11 Tools Reflections

1. What are your favorite tools you now have in your personal technology toolbox? Briefly describe a particular activity that you will plan for your students using at least one of these new tools.


My favorite tools are Photostory, GoogleDocs and the Itouch.  Photostory can be used in many ways, I am going to encorage my kids to make a photostory of the family, followed by having them work in pairs to describe the process of a group project or just for fun story making. 
2. How have you transfomed your thinking about the learning that will take place in your classroom?
I found myself to be more open with technology in the classroom, especially now with the technology  available to use in our rooms.  It can be a station, one that all the kids with enjoy using and be very productive at.

3. Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?  Yes, it opened my eyes to new innovating programs that I was not aware existed.

Tool #11

We live in a world where things change constantly, therefore we must also adapt ourselves to changing.  However it is very important that certain things are always thought and implemented to our kids.  1 Internet Safety, 2 Etique and cyberbullying, and 3 Plagiarism.  Our kids need to know and understand that not everyone or every page they encounter his a safe place to go to.  Cyberbullying is a major threat to our kids, they need to be able to understand that this behavior is not exceptible and if they are going through it the steps they can take to stop and prevent it.  We need to teach them how to be respectful to everyone online and their thoughts, such as we would teach our children manners.  Another important thing to teach our kids is about Plagiarism and how it is illegal to copy someone else's work.  I would teach this concept by creating a digital story and having them watch the brainpop video.  Along with follow up lessons to maintain these concepts.

Tool #10

This was definitely one of my favorite tools. I own the Nexus 1 phone that is very similar to the Itouch, therefore I'm familiar to all the wonderful things the phone is capable of doing.  As for one of my favorite apps, Hangman.  I remember playing this with my family and friends, trying to win by completing the word or phrase.  It reminds me of Will of Fortune.  This tools would be a must inside my classroom, students could play and reinforce their spelling words and or vocabulary words.  Loved it!

Tool #9

Jing - this is a wonderful resourse for us to have.  Now our students can work on projects and collaborate their ideas without leaving their computer.  With Bilingual pairs this is a must have!  Sometimes our bilingual students hear a word that might sound like something else, but receiving a visual would eliminate any errors.  They could get a visual of what the other person is communicating to them.  It would also make following instructions easier.  There are many uses for this program.

Skype - Wow!  Now our kids can have an online pen pal, that they can communicate and see from their mac.  This is great! 

Tool #8

This was an easy one for me beacuse I am very familiar with United Streaming and YouTube.  I also agree that it is great that you can save them into Blinkx and have 1 engine for all the different sources that you can use in your classroom.

http://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsystem/
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/volcanoes-101/26g1p416?q=volcanoes&FORM=VIRE1

Tool #7

This was so much fun!  I really enjoyed creating a digital story of my sons' 1st birthday.  It's great that anyone can do it.  As for in the classroom, the kids can create their own family stories, do a show and tell using pictures, explain life cycles, and much more.  This truly helps bring the classroom into the 21st century.

Tool #6

Using Wiki, my students could work with their bilingual pairs and solve a mathematical problem together. Futhermore, they could see how one group solve the same problem using a different strategy.  They could also use Wiki to work on a science vocabulary word by going back and adding key words to help them retain the word. 

Tool #5

During my field practice with delicious I came across these two site:
http://www.mathplayground.com/
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html 
I find that they are very useful, especially with the activboard.  I love the fact that you can pull you tags from any computer.  You are no longer restricted to just 1 or have to look all over the place to find the website you want to use.  As far as Social Networking, this is truly a genius idea, now you can share anything that you come across with others that might be in search for the same item.  It also makes it easy to collaborate with your team instantly.

Tool #4

Google Docs is a great way to share information with many people without having various copies of the same document.  I love the fact that students can share and edit together without having to be in the same place.  As for Google Reader, it is absolutely a great way to have the resources that you enjoy reading at your finger tips.  It allows you to subscribe to various web pages and read their latest articles for free.  With technology being such a big part of our society, I believe that our kids with be able to use these two tools to bring their work to the next phase.  Allowing them to have access to many different things and explore a new environment.



http://scrapbooking.craftgossip.com/

Tool #3

I looked over and played with all the IMAGE GENERATORS & MASHUPS, but my two favorite were: Spell with Flicker and Dumpr.  I really believe that my kids will enjoy creating different layouts using these tools.  It will allow them to create their own pages using their imagination and the tools available through technology.

Tool #2

1. What are your thoughts about building an online education community and participating in a PLN?
I think this is a great way for educators to get different prospectives on what is going on.  At the same time we are also keeping up with what our kids are now doing and are able to communicate with them in a different innovative manner.

2. What point stood out to you from the commenting advice
Advise #8 Be controversial stood out to me.  It does make sense, everyone has their own opinion and it will not always be the same as yours.  Some people might want to pursued you to think like them and blog their comment on your blog, but others might be persuaded to read elsewhere.

Tool #1

I really enjoyed creating my Voki.  However, I tried to personalize it by recording my voice over the phone and it did not work.  All in all, I think this is a great tool and my students will love to create their own Voki.

Changing Times

Technology changes day by day, therfore we must move along with those changes to always be plugged in.