Tool #11

My favorite tools from this summer are Google Docs and Poll Everywhere. These tools can allow my students to collaborate with each other and other classes in writing and graphing, as well as other things. Google Docs will make it easier for students to do peer conferencing in writing because they can leave notes right on the document. Students can then make changes without having to rewrite the whole document. Poll Everywhere will make graphing more fun for my students. I hope to use Google Spreadsheet to do some graphing using data from other classes in my grade level.
I am a little scared about taking my students to the level of using Google Docs to collaborate with other classes, but I am willing to give it a try and see what they can do with it.
So far I haven't seen any unexpected outcomes. When I start using some of these things I may find some.

Tool #10

Three things I want my students to understand about being a good digital citizen
1. Nothing is private!
2. Be positive in comments and postings
3. Not to violate copyright
One resource that I plan to use is Brain Pop. I did not know that it had a video about this. Students love Brain Pop and it has a quiz to assess their understanding.
I would teach the idea of digital citizenship along with teaching them about the different communities they are a citizen of. This is just one more community to add.
I would share the idea of digital citizenship with my parents along the same lines as I would teach the students: it is just one more community that they belong to. I would share some of the precautions that should be taken to make sure that their child is safe in this community. This is still a new community for parents, especially at our school, and they may have plenty of questions and reservations about their child’s involvement.

Tool #9

It is important to tie the technology to the objective so that it is an extension of learning, not just play time. Students need to be held accountable for stations they visit to make sure they are not just playing around. The purpose of stations/centers is to enhance learning and to make sure that learning is taking place; the students need to show that they learned something or that they practiced what is being taught.
I downloaded ArithmeTick and Coins Genius to my iPod. In ArithmeTick the students race against time to answer basic math facts. In Coins Genius the students count up the coins that are displayed and select the correct amount. For accountability the student will record, in their journal, the score they received and write about what they had difficulty with.
We also have Tales2Go on our iPods for reading. The students will write, in their reading response journals, the book they listened to and give a short summary of the book.

Tool #8

I learned how to take webcam photos and videos. However, when I looked at the netbook that I have for the summer, the software is not loaded on it for the webcam.

I also learned that I have to do some lead in lessons on the use and care of the devices before letting the students loose on them. I will also have to come up with some classroom procedures for using them and make sure that the students understand the procedures.

I think I will create a classroom job for putting out the netbooks in the morning and putting them up in the afternoons. I also will have a spreadsheet to keep track of who is using the devices so that all students get a fair chance with them. Posted rules for use would also be a good idea so that students are constantly reminded of the proper use and of the consequences for not using them properly.

Tool #7

Objective: Students will use Google Docs to create a bar graph of the colors of M&Ms in a package.
Implementation: September
Tools: Google Docs Spreadsheet
Description: The students will predict the color they think will have the most candies in the package and which color they think will have the least. They will then open the packages and use Google Docs Spreadsheet to create a bar graph showing how many of each color there actually are. Discussion of results will follow the creation of the graph. The other second grade classes will then be invited to add data to the spreadsheet. After the results of the other classes has been entered, the students will compare the spreadsheet of their class to the spreadsheet of the whole grade level.

Tool #6

I used both Diigo and Awesome Highlighter in my technology class. Diigo was OK, but for elementary school students I like the Awesome Highlighter better. Diigo allows you to make comments on the page. Awesome Highlighter does not. I don't think the students on our level will make any comments, they are just after the information right now. This will be a great tool for students when they are doing their research on line. I want to play around with it more to really get a feel for it, but I think the students will love the ability to highlight right on the website.

Tool #6

Try this audience polling system at Poll Everywhere

This is a poll I had to create for my technology class at UHCL. Counts for tool 6?

I can see using the cell phone option in secondary schools, but in elementary they will have to log on to a computer to answer. More than one classroom can take the same poll for more variety of answers.

Tool 5 1/2

Woo Hoo! Tool #5 done. I am halfway finished.

Wordle: WTW Sort 11" style="padding: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);">Wordel using words from Words Their Way sort 11 for Within Word Pattern Spellers. You could use this for reviewing spelling words. Think of all the fun the students will have creating these and comparing them with the rest of the class.

Alter Summer Ego

http://www.ipadsandipodsjm.blogspot.com

My alter ego for the summer of technology. I had to create this blog for my college technology class. At the bottom of the page is a PowerPoint presentation I had to create and upload to SlideShare to embed it in the blog. Second part of Thing #5? Maybe?

Hope everyone is having a great summer!!