After 11 Tools Reflection

Some of my favorite tools included Google Docs and Google Reader, image generators, apps for the itouch, and digital storytelling. I also liked learning about new ways to gather information from the web and share ideas with other teachers.

I look forward to incorporating technology into the sharing of my children's stories and dramatization activities. I think it will add a new dimension to the experience.

This training has expanded my thinking in terms of the range of the many ways technology can impact learning in the classroom, even for the youngest learners. My biggest surprise was that I actually made it through the training with only occasional help from my teenage daughter!

Tool # 11

Just as we do in many other areas, we as teachers are laying the foundation for our students' future use of technology in their lives. The development of their technological literacy skills will be crucial to their future success in school and the workplace. For very young children being good digital citizens involves things like proper care of technological devices, being respectful of what others say and do online, and keeping safe while navigating through the world of technology. I would teach digital citizenship to my students through classroom activities appropriate to their age level, showing them how these tools can be valuable in the real world.

Tool #10

http://www.apple.com/webapps/entertainment/dskidspaint.html

http://www.apple.com/webapps/utilities/myfirstappkidsstudycards.html

http://www.apple.com/webapps/productivity/snootzforbetterbehavedkidz.html

I found an assortment of iTouch apps that could be appropriate for preschool children, including a painting app, an app that teaches basic concepts like shapes, colors, etc. and a third app to motivate children to better behavior.

Since we will be receiving iTouches for classroom use this school year, I will be interested to see which apps can be used effectively by my students.

Tool #9

Children could use screencasts on Jing to watch recorded lessons they might benefit from seeing multiple times, listen to favorite books read aloud, or to experience places they are not able to visit in person, for example.

Skype could be a useful tool to connect children to people of different cultures or who speak different languages or to see and hear a famous person they find interesting.

Tool #8

I chose two You Tube videos about monarch butterflies, one showing the caterpillar making its chrysalis and the other showing the emerging butterfly. Video resources could be used for helping a variety of science or social studies concepts come to life for children in the classroom.

Tool #7

I am excited to think about using the video storytelling tool with the children's stories we dictate and dramatize in the classroom. They would love to see themselves acting out stories and including their words or background music. We could also do video storytelling of special classroom events or field investigations.

Tool #6

While I can't immediately think of any ways four-year olds might use wikis in the classroom, I do see them as a valuable tool for collaboration among teachers. I like the idea of being able to share, edit, and save information wtihout the need for multiple emails.
In visiting some of the suggested wikis I found one that reviewed children's books for different age levels that I really liked.

Tool #5

Here are a few of the sites I came across after joining Delicious and using tags such as "early literacy", "art", "children's authors", and "children's books"

http://www.kinderart.com/
http://www.janbrett.com/
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html
http://www.readinga-z.com/index.php
http://www.rif.org/

I think social bookmarking will be useful in providing quick and easy access to sites I find interesting. I also anticipate using it for specific areas of study in the content areas.

Tool #4

I enjoyed learning about using Google tools as easier ways to both share documents and read website and blog postings that interest me. It makes sense to not create multiple copies of the same document as teachers share things like lesson plans, roadmaps, and new ideas. I like the fact that everyone involved gets to have a voice in editing documents and that changes can be seen automatically by everyone. Google Reader also seems like a real time-saver.

Tool #3

I used a word cloud to describe my classroom and displayed it on the sidebar. Something like this could be used to introduce a presentation for parents early in the school year as we describe what our prek day is like. Word clouds could also be made using the children's own words to describe anything we might be learning about or as a brainstorming activity before writing a class poem or group story.

I also created an Animoto video (shown below) using some photos I had taken last year of a Gingerbread Man cooking activity done in the classroom. Children would love seeing themselves in videos or books created this way following a special activity, field investigation, etc.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Tool #2

I'm excited about being part of a PLN and sharing ideas and strategies with other teachers. I'm also a little scared since this is so new to me, but I appreciate this opportunity to begin to learn about the new tools that are available to me in the classroom.
I liked the comment about being respectful of one another when commenting. Sometimes I think written comments can sound harsher than spoken ones and we should be mindful of this.

The 5 blogs I commented on: Waves, Polar Bear, Mrs. Boone's Class, Spring Daffodils, and Bellas Orquideas.

(Tool #1) In the classroom...

Children might enjoy hearing their teacher's voice on a blog if I decided to call in and record my own personal message. I could use the Avatar tool to make funny characters on the blog or even create a character from one of the stories we've read. My students could also assist me in creating a blog from a character's perspective and dictate words the character might say.