Week 9- It's done!

This opportunity has actually been alot of fun. I really enjoyed the blogging and being able to read what other people had written about their experiences. I also enjoyed learning how to create a video through Animoto. I know that I will use that later (December :D) I also enjoyed the large plethora of resources that we found in one of the weeks. So many of these great resources will really come in handy this year when I teach. I still use my iGoogle page. I will be using it in the classroom as warm-ups, or just as brain teasers to get the student's minds working. As far as my least favorite thing that I learned or did was week 8. I did not like seeing how much I DON'T know about technology, but I guess it's a good way to make my knowledge better. I know that I will use several of the tools, like the one I just found through atomic learning in the library of lessons to integrate into the classroom, as well as previous lessons and activities that we were able to complete. I am also excited about using my wiki that I created for third grade lesson planning. I know that it will make life so much easier. It was very user friendly and easy to understand and follow. Overall, in one word, TECHAWESOME!!!!!

Week 8

After taking the pre-test, I felt a little embarrassed because I thought that I was a little more tech-savy than what showed, but I guess I need to be more aware and I OBVIOUSLY still have so much more to learn. I also browsed the 21st century lessons and the one that I liked was the Comic Science. Since I will be teaching science this year in 3rd grade, this lesson allows students to see the scientific method in a comical way. It would be a good intro to start science investigation, especially for the first week of school to show them what they will be doing as scientists this year in 3rd grade. At the end of the lesson, there is an opportunity for students to use critical thinking to show their understanding of the scientific method. I know that this will be a great tool that I will use this coming year. The only hurdle that I can think of will be the language barrier for some students since there is not a bilingual form of the lesson. However, there are enough students in my class that are good in English to help collaborate with one another as well as me being able to help these students when translating the information needed to complete the assignment.

Week 7

Read, Write, Think- This site is very useful for teachers in that it gives ideas for lesson plans and activities to use in the classroom. I liked how the searches used were topic and grade level categorized.
Kidpix Delux- Wow! Since I will be teaching math, science and social studies this year for third grade, this will be an awesome resource for my kids and myself! I really like how the site offers activity practices and resources that go with themes and lessons. It is also convinient that the lessons are also theme based and are easy to understand. GREAT RESOURCE! Thanks!
Wordle- this is a neat website that I had no idea existed. Especially for my bilingual students, any vocabulary words that we learn or any unfamiliar words that they come across, they could create a wordle that will help them learn the words in a new and fun way. The tool allows students to create a word cloud and can also be generated into a book cover or desk cover. CUTE!
At our campus, we have a teacher in the computer lab that creates the lessons for the students to complete in the lab. As the teacher, we monitor student behavior and help with anything that the computer teacher may need assistance with. We do have a mobile lab on our campus called the "COW" or computer on wheels. These sites could be used to help enhance student learning through fun activities on the web. These sites are very useful because we could use them for teachers as well as students, as well as in different subject areas. I really liked how all the sites covered all subject areas as well as several grade levels. The content could be spread across grades and could also created challenging as well as review for students in the classroom. Great sites!

Week 6; cool tools

For the math manipulatives site, I think it would be a great tool to use in the classroom as a weekly warm up. You could upload it onto the tv and instead of using worksheets over and over, have the students use a math journal and incorperate the site to help teach or practice different tasks as warm ups. I love the Kidzone page because it could be used as a social studies incorperation as well as language arts. Students could find out what happened on a certain day in history or journal about the "quote of the day" and what it means to them. It could also be used as a morning brain teaser to get them thinking by using the riddles that are found on the left hand side of the page. The graph tool could help students learn how to graph and create their own. With the click of the mouse, students can be enriched with technology and have questions they may have answered without feeling uncomfortable or unable to ask questions. The dare to compare button allows students to compare anything from history to science and anything in between. This site is great to use for both teachers and students in the classroom and at home for brain sharpening tools. I also liked word sift because I love to write and I would like my students to share the same love for it since they will be doing alot of it in fourth grade. It's great to use instead of an old thesaurus, especially for my bilingual students. They will have a greater learning experience by using the web and this neat tool called Word sift. Awesome tools!!!

Here is a wiki that I created to help me use this new school year for our third grade team at Madge Griffith. It's a rough example, but at least its a start.

here is the link for it;

http://thirdgradelessonplanningforgriffith.wikispaces.com/

feel free to add any ideas or corrections, I'm a new teacher and really excited, and like I said, it is a ROUGH example of what we could use to help us teachers communicate.

Week 5- Wikis vs blogs

I have used wikis before in college and really liked them because they were so user friendly and as a group, projects were able to be completed at every one's convenience. As a teacher, I think that wikis can be used to post or talk about class notes that someone may have missed. Students could use it as a study guide, adding items that someone may have missed. As an elementary school teacher, I could use wikis to collaborate with fellow teachers when creating lesson plans for the week as well as group tests or assessments that can be given. I could also use it with the students, if we are observing a plant and its growth over a period of days, students could log into the wiki and talk about changes they see in the plant and their observations. This may take away from fun science journaling, but as for grading, it would be alot more convenient to log in online and see what students have posted. I really can't say which one is my favorite, but I am more partial to wikis because "everyone" can be a part of it, not just one person posting their thoughts about a topic. Also, wikis are more useful because the material can be put into student terms. I do think that wikis are easier than blogs because there are only three main buttons that need to be used, edit, save and link if it is needed. Okay, so basically, wikis are my favorite form of communication. Blogs are great when using a read only tool, but wikis when creating a more collaborative approach to learning material.

K-12 learners- my idea of web 2.0 and 21st century students

Wow! I found this video on YouTube, and was like wow! Reality check! Watch the video at the bottom, you will probably feel the same way, but it is so true, over half the jobs that will be open within the next 10 years, we aren't even ready to teach, nor do we know what they are. It's really kind of weird to think about but true. I really liked how the creator of video involved even younger students because they too are digital learners. I am a 21st century student and still learning how amazing technology can be and how useful it can be in the classroom. I'm also so glad that we can have access and are getting more access to the world of technology so that we as teachers can facilitate the findings of technology and how great of a tool it can be.