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.