After 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.
Definitely the mashup and image generators!  I like the ease of using Bookr and the word clouds.  As I mentioned previously, I plan to use Bookr for geography lesson in social studies.  I also plan to use word clouds to wrap up a unit in science so they could correlate all the vocabulary words they have learned in a particular concept.

2. How have you transfomed your thinking about the learning that will take place in your classroom?
It is the realization of incorporating the real world in the classroom.  Advancement in technology cannot be stopped and our students need to be at par with what is happening around them.

3. Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
After doing 23 Things to Play, I thought that I have learned everything there is to learn.  2 things that are new - Jing and Skype and the Mobile Apps.

Tool 11: Digital Citizenship

Brainpop has some good videos about digital citizenship.  I would show the videos about digital etiquette, cyberbullying, online safety and copyright.  The students will come up with a presentation using one of the things under Tool #3 to show to their classmates.  They will also create a one-liner saying on a poster like: "Cite Your Source," "Be Safe on Cyberspace," etc.

1. Digital Rights and Responsibility - Just like being a good citizen in real life, in the e-world people have to be a good digital citizen as well to make it a safe place for our young.   They have freedom of speech, but they need to understand that they have to use appropriate language and not to send rude remarks.  I would discuss with them the danger of cyberbullying  so none of them would be a part nor a victim of it.

2. Digital Communication - it is important to discuss this with students so they will be careful in exchanging information on the internet.  They should not give any personal details nor meet somebody they meet online without adult permission. 

3. Digital Law - students need to learn to cite the source of their information and pictures whenever they do their research project and understand copyrights. 

Tool 10: Exploring Mobile Technology And Apps

I'm glad I attended the staff development that the district offered regarding iPod touch. Not only we were able to look at different educational apps, we also looked at podcasts, audiocasts, and how to syncronize iTunes with iTouch. Learning all this technology is important so we could utilize it to enhance our students' learning experience. We have to stay abreast with what our students have to deal with in this time.

Students could use the different apps to practice what they have learned eg. math facts, grammar, etc.  They could also fill out cloze statements to look for information for science and social studies. Here are some educational applications I think would be great to use in our classrooms:

States and Capitals for Free - trial version of the 50 states and capitals, this one allows students to practice the original 13 states/colonies

210 Human Body Facts - some interesting facts about human body that could easily understood by elementary students

Vocabdaily - words of the day from Merriam-Webster, geared towards higher grade level

Flash to Pass - math flash cards for the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Tool 9: Sharing Information Through Jing & Skype

Screencast would be great to invite authors, career people, and other guest speakers on a budget - even astronauts while they are on outer space! This will enhance the students learning experience as they interact with people in the real world.

It could also be used to communicate with students from different parts of the world so they could share and celebrate their similarities and differences in their culture.

We use Skype to keep in touch with families and relatives outside the country. It is cost efficient and fosters closer relationships even at a distance. You just have to watch out for proper lighting and positioning so you look good to the people on the other end of the screen.

Tool 8: Video Resources

I love showing my students different videos for the different content areas because it really captures their attention. United Streaming and Brain Pop are two of my main sources of videos I show to my class.

I'm sharing two videos I shared with my class before the TAKS test and after the TAKS test to inspire them.

Tool 7: Digital Storytelling

I used Photostory and Moviemaker to do my video. There is more options on Photostory to edit the position of the titles and croping the pictures than Moviemaker. Photostory won me over than Moviemaker on this one.

Creating movies like this could be used in writing where students could voice over their stories. It could also be used for students to tie up all the concepts they have learned regarding a unit.

Tool 6: Wikis

There are a lot of good ways to integrate wikis in the classroom for the different subject areas as mentioned in Teachers First - Wiki Ideas.  Some examples are: writing a collection of poetry, book reviews, unit study, etc. I like the idea of collaborating with teachers and students from other countries to make a global perspective of learning.

As for teachers, team, or department, they could use this for roadmapping, lesson planning, or book studies.  It helps cut down costs by not having to travel to a specific place, provide refreshments, light, and air conditioning for teachers to meet.

Tool 5: Tagging and Social Bookmarking

Here are some helpful sites I found using Diggo.  The only thing I didn't like is that I have to download its toolbar in order for me to utilize it.  I'm still a bit old school - I don't feel comfortable downloading unnecessary things in my computer because it slows it down and sometimes they attach some unwanted cookies which you overlooked but agreed to it.

Teach Science and Math - shows ways to integrate science process skills in lessons
Education World: Teacher Tools and Templates - classroom forms that could be useful for the teachers

This would be a great resource for teachers to keep track of some helpful website that they can share with each other. Social bookmarking may be used by older students to help each other when they are looking for some information so they could share it to each other when they are working on a similar topic without having to be in the same place.

Tool 4: Cool Google Tools

Computer manufacturers are actually encouraging people to use online document management and storage. Hence the netbooks- it is mainly for people surfing the net a lot and since it has very little memory capacity they don't expect you to save your work on it .  That's where application like Google Docs enters.  You could save all your work on Google Docs and hopefully don't have to worry about systems crashing.

For classroom purposes, students could collaborate on research or writing projects.  Teachers could also use it to help each other in sharing lesson plans in the comforts of their own home. But of course, you could just easily email it back and forth since their emails are always up, unless the network is down due to an unforseen event.  Google Docs encourages collaboration and accessibility to all its users - wherever you may be.

On the other hand, Google Reader will be helpful for people who are subscribing to a lot of blogs and websites to keep them updated on what is going on.  It makes virtual stalking a lot easier because you have everything in one place.

Tool 3: Image Generators & Mashups

It is good to know that the word cloud gadgets and Bookr don't require registration which could be a hassle to keep track of your username and password unless you keep using the same for everything. 

This is something that students could use to reinforce vocabulary words and concepts they have learned.  For word clouds, the students could type in vocabulary words that are related to a concept they learned. Whereas Bookr, could be used for Writing in setting up their story board or help support ESL learners by looking for pictures that could help them remember and understand vocabulary words.

Tool 2: Building Community & Comments

Building a personal learning network (PLN) is to be open to the idea of sharing your thoughts and knowledge and being prepared to different kinds of comments you could receive.  It is good to connect with people who share the same ideas, thoughts, and interests.  It gives you a sense of belonging when you encounter those kinds of people.  On the other hand, it could dampen your spirit when you come across opposing views with strong opinions.

Getting more comments on your blog necessitates creativity.  Before I started reading 10 Techniques to Get More Comments... I thought "posting controversial issues" would be a sure way to get a lot of attention. Lo and behold, right at #8.  I totally agree that the discussion could get a little nasty and could turn away some of the people who don't agree.  It could even get so personal that the blogger would have to change his/her voki and identity.

Left comments on:  Laura's 11, But It's Summer!, Moulton Lava, 11Tools(Tool#2), and Teachers Like Us.

Tool 1: Blog Set-up & Registration

Whew!  I finally finished setting up my blog...it took me awhile to decide on how I would look on my Voki while trying to get some chores done.  It was actually fun to customize my digital avatar. It might be harder for younger students to set up their own blog site because they have to set up their email and they could easily get lost in customizing everything they could because the choices are endless. I would need some ideas on how to set up a blog site for students that will be easy for them to handle and easy for me to monitor.