Skype with Alan November

What a great experience it was to talk with Alan November. I know that for some it probably seemed a little more intimidating than anything that they have done before, and I do agree that it is kind of strange to sit there and have a conversation with a random person that I have never met before. We use Skype a lot in my house. My four year old loves to Skype with his grandparents in rhode island. It is great for him, because he loves to try and show his grandparents his toys and things through the phone. Using Skype allows him to show them everything through the webcam. Skype is sometimes hard to work with however, because it does sometimes cut out here and there, but overall it is a great way to interact with people through technology. I really enjoyed listening to Alan November talk. I strongly believe in his belief that it's very important to communicate effectively with parents, in order to get them on board with not only technology, but any projects you want to use in your classroom. Sometimes it is difficult to get those parents who feel strongly against the use of technology on board. I loved his idea about calling parents and having the class cheer to recognize a child's positive behavior in the classroom. This is something that I feel would make parents feel so proud of their child, and in turn, their child would feel more confident and take pride in themselves. Alan November definitely doesn't seem like the type of person to hold back on anything.....he definitely speaks his mind and always told us how he was feeling about certain topics. For the most part, I feel that he was very knowledgeable about the importance behind the implementation of technology in schools. I also enjoyed how he helped us understand how the new state common core standards will all be revolving around this technological approach to learning.

animoto

I tried to embed my animoto, but for some reason since my computer decided to crash, I cannot embed the code into my blog. I am using my iPad to see if I can use a URL so you can click on it to see it. Here is the animoto:  science center animoto

Wikispaces tutorials

I was looking around the internet, and although the wiki tutorial that I found and posted into my blog was one that I have seen before, I believe that it really does a great job introducing the wiki and all of its components. Also, I found this great tutorial for wikispaces. Although it is a pdf, I believe it does a great job of walking people through the process of creating a wikispace. I am very excited about working on this project. I have never completed a wiki before!

Wikis in Plain English

Empowering students with technology: ch. 1,2,3

Growing up without a computer was somewhat stressful for me. We did not get an actual computer in my house until I reached high school. This was not because we could not afford one but it was solely because there was such a push in my elementary school for using your best cursive handwriting to create beautiful pieces of writing. I will always remember the words out of my 5th grade teache's mouth..."you will use cursive from this day on..". I have to say that since 5th grade the only time I have ever used cursive writing is to sign my name on checks or other important documents. Now a days documents re required to be typed up. I will never forget entering middle school and being required to type everything and complete all different research using the computer. I will never forget how discouraged I was. I will also never forget being left out while all of the students I went to school with we're talking about going online and talking on aim to their friends every night. I guess this made me an outcast. As the middle school years went on my parents learned how important it was for us to get caught up with the times and get a computer. Throughout my middle school experience I felt so lost in the beginning of the introduction to technology. I would get so frustrated with everything that had to do with technology. As I moved into high school I decided to take a computer class as an elective and let me tell you....that class led me to become a very fast typer. Without that class I would not be where I am today and as a matter of fact I would still be using my finger pointing to type up a paper. Throughout my college experience I was introduced to so many different ways to use technology in the classroom to help aid my teaching. I learned the importance of making learning fun and exciting for my students however there has always been a little piece of me that has been scared of technology. To this day, I have taken part in many different techno,ogy workshops focusing on different techniques for implementing technology and although I would leave each workshop with great ideas and look forward to implementing new things into my classroom, I always find myself discouraged with finding the time to do so and finding the appropriate resources to do so. I guess, although I do get great ideas from workshops I am still feeling completely overwhelmed with all that goes into the planning and the teaching using them.... On the other hand, the students I am teaching are completely used to all of this technology. It is like breathing to them....the video games, the cell phones, the electronics, etc. It is all completely amazing to me how just over the past 10 years things have gone so technologically advanced. I cannot even imagine when my son goes to school, what he will be expected to do. Don't get me wrong, I strongly believe that technology is a great way to help tridents learn, but I also feel that it is scary at the same time. This coming from someone who is still struggling with keeping up with the newest forms of technology.

Teaching with Author's Blogs: Connections, Collaboration, Creativity

the way that both of these articles focused on the importance of blogging allowed me to see how important blogging can be. I actually have never been involved with a blogging opportunity but now that I am using blogger in this class it has allowed me to see how truly useful it can be. Blogging provides students with an interactive and technological approach to discussing thought and opinions about different topics. These articles provided me with an outlook to how teaching goes hand in hand with allowing students to think outside the box. It also shows the importance of using real life examples to help show students the importance behind the new technological advances in education.

Class 3: Blog 2- Story Bird

I think that Digital Storytelling is such a great way to help students get so excited about literacy. I have such an unmotivated class this year, however, I have noticed that when I use technology or hands on approaches to learning, my students are more interested in WANTING to learn and complete the activities. In fourth grade, we do a whole big state project. This project consumes our whole second half of the school year. This being said, after looking through the digital storytelling resources, especially Storybird. I thought, how cool would it be, to have the students create a short storybird for each of their states that they research this quarter.

Currently, we are working on creating an expository piece of writing about our states. Yes, each student is researching a different state. In their state reports, they are required to talk about the different symbols, waterways, attractions, date of admission to statehood, etc. The cover of their state reports is a collage, but I was thinking that it might be a really cool idea to have the students create a storybird about their state, recognizing the information that they have been finding out. I think that parents would LOVE to watch a digital story, showcasing their child's work! I also think that this helps motivate students through the hands on approach to learning. I think that digital storytelling can help students become more confident and creative learners. I strongly belive that digital storytellign can also help enhance literacy skills because it is allowing the students to tell stories in a creative way. My class, in general, loves to play games, complete art activities, and use technology as much as possible, so I am always looking for ways to help improve my students' attitudes towards learning!

Class 3: Blog 1- free web resouces

Wow! What a tremendous amount of resources for me to use in the classroom. The two that stood out the most for me  to use in the classroom are the ReadWriteThink website. I thought that this website was very helpful in the fact that it helps teach poetry. Not only does the website offer important information about different types of poems, but it also guides students to using the site to create such poems. I actually was so excited about what I explored through this website that I just had to try it in my classroom! I had my students create a simple acrostic poem about winter. They didn't need much pre-teaching, before they were introduced to the website and the poem template. The template walks the students through the whole process of creating such a poem. When I looked through the site, it also highlights fractured fairytales, and walks the students through the process of creating a fractured fairytale as well. My students were so excited about creating just the acrostic poetry, that I figure I could use this webiste as an option for students to explore during independent time during reading centers after they finish their classroom work!

Another site in which I was very impressed with was the Oracle Thinkquest Competition. In my district, science is co-taught, so I teach it 1 time a week with another teacher. She does most of the teaching and I serve as her aide in the classroom. After exploring this site, I was able to gather information on the water cycle, which is a unit that we are discussing in science right now. Up popped not only information about the water cycle and the different parts of the cycle, but I was given lots and lots of diagrams, definitions for the water cycle terms. In addition, I was able to find an activity, where the students could create their very own water cycle, and wow, what a great way to teach the water cycle. I strongly believe in the hands on approaches to learning, and I feel that this could help my students demonstrate their understanding of the water cycle so well! Also, this site offered me many different types of quizzes and activities for me to implement into my teaching of the water cycle. Different crosswords, word finds, different links to different cycles, and other interactive approaches to learning were great resources for me to get familiar with. I actually brought them to my co-worker's attention and we decided to use the quizzes to help the students become more confident in their knowledge of the water cycle!

Activities and Videos

I strongly believe that each of these different activities will help accomodate all of the different learning styles in the classroom. I have attended numerous workshops and learned a lot about all of these different technology applications, however, due to my lack of technology expertise and the lack of funding at our school, I have not had the opportunities to implement these activities into the classroom. I LOVE the animoto activites. What a great way to make learning fun and entertaining for both the students creating it, and the audiences. I also believe that these activities can help boost students' understanding about concepts being taught, because of the hands on approaches that they are using to create these customized projects. I think that the collaboration aspect is easily identifiable throughout each of these activities. Each one could help students learn how to work with one another and how to encourage each other. I also believ that these actitities could help students learn how to take responsibility for their own work and their role as a participant in a collaborative wiki, blog, animoto video, etc. Throughout each of these activities, the multiple intelligences are being recognized and students are provided with numerous opportunities to think outside of the box and think creatively. The opportunities for exploration are key, in helping students become confident and successful learners.

https://www.google.com/search?

Not only are these projects and activities good for students to take part in, but they are also helpful for teachers to reference and borrow ideas from other teachers around the world. I am very excited to learn more about ways to implement these types of projects into my classroom, as I have a very diverse classroom this year, with lots of clashing personalities. I feel that being able to implement a technology activity using digital storytelling or animoto, using voice threads or imovie, could help the students get more excited about learning new material!

Expanding New Literacies, The C's of change, Digital Storytelling, Horizon Report, Horizon report K-12 edition

After reading through all of the assigned material, I got a feel for the impact that technology should have on children. I enjoyed reading the C's of change and learning about the differencies between the different centuries. Incorporating technology into the classroom promotes exploration and discussion amongst all different types of students. Technology allows students multiple opportunities for exploring the web, and use of technological devices. I thought it was interesting when they talked about building comprehension and communication through collaborative internet inquiry projects. Working together with other students allows students to get to know one another and therefore help eachother out. By doing this, they are working on communication skills, through doing, and they are also learning more about topics by doing a special hands on interactive activity. I also think that allowing students to use the internet and other technological devices allows students to share the responsibility of being a teacher. Through the use of interactive collaborative projects, such as through google docs, and wikis, etc, students are responsible for participating in the technological activity. Technology also allows students to help other students, and therefore they are taking on the responsibility of teaching others. When students have a reason for doing something, and they realize that they have a sense of voice and identity through an interactive project, incorporating technology, it makes them want to take part in those activities. Students want to understand the purpose behind the activities implemented by teachers. Collaborative projects definitely do provide students with authentic audiences and purposes for writing!

I LOVE the idea of digital storytelling. I didn't realize how much it could help students understand purpose of completing and learning activites. The idea of the students "trusting" teachers and the other studnets in the class, really is key. If a student cannot trust anyone, then they will not be confident to participate in such activities. I totally agree about the importance of building a positive classroom environment. This article talked about the importance of empowering student voices, by setting a purpose for them, and providing them with an audience greater than the immediate classroom. I always find that when students are able to show off their amazing work to others, they are more apt to putting forth more effort. This I know in particular from previous experience when my principal comes in to observe the classroom and my teaching. My studetns want to make her proud, so they want to work harder. When I student taught in 1st grade a few years ago, I remember that at the end of our writer's workshop units, we would have an author's celebration and I would invite the principal, the vice principal, the superintendent, the curriculum specialist, and other important people to come in and let the children share their pieces of writing with them. The children really enjoyed taking part in communicating their ideas to others.

The Horizon reports helped me key in on the struggles and the criticisms for the reality of the implementation of technology into the K-12 curriculum. I think it was true that the technology progress is slow, in the fact that all faculty is at different stages, depending on the town and district in which you are working in. As faculty members, we are all experimenting with alternative forms of expression and we are exploring the differentiated options there are out there for us to use and implement into our already existing curriculum, and lessons that work. I think it is true that we, as teachers, can use what we already know about units and lessons that have been successsful in the past, and try and work to implement technology or other types of digital technological forms of teaching to help make our lessons and units that much more beneficial to students. Students need to be able to transfer their learning from content to content through multiple means of learning.