Tools Reflection

1. What are your favorite tools you now have in your personal technology toolbox? Briefly describe a particular activity that you will plan for your students using at least one of these new tools.
I enjoyed using all of the tools but I would have to say that some of my favorite were the iTouch and iPad, the word it out and comic strip generator, and creating the iMovie. I will use the word it out and comic strip generator with fairy tales and nursery rhymes. I think my students will have fun and will remain engaged with these activities as they gain a deeper understanding of the fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Wordle and Word it Out are also great for students to hunt out word wall words, rhyming words and word families.

2. How have you transfomed your thinking about the learning that will take place in your classroom?
Before technology can be implemented into the classroom, I will first have to teach the rules and procedures of technology, just as I do for all routines in the classroom. I think that by practicing and teaching technology, it will start to become not only a habit but a routine as well. I think my students will become excited and engaged while actively participating at the same time!

3. Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
The only surprising outcome was that I was able to learn from each of these tools without becoming too terribly frustrated. If I can learn how to use and teach from these tools, it will create an exciting and powerful environment for my students in my classroom!

Tool #11

I think it is vitally important for students to understand how to be good digital citizens. While students enjoy using technology, they need to know how to use it appropriately and safely. Three things I would teach my students are:

1. Digital Literacy - I would want my students to know what technology is, how to use it, and to know that it is readily available for them. It is a source for them to learn and gain knowledge from.

2. Digital Rights and Responsibilities - while ideas and information are readily available for us to read and use, it's important for students to know that we must not copy the words of others to use as our own. It is our responsibility to give credit to the sources we use.

3. Digital Health and Wellness - the internet can be fun and intriguing, but we must limit our time and use on it. It's not to be used all day everyday!

I would teach my students digital citizenship as if I were teaching rules and procedures. I would build it into our community circle and give students a chance to relate and comment on the "rules of technology."

Tool #10

I think that an iTouch and iPad are great tools to use in the classroom. There are tons of applications that can be downloaded and used at your fingertips! These days students are enthralled with handheld video games and I think that using this type of technology for educational purposes is a great way to keep students "entertained" while learning at the same time.

I have an iPhone and have had one for a few years. I still find it to be a great resource. There are apps to download for just about everything you can think of! I downloaded an app to track my pregnancy week by week and I now have an app I use to track the feedings for my baby. Even after having an iPhone all this time, I still have "wow" moments with all of its capabilities.

One of the free apps I enjoyed viewing was the "ABC Phonics Animals Free Lite -Talking & Spelling Alphabet Flashcards." It's an interactive way of using flashcards and pictures to help children learn spelling, letters and sounds.

Another app I viewed was "ABA Flash Cards - Alphabet By Kindergarten.com." Not only is this great for helping students learn the letters of the alphabet, but it's also a great way to help them build vocabulary.

These tools can be used for great resources in the classroom. They can be used in small and whole group, in literacy and math stations, and even for research projects.

Tool #9

Jing is a great tool because of the fact that it allows you to add visuals, which can be very beneficial for the visual learners in the classroom. A lot of times students learn by pictures rather than by a mere "lecture". I like that Jing can provide a "how-to" for the learner. I think it would be difficult to get Kindergarterners to grasp the concept of using Jing themselves, but I do think that I would be able to use it to teach a lesson with visuals.

I like the fact that Skype encourages student collaboration. Students can talk and message with each other on current events, homework, projects, etc. I also read that guest lecturers can come to your classroom via Skype. After reading that, the first thing that came to my mind was this could be beneficial for career day! Skype can be used for parent conferences, tutoring, professional development, presentations, research projects, and so much more!

Tool #8

Videos are a great resource to use in the classroom. It gives students a chance to grasp a learning concept visually and is also a way of keeping them engaged. Videos can be stopped at any point so that the teacher can ask students to answer questions or even ask students to "think-pair-share".

This is a great video to use in my classroom. In fact, it happens to be created by kindergarten students. This video shows only pictures, which is great because we could then have a class discussion after viewing the video about the process that occurs during the water cycle. We could also label the pictures with the correct words.




This video was created by the same kindergarten students and again, is made of only pictures. We could use this video to describe and label the parts of the plant cycle. I really like these videos not only because they are on a kindergarten level, but because my students can relate to them.

Tool #7

Creating an iMovie took me quite a long time. In fact, in the midst of creating it, I did not complete it in one sitting. I would spend some time working on it, stop, and return to it again later. There are so many things you can do to create a video to be exactly how you want it. Even though it was a very long and entailing process, I enjoyed creating and editing this video. The biggest problem I encountered was uploading it. I continued to get an "error occurred" just when I thought it was uploaded. I then realized that I needed change it from a m4v file to an mp4 file. Digital storytelling is a great tool to use with students. Not only would they be able to act out stories, but they could also see themselves in action.

Tool #6

Students can use wikis in the classroom to create their own ideas and to share with others. It can be used to keep students engaged in and out of the classroom. The sample wiki on creating lists for the camping trip gave me an idea for Kindergarten. Creating lists is something we do a lot of, using a wiki would keep students engaged and would be a great place to save and store the work we create. We could also sort words by word families, and even use wikis for pre-writing strategies. It's a great place to upload student work, and to keep student portfolios. Google Sites demonstrated how teachers can create a site for their classroom. It can be a great way to keep parents involved. Important dates, a school supply list, field trip information and class announcements can be uploaded for parents to view. However, a free wiki site can be just as resourceful for parents. Our team can use wikis to collaborate and share ideas and resources for lessons, projects and homework.

Tool #5

I joined the Diigo social bookmarking site, and have enjoyed exploring on it. I was a little confused at first, but with the help of the tutorials it has made it fairly easy to navigate around the site.

• I found and joined the group "Kindergarten Cove", which is a group for Kindergarten and Pre-K teachers, parents, and all others interested in early childhood education. I find it interesting to see what others are sharing about their educational experiences. In fact, I discovered a new website from a member in this group from a tag titled "word families". It is a great website that I have added to my library. http://diigo.com/0beqo
• I also found another resourceful webpage for me to use in my classroom from a tag titled "kindergarten". http://diigo.com/0beqw
• On a personal interest, I am a new mother and am constantly researching the internet for answers to questions that arise for myself and my husband. I searched and found these two new websites using the tag "newborns". http://diigo.com/0beqx http://diigo.com/0ber7

Social bookmarking will be useful for me to use as an educator. Most of the time I will find great websites but always seem to forget to bookmark them. I think Diigo is a great way to now not only bookmark useful sites but to also organize them. I am a very organized person, so I really like that I can create a label and easily find bookmarked sites from a "tag". This is a great way to share and gain new insightful resources from others.

Tool #4

Creating a document in Google Docs has allowed me to organize a daily schedule in which I will meet with my small groups. I think it would be challenging for Kindergarteners to create documents using Google Docs, however, we could use it to create pages for a class book and we could even use the spreadsheet to create graphs.



Google Reader is a great way to share ideas and information on favorite websites and blogs. It is also great for students to use to research and look up information. I like that is keeps track of what you have already read and that you can only see unread items when you come back.

Tool #3

I think students would greatly enjoy the comic strip generator with the use of fairy tales in the classroom. It's a great way to find character pictures and it also gives them a chance to show some creativity with word choice.

Word It Out would be great to use with various nursery rhymes. Students could use it to find word wall words, rhyming words and even word families.

Tool #2

1. What are your thoughts about building an online education community and participating in a PLN?
I think that that building an online education community is a great way for students and teachers to participate in technology and to communicate with others. It is also a way of keeping up with current events worldwide. By participating in a PLN, I will gain insight and ideas from others. I will also be able to share working and successful activities in my classroom. I truly believe that "two heads are better than one"....learning from others can be a great resource!

2. What point stood out to you from the commenting advice?
By commenting, you show authors that you admire and appreciate their work. "Children have a need to converse and will improve their performance when people comment on their work." I have witnessed this many times in my classroom, students enjoy sharing their work with others and will become more comfortable at doing so when their peers and teacher admire them with compliments.

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

• Thornwood Music - commented on students reflcting by journaling...reinforces the importance of active participation
• One "Apple" Daily - commented on using the blog to post science experiment procedures
• SuperThorn3 - commented on creating wordle using content vocabulary
• Young World Tech - commented on using the word cloud to create word wall words in all content areas
• Jello's 11 Tools - commented that trying and using new ideas is like any "new found diet or working strategy", it's about sticking to it and seeing the results

Tool #1

Creating my blog was fairly easy, the step by step process was extremely helpful. Creating the avatar wasn't difficult either. In fact, I think my students would enjoy creating avatars for themselves...it's a great way to bring out their creativity and personality. To incorporate blogs into my classroom, I could begin a KWL discussion with my students on various topics. I would then type their individual responses during our discussion and after learning more on the topic, I could go back to the blogs and add more.