Tool #11 - digital citizenship

Teaching students to be responsible on the internet is important from a young age. Students need to be taught the dangers of online sites as well as how to determine websites that are reliable sources to use. Last year I used the Brain Pop videos and quizzes to teach my fifth graders about being careful users of the internet. Another fun, quick video to use with students is made by the creators of "Phineas and Ferb" on Disney called "Common Sense with Phineas and Ferb" which links to the Common Sense Media website that has many useful tools for kids, parents, and teachers.

Tool #11 - what I learned

Two tools I hope to add to my teaching this year are a class wiki or blog so students can have a place to "discuss" what they are reading and learning. This will allow students across classes to be able to discuss book club books and expand their knowledge and comprehension. I also want to use more of the image generators, especially Glogster as a way for students to create something representative of their learning.
I think more of the learning in my classroom will be done on an individual basis through the use of videos, links, and webquests through technology. I see the iTouch as a very useful tool for students to use as a resource as well. If they need to know the definition of a word or replay a video it can happen instantly through the dictionary.com app or video podcasts.
I enjoyed seeing all the different tools that are available for me to use, however it took a lot of time to explore and learn how to use them. I wish the course would have had more group worktimes set up so that we could help and support one another. I feel that even splitting it up into segments of one or two tools a month would be more beneficial than trying to get it all done over the course of 2 months.

Tool #10 - iTouch apps

I LOVE the iPod iTouch!!! I was able to use 80 iTouches with my fifth graders last year, and learned ALOT! There are so many great ways to use the apps in classrooms for research, information gathering, and practice of skills. Not to mention the podcasts that can be loaded and watched or listened to at an individual pace. During my library student internship I created a wiki of useful apps for educators. I have just started working on putting FREE and inexpensive apps on the subject pages, with every intention of adding more as we find ones that are worthwhile.

Tool #9 - Jing and Skype

I can definitely see how using Jing could be helpful to show the steps for completing a technology assignment. It would be great to have a video for students to be able to access instead of having to repeat my instructions everytime. Another free download program that can record a video of what you do on the screen is Nvu. I have used it before and would like to try to make a recording of instructions to use in my classroom, possibly how to add a posting to a wiki or blog in the classroom.

I love the idea of having authors or local celebrities read books aloud to students. It would also be a great way to bring authors to the classroom or library without spending alot of money. My big question right now is how to find other people who are willing to Skype with my class. (But I see that the article "50 Awesome Ways to use Skype in schools" is a good resource to help answer that question. I even found a page of virtual author visits!) Over the summer I know that the PBL (problem-based learning) campuses used Skype to invite "experts" to their classroom so they could ask questions about what they were studying - extreme weather.

Tool #8 (part 2) - Blinx/YouTube

I like that Blinx searches so many video websites at once. It makes it easy to see the options you have for the topic you are searching. However, it is a little overwhelming and would take time to look through and find exactly what I want to use. It also did not have an embedding option from this site, so I used the YouTube code instead.
The video I chose is from the PBS TV Series "Liberty's Kids" to use during our American Revolution study in Fifth Grade. My only concern with YouTube is that it often gets bogged down, and takes to long to load as you watch.

Tool #8 - Hulu

I never thought of using Hulu in the classroom. But this is a great place to find informative videos to use in content areas. Every year I use the Time for Kids Earth Day issue to pique students' interest in doing a part in "saving the planet". So this excerpt will be great to use on Earth Day to help students understand more about the importance of awareness and the reason behind it.

Tool #7 - my first iMovie

Even though I had iMacs for most of last year, I never made time to try out iMovie on my own until now. I made a movie about our summer trips last July. It was so much fun!