11 Tools Reflection

Wow! I am so impressed at how much is out there that I didn't even know about! This training exposed me to tools I may not have had the opportunity to learn otherwise....so thank you! :)

My favorite tools were creating my animoto movie because I was able to be creative and it was very easy to do! So I would definitely use this with my students to respond and demonstrate new learning! One idea may be students creating a story or an informational text using this tool. The other tool I really liked is the digital citizenship piece. I believe it is truly needed in this day and age in order to educate our students to be responsible and safe in the use of all these tools. I would use the animoto to create a little video about what digital citizenship means to them.

Without a doubt, I feel empowered to begin applying these tools in my professional and personal life! These tools are connected by one common thread-the opportunity to collaborate and learn from each other. These tools and many more out there are meant to draw us to each other to create great things-2 minds are better than 1 is what I like to say! :)

Tool #11

Digital Citizenship is an important key to protecting our children as they are exposed to so many different people, ideas, and images on the web. I am so glad to hear such a thing exists with domains and expectations that provide guidelines and regulations for the safety of our children. All of the tools are great...and they require adult monitoring and supervision to ensure children aren't being bullied or bullying others, etc. Three things I would share with my students on digital citizenship are: 1) signs of being cyber bullied 2). cyber etiquette 3). credibility of what is being read. I absolutely enjoyed watching the Common Craft guy videos-they illustrated the point in a simple manner. I would definitely use that approach with children. I am so glad that digital citizenship exists. This is a great way to complete the 11 tools! :)

Tool #10

Apps for the Apple products are limitless! What a great way to learn concepts through games and stories on these nifty devices! How could children (and adults) resist!!!

My daughter has an itouch so I was able to play some games on it. Manipulating technology such as an itouch keeps children interested!

The read me stories is a motivating way for students to read or be read to! This would work great in a literacy center with little effort in planning it which is more efficient for teachers. There are so many apps for different content areas for students to reinforce skills they are learning in class. These devices give learning an extra special "touch"!!! )

Tool #9

Hi ya'll! Today I learned about Jing, Screencast, and Skype! Jing and Screencast can be so helpful in delivery of instruction to students...I love that jing is also collaboration friendly (those two words may not go together!). I like that it puts images to our words making things more concrete which is so beneficial to children!

Skype (gotta love the hype! hehehe) is amazing how children and educators can connect and collaborate so easily with this useful too! Children can work with and/or learn from other children or adults easily. What a small world! Truly! The more you connect with different people, the more you learn at least I think so! :) Awesome!!

So I'm onto the double digits....I'm getting there! :)> Can't wait to hear from you!

Tool #8

I'm back! Videos are great for instructing students...it allows them to hear the input or see the modeling from another source other than us! The first video I found was from student tube where 3rd graders talk about Monitoring for Meaning...showing this in parts would be another way to deliver the information.



The second video I found was on teachertube. The video shares writing tips from legendary writers...this would be more for middle and high school but I thought it was great to read what the famous authors have said about the art of writing. Chao!

Tool 7

PhotoStory is one of my favorites so far because even I can seem creative with this great tool! I can see our students loving this...I think whenever we ask our students to create...it is always a lasting learning experience! So I chose World Cup Action from this summer because my family and I enjoyed watching the games...nice moments for us and for Spain! :) Please excuse the blurry pics but I copied them as thumbnails (it's late) so they were too small to view clearly. Learning experience for next time!! Good night!

Tool #6

Hi! Wikis are pretty neat...I like how they support student collaboration on writing assignments or projects by allowing each member to give their input, ideas, &/or revisions on the same document. This is a great way to get small groups to work together whether they are in the same classroom or in the same country!

Wikis are also great to use professionally with other teachers to communicate and work on such things as agendas, lesson plans, creating assessments, etc...at the same school or across the district or state! It's amazing how easily we can work together and not have to necessary be in the same room! That good ole technology!

Another tool for the kit...bye now! :) P.S. I feel like I am learning so many new things! It's a great feeling!

Tool #5

Tool 5 brought me to the Diigo website (love the name!) to learn about organizing my websites with tags so I can retrieve them on any computer and find what I am looking for easily (would have been so helpful to know this before my research paper!!). Nonetheless, from now on I will be accessing this useful tool frequently. The sharing part is even more powerful...sharing websites is the best because it reduces the amount of searching online...I can potentially find what I need faster by checking a site a colleague shares! Technology at its best!!

I visited and tagged two new websites: www.learnandserve.gov is a great website to learn about how and where I can volunteer in my community and at www.ivyjoy.com/fables/ I can access text from nursery rhymes, fables, and fairy tales to project on the Activboard for shared reading or even as a workstation to read and locate rhyming words, sight words, practice phrasing and fluency, etc.

Will I ever finish on time? stick around to find out! :)

Tool #4

Hi there!
I had the opportunity to explore Google docs and Google Reader today.

Google docs is another word processing tool that is useful for creating and sharing documents with teammates and with students for a variety of purposes. It can make revising and editing documents between students and teacher more convenient.

Google reader allowed me to subscribe to websites I enjoy visiting so the information is more easily accessible, organized, and updated all on one page. I can see us finding educational feeds and sharing them with our students-digital literacy!!!

Goodbye for now! :)

Tool #3

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

I'm back and blogging after a long rest! The deadline woke me up! I enjoyed creating my little video! It took me a while to edit it (ask Ivonne!) so it could be somewhat presentable.

I love how creating presentations such as this one can help students showcase their thinking process and creativity around something new they learned.

I had a good time with Wordle playing around with the arrangement of the words. This tool would be motivating and easy for students to "manipulate" words to enhance word study. The possibilities are endless! :)