Reflections

I have reflected throughout my blog about my opinion,however, I will reflect some more. I think the 11 Tools was a great idea, but I am not sure this is the way to teach it if you really want teachers to become proficient with the various tools. I had an extremely difficult time with my computer at my house. Most of my problems had to do with being kicked off the site when I was in the middle of a project. Also, there are hours of reading and videos to watch if you really want to learn and understand all that is out there. I spent well over 30 hours completing the 11 Tools and feel if we are being asked to invest that much of our time, we certainly should be given credit for it.
I love all of the Ipod applications for personal use. For the classroom I think the Photostory is awesome for reports and projects. However, I still need to determine how to upload it to my blog. Technical glitches are very frustrating.
I am very thankful that I had this opportunity but must admit, I am glad I am finally finished.

Tool #7

This has certainly been a fun little project for me. I am having trouble moving my video over from where I saved it, but the experience of making the video was a pretty positive experience. I did not have a microphone so I wasn't able to record the information I wanted to about each picture, which will make the video more valuable to the student.

I can see how a classroom could do book reports, or special videos about famous historical figures, science reports, etc. The interactive tools make learning so much more fun for everyone.

Tool #11

Digital Citizenship, according to Cool Cat Teacher, encompasses 4 things centered around the student.

1. Literacy

2.Safety

3. Learning Strategies

4. Etiquette



I believe that digital citizenship, like any other subject must be developed over the years. That is why we (baby boomer teachers) are having the most difficult time embracing technology. But, hey, we are getting there.

We as teachers must facilitate experiences that advance student learning, encourage students to explore world issues and solve problems using various tools,while promoting collaboration, understanding, and reflection.

In the classroom, I would try to teach each aspect of Digital Citizenship by comparing them with areas we already teach. I might teach internet safety by comparing why we don't talk to strangers we meet on the street. I would discuss basic rules of etiquette, why we have such rules, how we feel when people break those rules and then introduce rules of etiquette for the digital world. Etiquette and safety go beyond the classroom, reaching more important areas of law and ethics. The same goes for literacy and learning strategies , all of which will only be expanded and enhanced by the use of tools and digital information. At the same time, our digital world allows students exposure to cultural differences, more global awareness, and hopefully, more understanding of our fellow man and the world we all share.

Tool #10

There seem to endless uses for Ipods and Iphones in the educational setting. I looked at many of the apps and have listed some I think would be great to use personally as well as professionally:
Lonely Planet
Urban Spoon
Couch to 5K
Lose It
Yoga Stretch
Pop Math
Quick Voice
30 Boxes
WeDict
This Day in History
KuGom
These are just of the few that caught my eye and range from restaurant locators to improving memory skills , to an app to create quizes.
I have an Ipod , but have only listened to music on it. I believe it's time I take advantage of what it can do for me! I hope to have an iphone soon. Actually, now I REALLY want one. There is so much out there. This is really very exciting.
I spent a little time looking at Chri Webb's Space, which is a blog that encourages the use of these tools in the classroom. It is truly fascinating

Tool #9

I have successfully created a profile with Skype. I have used this to talk to my nephew in China and most recently in Taiwan. It was so exciting to actually see Gray , how he looks, and hear his voice. This tool is wonderful for families separated by thousands of miles. I can only imagine how the loved one feels that is away from all their family. Just seeing and hearing the voice of someone you care about can be very comforting. As far as classroom application of Skype, I can envision connecting to someone , an expert or just someone like my nephew, who can give the class an insiders view of life around the world, new discoveries, etc.
I also downloaded Jing to my desktop. This too will be a fun way to share information with other educators or students in our quest for knowledge and interesting things to bring to our classrooms.

Tool #8

Now this is the most user friendly and potentially helpful tool in my opinion. In the 21st century, we are bombarded by so much information from across the world, we need to bring this information to the classroom. Very often our students in Title 1 schools have little exposure to the news and what is happening outside their community. Video streaming brings the world to them, is an entertaining way to teach and allows them to see and hear experts in infinite areas.

I chose 2 videos from blinkx and clicked on environment. The first is an expert downplaying the exposure of oil to the environment and the impact to the Gulf. The second is about a recent, smaller oil spill off the Chinese coast. One can immediately see the difference in the cultures of the two countries and how they tackle the spills, look at the environmental damages as well as try to protect workers cleaning up the spills. Certainly, we have much more background knowledge about the Gulf spill as we have been living it over 100 days now. I can see a wonderful Science lesson full of comparing and contrasting in many ways just from listening to these two videos.
Ex:
Safety precautions for cleanup crews
Environmental impact and government regulations and concerns
Climate (temperature) impact on disbursement of oil
Long term environmental impact
Economic and social impact to areas
Politics and the oil spills

Tool #6

Wiki is a fantastic site for teachers, especially Language Arts teachers. I see many applications to use it to develop story writing , improve sentence structure and elaboration through cooperative learning in the classroom, from school to school, across the state and the country! The same goes for problem solving Math. I can see a teacher posting a higher level problem solving scenario and students working through the steps, comparing how each would go about solving it. Awesome! Again, as with all these tools, the application is only litmited as far as the imagination, time, and effort.

Tool #5

I had to create an account on Yahoo to be able to access delicious.
I enlisted my daughter, who works for an internet marketing company to help with this as I have said over and over, I am technically challenged. The internet is her life as well as her bread and butter. She felt that creating all of these accounts was pointless and said no one she knows uses and tries to keep up with all of this. Somehow I wonder if there might be an easier way to really access user friendly information.
Anyway, I created my delicious account and first went to William Faulkner on the Web. The tags I used were: Mississippi , authors, novels, Oxford, and southern
The second website I went to was Justdogbreeds.com. Those tags were :friendly, small, smart, and protective.

Tool #4

Google Earth and Google Doc are not new tools to me. Actually, I wasn't really aware that they had names as such.
I believe Google Earth will be a wonderful way for students to expand their insight into the vast world around us. There are no limits to the knowledge and places that can be touched using this tool. Any classroom will be enhanced by Earth and the various (should I say multitude?) of places this tool can take us.
Google documents will be such a time saver for us in Resource as we often share many documents , making changes, but losing site of our original or deleting important data, etc. Yeah!!!!
As I said, I have received documents using Google,doc. just wasn't really aware of it. Hey, I think maybe that's the beauty of it. I sent a reflection of a meeting I attended today. Hopefully, it was received by the one it was intended for.
I see lots of uses for these tools in the classroom, but most likely Google,doc. will be more helpful in middle and high school. Surely, they are already using it!

Tool #3

The image generators and mashups are intriguing tools for the classroom. I can see endless possibilities for publishing for our students. As they compose compositions, do projects cooperatively, help make posters for their rooms, etc. the students will be able to work together and have fun seeing their imaginations take form on paper.
I used wordle , a simple, fun way to make a poster of the 6 Math objectives we use to teach elementary Math. Certainly it could be used in many different ways to generate fun, meaningful word posters for any subject. My second choice was dumpr. I used a picture saved on my computer and copied it into a sort of pre arranged layout.
I have so much to learn where technology is concerned and so little time to complete these tasks, so I am going to be moving pretty fast.
Once, I learned how to post gadgets, it was much easier. I did find that sometimes the directions are lacking and it is very time consuming to maneuver via trial and error to get what you want. I am sure a more techno savvy person can zip through, so truly, this is my own fault. Enough said!

Tool #2

As I think about the 21st century and the direction in which education is going, I am thankful the school district is encouraging us to learn and use these tools for the classroom. My niece's husband, a research scientist, has had a blog for years, and, my brother in law, a priest, has a blog followed by a multitude of folks. It is only appropriate that we, the teachers of the next generation , share, and forge ahead in the quest for innovative ideas, tools, and knowledge so our students will be better prepared to meet the challenges they will face.

Yes, I go kicking and screaming as I am somewhat mechanically challenged. I have succeeded in responding to 5 co-workers blogs so I know others share in this aspect of our challenge. Hatty Chatty is miles ahead of most in her skill set of technology so I think we will look in her direction for support as well as creative ideas for the special ed classroom. What a wonderful resource she is! I think Julie, Christy, Joyce, Karen and Lindsey are somewhat circling their wagons as I am although they are perhaps much further along. It has been a very busy summer for me and simply finding time to sit down at the keyboard has been difficult, however there is nothing like an fast approaching deadline to get one moving.

I am excited to have this experience and be able to share ideas, lessons, and thoughts with other educators, particularly in the special education area.