Module 3 Assignment 7

I really liked the edutopia article it was very informative and offered a lot of information about a technology enhanced classroom.  I really liked the section for tips with getting started.  It suggested that we survey our students to see what types of technology they have, and are familiar with using.  In my class we only really have access to using Ipads so that is what I deal mostly with. I also liked how the article did go through and describe several different types of technology that would be useful in the classroom.  I looked at the apps for Elementary students and the descriptions looked good, however they were all paid apps.

I did download an app called First Grade Learning Games.  I really like this app because it has a variety of different games that are all centered around First graders.  It has a combination of both reading and math games for students to play.  Games about compound words and contractions or for math patterns and adding and subtracting.  This is an app that I could definitely use with my students and they would be very engaged.  I could have all students on the same app, while at the same time targeting specific skills with certain students to reach them where they are in their learning!

Module 3 Assignment 5

I really enjoyed the visuals given by the first Youtube video The Flipped Classroom Model.  The drawing made it very clear exactly what the students were doing in each scenario and how the flipped classroom actually works.  Also like what is said about how in the traditional model the teacher stands BETWEEN the students and the knowledge, but in the flipped classroom the students have direct access to knowledge through technology.  This video did a great job of explaining exactly what a flipped classroom is and why and how it works.

The other video I really liked was the Flipped Classroom by Tracey Gillies.  This video was directed more at an Elementary classroom, which I can relate to, and she had her students watching the instruction on the computers but in the classroom.  She said the reason for this was because a lot of her students don't have access to technology at home.  Another great thing about this video was the student interviews, it was really neat that the students were able to explain exactly what they were working on and why they were doing the flipped classroom.  They all seemed really engaged and excited about the process and how it was benefiting them!  I also really like what she said about everything being online is very helpful to parents.  They can watch the same videos as their students and so it cuts down on questions and homework questions because it also gets the parents actively engaged in their child's learning!

Module 3 Assignment 4

This assignment was all about creating a Google form.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, this was something that I had always done using another site called Survey Monkey.  I really liked the step-by-step video that was provided for us to watch.  It made going through the steps really easy and was a great visual!  I was able to quickly create my Google form, I used 3 types of questions: paragraph answer, rating scale, and multiple choice.  The video walked me through how to create each type of question and also several others that I didn't use to keep this survey short, but I did play around with how to use them!

After completing my survey the video walked me through how to test my form to make sure everything looked the way I wanted it to, how to decide where my responses get recorded, and how to actually send the survey out to be completed.  I was able to quickly type in email addresses to send my form out and also send a copy to myself just to double check.  I was really surprised how quick and easy using Google forms was and it is definitely something I will use again in the future!

Here is a link to my survey! 

Module 3 Assignment 3

After being introduced to Google forms in our first class I am really excited about the potential that I see for using it.  I have used Survey Monkey in the past to create surveys that I have used with faculty/staff at my school, but I have never used Google Forms.  After looking at it in class it seems more user friendly and I really like the options for what you can do with the information once it is collected.  As far as actually using Google forms in my first grade classroom, it is something I think my students could do with the help of an aid or classroom assistant (anyone who could take their verbal responses and type them into the Google form). Here are some ways I think I can use Google forms:

• As a get to know you activity at the beginning of the year
• As a quick way to create classroom graphs when we are covering that SOL
• As a survey for faculty/staff at my school
• As a way to get feedback from parents
• To create a student info database at the beginning of each year
• As an exit ticket at the end of a lesson to assess student understanding

Module 3 Assignment 2

Before starting this class Twitter was something that I knew about but had never really used.  I thought I had plenty of social media outlets already and didn't feel the need to start using a new one.  However after looking at it in class and through the activities we have done since, I am really able to see the potential of using twitter in an educational setting.   I really liked the Twittering about Learning article because it really spoke to this exactly point!  I really liked how he wen through the process of exactly how he introduced Twitter to his students and then gradually allowed them to begin composing their own Tweets.  I also like how he talked about using this as another opportunity to work on editing and word choice with our students before anything was posted.

I think this is a great way to incorporate writing into our classrooms in a real and meaningful way with an authentic audience for our students. It also provides quick and easy access for parents to see what we are working on in class and to see their own child contributing to the learning process.  This was a great article that really spoke to me about using Twitter in the classroom, and it is definitely something that I can see myself trying to incorporate next year, and an article that I have bookmarked on Diigo and I will be rereading in the future!!

Module 3 Assignment 1

After working with blogging through this class for the first time on my own I have been able to quickly learn a lot and discover how easy and accessible it can be.  I really liked the article Blogging in the 21st Century, it really talked a lot about how blogging can really help get students engaged.  I also really liked how it included the comments from the students about blogging really made writing more fun and less of a chore for them.  Also, the teacher posted about how great all their writings were when they knew they had a much broader audience they were writing for.  I really liked all the points this article made about all the uses for blogging in the classroom and how she used it for free writing assignments and also for class related response posts as well.

Another article that I found on my own was Blogging? Its Elementary My Dear Watson!.  This was a good article that was more focused on blogging, as the title says, in the Elementary classroom.  It talked about different blogging sites that are good to use with younger students and also gave some safety tips which I liked.  This article discussed how students were not only using the blog to work on their own writing skills but to interact with other students as well and I really liked that aspect!

Module 2 Assignment 9

I really enjoyed watching the videos and reading the stories about the different teachers were incorporating Ipads into their classrooms at all different levels.  I really enjoyed see Amy Heimerl's story, because she teaches Kindergarten so I felt I could really relate to the kinds of things she did with her students.  I really liked what she said about being able to customize each Ipad to each individual child to give them exactly what they need.  I unfortunately do not have that same luxury because our students don't get their own Ipad in first grade.  However, we do have a cart that we are able to share with mostly the same apps on the Ipads so we can direct students to use the specific apps that we believe will benefit them the most.  I think the Ipads are a great way that we as teachers can help to target student learning in the specific areas where we feel they need growth, all while the students is having fun and engaging in learning.  Today's students are constantly surrounded by and exposed to technology so it is second nature to them, and any way we can incorporate that into the classroom to further their learning is an opportunity every teacher should take!

The app I choose to download onto my ipad is a game that I think my students would love!  It is called Sight Words 2 and is set for grades 1 & 2.  It allows students to play various games such as memory, unscramble, find and shoot all using various sight word lists.  This would give students practice reading and recognizing sight words all while "playing a game" that is fun.  I can definitely see myself using this app in the classroom with my students I really liked all the features that it incorporated and also that even though it is free it isn't constantly asking you to upgrade to a paid version.

Here is a link if you want to view some screenshots of what the Sight Words 2 app looks like!

Module 2 Assignment 8

Dropbox is an amazing tool that is accessible and usable by virtually everyone!  It is a site that I was introduced to by my husband about 3 years ago.  Right after we got married we used it as a way to share photos of our wedding day and honeymoon with our friends and family.  It was a great way to share all these picture without trying to upload them a few at a time into an email, it was much easier and efficient.  We shared these photos through use of the public folder and then emailed the link out to all the people we wanted to share with, they all loved being able to see our photos and it also gave us an online back up to protect those important memories!

I have also used Dropbox a lot as a teacher using the shared folders.  As a first grade teacher I work very collaboratively with my fellow first grade teachers, and Dropbox is a great way to do that!  We are able to drop smartboard files or activities we are going to do with our students into our Dropbox shared folder and immediately the rest of our first grade team has those files to use.  I really like the automatic sync and pop up notification that lets you know when a new file is being added to any shared folder!  I really love being able to share through Dropbox because most smartboard files are rather large and it can be hard and time consuming to try and get them to upload to an email but with Dropbox you just drop it in and it syncs up automatically! 

Module 2 Assignment 7

I think one really great way to use Google Docs with my fellow teachers is to share lesson plans.  My first grade teams works collaboratively on lesson plans, letting each teacher create the plans for one subject area.  Rather than printing the plans for everyone, we could simply share them through Google Docs and everyone would instantly have them to use!  This would also easily allow individual teachers to adapt the plans to better fit the needs of their students before implementing them, and also save on paper!!

As a first grade teacher I think using Google Docs with my students would be hard to do, at least with them editing the document themselves.  However I did think that Google Docs would be a great way to create an End of Unit study guide as a class.  We could then share it with parents as an extra resource to help their student study for the test.  I would let each child add a verbal contribution of something we had learned in that unit, and I could type it into the Google Doc for them!  We could compile a class list of the important things we had learned and everyone would have a contribution.  This would also encourage parents to get more involved to be able to see what their child had to add to our class study guide!

Also, as a teacher who is always taking working home...I like the fact that if I put something up on Google Docs I can access it from home or school or any computer that I need to and make changes and work on things!   Overall, I think Google Docs is a wonderful tool for every teacher, both in and out of the classroom!!!

Module 2 Assignment 6

Pinterest is a website that I have been familiar with for a long time and I am constantly using.  I would say I check it at least once a day looking at the pins of people that I follow, or searching for something specific.  I use it for a variety of ideas from things for my classroom or a specific lesson, or a recipe to cook at home, or a decorating idea for my home.  You can find most anything you want on Pinterest.  I really like the ability to follow people, the people that I follow I have similar tastes as me, so a lot of my pins and ideas come from seeing what they have pinned!  This is true especially of fellow teachers who are always pinning something useful to me when teaching a unit, or working on Daily 5, or just a decorating idea for my classroom!

I also really like the feature that we learned about in our first class to be able to create our own pins from things we find online.  I have found myself using the Pinterest button on my toolbar quite often when I find things online that I want to use or remember it makes it so easy to pin it. I also love how it creates a picture to go with it.  That is my favorite part of Pinterest being able to see a picture that goes along with my pin, to instantly jog my memory.  Looking at the pictures on Pinterest lets you know, usually right away, what the pin is about and this makes browsing very easy!

I LOVE PINTEREST!!!!

Module 2 Assignment 5

For this assignment on Diigo we had to find people in our Web 2.0 class to follow and also add 5 new bookmarks to our own site.  As I mentioned in a previous post I was already using Diigo as a way to back up the bookmarks on my computer but I wasn't aware of the Diigolet feature which I now absolutely LOVE!  It is so easy to use and makes bookmarking new sites and adding tags so easy and simple.  I really like not having to pull up the Diigo site each time, and just being able to click on the Diigolet button on my tool bar.  I really love the sticky note feature as well.  I have a website I use for Math interventions and the sticky note feature helps me keep track of which interventions I have tried with different students.

The other part of this assignment was adding 5 people from our class on Diigo.  This was something else that I wasn't aware was a feature I could use.  I was able to quickly find 5 people from our class with a quick search, and a couple I was able to quickly find because they were already following someone from our class.  This will really come in handy to be able to see what other people that are also in education, specifically in the same district as I am, are book marking on Diigo.  I think this will be a great way for me to find new sites to use with my students, and also information that pertains to me as an educator!  

I love all the new information and uses I am finding out for new sites, and sites I currently use through this class!!