Tool # 11

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. Edmodo, Drop Box, Story Bird, Avatar, Google Docs, The website game www.tutpup.com , along with numerous iPad apps. As mentioned previously I plan to use Edmodo to encourage outside research and sharing in science, offer bonus questions in math, and extend learning opportunities at home by adding videos, articles, and fun facts in science that students can read, watch, view and reflect on. I also plan to use Avatars to review important vocabulary words and the students could post them in Edmodo to share as well. 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? I wouldnt say my thinking has transformed, from day one in the classroom, I have felt strongly that technology is the answer and is a must. What 11 tools has done is forced me to be introduced to ideas, and tons of options I look forward to using in the future. Although some are more useful and more practical that others, I do think I was able to take a lot away. I also feel that the equipment we will receive following this program will make it more realistic and possible to carry out our ideas and have more technology to "play with". I do agree that digital citizenship is important and I think we can work that in with our US history and government citizen lessons easily. The main change I need to remember going forward is to be ok with the students knowing more about apps and programs that I do and using that as an advantage. As long as I do my part teaching them technology responsibility it should be a benefit. 3. Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? When I first heard about 11 tools I thought it was going to be 11 devices instead of 11 "cyber" tools. As you can imagine there was a bit of disappointment when it was only things you can not touch such as programs and websites/ blogs, but in the end I am pleased with the "tools" presented and feel that it was very organized and well done. There are far for online tools that I even knew existed and I hope they keep the 11 tools blog we referenced, up for some time so I can reference it when needed in the coming school years.

tool #10

1. Discuss at least three things you would want to make sure your students understand about being good digital citizens. Literacy- knowing how and why one source is more credible than another, and how to find a good source when coming up empty. Etiquette- this is the biggest one to me. There is so much trouble that can come from using technology in a negative way. Rumors, emails, pictures, etc. Students need to truly understand that what they put out in the cyber world could end up in their parents inbox, their teachers inbox, or on the news. And lastly, Safety, knowing what to put online as far as personal information, knowing about scams and quizzes that offer rewards, and how to avoid viruses received in emails. 2. Share at least one of the resources mentioned above or on the Ed Tech website that you plan to use instructionally. The picture below from Cool Cat blog I plan to use. I think it can be broken down into 4 mini lessons, one from each category to introduce the ideas under the Digital Citizenship. 3. Explain briefly how you would "teach" the idea of digital citizenship to your students. As read on the blog by Cool Cat I think this man has the general idea down, "David Warlick says, "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." SHOW them how we do it and then they will understand the difference between a reliable site and an unreliable site. 4. Explain briefly how you plan to share the idea of digital citizenship with your parents. I think I would post this on a welcome to school Flip Chart for the parents.

I think this image helps parents to understand why it takes "home" and "school" to reinforce the key ideas of being a good digital citizen and shows them 4 umbrellas we can all focus on together.

tool #9

Technology is essential in classrooms today. Even for most adults the thought of not having your iPhone attached to us makes you cringe, same for the kids. I think by making every effort to let them learn, produce, and engage with technology will help them in the long run. However, you MUST keep them accountable. Just like most of us get distracted in staff development when allowed to "play" on our computers, students will do the same. On the contrary just like this 11 tools has forced us to use the technology in more ways than email and Facebook and yet held us accountable by asking a few questions at the end of each tool we have been forced to learn and explore new ideas. Same goes for the classroom. We need to let them learn and explore but we also have the responsibility to require them to do more than Edmodo, Instagram, and texting. I found the presentation on this tool to be really interesting and I agreed with the presenter on more than the fact that Oklahoma is worthless ;) (Hook em) I do often wonder with the increase in ADHD students what more we can be doing in class to keep them engaged. I do think at times students truly are ADHD but most of the time I worry it is me, the teacher, that isn't adjusting to their learning style enough. At the age of 30 I consider myself to be somewhat knowledgeable about technology, but all you have to do is hang out with my 2 year old niece or a 12 year old middle school-er to realize I dont know 1/2 of it! So my approach this year it to use technology more AND ask them for input on what they want to do with the technology we have... Now for the websites. At Frostwood we LOVE First In Math, but I really do like what MangaHigh has to offer as well. I also think Mangahigh touches a little more on that whole global thing discussed a couple tools ago. It allows you to compete against other classrooms across the globe. The other website I LOVED was http://www.tutpup.com/ I played a math facts game LIVE vs another student from the UK... (luckily I won) but I think its a great way to build competition and show students that all around the world math facts are IMPORTANT! :) The spelling game was fun too once I caught on to her accent. I thought she said Sauce but really it was South, ha ha. For the ipad I mentioned earlier adding "Who has a bigger brain" and I can hold them accountable by writing down their score when they finish next to their name. Another app I plan to use is Bamboo paper can take the place of writing on a white board... since the appeal is getting to use the iPad after all... And, ESO top 100 will be very useful in science to give students images to look at while we study science as well as images for projects etc. Frog dissection would also be a fun one for the kiddos who love science! All of the above mentioned could be monitored by having a form which a student summarized what they did that day, the apps the went to, and a partner could sign to agree that is what their partner did while at that station. Peer pressure works ;) Another use for the ipad is as an incentive for the students who do not get work completed. It can be a means of motivation for some. Also, for students who have bad eyesight you can take a picture of a text or worksheet and they can blow it up after taking a picture of it. For our large Korean population they can use it to easily access a dictionary or find images to help express their ideas in a group setting. There is so much to do with the Netbooks and IPads and like my friends and I joke... THERE'S AN APP FOR EVERYTHING!

tool #8

This is an excellent resource/ blog provided. http://www.schrockguide.net/ipads-in-the-classroom.html I will reference this blog for the list of apps provided and the explanation column of how it can be used in the classroom. The three things I learned in this tool are: the F key shortcuts for helping to find a wireless connection, the blog listed above, and that you need each student to log on to each net book at the start of the year so it doesn't slow you down later. I cant wait to have my net books and iPads in the classroom! I will use them both for researching, but plan to use the i pads as a math center. I will add several math game apps to them including "Who has the biggest brain?" Which is a fun logical thinking game. The net books will be helpful when trying to write up lab reports and create documents and presentations. Both however will be very useful and I wouldn't want one without the other!

tool #7

The online sharing website I found the easiest to navigate and search through was iEARN I found a really cool project where classrooms from around the world share what the moon looks like on any given night. I think this would add an element of global thinking in our moon unit and would give students a chance to realize how large our world is and allow them to think outside the box as to why someone else would see a different moon phase than us on a given night. It might help enhance the understanding of the moon phases as well. https://media.iearn.org/projects/moon This would be an ongoing project. I would use this project when we study the phases of the moon. The materials needed would be a camera, the internet, and student observation. The iEARN page already has several great links available to the students. This would likely be a month long activity where a few nights a week the students would observe the moon and its phase, and once or twice in that time period log on and view what the moon looks like from somewhere else in the world, as well as share their own observation.

Tool #6

I created an account for Google Docs and Edmodo. Google docs is a great program. I love the idea of having students collaborate on a project and each student able to log on with their own information. I created a power point project that could be shown at the beginning of school to 5th graders and my teammates and I worked on it together just to see how easy it would be for our students to do the same. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1u-oPQ_Zq3ZCLC0GhAZ8RcftJQZ6wIr3PIgZruH9QNiY/edit OR https://docs.google.com/a/springbranchisd.com/presentation/d/1bAzzWUTnyXOP3EG2wck_4RAOPapeNoAC6Pbd4r2UueU/edit#slide=id.p In addition I started an account in Edmodo. This is a tool I truly plan to use in class this year. It can be used to clarify homework, give Bonus questions, share videos, all while allowing students to enjoy a safe, educational version of "Facebook" which gives the appeal factor students need. With Edmodo students can visit with one another to ask questions and give feedback on assignments, books read, favorite restaurants, etc. They can also have direct links to the teachers blogs, and other important websites. I plan to publish class notes taken in math each day so parents as well as students have a place to see what was taught that day, just as they will in middle school.