Tool #11 - Self Assessing and Reflecting

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.

There are many useful tools that I enjoyed. I will continue to research different websites and apps to use with my children.This next year, I'm planning to use "SKYPE" so that the kids can interact more with other people in our school/district/global community.

2. How have you transformed your thinking about the learning that will take place in your classroom? How has your vision for your classroom changed? Are you going to need to make any changes to your classroom to accommodate the 21st Century learner?

I will start to use more of the interactive websites that help track the student's progress to help differentiate for them.
This will make me a better a teacher and I will be able to differentiate for more students.

It gives me more access to more information that was never available before at a rate that is faster everday due to technological advances.

3. Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

I figured out by doing this study just how much we rely on our ability to use modern technology to access all the information that is available to us.

Tool #10 - Underneath it All - Digital Citizenship

1. Discuss at least three things you would want to make sure your students understand about being good digital citizens.

• Follow the Golden Rule of "Do unto others as you would have them do to you.


• Realize that whatever you put down on paper or in the computer it is there for the world to see.
  If you use another's idea, always give credit to that person.


• 
  
  Know that you should NEVER give your password to your friends. Be NICE on the internet, and ask parents/adults before visiting websites.

2. Share at least one of the resources mentioned above or on the Ed Tech website that you plan to use instructionally.

Brain Pop - this is such a great resource to seamlessly integrate technology into the classroom! The kids love it and it also offers things for those who need things to be a little more difficult. It holds accountability because the kids can take a quiz using their activates - which then can be used a grade in the grade book! I will use this as an enrichment to my curriculum that I am doing already. I have taught GT students in the past and found this website to be user friendly and easy to access at home and independently.

3. Explain briefly how you would "teach" the idea of digital citizenship to your students.

Please read Theresa Trevino's Blog - Tool #10 - She has summed this question up perfectly!

4. Explain briefly how you plan to share the idea of digital citizenship with your parents.

Back to School Night will be the perfect place to share this information and I will share the sites mentioned above so parents will know about digital citizenship.

Tool #9: Incorporating Classroom-Based Devices as Tools for Learning

1. Why do you think it is important to tie the technology to the objective?
The students learn how to seamlessly integrate technology into their lives therefore bringing them into the 21st century learner.

2. Why should we hold students accountable for the stations/centers?

I want my 1st graders to be on task and I need to know if they are mastering the objectives and ready to move on.

3. Visit 2 of the applicable links to interactive websites for your content/grade level. Which sites did you like. How could you use them as stations? How can you hold the students accountable for their time in these stations?

SpellingCity.com is an interactive website that we currently use and have used for the past 2 years. I am surprised that it was not on the list as it is such a great tool for children to use at home for their word study skills. This website allows you to differentiate for all students.

Studyladder.com is another website that you can use to help differentiate for students at a higher level and lower level at the same time. The teacher gains immediate feedback to how he or she is doing.

Brainpop.com is another online interactive website that provide children with Bloom's Taxonomy and online quizzes that meet their needs.

4. List two to three apps you found for the iPod Touch/iPad that you can use in your classroom. What do you see that station looking like? How can you hold the students accountable for their time in these stations?

Houston Zoo (Helps navigate when you are at the zoo, but also gives animal specifications. It also helps with the Map skills and reading a map with cardinal directions.) We visit the Houston Zoo each year and this app will be a HUGE success with my children.
Funny Flash (This one is neat because it morphs animals and then spells them out verbally and in print.) This will be a great app for those ESL students.
Math Drill (Addition & Subtraction - primary grades.) Awesome for students learning their math facts!
Learn Chess (I haven't really figured this out but I want to learn.) Maybe my GT students will help me on this one it has always been a goal of mine to understand chess.
Louvre Our art teacher will love this, I will share with Ms. Lehman. The only issue is that you need to connect to WiFi.
NASA Some of my colleagues participated in a NASA webinar and found it fascinating. I would like to participate in this in the upcoming year.
Sight Words (Great way for students to learn their sight words.)
Tic Tac Toe (Just for fun! My kids especially LOVE playing this.)
The Weather Channel (Keep current with weather conditions anywhere. Goes well with our Seasons/Graphing Weather Unit.)

5. What about other ways to use the iPod Touch/iPad? Share another way you can see your students using the device as a station.

I am already using my I-Touches during both math and literacy stations. I plan to use them for self guided projects with my GT students. I love the Brainpop and plan to add this to my apps on the iTouches. I will use their quiz to show mastery. The sight word apps will be used for my ESL students to reiterate English language verbiage to their internal repertoire of knowledge.

Tool # 8 Taking a Look at the Tools

… Learning about the classroom devices

1. After watching the videos/tutorials, list two to three things you learned about the device(s) that will be in your classroom this fall.

First I learned that my 1st grade class will not be receiving iPads. As an early childhood teacher for the past 22 years, it is my belief that smaller is not always better for 1st graders. Their small motor skills are not always developmentally ready.

I understand that I will receive 2 more iTouches and 5 DELL 2120's. This is very exciting!

2. How do you plan to manage the device(s) in your classroom? Do you have ideas/suggestions that others may find useful?

I will need to name each of my I-Touches in my classroom. I will use the suggestion to name them with my room number and A-E. I will put this on the actual device so I can better manage each one. I also learned that I can have up to 11 pages of Apps on each I-Touch. I learned from LouAnn that Brainpop had an app where kids can watch short video clips and do a quiz. This will be familiar to all 1st graders as this is something we do in the classroom already. This would be a great station using a rockstar and headphones. I wish I had a device to charge 5 at once using a wall outlet, this might be a parent request at the beginning of the year. Then I could have that be one of my helper jobs for a student.

Tool # 7 Reaching Outside your Classroom: Online Digital Projects

1. After visiting the resources above, design a collaborative project with another classroom.

This next year I plan to use SKYPE with Mrs. Trevino and Mrs. Timmreck. We will study the life cycles of insects and frogs.We will have discussions where children will ask and be asked questions of others.

2. Post the following about the project:

Content objective

To orally collaborate and assess what the children will learn about the big picture of life cycles and the world around them.

When you plan to implement

In the spring or when driven by the curriculum. We will use in the classroom using an iMac computer that had a built in camera and microphone device.

What tool(s) you plan to use

iMac
SKYPE
The students could bring their research, use a photograph, and create a 3-D life cycle of the insect/frog that they constructed out of model magic.

A brief description of the project (plan - two or three sentences)

Working together in 3 different age groups we will have many discussions over SKYPE. We will discuss digital citizenship and engagement with others. We can share experiences about the different life cycles then compare and contrast what we know, what we want to know more about and what we have learned. We will be able to pair up the kids who had researched the same insect/frog or other topics that are common amongst the different grade level. Then, we can set up a time and began our journey! The kids will be pumped and eager to participate. I plan to meet in small groups during this time to reflect on their learning.

If you need to find another classroom - We can begin networking with other classrooms right here!

I am always open to helping other classrooms.Yes I would like to be able to connect to other classrooms in the district to diversify my kids globally and to help prepare them for 21st century learner.

Tool # 6: Using Web Tools to Promote Discussion in and out of the Classroom

1. Choose at least two of the tools from the above list. Create an account for each (if required) .
Twitter: HABrasher
Facebook: Helen Brasher
Skype: HelenAnnBrasher
Today's Meet: None Needed
Google Docs: Standard District Login / GMAIL account

2. Use each of the tools you choose to create a sample of how you would use it in your classroom.
Share your thoughts on how you see the tools being integrated into your classroom. How do you see them encouraging participation?

Today's Meet - After Parent Night parents could post questions they had from the meetingand then we could respond as a team.
We could meet as a team using this on days/weeks we are unable to meet face to face.

SKYPE - Use parents in the community to help contribute to classroom conversations and interests/TEKS.

Tool # 5: Producing with Web 2.0 Tools

1. Use at least two of the tools above to create products. Think about your content. Create a “set” for one of your lessons! Or, consider providing the site as a choice for your students to create products. Make a model for a student created product.

I have tried WORDLE - this is fun!

2 Then, embed both products in your blog or link to the products from your blog.




3. Describe for your readers how you think each tool can be incorporated into your classroom - how you could see the tool being used by you instructionally and your students to demonstrate their understanding of a concept or topic in your classroom.

iMovie: I used this website to create a movie about our 1st grade year. I used pictures that I took of events and asked parents to emails photos of field trips, school happenings and then used iMovie to create a lasting movie for the children to keep.

Big Huge Labs: This is another one of my favorites! I love this website because it is easy to use and can be integrated into anything. This year my class and Ms. McKim's worked together researching past presidents of the United States. We used the mini's to research little known presidents and the final product was a trading card.

Tool # 4 Moving Up To The Clouds

Create at least one document in Google Docs and share it with a few others on your campus or within your department. It could be a team member, a department colleague, or another teacher with whom you plan a collaboration. Ask that person to comment or chat a real-time edit the document with you.
As I learned being a teacher you cannot take and edit very easily with Google DOCS. There are a few steps to remember such as make a copy 1st before you doctor the page.

Create one form in Google Docs and send it via email to at least two other people and ask them to respond.


















































Briefly discuss how you can use the tools in Google Apps with your team or department. How can you incorporate Google Apps as a tool in your classroom? Which tools are you excited about using with students?


You can easily share documents, forms, calendars with your students making communication a breeze. Google Apps is accessible to students anywhere from an internet connection.

Tool #3 Finding Online Video and Image Resources

1. Visit several of the video hosting / streaming sites mentioned above. Share with your readers which sites you found most useful for your content and why.
I enjoyed visiting TeacherTube and SchoolTube. I was most successful with YouTube. Each morning we count by 5's, 10's etc... with the calendar so I feel this will liven up counting. the children will enjoy the music.


2. Using any of the video resources mentioned above, find and select two videos that may be useful resources in your classroom. Embed them in your blog. If they do not have embed capabilities, hot link them to your blog.

3. Articulate what you learned about copyright and fair use. What was new to you?

If I understand this correctly I am able to use pieces of work for a short period, not an entire piece of work.

Tool # 2 Building Community in the Online Environment

1. Visit at least 5 blogs of fellow educators and comment to one of their posts.
I have tried to comment on several friend's blogs but the comments are not posting. This is frustrating, but I will continue to work on this.

http://katspauses.blogspot.com/2011/06/tool-2.html

http://timmreckskclass.blogspot.com/2011/06/11-tools-2.html

http://theresasnews.blogspot.com/2011/06/tool-6-using-web-tools-to-promote.html

http://brousesnews.blogspot.com/2011/06/tool-5-producing-with-web-20-tools.html

http://techsnapshots.blogspot.com/2011/06/11-tools-8-devices-in-classroom.html

2. After completing the above, share your thoughts about building and participating in an online community and participating in a PLN. What points stood out to you from the commenting advice?

I think this will be a good way to learn from one another, as soon as I can get a handle on posting comments.

Were you able to apply any of the advice in your comments?
After reading Kat Smith's post about document cameras, I have learned many other uses for this piece of technology.

How did you feel about sharing your thoughts publicly?
Exciting!

Was it different than when you're sharing successes / challenges with your teammate?
I enjoy sharing successes and challenges with my team mates, but this will be new to be able to share with others in the professional community.

3. Share the url or name of a website or social network that you plan to visit in the future. What does that site have to offer?
www.facebook.com
www.twitter.com

Tool # 1 Getting Started!

My name is Helen Ann. I am taking a course on 11 Tools. I am very excited about my journey.

Learning more and more about posting comments. There are many tricks to remember.