Tools Reflection

1. What are your favorite tools you now have in your personal technology toolbox?
I really enjoyed photostory. It was fun taking the pictures and adding them to the site, composing my story and adding music. My computer and I had a disagreement about adding it to my blog. I think students would enjoy this. I also enjoyed wordles. Flickr lets you feel creative, especially as I developed one for my blog title.
2. How have you transfomed your thinking about the learning that will take place in your classroom? I think this technology will enchance learning. Students are around technology all the time and because they are so accepting of it, they will learn from it. I know that I will have to work to keep pace with what they will be doing.
3. Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I was not sure what to expect and at times was a a bit overwhelmed (still am in some cases) but the more I went forwad the better it became. I was amazed by the amount of technology that was available. I am enjoying the learning. I look forward to using this with instruction.

Toolbox #11

As I kept reading I discovered how much digital literacy encompasses. It really is our responsibility to teach students how to use this industry wisely and responsibly.
From coolcatteacher.blogspot. it was stated that the Internet is not "sanitized". Because of this we have to be the watchdogs. So, #1, safety, teach by modeling to access credible sources. I believe we can't just send our students to research as they said the "library was sanitized by the librarian."
#2, online sources, from the same source, we have to teach them to understand when what they are reading is fact, or just someones opinion. This is important when they are completing research material
From the iste.org, "we can plan strategies to guide inquiry". Initial research needs to be taught and examples shown.
#3, copyright, I want students to always remember to give credit to sources. They must learn to not represent materials as themselves when it belongs to someone else.
I reviewed Brainpop as one source for implementing digital literacy. It includes safety, etiquette, copyright and online sources to name a few.

Toolbox #10

I just received the e-mail about training with i-touch in a few weeks. I look forward to this as I missed in June due to prior commitments. Many people I know have i-phones and have put a number of apps to work for them. Some of the apps I looked at are:
http://www.google.com/mobile/earth/ which made the world seem so small. It was amazing what just a click could accomplish.
http://www.maclife.com/article/iphone/sudoku_mighty_mighty_good_games
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nasa-lunar-electric-rover/id355542143?mt=8 which is about the lunar rover.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/math-drills-lite/id302881372?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D2 which was facts for basic math, add, subt, mult, div, also using number lines and blocks.
I am excited about the future training

Toolbox #9

I was not familiar with Jing. As in the last blog, I like the idea of capturing an image or video to use in the classroom. I also liked the idea of being able to store it. I love Skype. I have been using it for several years to communicate with family. One idea would be if students could talk with students elsewhere on a particular project or even do a book review together. I'm not quite sure how to fit into the class structure. I can see Jing as a idea that could be quickly implemented.

Toolbox #8

I like the idea of using pictures on the active board so I used 2 sites that might be used as an enhancement to a science lesson:
http://www.hulu.com/national-geographic-environment?c=Green is a very good environmental site with some excellent pictures.http://www.blinkx.com/videos/phases+of+the+moon. This site had interesting videos created by students. I think when students see what other students have created it helps them to realize they can also do pictures and videos. Hot linking is a great quick way to bring sources up. I have enjoyed finding additional places to find those quick videos that sometimes help link learning to seeing.

Toolbox #7

I created my video on Photo Story but am currently having technical difficulties getting it on my blog.
I can see great uses for this, for example recording a science experiment and explaining it, doing a character story in pictures, taking pictures to record a sequence of events in history. I can also see recording a math activity in photos, add in explanations and replaying. This was cool, getting posted not so much.

Toolbox #6

Wiki's seem like a great way to organize ideas. While looking in the SBISD curriculum I saw apps for i-touch and found NASA 3-D Sun and Hear Planet. Those sounded interesting. I also looked at 2 other wiki's, Childrens book reviews, and jabernathy wikispaces-5th grade. This last one was for a classroom and really had some work in it. As a beginner this was fascinating, but this one made me think where does one begin with a project like this?
Wiki ideas I read about for the classroom: LArts, analysis of text, writers workshop and continuing a story.

Toolbox #5

This work took longer for me to set up. I was confused at times. However, once this was accomplished the social bookmarking become easier. I signed up for delicious. The sites I found are: http://www.theteacherscorner.net/ which has free resources for teachers including writing prompts and http://www.mathfactcafe.com/ which is also a free sight for teachers.
I often find sites, write them on a sticky or a piece of paper then can't find it again. I think this will be a great way for me to organize sites that are useful and find sources much quicker.
I think it will also be a good way to organize sources I might want students to be able to use and locate them in a timely manner. I look forward to looking for more sites that could be useful and organized in a convenient way.

Toolbox #4

After working with Googledoc I see some opportunities for school, especially with roadmaps. This would allow teachers to work together without having to be together. Security is an issue to me, but as long as it is school related I don't see a problem.

I attached my 5 blogs to Google reader. It is nice to be able to see these all in one place. I'm not sure at this time exactly how I will use this aspect.

Toolbox #3

Original photo by lilhelm's

#3 had a number of fun ideas for students to be creative. I selected posting a picture because I thought it would be good for students to know how to post them but also the responsibility of giving others credit and knowing how they can share them.

My second item was flikr spell which I used as part of my heading because I thought it was fun. I tried to find letters that had balance and appeal. I did not post but had fun at wordle and its associates. This would be fun for students to do with words in the classroom. I practiced several with words from various subjects.

Toolbox #2

1. I like the idea of being able to communicate with others. Sometimes our time is too short to be able to meet in person. I like what they said about "finding educators with similar thoughts and ideas".

2. I found it interesting that only about 1 in 100 comment. I like the idea of inviting comments and having open ended questions to encourage bloggers to comment and give advice.

3. 5 blogs I selected:
Mrs. Hoovers First Grade: agree it is hard to share
Thornwood Tigers: blogger cares what other people are saying
Poffenberger: technology is important
Sharp Tool: comments need to have substance
Coynes Cool Kids: fun to design avatar

Toolbox #1

I am finding this interesting. I look forward to more adventures as I move on. I am starting on my avatar now.

This is my first post. I am looking forward to future adventures.