie about a trip to Spain that I took with another teacher. I uploaded my pictures to imovie, added text to explain the pictures, and downloaded a spanish guitar song to play in the background. I thought that the process to make a movie was fairly easy and self-explanatory. I went to the help website was one problem but it was easily solved. I am very pleased with how my movie turned out, and I can see myself making another one in the future. I promise you that it's a great movie, you just probably won't be able to see it!

I think that I am definitely going to use imovie at the end of the year. I think it would be a great way to use all of those pictures that I end up taking throughout the year. You could put them all in an imovie to wrap up another great year with the students. They can see their growth while looking back on all of the fun memories with their class!

Tool #6

I think that Wikis are a great tool to share and organize information. Since anyone has the ability to update the page, it is a great way to collaborate. The sample video that discussed making a wiki to prepare for a camping trip made it very easy to understand. I think that this sample gave me some good ideas of way to incorporate wikis into my classroom. In first grade we make KWL charts to keep track of our information. A wiki would work for this so that the information can be updated or changed. You could also use a wiki to keep track of different writing prompts. In the beginning of the year, we brainstorm a list of everything we can write about during writers workshop. By creating a wiki for this assignment, the students could go back and add to their list as the year goes on. Wikis could also be effective for teachers as well. You could share information about lessons and other teachers could add to your ideas. You could also use it as an organizational tool to keep track of school supply lists and things needed in the classroom.

Tool #5

I joined the social bookmarking site called Diigo. It took awhile for me to understand how to bookmark sites and use tags, but it was fun to explore. I think I still have a lot to learn about using this site, but I like what I have seen so far.

• One of the sites that I found using Diigo was Enchanted Learning. I really liked this site because it had activities for kids of all ages. You can find interesting activities by theme, subject, holiday, etc.
• The second site that I found was First Grade Math Skill Builders. I think that this site will be helpful because it has interactive math activities broken up by topics. You can find engaging activities for lots of math topics including telling time, patterns, place value, and much more.
• Another site that I believe will be helpful is The Teacher's Corner. This website has lots of resources for teachers including bulletin board ideas, thematic units, and lesson plans.

The tags that I used to find these sites were: education, resources, and teaching

I think that a website such as Diigo would be helpful in the classroom for many reasons. The students can use it on research projects and search for information by tags. It would be helpful for me as a teacher because I can use it to bookmark good websites. The lists are also a great tool so that you can organize the information that you find.

Tool #4

Creating google documents was very easy for me to do. The document that I created was a letter to parents explaining how I implement love and logic into my classroom. I then sent that letter to my teammate so that she could have it for her own personal use. By creating the letter in google docs, she would be able to change the letter as she saw fit. I think the greatest thing about using this tool is that you no longer need to send attachments. When you send a document for someone to edit, you have to worry about saving it and then saving every new version that comes your way. Google docs eliminates this so that the changes can be made on the original document. I think that this could be very useful for the students when it came to editing papers. They could start the writing process in google docs and share it with peers or teachers to have them revise. The comments could be easily seen by the author and they could go back and make the changes. This tool would also be helpful for my teammates so that we could share lesson plans and roadmaps.

As I put my five blogs into google reader, I was impressed with how easy it will be to keep up with new postings. Rather than having to search for new information, it is right there for you to see. I like that it marks the unread material, so that you don't waste your time reading something that you have already seen. I think that this would be a great tool for students when they are doing research projects. They can keep track of new information and skip over things that they have already read. They could also subscribe to interest blogs that they want to follow and keep up with the most current information.

Tool #3

This is a video that I made using pictures from my student teaching experience in Zurich, Switzerland. Animoto made it very easy to upload the photos, add music, and choose a background. The whole process only took about 20 minutes! When seeing how easy it was, I am very convinced that this is something that I can use in my classroom. It would be fun to make videos using class pictures to keep as memories throughout the year. Also, you could find pictures from the internet and use it for content related videos. For example, when studying about insects, you could find pictures of several different insects and string them together to make an insect video.

This is a wordle that I created using math words. I think that these can be used for any subject and in several different ways. For example, you could pick a topic and have all of the examples listed around it. You could also use the wordle for word studies or to help with spelling words. They are a fun and creative tool that I believe the kids will really enjoy. You can change the layout, color, and direction to make it exactly the way that you want it.

Tool #2

1. What are your thoughts about building an online education community and participating in a PLN?

I think that building a personal learning network is a great idea. By creating this community, you can find other teachers to share your ideas and interests. I know that as a teacher, I learn so much from talking to others about their experiences. You can share what worked and what didn't so you can try new things in your classroom. This learning network will provide an avenue to discuss strategies with other teachers so your students can have the greatest opportunity to learn!

2. What point stood out to you from the commenting advice?

The point that stood out to me was the statistic of bloggers who choose not to comment. After reading this, I realized that I was one of those people! Several of my friends have blogs, and I read them, but I never comment. I guess I previously felt that it didn't matter what I had to say about it. Now I know that I am obviously not alone in that thought. So in the future, I should be grateful for anyone who does comment on my blog because very few people do!

3. What five blogs did you select for your comments?

Mrs. Hoovers First Grade - I commented on how online journaling is a great idea. It would be very motivating for the students to look back on their posts to see the growth that they had made.

Thornwood Tigers - I commented on the Animoto photo slideshow. I think that it would be a great tool for the parents to see what goes on in the classroom. You could take pictures at fun events and share them on your blog. That way even people who were not there could feel like they were a part of the action.

Kind Kindergarteners - I commented on the Word it Out tool that she used. I thought it could be a creative way for the students to practice their spelling words.

Thornwood Music - I was interested in the comment she made about online safety. As we teach our children how to use this new technology, we also need to prepare them for the dangers that come along with it.

Live 2 Learn & Learn to Live - I commented on the digital storytelling post. I think that this is a new way for the children to tell stories. For those who have a hard time remaining engaged throughout the writing process, this would be very motivating.

Tool #1

I have just finished tool number one for creating my classroom blog. It was not a very hard process, but creating the avatar was a bit tricky! I am very excited about the new technology that is going to be in our classrooms. Since this is all new to me, I tend to think that first graders will not be able to do it when I am struggling myself. However, I know that if we start at an early age, it will be amazing to see what they are capable of. If you take them through things step by step, they are very quick learners no matter the age! I think that a classroom blog will be a valuable tool for communication. Through postings, the parents can keep up with the learning that is going on in our classroom. Some parents struggle to find the time to get ahold of their child's teacher, so this can be a different way to get a glimpse into what goes on while their child is at school!