Tools #6

I have chosen Wallwisher and Skype in the classroom.

I feel Wallwisher would be a good tool for communitcation among the students in my classroom for many different activities.  I have posted a sticky note on my wall and used it as a tool to discuss our read aloud book in our class.  I have asked the students to predict what will happen next in our book titled Ruby Slippers.


We are going to use Skype in February to communicate face to face with a Naturalist from the Houston Arboretum as a connection with our Life Science unit.  We plan to have her go out into the field and have the kids be able to talk and ask questions with her to add some hands on aspects to our study.  We also hope to communicate with another class on a separate continent, for the kids to see different biomes and relationships between the animals on the North American and their continent.

Tool #5 Part 1

My students could use Stupeflix with a project in science.  They could research a specific biome and find pictures to represent the animals and plants that are part of it and then put captions to tell about each picture.

Tool #5 Part 2

I could use Wordle in the classroom in Social Studies.  The kids could focus on 1800s Texas history and use all of the terms that they know about it including names of people and vocabulary to create their Wordle.

Tool #4

I can use these tools in Google Apps to send something that I am thinking of using with the kids and have my colleagues comment of it, before I put it to a final copy.  This is easy for us to see everyone's comments and get help from each other.

I could use this with my students by having them type a paper and then have them work on editing and revising their own and each other's papers. I can also have them submit something to me, and I can comment on it as well. They always love to hear from their teacher. :)

I think I am excited about using Google Apps for the kids to create documents and presentations to be able to work collaboratively.  I also think it would be fun for them to be able to get on the computer at home and do some work on documents using this.

Tool #3

I visited many sites and the ones I found most useful were Blinkx and Teacher Tube.  Blinkx showed many choices from so many different websites, and I did not have to spend time searching each site for a specific topic.  This site searched and found the different websites I could choose from, that had ideas of videos, for the topic I was looking for at the time.

I also found Teacher Tube to be beneficial because it was focused more on curriculum across subjects and the teachers had posted their own videos about their curriculum.

Copyright and fair use is a serious component when I am working on research or the students are researching to find information. I did not know that we could not copy entire works or images and post them to the general public.  I thought that as long as you sited where it came from, then you would be just fine.  I also learned that when finding items to use in my teaching, it is best to put them in a secure location, so that I always have them to use in all of my teaching, and I have a little more freedom for creating items for a lesson. It all still needs to be appropriate for the level of  learning and teaching going on in the classroom.

I really like Dropbox.  I can use it anywhere and it makes some things easier.  If I need to do some work at home, all I have to do it put the file in Dropbox and then access it on my home computer.  That way I would not have to take home my work laptop.  I can see using it with my students by putting homework on it and then having them access it at home.  I guess then, I would have to have the kids create their won account, so that they could access it. I can also put an assignment in it for a class activity or station activity, and then the kids can access it to complete the activity.

Tool #2

A point that stood out for me on the Commenting Advice was that you could interact with other people's comments. I have not done this before, but I have read when other people have gone back and forth on a blog. I guess with an educational blog that would be beneficial when you see a post that relates to your teaching and be able to comment and get information that will help with whatever topic is being discussed at that time.

I did not apply any advice in my comments. I just showed appreciate about what I had read on their blog that interested me.

I don't love sharing my thoughts publicly with the world to see.

Yes, it was different that sharing with my teammates, because I don't know the person who writes the blog.  I don't share much with people I don't know. I would rather share my successes and challenges with my teammates.

I saw one blog that was Educator's PLN, that looked interesting, as it looked like many people made posts to it, so I could potentially learn from teachers in all different grade levels.

Tool #1

This activity creating the voki was easy.  I do wish they had some more choices of the actual picture for the voki like sports or other interests people may have to choose for representation. I had to study the page for a few minutes, before I realized all of the things I needed to do with it.  This voki was new for me.  I had seen one on someone else's blog, but did not know what it was or how it was created.  Now, I have learned something new.