New Technology...Check These Out...They're Free!

It is truly amazing to see all of the new technologies that are constantly arriving! A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of hearing Alan November. He spoke in our district and then I had a small group session the following day. He spoke on the importance of global collaboration and how we need to be teaching our students to be global learners. He showed us examples of why and how we need to be web literate and teach our students to be web literate. We need to show our students how to judge whether or not a site is a "good" site. They need to know how to search and find accurate information. Sites like www.archive.org has a wayback machine that can take you through the entire history of a site (my boyfriend was intrigued by this and has used it on several law cases that he is working on). He also showed us how to narrow searches with site: " " you can limit your searches with country codes and other domains like .edu, .gov, .ac, etc.

Here are a few other things that I learned about that you may want to check out. They are great tools that you can use in your classroom and your students will LOVE them.

• Jing (free download) - www.jingprojects.com Jing allows you to create tutorials. It records your computer screen while you are narrating. This is perfect when teaching concepts such as addition with regrouping, 2 digit multiplication, or other "step required" concepts. I have also let me students dod alternative homework assignments and create their own jing homework showing me that they truly understand the concept.
• Voicethread (free registry) - www.voicethread.com Voicethread allows students to upload a picture and explain something through narration, text, and/or drawing. Other students can then comment and give feedback. I am going to do this with my students and have them explain the different moon phases. This is a great teaching/learning tool.
• Ning (free registry) - www.ning.com - Ning is a networking tool. Our district has Moodle, so I probably won't use it. However, it is a great way for teachers to network and collaborate. You can share videos, links, etc. If your school doesn't have a networking software, this would be a great one to use...and it's free!

I am excited as technology continues to grow and change. In my classroom we are using more and more technology to enhance our learning. One thing I have to remind myself is curriculum should drive the instruction with technology integration NOT technology drive the instruction.

Topic 20 - EDU 6384

For my first online course, I really liked EDU 6384. It was hard for me to get organized in the beginning, but as the course went on, I feel like I got in a routine. Sometimes I really enjoy working by myself, so it was easy for me to reflect and work on my own time.

I found the content in the book to be very interesting and there are some things that I can definitely take back to my classroom. The ones I'm most excited about are blogging, webquests, and the Monster Exchange (which we started this week).

I am glad that I am taking these technology courses because I want to be equipped to teach my students. The more I read about current trends, the more I realize I have to learn! I thought I was ahead of times with my Promethean Board and laptops, but there is so much more out there. AND, there is so much more integration that I can be doing across the curriculum.

The biggest issues for me with taking an online course was the communication. When I was struggling with an assignment, it was hard for me to figure out the problems. The database, for example, was really hard for me and I spent A LOT of time trying to learn how to do it on my own. I guess you have to problem solve, as you do in any stressful situation, but I do miss having the weekly interaction with a professor to talk to with issues such as these.

On a different note, I have to share about my latest technology! I came back from specials yesterday and I had a wonderful present on my desk...a flip camera! In case you don't know what a flip camera is, it basically records video (very easily and user friendly) and it has a usb import/export which easily downloads to your computer. Kids can easily use them.

I have already started dreaming of the endless possibilities my students will have to use these cool cameras. They can interview each other, they can record scavenger hunts, they can perform, and so much more. I am not sure what I am going to have them do first.

We are currently studying VOICE in our writing as well as character point of view and I'm going to read different versions of the Three Little Pigs. We are going to discuss the story from the different character's point of view. I am thinking that I will have my kids create their own "Three Little ____ and the Big Bad ____" story and have them record their character's point of view using the flip camera. My kids love, LOVE, love drama, so I think this might be a fun little project for them.

As I've previously mentioned, my kids have created their own websites, and this video feed could easily be uploaded to their own websites.

I think these cameras would also be really cool for when we study biographies. My students could pretend to be various people and they could interview each other and answer questions about history.

I am very excited about my new flip camera! Every teacher at my school got one...Christmas came early at Bradfield!

Technology is AMAZING!!!

Topic 19 - You Tube

Six years ago when I first started teaching, I would never imagine there would be such a thing as you tube or that it would be such a hit. I love the whole idea of streaming videos because I think my students love various forms of media.

I was first introduced to streaming from unitedstreaming.com. This is a wonderful tool for teachers and I think it is really easy to find great clips to reinforce lesson ideas and make topics more interesting to students. In years past, my students have loved the Maths Mansion video clips for our math lessons. There are some really great videos for geometry that any elementary teacher should check out.

It seems like the big trend now is you tube. My students are always asking me if we can find things on you tube. As a teacher, you have to be careful and view things ahead of time as there are many things on you tube that are not appropriate for the eyes of children. However, there are so many wonderful videos on cultures, communities, and social issues that can really support various curriculum. I think you tube also makes it really easy to search for various topics as well as other videos that can relate.

I plan to use more and more you tube with my lessons. It's just hard to find the time to view everything before I show it to my class. Which is crucial. A teacher at my school accidentally showed 3rd graders a video with a bad word in it because she didn't view it ahead of time. I think that is a big lesson learned. That being said, I still think you tube is a wonderful teaching tool.

Topic 18 Great Websites

It's amazing how much a website can enhance my student's learning. I'm continuously amazed by the new websites I am constantly hearing about that my students just love. Some of the ones I have learned about from Roblyer have been great. I think websites are fun to my students and they often times view them as a game rather than work or drill & practice.

My student are studying multiplication right now as I've previously mentioned. Their current favorite website is multiplication.com. They ask me to go on it whenever they have completed all of their walk. It is very kid friendly and I can see a difference in their multiplication facts. Getting them to study their facts is often like pulling teeth, but this has been working very well.

Our CIT does a nice job of telling us about new websites she is learning about. My students also love funbrain.com, mathblaster.com, enchantedlearning.com, and many many more. Our CIT recently exposed me to brainpopjr.com. Now, this is something we subscribe to, but I have found it quite useful.

Recently, I showed a clip from brainpopjr.com about adjectives and nouns. It was amazing to see how much more engaged they were by watching this video and they truly seemed to understand the difference between the two.

I love the way teachers are always sharing websites and helpful hints with each other. One girl on my team is always finding wonderful things on scholastic.com. It is amazing how easy google makes it for teachers. If anyone has any favorite websites, please send them my way.

Topic 17 - Technology and the Classroom...Oh How It's Changed!

Next week we our having our Greatfriend's Day (this is basically Grandparent's Day). My school is very blessed to have Promethean boards in every classroom. The group that I have this year has had a Promethean board since kindergarden. They don't know what it would be like without one. Grandparent's are always fascinated with what classrooms look like now. I always share our technology with them and show them the cool things that my students can do.

This year my students put together a little presentation that we will play on the Promethean Board. My students were asked to write a paragraph on who they were thankful for, why they are thankful, when they are thankful, etc. I took pictures of them individually outside by the pretty fall trees. They then drew a picture of everything they are thankful for on Pixie. We put these pictures in Photo Story and I recorded each of them reading their writing. We have classical music in the background. It truly brings tears to your eyes.

I know that the grandparents will be so fascinated with the technology in our classroom and how different it is from when they were students. My kids have done so many cool things and have them linked to their websites. They will have an opportunity to show them these things as well.

I'm really excited about Greatfriend's Day...and Thanksgiving!

Topic 16 - Skype

I know the Skype has been around for a while, but I am new to it. I Skyped with another teacher yesterday who I am doing a collaboration project with. We met yesterday via Skype to work out all of the details for our project with our students. My class is going to be collaborating with their class on a writing assignment. We are going to introduce our classes to each other via Skype. I'm really looking forward to doing this and I know my students will love it.

I think there are so many ways that you could use Skype in your classroom. I was thinking about the chapters I read this week and how we could use Skype with Art, Music, and PE. Those teachers could find athletes, artists, and musicians and Skype with them during class. You could have an athlete talked to students about healthy choices and being physically fit. A local artist could do a painting demonstration or talk about various works of art. Musicians could perform for students using Skype as well. I think it would be neat to interview and have a Q&A with people who are experts in particular areas.

Several teachers at my school have used Skype to talk with an author. I know that students find this very intriguing.

I am excited about this web 2.0 tool and I'm looking forward to using it in the future.

Topic 15 - I LOVE DS

I never imagined that Nintendo's DS could be used in educational ways. This past summer our design team at school had the opportunity to listed to Alan November speak in Boston. He is truly an amazing speaker and if you ever have the opportunity to listen to him, take full advantage. At this conference there were a series of breakout sessions, and one topic was Nintendo's DS.

I remember Nintendo from being a kid and I think of Super Mario and Tetris. Never in my life did I think teachers could use these in the classroom. What you may not no (or at least I didn't) was that a DS makes a little network with the other DS's around them. Student's can set up chatroom's and discuss anything from a reading reflection, a writing sample, or answer a math problem.

We are using them in my classroom for the first time tomorrow and my students are FIRED UP! As I mentioned in an earlier blog, we have started our multiplication unit. Every teacher knows what a struggle it is to get kids to memorize their facts. We are going to set up chatrooms tomorrow and have a competition to see who knows their facts!

One of the great things about this, is the kids have screen names, so only I know who comes in first and last. I get to monitor it by traveling to the various chatrooms. I am also going to have my students reflect on it when we are done to see what they thought about it.

I can think of countless ways in which we can use these in the classroom. We can do anything from spelling words to journal entries. I am so excited to start this!

I did a survey of my students to see who has a DS. 17 out of 21 of my students own a DS. Our CIT purchased 6 DS's so now each of my students have one to use. If you are interested in doing this and only a few of your students have one, it makes an excellent group project. I would love to talk about this with anyone who is interested in trying something really cool in their classroom that your kids will be crazy about!