I really liked the third video about Twitter for Educators. I really liked what it said about how Twitter started off and how people thought it was mostly for celebrities or even silly but that has evolved to a much more broad use. I also liked the warning that it gave about whatever you tweet being out there, and anyone who follows you is able to retweet it so nothing is truly private on Twitter. I also really liked the detailed explanation of "hash tagging" and how to use it both in your tweets and as a search feature within Twitter.
I also really liked the HootSuite and TweetDeck portion of the video. Those are two apps that I had never heard of, but could be very beneficial if you wanted to follow a certain education hash tag and always receive updates on anything posted with that hash tag. The video talked about being able to keep the same twitter account from year to year but simply changing your hash tag so each new group of students is able to follow you and what you are posting.
I think any way we can try to incorporate technology, which is such a needed skill in today's world, into our classroom is an opportunity that we need to take advantage of. That was a major point of the video "Twitter in the Classroom on CNN". The teacher talked about how it gave students who might not otherwise participate in classroom discussions or offer feed back a voice and a way to do so. I thought this video was a great demonstration of how Twitter could be used VERY effectively in the classroom!
Here is a link if you want to watch the CNN news story!
Monday, March 31, 2014
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Module 2 Assignment 3
We had to choose to create either a Wordle or a Tagxedo for this assignment. In class we played around with using both of these sites to create. I personally like Tagxedo better than Wordle because I think it has more options, however Wordle is more user friendly in my opinion. I really enjoying be able to choose the different shape layouts on Tagxedo to put your text into.
The text that I chose to upload was Patrick Henry's famous speech and I choose patriotic colors for the design. I really like the premise behind both Wordle and Tagxedo, and how it shows you the words that appear numerous times. I think this is something that could be really beneficial to students when looking at different pieces of text or speeches in the classroom.
Here is the Tagxedo I created!
Module 2 Assignment 2
This is assignment was to add a page to your blog using the posted instructions. I didn't think this would be too hard to do because the instructions seemed easy to follow. I was able to quickly create a new page of information about me. I also easily uploaded a couple of pictures to my new page and published it. That was the easy part, I couldn't figure out how to make the new page show up on my blog and even after reading through the instructions again I was still unable to change the settings to have this page show up.
I went back to the blogger opening screen and happened to see a post about "making it easier to manage pages on your blog". After reading this link and looking again I was able to figure out how to add this page to the home screen of my blog. This is just another example of how technology is always changing. The intention with this change was to make it easier to manage your pages, for me at first, it made it much harder because this did not fit with the instructions I was trying to use. I was however, able to figure it out and get my new page to show up and able to be accessed on my blog!
I went back to the blogger opening screen and happened to see a post about "making it easier to manage pages on your blog". After reading this link and looking again I was able to figure out how to add this page to the home screen of my blog. This is just another example of how technology is always changing. The intention with this change was to make it easier to manage your pages, for me at first, it made it much harder because this did not fit with the instructions I was trying to use. I was however, able to figure it out and get my new page to show up and able to be accessed on my blog!
Module 2 Assignment 1
I really enjoyed this activity, because this is something that I have been thinking about since our first class. I really liked the idea of keeping a classroom blog going even after class is over, and next year with my new students and parents. However I have struggling with ways to use a blog in an Elementary setting, other than as a communication tool with parents. This activity really gave me a lot of ideas about a variety of different ways to use blogs with students. Here are five of the ways that I discovered that blogs can be effectively used in a classroom.
Five ways blogs are being used in classrooms:
Out of all of the blogs that I explored during this activity my favorite was by far "Our World, Our Stories". I think part of the reason that I really loved this blog is because I can definitely relate to it, as this is something that we teach in first grade! I really liked the "real world" way that students were able to learn about other cultures through other students rather than just reading about them in a book. I think this wonderful activity is something that will stick with all the students that were involved and make a lasting impression on them. What better way to learn about another culture than to actually interact online with someone from that culture. I really liked the way the students posted videos, and I think this is something my students would find really engaging!
One of the blogs I looked at which I loved Our World, Our Stories!
Five ways blogs are being used in classrooms:
- To connect students to other students in other countries around the world and enable them to learn about other cultures!
- As a place to continue to write even after they have left the classroom.
- As a way to learn how to interact with others on the web.
- As practice working on their writing and articulation skills.
- As a communication tool for communicating with parents.
Out of all of the blogs that I explored during this activity my favorite was by far "Our World, Our Stories". I think part of the reason that I really loved this blog is because I can definitely relate to it, as this is something that we teach in first grade! I really liked the "real world" way that students were able to learn about other cultures through other students rather than just reading about them in a book. I think this wonderful activity is something that will stick with all the students that were involved and make a lasting impression on them. What better way to learn about another culture than to actually interact online with someone from that culture. I really liked the way the students posted videos, and I think this is something my students would find really engaging!
One of the blogs I looked at which I loved Our World, Our Stories!
Friday, March 28, 2014
Module 1 Assignment 9
I really liked the step by step of these videos going through all the different apps on the ipad and things you can use it for. He showed a lot of apps that were more appropriate for older kids but he showed a lot of apps that I could also use with my first graders. I really liked the math app that he showed where the students solved addition facts, but the app also gave them the ability to sketch right on the page to help them draw pictures to solve which I LOVE for my kids!
Another app that I liked was the book app that he had. He played "The Cat in the Hat" which is a book my students really like. This app would be great in the classroom to use as a listening center during reading centers. This is a key component of Daily 5 and this would be a great way to have students listening to books, rather than with a tape player and tapes. Overall the theme of all of the videos, was just how accessible the ipad makes things from searching on the internet to various apps that we can use with our students!!
Another app that I liked was the book app that he had. He played "The Cat in the Hat" which is a book my students really like. This app would be great in the classroom to use as a listening center during reading centers. This is a key component of Daily 5 and this would be a great way to have students listening to books, rather than with a tape player and tapes. Overall the theme of all of the videos, was just how accessible the ipad makes things from searching on the internet to various apps that we can use with our students!!
Module 1 Assignment 8
For this assignment I downloaded the app Pop Math Lite which is a math app. I am always looking for fun review games for my students especially with addition and subtraction and this was a great app for that. The app includes addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. For use with my class I would only utilize the addition and subtraction because we don't cover multiplication or division in first grade. The game has students pop bubbles with facts that match, and I think my students would really enjoy this game. It is set in an underwater world and it gives students mixed addition and subtraction problems. I really like that it mixes them because this is something we really work on in first grade.
The game gives students numerous bubbles to choose from and use to create the answer that matches the math fact. It offers encouragement for each answer they choose correctly and just flashes a no when the choose the incorrect answer. It also allows students to continue to guess and try to get the correct response. It is a timed game, so students have a limited time frame to answer the facts. Once the round finishes students can choose to play that level again, this is all that is a part of the free game. To get more levels and features you have to choose to upgrade for to a paid app. Overall I think it is a really fun app that my students would really enjoy playing and something that would definitely help them prepare for our MAP assessments!
The game gives students numerous bubbles to choose from and use to create the answer that matches the math fact. It offers encouragement for each answer they choose correctly and just flashes a no when the choose the incorrect answer. It also allows students to continue to guess and try to get the correct response. It is a timed game, so students have a limited time frame to answer the facts. Once the round finishes students can choose to play that level again, this is all that is a part of the free game. To get more levels and features you have to choose to upgrade for to a paid app. Overall I think it is a really fun app that my students would really enjoy playing and something that would definitely help them prepare for our MAP assessments!
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Module 1 Assignment 7
Dropbox is another wonderful tool, that I really enjoying having. It is a great online storage site and I used this also when we got our new laptops as an online backup for all my information. I also have shared access to my Dropbox with all my collaborating teachers and whenever we create a new Smartboard lesson or activity we simply upload it to Dropbox so that everyone can have access to it. This is such a great way to share lesson rather than trying up upload and attach them to an email each week. I also have shared access with a few other First grade teachers that I am friends with throughout the county so that I can have access to any Smartboard files they create and upload to Dropbox. This is a GREAT way for us all to share our resources and to save time, we don't have to recreate a lesson that someone else has already spent time creating for our own students.
I don't have an Ipad for personal or school use, so I have really enjoyed having access to the one I checked out during class. It makes it much easier to use different technology and makes it much more accessible, no matter where I am. I downloaded the Dropbox app to the Ipad and logged in with my info and was able to see all of my files. This was really nice to be able to have another point of access to all my information on the Ipad which is much more portable than even my laptop is. The Ipad was alright for viewing the documents that I had in Dropbox, however it couldn't open any of the Smartboard files that I have saved there. This is a little inconvenient in comparison to the laptop, but overall I really like having Dropbox on the Ipad in addition to my own computer.
I don't have an Ipad for personal or school use, so I have really enjoyed having access to the one I checked out during class. It makes it much easier to use different technology and makes it much more accessible, no matter where I am. I downloaded the Dropbox app to the Ipad and logged in with my info and was able to see all of my files. This was really nice to be able to have another point of access to all my information on the Ipad which is much more portable than even my laptop is. The Ipad was alright for viewing the documents that I had in Dropbox, however it couldn't open any of the Smartboard files that I have saved there. This is a little inconvenient in comparison to the laptop, but overall I really like having Dropbox on the Ipad in addition to my own computer.
Module 1 Assignment 6
For this assignment we had to upload a document and share it with people from our Web 2.0 class. Google Docs is very user friendly and makes it easy to upload a new document. Also as the document was uploading a window popped up and asked if I wanted to share this document. Again very easy to navigate through. I shared a document that I send home on Mondays with my students attached to their homework assignments for the week. It just explains to parents the words we are working on for the week, and activities they can do at home to practice with their child. I don't think that I would use Google Docs to share information with my parents, I am not sure it would be a very effective way to communicate with them.
However this did illustrate how easy it is to share documents with people who I am working with. Since this was just a sharing exercise, I didn't allow permission to edit to the people that I shared it with. I have used this option a lot, when I share documents with my colleagues that are just for them to be able to see. I had to do an observation of another teacher earlier in the year and I uploaded the observation document to Google Docs. This allowed the other teacher to see the document, be able to comment back on what I had written, but not able to make any changes to what I had created. I really like that Google gives us all these options to choose from when sharing documents. Also did I mention that all this is completely FREE!!!
However this did illustrate how easy it is to share documents with people who I am working with. Since this was just a sharing exercise, I didn't allow permission to edit to the people that I shared it with. I have used this option a lot, when I share documents with my colleagues that are just for them to be able to see. I had to do an observation of another teacher earlier in the year and I uploaded the observation document to Google Docs. This allowed the other teacher to see the document, be able to comment back on what I had written, but not able to make any changes to what I had created. I really like that Google gives us all these options to choose from when sharing documents. Also did I mention that all this is completely FREE!!!
Module 1 Assignment 5
Google Docs is something that I am pretty familiar with using. I think it is an excellent tool for us to use as professionals to making working together and collaborating much easier. I have used it in the past to work on our School Improvement Plan, a document that everyone needs to have access to and the ability to edit. We have also used Google Docs at our county collaboration meetings when we work on curriculum development. It is really neat to be working on a document, and seeing other people typing and creating on that same document!
I really liked Anson's video about using Google Docs. He was very organized and concise and made the process seem very easy. I also liked a lot of the things that he pointed out about how to organize your home screen to keep things neat and organized through the use of folders. That is something I had never really played around with before on Google Docs, but I have already started doing it. I also liked the section about using the spreadsheet part of Google Docs. This is something that I haven't really used before, but he made it seem very easy to use. This is definitely a video that I have bookmarked, and I will use it in the future to jog my memory!
The other video about Google Docs being used in a writing classroom was really neat to see. For me, seeing older students isn't something I get to do very often, and I really enjoyed seeing them collaborating on their writing. I also really liked what the teacher pointed out about the need to expose today's students to technology, because we know it is something they are going to have to negotiate with in the work place. I think any tools like this that we can expose our students too, especially ones that are free to use, is something that every teacher should be doing!
I really liked Anson's video about using Google Docs. He was very organized and concise and made the process seem very easy. I also liked a lot of the things that he pointed out about how to organize your home screen to keep things neat and organized through the use of folders. That is something I had never really played around with before on Google Docs, but I have already started doing it. I also liked the section about using the spreadsheet part of Google Docs. This is something that I haven't really used before, but he made it seem very easy to use. This is definitely a video that I have bookmarked, and I will use it in the future to jog my memory!
The other video about Google Docs being used in a writing classroom was really neat to see. For me, seeing older students isn't something I get to do very often, and I really enjoyed seeing them collaborating on their writing. I also really liked what the teacher pointed out about the need to expose today's students to technology, because we know it is something they are going to have to negotiate with in the work place. I think any tools like this that we can expose our students too, especially ones that are free to use, is something that every teacher should be doing!
Monday, March 24, 2014
Module 1 Assignment 2
Twitter is something I was familiar with and had looked at several times before I signed up for this class. I had never signed up for Twitter, because I have a Facebook and I didn't want to take the time to check both places. However after setting up an account before class, and playing around on Twitter I am really starting to like checking the status updates. It is a lot easier to use and find things on than Facebook, and the "hash tags" really make it easy to find groups and things on Twitter. I can see how it could be used to easily and quickly communicate with collaborating teachers or administrators to quickly get a message out and get input from others.
As a First grade teacher, I am not sure that twitter is something I would want my students doing. However, I can definitely see the possibilities for use with my parents. I think updates about tests or things going on in class could be sent out to parents using a specific hash tag for each year and class that parents could check. Also, Twitter could also be used to keep students updated with school closings and holidays. I could also see a huge way to use Twitter as part of Professional development. We have to do text protocols where we have to share our ideas on an article with the rest of the faculty at our school. Instead of having out loud discussions at faculty meetings we could all use twitter to have a discussion online. This would save time, be more accessible for many, and also allow people that don't like public speaking to have more of a contribution to the discussion without pressure!
What I am seeing more and more with each assignment is how easily technology can be incorporated in a beneficial way in a school setting!
As a First grade teacher, I am not sure that twitter is something I would want my students doing. However, I can definitely see the possibilities for use with my parents. I think updates about tests or things going on in class could be sent out to parents using a specific hash tag for each year and class that parents could check. Also, Twitter could also be used to keep students updated with school closings and holidays. I could also see a huge way to use Twitter as part of Professional development. We have to do text protocols where we have to share our ideas on an article with the rest of the faculty at our school. Instead of having out loud discussions at faculty meetings we could all use twitter to have a discussion online. This would save time, be more accessible for many, and also allow people that don't like public speaking to have more of a contribution to the discussion without pressure!
What I am seeing more and more with each assignment is how easily technology can be incorporated in a beneficial way in a school setting!
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Module 1 Assignment 4
Anytime I need a new recipe, or a decorating idea, or especially since I found out I was pregnant I am constantly looking on Pinterest for new ideas! There is a such a variety of good ideas about virtually every topic and it is so easy to search and find exactly what you want. I also really like the fact that everything you find has a picture that goes with it. A lot of times when you bookmark a website with a good recipe or something to decorate onto another site you forget why you choose that site. This is not the case with Pinterest because you are able to see a picture of exactly what the link is for to instantly jog your memory. I am a self proclaimed Pinterest addict, without a doubt!
With that being said, I use Pinterest mostly on my phone and have only looked at it on the computer a handful of times. I was not at all familiar with the Pinterest button that we learned about in class. I usually just search through existing pins to find what I was looking for. I knew there was a way to create new pins, but I had never done it myself before. I love this feature, and I already created a new "travel" board and have pinned several new things to myself! I can definitely see myself using this feature a lot to create new pins!
The Bahamas, one of the places I pinned to my travel board!
With that being said, I use Pinterest mostly on my phone and have only looked at it on the computer a handful of times. I was not at all familiar with the Pinterest button that we learned about in class. I usually just search through existing pins to find what I was looking for. I knew there was a way to create new pins, but I had never done it myself before. I love this feature, and I already created a new "travel" board and have pinned several new things to myself! I can definitely see myself using this feature a lot to create new pins!
The Bahamas, one of the places I pinned to my travel board!
Module 1 Assignment 3
Diigo is a site that I was previously familiar with. The elementary teachers at our school recently got new laptops and I was concerned about losing all my bookmarks and online information. That is how I first got started using Diigo as a way to be able to keep all my information and upload it to my new laptop. I really like the site and I think it is very user friendly and accessible. However until our Web 2.0 class I hadn't really spend a lot of time playing around on Diigo I just went on bookmarked any new pages that I liked and that was the extent. I wasn't aware of the Diigolet feature and how much easier it would make bookmarking, tagging, and also highlighting and sticky noting websites!
After playing around with the Diigolet both in class and at home, I truly love this feature! If it was only the bookmarking feature, that alone would be awesome but it also has the sticky note and highlighter features! I have already used the sticky note feature on a math enrichment website that I use often to help me remember which activities that I have already used with my students. I also think the highlighter feature will come in EXTREMELY hand during the professional development readings that I do. I will be able to highlight and mark important parts of different articles that stick out to me and apply to my classroom. I think the Diigolet is an extremely useful tool and I can really see myself getting a lot of use out of it!
Here is a site that I just bookmarked on my Diigo sight of fun songs to use with my students!
After playing around with the Diigolet both in class and at home, I truly love this feature! If it was only the bookmarking feature, that alone would be awesome but it also has the sticky note and highlighter features! I have already used the sticky note feature on a math enrichment website that I use often to help me remember which activities that I have already used with my students. I also think the highlighter feature will come in EXTREMELY hand during the professional development readings that I do. I will be able to highlight and mark important parts of different articles that stick out to me and apply to my classroom. I think the Diigolet is an extremely useful tool and I can really see myself getting a lot of use out of it!
Here is a site that I just bookmarked on my Diigo sight of fun songs to use with my students!
Module 1 Assignment 1
After reading the edublogs page, it gave me a few new ideas on how to use a blog in my classroom. As a first grade teacher, because of the age of my students (6-7) any blog I do would be mostly for parents. I really liked the idea of sharing my weekly newsletter on the blog. We have websites through Henry County that we update weekly, and adding the same information to my blog would be another way to have communication with my parents. A blog would also be a great place to post links for parents to use with their children at home, or videos for them to watch. I think a blog would be another excellent school to parent communication tool to for me to use!
I decided to look at the Kindergarten teacher's blog because I figured that would be the closest to the kinds of things I would blog about. I really liked how colorful and friendly that her blogged looked, and I really enjoyed seeing all the pictures of the student work and classroom activities. I did see some pictures that had the actual students in them, and I am not sure that I would feel comfortable posting those kinds of pictures to my blog. Another thing that I wasn't sure I liked is the way the blog is organized it only shows the most recent posts and to find others you have to look through old posts. This teacher had a LOT of posts on her blog, and I think this might be overwhelming for parents visiting the blog for the first time.
Overall, I think that if used correctly a blog could be a really good way to stay in contact with parents, and something that some parents might find more accessible than another type of website.
If you want to check out the Kindergarten blog I mentioned in this post!
I decided to look at the Kindergarten teacher's blog because I figured that would be the closest to the kinds of things I would blog about. I really liked how colorful and friendly that her blogged looked, and I really enjoyed seeing all the pictures of the student work and classroom activities. I did see some pictures that had the actual students in them, and I am not sure that I would feel comfortable posting those kinds of pictures to my blog. Another thing that I wasn't sure I liked is the way the blog is organized it only shows the most recent posts and to find others you have to look through old posts. This teacher had a LOT of posts on her blog, and I think this might be overwhelming for parents visiting the blog for the first time.
Overall, I think that if used correctly a blog could be a really good way to stay in contact with parents, and something that some parents might find more accessible than another type of website.
If you want to check out the Kindergarten blog I mentioned in this post!
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Module 1 Activity 0
I am a 26 year old First grade teacher who loves my students and teaching First grade. In first grade you see so much growth from the beginning of the year to the end, and get to watch my kids learn to read! My life away from school is very active, my husband and I, who have been married for 3 years this June are expecting our first child in July! We enjoying going hunting, fishing, kayaking, four wheeling, and pretty much anything outdoors together. We live on a 15 acre farm and have chickens, which we love taking care of and can't wait for our "newest farm hand" to arrive in late July! My favorite school to visit is Collinsville Primary School.
My First Post :)
I am in a UVA class learning about lots of new technology, that I hope I will be able to utilize in my classroom with both students and parents! I have learned about using Wordle and also Tagxedo. They are both really neat programs that I think I will really be able to use with my class, here is a Tagxedo that I created!!
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