Reflection!

Whew! I'm done. Truthfully I could have spent days and days on each tool. There is so much out there and we've (11 things bloggers!) obviously only just scratched the surface. I'll admit that I feel I should have a leg up on other teachers being that I'm in the younger generation of teachers who grew up in the technology "boom". However, I still feel that I'm not quite where I should be, especially when I look around at my some of my peers who are such "techies".

My favorite tools were # 3, 4 and 5. I've already used delicious and google docs a couple of times since learning how to use them. I'm always trying to be more organized and these tools absolutely help the cause.

I'm going to keep learning, its either that or be left behind!

Tool # 11

Digital Citizenship sounds very futuristic. Can you imagine what teachers thought about as they planned their lessons 30 years ago? It certainly wasn't about how they could teach their students how to be responsible and safe online. I definitely think that safety should be the number one concern of educators when we teach our students the value and aspects of digital citizenship. Safety is our number one responsibility in our physical classroom and should be in our virtual classroom as well. With that being said I think we also need to do a better job teaching our children how to distinguish between valid and credible information versus well, junk. I think David Warlick hits the nail on the head with this simple step, "Instead of starting with a web page, displayed on the whiteboard, they [teachers] should start with Google, demonstrate how they found the page, the considerations and decisions they applied to select that page, and include in the presentation, the evidence that what's being presented is valuable...When we model authority, we shouldn't be surprised when students look for authority in every piece of information." Here I am so worried about saving time because there is soo much to squeeze in and I'm passing up a great teaching moment that will save me time in the long run.

Tool # 10

What's the big "dealio" about the Ipad I asked my friend. It's a glorified Ipod or mini Macbook I complained. Well answer me she did. She is an interior designer who often meets with clients at their homes away from her office. She explains how easy it is to whip out her Ipad and show her clients her design proposals as opposed to lugging her laptop around everywhere. Hmmm I see that being useful, but I'm not sold! Sidenote: I am the PROUD owner of a macbook and Ipod (I'm on my 2nd) so I'm pro apple just con ipod. Here are my complaints: Please Ipad fans give me reasons why I'm being overly cynical!

1. Awkward size-too big for pocket or purse, you need a small carrying case or briefcase (get a laptop then)

2. Use your phone to call not a giant book- Yes you can get an app that allows you to make calls from your IPad but doesn't your phone do the same thing with less hassle? (and I bet you even have an iphone!)

3. Money not well spent-For 500-800 dollars I'd rather put it towards a laptop or hey even save a couple "hundo" and get an ipod or iphone because from what I can see (once again please let me know what I'm missing!) you'd be making a better investment.

Ok moving on from my rant about Ipads (you just have to get it out sometimes you know!?) I definitely love having ipods in the classroom. I've read a lot of users who have posted reviews about using the ipod with their students who have cognitive disabilities. What a great tool to give those who need a little extra. My kids love hangman and touch hockey. I'd prefer they play more educational games than touch hockey but as long as they are only playing it occasionally I'm ok with it. I'm intrigued by the Level app (which transforms the screen into a ruler both metric and customary) because I can already picture a scavenger hunt during our measurement unit! I'm looking forward to taking an Ipod staff development class this Fall!

Tool # 9

Skype is great! My sister has been in Thailand for the last two months and was there last year for six months. Without Skype my family and I (parents in particular) would have been worried and disconnected from her. Not to mention everyone would have been broke with expensive overseas phone bills. Just a few weeks ago my dad called my sister from his computer on her Thai phone. The whole family sat around and chatted as if she was running errands around town, not halfway around the world.

I've used skype in my classroom before with a similar situation. My students were having a hard time grasping the concept that different parts of the world were living in different time zones. Luckily, my Dad was in Beijing and feeling nice enough to let us call him at 2 in the morning his time. Truth be told he knew I was calling and only pretended to be asleep for the sake of my kids (which they got a kick out of).

I can definitely see the benefits of using Skype or Jing in the classroom (especially since if you use it carefully its free!).

Tool # 8

For the first or second week of school leading into the review of the scientific process I'm planning on doing an inquiry activity. The inquiry activity will be focused around "cleaning up the gulf oil spill." I would show the following videos to my students as a set for that day:

http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/hd-version-the-longterm-fate-of-the-oil-spill-in-the-atlantic/1kaAu1LSgTgA67hVr9zugA

http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/no-leaks-from-new-cap-on-gulf-oil-spill/uME9ijMe2aNy1z73L98TjQ

I've been trying for a couple hours to get the videos to post onto here but it won't get past processing the video. Enjoy! Hopefully I'll get them posted better.

Tool #7

I choose to post my imovie that I created two years ago in college. The move is nearly 9 minutes long and I believe it demonstrates my ability to use the program! As part of the college of education at UT we were required to purchase a Mac Book upon entering our PDS. The college of education set up an incentive program with Apple. This only now strikes me as ironic seeing that Michael Dell (one of the "Dellionares") is a UT grad and supposed big donor. The movie was created for my social studies content class during my professional development sequence (final 3 semesters of college). We were asked to present an imovie on a social justice issue as a culminating project. I chose to follow the events of "Keep UT Hate Free Week" at the University of Texas that April. This project took many many hours (as well as an hour to upload and post!) so Enjoy!
I think that imovie is a great program to create a really professional looking project, but it is a bit out of the elementary range.

ohhh ohhh we're halfway there...

Ok although I'm doing a slight victory dance about being halfway finished, shame on me to attempt to do this in one fowl swoop. I leave the day after tomorrow for a wedding in Memphis and then on to Thailand and Nam the day after I get back. I know I know I shouldnt be complaining, but my deadline of tonight is looking a little daunting. Break time= gym (its wedding week!) and shower