I feel like I just took a crash course on a plethara of technology tools I can use with my kids in my classroom. Perhaps its good that I waited until the end of the summer to do this professional development, as it will be relatively fresh on my mind. I know it will be the catalyst to bring about changes in my classroom. I am excited to get to try some of the new tools that I learned.
Student to student communication, student to teacher communication, and teacher to student communication will be enhanced as we use wikis and google docs. I can easily apply these tools on a regular basis in both my language arts and social studies classes.
I want to try some of the visual tools. I think glogster will be highly appealing to the kids as an alternative learning assessment. There are also some other tech products on Big Huge Labs that I would like to introduce the kids to. Eventually, I want my students to choose the product that will best suit their needs and interests as a way to display their learning.
I'd like to try doing Skype at least one time this year with my class. Since we study world cultures, I think it would be a great experience for the kids to have a discussion with a class in another country. I feel confident they would come away with new insights and perspectives of the world.
While I had heard about some of these tech tools, such as wikis, I wasn't quite sure what they were or even more how to apply them in my classroom. Now, I have the confidence and understanding of integrating the various technology as part of best practices. I am excited to move foward and try some of my new tricks in my teaching bag.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Tool #11: Digital Citizenship
I think teaching Digital Citizenship is extremely important. There needs to be some direct instruction about what it is and how to apply it in today's world. I think the top 3 key points that should be addressed are:
*Digital Etiquette-I have seen more than one of my students understandably upset because someone sent disrespectful text messages to them. We have all probably experienced reading an email from an adult that had a disrespectful tone. The kids need to understand that the same norms of respect should apply when they are communicating online as when they are face to face with someone.
*Digital Safety-To put it simply, it is part of our responsibility to help ensure the safety of our students. Understandably, their naivitivity sometimes puts the kids in a vulnerable position, including when they are online. We need to help them understand the importance of being cautious when they are on a social networking site, and what to do if they have concerns.
*Digital Literacy-Our kids are really good at quickly learning technology....admittedly, way faster than me! However, they sometimes struggle with finding the information they need, determining the validity of a resource, crediting the source, and avoiding the pitfalls of plegarism. This requires time intensive instruction and modeling, but the pay off will be well worth it as our students will be much more successful researchers.
*Digital Etiquette-I have seen more than one of my students understandably upset because someone sent disrespectful text messages to them. We have all probably experienced reading an email from an adult that had a disrespectful tone. The kids need to understand that the same norms of respect should apply when they are communicating online as when they are face to face with someone.
*Digital Safety-To put it simply, it is part of our responsibility to help ensure the safety of our students. Understandably, their naivitivity sometimes puts the kids in a vulnerable position, including when they are online. We need to help them understand the importance of being cautious when they are on a social networking site, and what to do if they have concerns.
*Digital Literacy-Our kids are really good at quickly learning technology....admittedly, way faster than me! However, they sometimes struggle with finding the information they need, determining the validity of a resource, crediting the source, and avoiding the pitfalls of plegarism. This requires time intensive instruction and modeling, but the pay off will be well worth it as our students will be much more successful researchers.
Tool #10: Exploring Mobile Technology and Apps
Hear Planet is an app that would be perfect for my classes as my students explore different places in the world. From the description of this app, they would see images of various places and listen to a narrator tell them information about that place.
Also, they even have a Hangman apps. Talk about taking an age old game and bringing it into the 21st century. In a fun way, it calls on the kids to use their word awareness as they play and try to figure out the missing letters.
I used several I-touches with my students for research. While I personally would not have to try to do major research on such a small device (compared to a laptop), my students didn't mind, and in fact were quite excited to try it out. I did sort of wonder if the novelty is what drew their attention, and if it would be lasting. I think it is a good tool, as long as we also have access to laptops or PCs.
Also, they even have a Hangman apps. Talk about taking an age old game and bringing it into the 21st century. In a fun way, it calls on the kids to use their word awareness as they play and try to figure out the missing letters.
I used several I-touches with my students for research. While I personally would not have to try to do major research on such a small device (compared to a laptop), my students didn't mind, and in fact were quite excited to try it out. I did sort of wonder if the novelty is what drew their attention, and if it would be lasting. I think it is a good tool, as long as we also have access to laptops or PCs.
Tool #9 Jing and Skype
As I understand it, Jing would enable my students to easily add visuals to their wikis and Google docs. Again, it would enhance communication on these apps and would be especially appealing to our visual learners.
With Skype, a whole new world is opened up for our kids. I love the idea of facilitating a Skype discussion with other classes around the world. What a great way to help the kids understand different perspectives! Also, we could Skype with museum docents and other field experts through Skype.
With Skype, a whole new world is opened up for our kids. I love the idea of facilitating a Skype discussion with other classes around the world. What a great way to help the kids understand different perspectives! Also, we could Skype with museum docents and other field experts through Skype.
Tool #8: Video Resources
"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" by TED http://www.blip.tv/file/3930524
I used this video at the beginning of a problem based unit which involved
exploring the issue of poverty in parts of Africa, and discovering
innovations of individuals and groups working to improve the lives of
the people. This video was our "hook" into the unit, and it worked. The
kids were amazed by this young man's story, and it motivated them to want
to find out more.
"Pennies for Peace" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yccKvt0dW5U
I used this video in conjunction with a feature article in "Scholastic
Magazine" about efforts to improve education in rural Pakistan. Once
again, it spurred some great discussion and insight amongst the students.
Someone commented that if elementary kids can do something to help
others who are less fortunate, so can we. The students also made
comments about why education is so important to a country's future.
I am also thinking that I can show the kids how to link video resources to their wiki.
I could use some help with how to actually embed a video. I chose to link these because I don't understand how to do this. If anyone can give me some tips (please keep it simple), I would be most appreciative!
I used this video at the beginning of a problem based unit which involved
exploring the issue of poverty in parts of Africa, and discovering
innovations of individuals and groups working to improve the lives of
the people. This video was our "hook" into the unit, and it worked. The
kids were amazed by this young man's story, and it motivated them to want
to find out more.
"Pennies for Peace" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yccKvt0dW5U
I used this video in conjunction with a feature article in "Scholastic
Magazine" about efforts to improve education in rural Pakistan. Once
again, it spurred some great discussion and insight amongst the students.
Someone commented that if elementary kids can do something to help
others who are less fortunate, so can we. The students also made
comments about why education is so important to a country's future.
I am also thinking that I can show the kids how to link video resources to their wiki.
I could use some help with how to actually embed a video. I chose to link these because I don't understand how to do this. If anyone can give me some tips (please keep it simple), I would be most appreciative!
Tool #7 Digital Storytelling
This is a tool that I have been using with my students as their final product of a research project. Photo Story is a user friendly program and a great alternative to a traditional report for the students to synthesize the info. they have learned about a particular topic. Here is an example of a photo story that was created in an International Investigations Week.
Tool #6: Wikis
I can see a lot of different uses for wikis. The obvious is for teacher collaboration and planning. Small groups of students could could create wikis for research projects. I saw one wiki that included student made glogsters. I have a webquest that the students do called "Backpacking through Europe". They could make a glogster about their countries of study, and then post them on one wiki. I also looked at a wiki of book reviews. This would be a great to use for the Consume, Critique, and Produce model of instruction. It has many different reviews that the kids could read and critique before they begin writing their own. Wikis are a great tool to enhance best practice instruction.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)