Reflections: Life After 11 Tools

Favorite Tools:
Blogger I hope to create a class blog that will highlight a Student of the Day as a "Getting to Know You" activity.
Google Docs/Wikis (for teacher sharing)
iMovie (for digital stories)

Now that I've had the opportunity to learn about & use some of the resources on the web, I feel more confident with the idea of using them in the classroom. While I will probably use just a few with my kids, I will most likely use most of them in my personal and professional lives.

Hmm... unexpected outcomes? Well, I guess you could say I didn't expect to become a better social networker, blogger, and commenter. The article on commenting and video on digital etiquette really resonated with me. I am forever changed.

Jing & Skype (Tool 9)...Yes, I did this out of order.

Jing seems like a pretty cool service. It is a great way to upload pictures to blogs without worrying about the size or format of the file. Also, because the file is saved to an online database, it doesn't take a long time to load pages that have the photos/videos. Kids could use Jing when doing research projects, field trips reports, and when adding to the class blog.

Skype is also pretty cool. I think it would be awesome to use Skype to interview community helpers &/leaders when studying them in Social Studies.

However, it would be supercool to interview published authors! Readers, do you think authors of children's literature would be willing to Skype with a class of cute 1st graders? Eric Carle, Mo Willems, Jeff Kinney, or Cynthia Rylant, if you're reading this, what do you think? Would you be willing to Skype with a bunch of adoring teacup humans that love reading your books over and over again?

Digital Citizenship (Tool 11)

Wow! I haven't even finished watching the Brainpop video on Digital Etiquette, and I already have so many thoughts running through my head. I have come across a couple of "trolls" online. It is very off-putting and upsets me when I see "flaming" comments. I really wish some people would think a little more before posting their thoughts.

Luckily, the first unit in Social Studies for 1st grade is citizenship. This would be the perfect time to talk about being a "citizen of the digital world." After teaching what it means to be a citizen of the class, school, and community, I would introduce the term digital citizenship. After guiding the kids a bit, they should see the connection of being a good "digital" citizen. Then, I would show different videos on Brainpop and, through shared writing, create an anchor chart of "How to be a smart digital citizen."

My Top 3 Things to Teach:
1) Digital etiquette
2) Blogging
3) Searching online sources

iPod apps (iTool 10)

So, I am posting out of order. I like to mix things up a bit, at times. I liked the pdf listing apps for possible education use. I ended up downloading quite a few apps to my ipod touch. the Math Missing Numbers game would be a fun game for primary students. It has addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. There are also different levels that kids can choose from. Can you say, "Differentiation?"

Calendar time! (Tool 8: Part 2)

I think videos are great resources that help children see how things work. On a personal level, I have used online videos to help me learn new knitting skills. Sometimes just reading about it is not enough. Anyway, the videos I chose for this assignment will be helpful during daily calendar routines.

"Months of the Year"


"Days of the Week"


Here is a shorter "Days of the Week" video.

Welcome Back video (Tool 8: Part 1)

I just thought this video was hilarious. Please do enjoy.

Tool 7: Once upon a digital time...

I really enjoyed making a video using iMovie. I am a bit of a perfectionist, so it took me a few hours. A few helpful hints to remember:

1) Add photos/videos.
2) Arrange media in the order you want.
3) Delete media you don't want.
4) Add a theme.
5) Add titles.
6) Adjust transitions.
7) Add music/audio clips.

I hope you enjoy the video above. Unfortunately, my pictures from the French Quarter mysteriously disappeared from my camera. :(

Tool 6: Wikis

Wikis are pretty cool. They remind me a lot of Google Docs. With that being said, teachers can use them like they would use Google Docs.

I like the idea of using a wiki for peer editing. It could even be used as a resource for adding and reading prewriting topics and drafting.

Tool 5: Tags

I recently joined Diigo to bookmark my "favorites." Tagging is now my new favorite online organization tool. I added a few sites related to my personal hobbies: knitting (The Knit List) and gardening (The Backyard Gardener.) I also created a "hobbies" tag and specific tags like knitting, gardening, and crochet.

Hmm...let me exercise my brain to come up with ideas for using this in a 1st grade classroom. A class diigo could be created to collect, tag, and organize teacher approved websites with educational games for kids to access at a computer workstation or in the computer lab. Once the kids know they can only visit the bookmarked sites, this would cut down on the question, "Can we go to (insert website name)?"

Google Docs & Reader (Tool #4)

Google Docs = Awesome! With the help of my fellow 1st grade dual language teachers, I created a working roadmap for science and social studies. My colleagues were able to access & edit the document with ease. They seemed to enjoy seeing the changes instantly load and save. I really like not having to open an attachment from an e-mail, edit, save, and e-mail it back. Google Docs is an amazing timesaver. Unfortunately, when I tried to create a table using the word processing tool, it was a bit frustrating. Hopefully, that feature will improve and work more like the word processing software I use on my computer soon.

Google Reader = Okay. I think I need more experience with this tool. It automatically imported the blogs I am following in Blogger, which I see any time I log in. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of many sites that I wanted to follow besides local & world news sites.

I think Google Docs is a great tool for educators to use with other educators for planning and scheduling. In the primary classroom...I'm still thinking. Google Reader would be useful when following other class blogs or current events. Again, I'm still struggling to think of useful and meaningful ways of using these tools.

Tool 3: Image Generators and

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

I had a blast generating images and mash-ups!

Some of my ideas for the classroom are:
Generate ideas by writing words that correspond with shapes using a Word Mosaic in Image Chef.
Write words a character says, feels, or does using a Word Mosaic in Image Chef or Captioner in Big Huge Labs.
Make a field trip video using Animoto with uploaded images from the trip.
Add student names to a class blog for "Student of the Week" in a fun way using Spell with Flickr.

What do you think? Am I stretching or not reaching far enough?

2nd Tool: PLNs and Comments

After reading the post on PLNs and commenting, I realized I was more clueless about blogging than I previously thought. I appreciated the article about getting readers to comment on posts. Through posing open-ended questions to encourage conversations and more learning opportunities, a blog really can become a "news" source. Wouldn't it be awesome if parents and teachers could communicate through a class or school blog about their questions or concerns?

Blogs I've commented on:
The Little Blogger that Could
Fatigued Teacher
Kindertracs
Glover's Science Emporium
Sherrill's Kindergarten Friends

Tool #1

Tool #1 is completed. I have to admit that after completing this assignment, I feel somewhat like a tool myself. According to the information about avatars, they usually tend to be "alter egos." Honestly, I struggled finding my alter ego. The best I could come up with is who I'd like to be in another life: a beautiful fashionista living it up in Paris, France.

Perhaps, my students will not feel so much like tools when creating avatars. In fact, I know they will have a blast creating their own. I wonder how many avatars a blog can take? One of my goals for this year is to create a class newsletter. Could I create a class blog instead? Each update could include an avatar representing a student of the week with a little blurb about him/her. Hmm... the wheels are turning.

*Update: I changed my voki avatar. She is now a superhero with a laser beam hidden in her necklace. By day, she is a classroom teacher. By night, she fights crime in the Greater Houston area.