My favorite tools:
- iPads and iTouches - I am always finding new apps that facilitate learning, creating, and discovering. (I think I need to make a separate post of my favorite apps to use with students.) One I just found yesterday is called "Cam On! Pro", which accesses webcams across the world. You can see ecosystems, urban streets, countrysides, and businesses from Antarctica to Vietnam. I use an app called "Apps gone Free' to notify me of apps that go on sale for a limited time, and try to add those to my devices when I can.
- edmodo - This is such a wonderful place to share information with students and teachers! I am finding more and more ways to encourage teachers to use edmodo all the time. Plus I love the fact that they have apps within the website that allow students to explore and create as well.
- Blogs and wikis - I use my blog for the MWE library to share with parents the fun and exciting things their students get to do when visiting the library. I use wikis to help teachers offer reliable sources on the internet for students to use when exploring a new topic or doing research.
- VoiceThread - I have helped first grade classes create VoiceThreads about the US symbols and kindergarten made a VoiceThread about Texas symbols. It is a great tool that works on oral language skills and listening to one another.
- google docs - I use this more with teachers than with students. The netbooks in the classrooms do not always cooperate with google docs, and thus cause more frustration. However, I love the tools I can utilize as a teacher when sharing documents, access websites and linking my YouTube account.
New tools I am trying:
- Go Animate! - I am using this with my first and second grade PGP group. This is an animation creation tool on edmodo. I am having them create an animated movie to teach a concept that they have learned this year. It is a great tool to help me facilitate storyboard planning, as well as encourage creativity.
- iMovie - I am trying to use this more this year when I am creating culminating movies for grade levels or teachers. Recently I helped the kindergarten classes make 100 day of school movies. I need to work on transitions of movie clips within this program to make my finished products better.
- Glogster - I started using Glogs last year with my fifth graders, and have introdced Glogs to fourth and fifth graders this year. Students love the freedom to create and share in this "digital poster' format.
- Skype - My first Skype experience was this year with an author for our fifth graders. We did a Skype session with Eve Yohalem, the author of "Escape under the forever sky," and she was incredible! It was an amzing experience that did not cost a thing, but allowed these students an opportunity to have conversations with an actual author.
Tools I am not using at this time, but might again in the near future:
- animoto - It is a good tool to use as an intro or attention getter, but I have not found a good way to use the free 30 second account (and that's another issue - creating student accounts) as a culminating project. It does allow me the opportunity to introduce the idea of finding pictures that we are legally allowed to use in projects.
- PhotoStory - I have done some wonderful projects with PhotoStory in the past, and love that it can be lengthy, uses text and voice-overs, and can be incorporated with many curriculum areas. It is a time consuming tool to use and requires hands on attention to students' questions and inevitable problems.
- Google Reader - I have one set up, but I am not good about checking it and reading through the wonderful things I have bookmarked to follow. I need to clean out, delete, add, and update to make it something I want to spend time reading again.
Tools I want to try:
- I want to help students create podcasts, and possibly video webcasts. I have a teacher on my campus who has done this with her students in the past, and look forward to learning with her the process of making them better.
- New bookmark websites, like Symbaloo or Diigo, which i have heard about, but have not used.
- Google+ - I have not figured out if this is better than Facebook and Twitter, or if it is just one more thing for me to keep up with.
