Wahooo! Tool # 11:Self Assessing and Reflecting

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. 
There are so many cool tools that have opened my eyes to a more efficient and fun way of teaching. Three of them are Edmodo, Glogster and Skype. Edmodo is like Facebook but for the Educational World. Glogster is a very innovative tool that replaces the use of posters and markers. Students now will create digital posters!! (too cool!).   I would like to use Skype to get virtually connected with an author so students can personally ask them about the process he/she went to get the idea of the book, the research it took, and the writing and publish process. This is a great activity that will help the students connect reading with writing and inspire them to be better readers and writers as they transport themselves into the lives of authors and get their ideas. I got great ideas for this project from this link in Skype http://skypeanauthor.wetpaint.com/   and the success story of author Barbara Mahler virtual visit with a school in Cairo, Egypt about her book, The Hole in the Sky.  

2. How have you transformed your thinking about the learning that will take place in your classroom? How has your vision for your classroom changed? Are you going to need to make any changes to your classroom to accommodate the 21st Century learner?
Wow! this is a total new educational world that requires a new perspective on how to teach the curriculum. By sure I will integrate more technology in my classroom by modeling in the first weeks how to use our new technology online tools and devices, and creating expectations for me and my students regarding the usage of these tools. I see my class now as a class without walls that can reach with the touch of a bottom the other side of the world to communicate ideas and to gather new information not found in our classrooms. This has been an amazing journey that has revolutionize my way of thinking about education in this 21st century, and it will keep me on my toes! So excited to start implementing what I learned with my students!

3. Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

I didn't know much about this new digital world. So amazing that there are sooo many tech tools that can be use for a fourth grade classroom, and it was cool to know about the deep web resources to research in the web! It was a great learning experience!

Tool #10: Underneath it All - Digital Citizenship

1. Discuss at least three things you would want to make sure your students understand about being good digital citizens.  
(Great website http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html)

-That Google is not the only way to research a subject because there are other deep web resources that can give more information that is not in Google.

-That not every website in Google is authoritative, states the correct information, so they must read it carefully and understand it not just take what it says, check the source's references, and confirm the information by checking multiple resources.

-Inform them about cyber bullying and what to do when in that case or what will happen if they are the ones to break the rules by making them aware of the policies in the SBISD Acceptable Use Policy included in the student handbook.

2. Share at least one of the resources mentioned above or on the Ed Tech website that you plan to use instructionally.

3. Explain briefly how you would "teach" the idea of digital citizenship to your students.

I will use Brain Pop as well as CyberSmart Kids to discuss Digital Citizenship. I will have the students take the conclusion quiz in Brainpop to keep them accountable of this very important subject. We will discuss of any bullying cases they have had on the internet or they could possible have and how to handle them.

4. Explain briefly how you plan to share the idea of digital citizenship with your parents. 
The parents receive information about digital citizenship in the student handbook. I will reiterate the main points of digital citizenship in our 1st newsletter to parents, as well as in our open house and first parent-teacher conference.

Tool # 9 Incorporating Classroom-Based Devices as Tools for Learning

1. Why do you think it is important to tie the technology to the objective?
2. Why should we hold students accountable for the stations/centers?
3. Visit 2 of the applicable links to interactive websites for your content/grade level. Which sites did you like. How could you use them as stations? How can you hold the students accountable for their time in these stations?
4. List two to three apps you found for the iPod Touch/iPad that you can use in your classroom. What do you see that station looking like? How can you hold the students accountable for their time in these stations?
What about other ways to use the iPod Touch/iPad? Share another way you can see your students using the device as a station.

1. It is important to tie the technology to the objective of the lesson so students see that they can take advantage of these tools to enhance their learning in an exciting way rather than just use them for play time. Also, tying technology to the objectives can engage students who are very hyper and won't listen to the teacher "boring" lectures according to them.

2. Students should be held accountable for the stations/centers otherwise they will use them as play time without coming up with a product that shows their expertise on the subject taught. Accountability keeps students focus and allows them to monitor their learning.

3. Tutpup is a great site to be used in centers because it will keep students pumped up to learn their math skills to compete in this educational game with other student from all over the world. Another site is LearningGames for Kids which can be used as a Social Studies center to learn the US states.

Creating rubrics, a form or a document  using Google Apps for the students to individually report their work can keep them accountable. 

4. I would like to experiment Edmodo (Facebook for Education) as part of a station to engage students in posting their comments, questions, ideas on  lessons, or a thought about a book they just read. . I see Edmodo as a powerful tool since it is like having a Facebook which most kids already have or know about, and they would see it as a fun and popular tool motivating them to learn in order to post their thoughts. 

Another tool that I could use will be envisionMath: Understanding Fractions since this is a hard concept to grasp for our students.. It has step-by-step videos that can help the students to understand dividing areas into equal parts, and using fractions to name parts. Each video has a conclusion quiz to check the mastery of the student and can keep them accountable for their work. 

There are so many ways my students can use the Ipod touch/Pad. A couple of them could be to review a brainpop or united streaming video about a subject that they are not strong enough.

Tool # 8: Taking a Look at the Tools

I'm so thankful that Spring Branch is giving us this great training showing us about all these great tools of the 21st century  to become better teachers in this new digital world! Wow! I feel like if I have been in the dinosaur age and finally I'm thrown out in this new world and I'm trying to get out of it because I have never used any of these tools in my live-don't even own an i phone nor ever used Skype, etc-but I'm so excited to get out there and use these new technology so my students are prepared as literate global citizens.

1. After watching the videos/tutorials, list two to three things you learned about the device(s) that will be in your classroom this fall.
2. How do you plan to manage the device(s) in your classroom? Do you have ideas/suggestions that others may find useful?

After watching the videos, I learned how to use the Dell 2120 Netbooks such as we can connect it with our projectors to maybe display on our activeboard a work from a student. I also learned how to use the Web Cam tool to take photos and create videos.

I learned the difference between an Ipod touch and Ipad and how to use them. Setting up an ITunes account, and how to sync the Ipad to my laptop.

I will manage the devices in my classroom by assigning two student tech managers (I will train them first) to set up & put away the devices and put them in charge to answer/solve easy tech questions/problems. But before they can use any of the devices, I will make sure that I have parent's permission signed. At the beginning of the year, I will set up clear and specific rules on using and handling the devices.

Tool # 7: Reaching Outside your Classroom: Online Digital Projects

 a. Conent Objective: 4.03A   Analyze the causes, major events, and effects of the Texas Revolution, including the battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto.
b. This unit of study will take place during the third nine weeks
c. Tools that could be use: You tube, School tube, United Streaming, Google docs (word document or power point), Skype and Edmodo (Personal note: I could'nt regiter on to Edmodo because it says that I need a code from Karen from our district)
d. A brief description of the project
Pairs of students from my class will be paired up with another pair of students from another class.
Each pair will research and visit websites to get information about the Battle of San Jacinto and/or Battle of the Alamo. The students could use Edmodo to post their reflections and lingering questions. These are some of the websites they could visit:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVBm3y_PMtY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5PFbQ0vNOo&feature=related
They will create either a word doc or a presentation thru Google docs then share it with their neighbor class peers who can comment on their document. Student could also use Skype to talk about their assigned battle.

Another online digital project that my class can get involved with anytime during the year  will be visiting virtual authors using Skype. They can ask the author about how she/he got her ideas for a certain story, the process she went through research, write, and publish the book. .
I got great ideas for this project from this link in Skype http://skypeanauthor.wetpaint.com/   and the success story of author Barbara Mahler virtual visit with a school in Cairo, Egypt about her book, The Hole in the Sky.  I believe this activity can inspire my students not only to write, but also to become better readers so they can write better as they transport themselves into the lives of authors and get their ideas.

Tool #6 Using Web Tools to Promote Discussion in and out of the Classroom

I created an account for Wallwisher, Skype, and Diigo.
Wallwisher is a great interactive tool that could be used as an Exit Virtual Ticket with immediate response from the teacher. I can also see the Wallwisher been used as a Virtual KWL Chart where not just the teacher writes the responses or each student writes a response one at a time, but everyone gets to participate simultaneously. The Wallwisher could also be used for small groups discussions.(I have embedded a walwisher wall on my blog)
Skype is a fantastic tool for teachers and students. Teachers can talk alive to other teachers from around the world and get ideas or work in special project with both of their classes. Skype makes the world smaller and friendlier because with the touch of a button we can connect with other classrooms from the district or the world! Students can talk to people who work in the real world of science or math and get inspired by them to even maybe go into that career path.

Tool # 5: Producing with Web 2.0 Tools

(I can't erase this 1, sorry) I have created a slideshow video about My Life Journey to present it to students during the first days of class. I have done this in the previous years, but using another online tool.  Now, Im going to use Animoto. This activity gets students motivated to start getting ready about their "Get to Know Me" project where they bring special belongings/photos from their house along with a written paragraph about themselves and present it in front of their peers. 

My Life Journey

Also I can use Animoto to make a fun presentation on a unit of study or to display a celebration of school.

Another tool is Bookr that could be used so students can create online books to review subjects learned such as geometry figures for Math or landforms for Social Studies.
(I have embedded the Bookr tool)

Tool #4 Moving up to the Clouds

1. I created a word document in Google Docs and shared it with my team.
2. I created a form in Google Docs and shared it with my team.
3. Google Apps is a great way to reduce paper usage, make our work more efficient, and be able to collaborate with our team without sending thousands of emails with attachments back and forth. As a team we can use the calendar to plan & remember all of our classroom events (quizes, major projects) and faculty events without overlapping any of them. The students can save their work (i.e. a project) on the clouds and can have access to it from their house or library computer.

Tool # 3 Finding Online Video & Image Resources

1.I visited all the video/hosting streaming sites recommended in this tool. All of the sites can be very useful in finding what you want. I can say though that my all time favorite video site is Discovery Education which I have frequently used in the past years.

This year, I am going to venture out to get my educational videos from the other sites as well.

I wanted to post this great video from You Tube to use for writing compositions. Found it while browsing Mr. D's blog at Bunker Hill Elementary School. Thank you Mr. D!

 Barry Lane writes about "His Favorite Day"

3. Everything was new for me about copyright and fair use. I learned that teachers can use copyrighted material without the permission of the copyright holder as long as the materials are for educational purposes and within a secure location.

 To use copyrighted material with the general public teachers cannot use the entire work. We need to think on transformativeness: add value and repurposed.  The posted video tells us that if the materials were changed  from the original one then it is fair use and can be use, as well as if  the teacher added value to the material. I hope I got this correct. I still need some more clarity or confirmation on how to use copyrighted material with the general public (like in our blogs...).
4. The Picasa Web Album could be use to display various pictures to our students. I can use it to display photos related with science like landforms formed from erosion, or to have students observe and describe a photo for writing purposes.

Tool #2 Post in YOUR blog

I really enjoyed exploring many blogs and gathering great ideas from great teachers. There are many savvy, creative, and dedicated teachers out there. This is a new world! I feel somewhat uncomfortable in this new ambience especially in posting my thoughts for the entire world to see, but I’m hopeful that I will get use to it.   I’m excited in learning about this new world to make my teaching more efficiently and exciting. Building and participating in an online community is a great way to learn from others and share your expertise. People are very willing to share their great ideas and it is fabulous!

I signed up to the classroom 2.0 blog and looking forward to learn from everyone there.

A blog that I would like to follow is http://www.teachingblogaddict.com/ It has great creative ideas. And a great website where you can find various 4th grade blogs is  http://sqworl.com/hbiu8d
A blog that I enjoyed was http://teachingin21.blogspot.com/  I liked how the teacher shares her thinking about iPods, Ipad and new technology tools. I like her post about “To Jump or not to Jump that is the Question”.

#1 Tool-Creating a Blog-My experience

Creating a blog was interesting. This is my first time ever using one!   I had fun creating the Voki and designing my blog.