Delicious Links

Bonnie's Delicious Site

Technology Innovations

There are so many technologies being tied into schools these days.  A contemporary classroom is one that is shifting from the past and into the 21^st century, following the trends of the nation, and integrating technology into their classrooms.  They are taking it one step further than using a computer to do word processing, although a valuable skill.  They are the schools using the Internet, interactive websites, or blogging with the students we used to deem “pen pals” and send letters to.  Rubenstein (2010) says that with the high-end technology of webcams and video conferences, students can interact on a level most people didn’t think possible.  In an English class in Illinois, the teacher analyzes a book by having the students post in character on their blogs (Walker, 2009).  Walker (2009) points out that today’s students don’t just use the internet and different technological sources for entertainment and Facebook, but it is also most likely where they will connect and communicate with their Universities and future employers.  Using the skills they already have and developing them is giving students more of an edge in a very competitive economy.

Other teachers use things like interactive white boards to engage students further, Ipods and ITouches to improve reading skills and fluency, or as one teacher in Montclair, NJ, is using Ipods to download original slave statements to take student involvement one step further.  At one school in New Jersey, she created a classroom, labeled the 21^st Century Classroom, to allow students to work in a completely different way to gain new information.  They do everything via technology be it IPods, Google maps, interactive web activities, interactive boards, or digital stories (Morra, 2011).

These types of classrooms aren’t only making a difference within their school walls by engaging and preparing students, but they are making extension into the community and into student’s homes even more of a possibility than in the past.  Technology like voice thread and IMovie can be used to create projects that can be broadcasted to the community, showing what schools are actually doing and what the students are succeeding in.  Technology can build a link, or a bridge, to its own education system.

Morra, Samantha. (2011). “21^st Century Classroom.” SamanthaMorra.com. Retrieved from http://www.samanthamorra.com/samanthamorra/21st_Century_Classroom.html

Rubenstein, Grace. (2009). “Technology Integration for Elementary Schools: High tech teaching tips for little tykes.” Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/stw-differentiated-instruction-technology-integration.

Walker, Tim. (October 2009).  “Turning the Page: Students live in a Digital World. Are schools ready to joint them.” NEA Today Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/home/35939.htm

Boolean search on my leaking boat

 The purpose of my search was to find info about my leaking boat.

Search Keys	Purpose of limiter	What did you find when you tried it? How many hits? Was this limiter effective?
AND	To find info about both boats and leaks	A lot of blogs about leaky boats. It was effective
OR	To find info about either boats or leaks	The same information as above
NOT	To find info about sail boats but not leaks	Didn’t work, still got info about both “not” and leaks
“                    “	To find info with “sailboat leaks” in the same sentence order	Got info about sailboat leaks, but only 64 hits, versus the 16 thousand I got with “and”
*	To get either singular or plural forms of sailboat	Got both plural and singular uses
- (minus)	Same as not	Works on google! I got info about sailboats, nothing about leaks
+ (plus)	Same as “and”	Info about both
5 Others You’ve Found
near	To find info about sailboats and leaks in the same document, but less than with “and”	Yes, I got info with leaks and sailboats near each other in a sentence.
More + and -	I did +sailboat +leak+ repair -windows	I got exactly what I was looking for. Info about my leaking boat and how to fix it without info on windows leaking.
with	I used sailboat “with” hull	I think it is the same as and considering I got like 9 million hits

Voice Thread Reflection

Voice thread was a tool that I am very glad to have learned about.  I feel as if there are a plethora of ways that I could incorporate this tool into my classrooms, but especially more so if I had an older population for students.  As you all know, I did my voice thread project by using our class’s special person book.  Each student was special person for a day and all of the other students drew pictures about them and repeated the sentences we made up about them after asking a series of questions.  We gathered all of the other student’s pictures and sent them home with the special person of the day, but their picture of themselves eventually gets put into a class book that they all get to take home.  This book includes actual pictures of the students, their self-portrait, and the sentences about them.  I decided to take the pictures they drew of themselves and recorded the sentences we wrote as a class to make my voice thread.  I thought this would make a cool idea to publish so we could add a link onto Mr. F’s website and parents/ grandparents/ or whoever could go look at it.  (Unfortunately, this means I will eventually be getting rid of all your comments).

I felt that the actual process of making the voice thread was pretty painless.  It was very straight forward and an easy application to use.  This is why I feel that if I had an older student population I could really incorporate it with story telling, publishing a good piece of writing, and collaborative projects.  As it stands, my first graders just wouldn’t be able to get on there and use that tool like a third or fourth grader would be able to.  I do think I could have incorporated my students into the voice thread by using their own voices to say the sentences, but that would have been something we did when we were writing and rehearsing them at the beginning of the year.  I don’t think they would be able to go back, now a month later, and remember what we wrote (considering that the majority of them cannot read it).

The thing I don’t really like about voice thread is that it feels kind of bland to me.  I wish that there were an element of music that could be added along with the pictures.  I also felt that when did try to upload a slideshow with music to give it a little more pizzazz, the program was a bit jerky and difficult to make it all run in the right order.  I did enjoy the experience because I felt like it was another way to meet the (7^th?) goal by including community/family by adding it to the website, but I still feel that anything I did with my primary class would be more teacher directed than I would like. 

Collaboration

Choose three collaboration sites that you find interesting and write a brief synopsis of them on your blog. Also discuss how technology can enhance collaborative learning between teachers and teacher, teachers and students, and students and students? Be sure to include sources.

Voicethread.com
Voice Thread is a collaboration tool that is unique and new to me because of the comment tool it allows. It is very similar to an application like iPhoto or even just a regular slide show. The main benefit is the ability to share your creation across the Internet and then let friends, colleagues, students, or strangers comment on what you are presenting. I also really like the tool that you can record comments with a microphone. This adds a great element, especially when talking about student use. They are able to hear their own voices and those of their classmates, which give them an extra sense of ownership and pride.

Delicious.com
Delicious is a website that I am just starting to learn about. I love the idea of having a page where all the links that are favorites of a teacher, friend, or colleague. Especially in education, I think this could be really valuable. If I were to use this in a classroom, I could have the link to the delicious web page on each of the student computer desktops and then they could choose from my links to do any research, web based games, etc. This is a safe and direct way to get my students to look at what I want them to look at. It is a time saver and convenient to boot.

http://rubistar.4teachers.org
Rubistar is a really neat tool that allows teachers (or anyone) to create rubrics for all different subject matters. You can get on and choose what is your “big idea” or what your rubric is for and it will give you a group of suggestions to have your rubric based on. You can choose which to use and which to not use and then even alter the wording of the criteria for more kid friendly language. You can either save the rubric or export and print it. This is a huge time saver for new teachers, especially those of us who are unfamiliar with rubrics. This could also be a really interesting tool for those older students to try to use for a group project.

All three of these collaborative learning sites can help to enhance collaborative learning by allowing quick, effective, and interactive communication between student and teacher or even teacher to teacher. We have obviously been learning how effective technology can be used in the classroom to enhance differentiation for some students. The video about Google Apps gave a new approach to how technology can help the school in general to be more collaborative, integrated, and on the whole, increase communication skills. When schools are communicating well with their staff and teachers, teachers can in turn communicate better with parents (one of the nine goals) and with their students. This allows alignment on all fronts and better atmosphere for collaboration in the classroom.


Sources:

www.delicious.com

http://rubistar.4teachers.org

www.voicethread.com

Using Google Apps in Education. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Leuvce3v5BM&NR=1

Voice Thread Project

Technology in Elementary Education

Technology has a lot of potential in elementary school instruction. Right now, the JSD curriculum for instruction for first grade is to know how to turn on and restart and keep the computer clean and safe. First graders have so much more potential than just knowing how to turn on a computer. For instance, several of them use computers at home, have iPods, and can operate cameras and DVDs. If first graders can accomplish all of these things, just think about what the kids in the primary grades can do with technology.

From things I have heard and seen, there is a plethora of ways that technology can be utilized in the classroom. My favorite technology use I have seen in the first grade is when I was subbing in Flagstaff and the first graders taught me how to use the Promethean. They were so hands on and it really motivated them to raise their hands, and volunteer to do work in front of the class. From our Educational Psychology class, we learned a lot about how students need those kinds of motivators to get to class sometimes, especially if they aren’t succeeding in other areas.

I think it is really important to let students succeed and be good at something like technology because they can use that information later on in life and be instrumental in helping the rest of the class learn. For instance, if a student is behind in math but can teacher their peers to use an iPod to listen to books, it can really boost their self esteem and make them successful at school!