After 11 Tools: Reflections

One of my favorite tools is digital storytelling.  I think this will be a great moivator and sense of pride for our students to be able to do.  My thinking about learning has been transformed be having become aware of so many tools that I never knew existed until now.  It has opened a door that I will continue to explore. 

TOOL #11

Three things I would most want my students to understand about being good digital citizens are being safe and secure, having good etiquette, and being responsible and knowing their rights.  This can start in Pk with the help of Brain Pop and other similar programs.

TOOL #10

When I first used the i-Pod Touch I was amazed at what it could do simply by turning or shaking it.  There are many apps available and have purchased them myself for my own children.  There are apps for all subjects and levels.  I believe that this will be an excellent tool for use in centers in the classroom, making technology an everyday event for children so that they are able to easily advance with the times as opposed to the trouble I have when trying something new as I have with this course!  My own children have been able to help me as if they were the expert!

TOOL #9

Skype sounds like a fun way to communicate with other classrooms around the world.  I think a good way to start, for PK, would be to communicate with others classrooms on our own campus, that way our students can grasp the concept of what Skype is all about.  Jing appears to be the same the difference being that you could bring in other information from the internet, while with Skype you might use real objects from the classroom such as books, projects, etc.

TOOL #8

Found an awesome, real time video clip, of the metamorphasis of a caterpillar to a butterfly on Blinkx.  Hulu will be good to find made for television programming.

TOOL #7

Digital Storytelling will definately be part of my classroom!  I have already done this with old fashioned video...taping students acting out a story and telling their own stories.  They love seeing themselves on tv or the computer!!!  It is a great motivator for telling stories and for developing their oral language.  Doing it digitally will be the icing on the cake as it will be easier to share.

TOOL #6

As a teacher I can use wiki with my colleagues to plan for our classrooms.  For students, we might use it for making list, or add-on stories and poems (their ideas but written by me, of course, as a way of modeling planning and writing).

TOOL #5

NAEYC Home Page
Marshmallow Fondant Recipe
Here are my links to the two sites that I bookmarked on Delicious.  The tags I used to find these sites were "Early Childhood Education" and "Cake Decorating.

TOOL #4

For Google Docs I made a "Team Contact List" and shared it with my team so that they can fill in their parts.  I had to guess at their emails as I wasn't sure of how to upload my address book.  For Google Reader I subscribed to 5 blogs.  What will happen with that now?  See...I am practicing inviting comments by asking a question.  What I don't know is who will answer it? (another question!)

TOOL #3

I went through this as directed.  I chose the following image generators:  Comic Strip Generator (said my pics were too big...all my pics are taken at the same size, so that didn't work out for me) and Kid Friendly Image Geneator (I successfully made a sign but could not figure out how to post it on my blog.  I know there were directions, some of which I remembered, but they disappeared once I completed the first step, then I didn't know what else to do).

TOOL#2

I think that a PLN will be a great way for me to share with, and learn from, other educators. I enjoyed reading "10 Ways to Increase Comments...On Your Blog".  I believe this is the whole reason for these types of networks...to have a "conversation" about a certain issue or topic.

TOOL #1

I finally finished my blog!  My 7th Grader helped me with my avatar...said he'd learned how to do it in elementary school!  Guess I'm way behind, but looks like I'm catching up!!!

Getting Started

I am lost!