Final PLE Post

I liked keeping a PLE because I could put everything I learned onto one website that I can refer back to for future use. Because it is on the internet I can't lose it so it will always be there when I need it.

What I liked least was reflection posting, especially during the Practicum. I didn't have much to say during the practicum because we didn't use technology at all.

I might use a blog or wiki in my class if I think it is appropriate for the grade level and school. It depends on how the school itself would feel about that and whether or not I would be able to post much of the kids and their work.

Week 15 - Internet Safety Videos

What were the most important things you learned?
The most important thing I learned was to be aware but not overbearing. I need to know what is going on in my kids' lives but not in a forceful way. I need to establish a relationship of trust where my children will tell if something is happening in their lives. I need to teach them ways of protecting themselves online and teach them of the dangers that may happen. I need to understand the technology so I will not jump to conclusions or be confused.

How might you use the resources you discovered in your future classroom or home?
I can show my class and siblings the videos so they can see how to avoid problems on the internet.

Internet Safety

I chose to read "Mixed Signals" from the New Era for my fourth article. It was about how to choose good media and technology. I think this is extremely important because we will be using technology. It isn't about whether or not we use it, it's about how we use it. I think that parents need to be aware of what is going on in their children's technological lives and should be just as up-to-date as they are. We cannot just ignore it and have everything be okay. As a parent I need to be aware and teach my own children and students how to avoid problems and how to use technology in an uplifting way. Technology and the internet has so many uses and we need to teach our children all the good ways to use it as well as the ways to avoid the bad. I can help teach my family and friends all these awesome ways we can use technology and also help them to know how to avoid problems.

Week 3 Practicum

My teacher refuses to use computers and technology. She does not want to learn new things and says that she does not need them. Trying to use it is very difficult because she hates it so much and has nothing available. We will need to bring our own in or have her let us borrow the laptop the school has given her.

I used the internet to get a clip about frogs. They really enjoyed watching something and were very involved, even though it was choppy due to slow internet. They never get to do anything like that; the tv in the classroom is covered and no one knows it is even there. There are lots of technological possibilities that these kids would benefit from.

Week 3 Practicum

We found out that we can borrow our teacher's computer to connect to the internet.

This will help us at least be able to get some technology in our classroom for our assignments and kids.

Week 2 Practicum

My teacher has yet to use any technology, however when I sat in a music class the teacher used a Smart Board. It was way neat. She even let the kids draw on it too, so she was involving them in the technology. The Smart Boards make the board way more colorful and you can do so much with it. I would love to have my own in my classroom.

When I tried to bring my laptop in to use it in a science lesson I was unable to use it because I couldn't connect to the internet. Next time I need to ask how to connect to the internet there.

Technology could be used for any of the reading lessons to make them more interesting and different. We do the same things with phonics and reading and I think they could benefit from technology. We highlight words in sentences and the kids could do this with a smart board or just a power point or something different.

First Week of Practicum

I did not see any technology in the classroom besides the use of a tape player for music. The class doesn't have any computers, projectors, etc. in it. The office said that a mobile computer lab comes once per week but I did not see it come for my class, it was possible it came when I was not there or not at all. My teacher is older, so that may be the reason for not having technology in the classroom. She does have a record player though ;-)

I will have to bring in my laptop or anything else for use of technology in this classroom. There is a screen thing installed so I can project on that if I bring in a projector or overhead.

I think it would be fun to use technology for literacy through projections of words so all kids can see it.

Google Earth Virtual Tour

In my tour we visit the lands of ancient Native Americans - Great Basin, Aztec, Mayan, Incan, and Inuit. We see their ruins, watch movies, look at pictures, and read webpages about them. This completes a Utah third grade core curriculum objective. This, however, would be great for any age learning about Native Americans or the US, Guatemala, Canada, or Peru. The children are encouraged to explore and learn for themselves instead of the teacher telling them everything. This makes learning more meaningful.

It was fun looking at all the other ideas that people came up with. You can use Google Earth for so many different things, it's amazing. I liked how people put the images right in with the placemarks, I would definitely do that the next time I make a tour. It was great to see how you can use Google Earth for so many different things; I will be able to reflect back on all these ideas when I am a teacher and do something fun and interactive with my students.

Google Earth

I think that Google Earth is a way fun program and has limitless opportunities for use in the classroom. You can use it for just about anything from finding the distance across rivers, to finding famous sites, to finding where you live. I love how you can add placemarks and pictures to show why that place is so important. My favorite thing about Google Earth and what I would love to use in my classroom is the ability to find the settings in literature and to map out where the characters went. You can actually see the places that are being talked about in the books you read as a class. This can bring the book alive and make the kids more excited about reading.

Google Lit Trips has .kmz files ready to download of different books to use on Google Earth. One that I really liked was the one for The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox. This is a great book to teach about the slave trade and this Google Earth lit trip helps bring it alive and helps the kids see the trips the slaves went through.

Here is another one about history including civil war, revolutionary war, and some presidents.

Digital Story Reflections

I watched Hayley Singley, Hallie Shumway, and Courtney Lee/Ali Rogers' digital stories. I was amazed that each one was very different. Hayley did hers on her grandparents, Hallie on a poem, and Courney and Ali did a book trailer. I thought all of them were really creative, I didn't know there would be so many different things to do. I liked how Hayley's was so personal, I thought the narration of the poem fit Hallie's personality perfectly, and Courney and Ali's was intriguing and made me want to watch the book. I really enjoyed looking at my friends' work!


For the younger grades I would have to really help them with a project like this. We could probably create the pictures together, by drawing, acting, etc. and they could possibly help with the narration. For older grades they could probably learn how to do one all themselves, using Photostory. It would probably be best to put them in groups for this to help spread out the work load. If the program was too difficult for them then we could put everything together as a classroom and I could put it all into the program for them, but I think it would give them so much more ownership and pride to have them do it all themselves. Every grade could do theirs on a book they read, make their own stories, autobiography, biography, book trailer, almost anything really! This could be such a fun project for a class.

Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type Digital Story

Why Let Our Students Blog?

Digital Storytelling

I thought that this week's assignment of digital storytelling was really fun. I enjoyed collecting the props needed and making the scenery for my story. I think that kids would have a lot of fun making their own digital story because it is so open to options of how you would like to do it. Digital storytelling would be great for any subject and can be useful in so many ways. It is also not too difficult and can be done by any kids with some supervision and help.

Storyboard

My Storyboard based on the book Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that type.

My real pictures are taken of scenery made of paper and toy animals.

Reflection on Peers

After looking at many different articles from my peers on The Tech Savvy Teacher, I realized how many different ways there were to format an article. I was amazed at some of the formats that I never knew were possible or at the creativity they used. I was impressed!

I also enjoyed looking at all the different lessons that could incorporate these technologies in the classroom. I will definitely be using some in my classroom whenever poossible!

The Tech Savvy Teacher

Have you ever wanted to go with your class to look at the stars or phases of the moon? Sadly most classes are restricted by what they can see in space because school takes place during the day. However, with Stellarium, a free program that allows you to look at the night sky at any time, any day, and any place, you can bring space right into the classroom!

I used Stellarium to teach about the phases of the moon. This program is especially great because you can see the moon no matter what the weather is outside. To begin we set up Stellarium to best show the moon. First we picked our location, second we set the time and date, third we found the moon and locked on to it, and fourth we sized the moon. We could then zoom in and look at the moon to see it's phase.

We were able to use this program to collect data and draw out the phases of the moon. It allows the children to predict and analyze how the phases change and how the moon changes position in the sky due to the earth's rotation and it's orbit. We could not have done this in the classroom without technology such as this. Even if the students were required to do this at home many factors prohibit them such as weather, location, and bed time. This program even lets you speed up time to watch the moon travel across the sky without having to stand and watch for countless hours.


This program is great to use with any lesson about space: planets, moon, star, galaxy, orbits, etc. With programs like this in the hands of a tech savvy teacher students will benefit greatly from increased observation and experimentation.

Fair Use and TPACK

Links to Fair Use and copyright added to the Links on the sidebar including Copyright Education and links for free technology in the classroom: Creative Commons, FreePlay Music, and Pics4Learning.

TPACK is combining technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge. If teachers can put all three of these together than they can connect more with their students and provide them with great opportunities that would be otherwise unavailable in the classroom.

An Example:

GoodReads, RSS, Delicious

This week we learned about a book sharing website called GoodReads. My profile is here.

We also learned about RSS. Check out my news feed in the column to the right.

Last we made an account with Delicious where we added links useful to our future classrooms. Here are my bookmarks for 4th grade social studies.

These will all be extremely helpful when I am teaching. Because of my children's literature class I wanted a place to put a list of all the books that I have read or that were recommended in the course. GoodReads is a perfect place for this! Not only can I see what I liked in the past and what was in the class, but I can also see what others enjoyed too.
Delicious is also very nice because it will keep track of all the helpful websites I run into. My Bookmarks on my computer is a mess, but this site will keep them all nicely in order. Even better, I can find them on whatever computer I am on as long as I am connected to the internet, not just my own.

PLEs

This first week's assignment was to create a PLE (Personal Learning Environment). A blog is one way to do this and others include webpages and wikis.