Literacy and Technology

I have used a wiki in another class called AsUlearn by appalachian.  It was pretty easy to use.  We used it to post information about books we were reading and give input on what was going on in the class.  The wiki we used in here was very easy too because we did not have to learn how to set up the writing.  We just copy pasted and changed the information.  I have never used a wiki in my classroom and would be anxious to see how I could use them.

This was interesting to use.  I think that it is neat that you can record and post it so that parents could stay up to date on what is going on in their children’s classrooms.  I think that it would be a great way to post quick information that you need to let parents know.  I think that pod casting and vod casting are so cool.  There are so many things that you could us it with in the classroom.  I could definitely use both of them.  Some ideas to use vodcast is reader’s theater, morning news to show during calendar time, weather broadcast for calendar time or during our weather unit.  I would also like to use it for the all about me unit i do and interview students about their interests to use to introduce each student at the beginning of the year to the class.  I would also like to use it to interview staff in the school that we meet on our beginning of school scavenger hunt.   This would allow students to see what each staff memeber such as PE teacher, music teacher, principal, etc.  I think students would be able to connect with the purpose of that person in our school before they interact with them.  There are so many uses for this and I would really like to try it out this year.

Well…this didn’t turn out so well for me.  I like the program to make slide shows but did not really get the chance to use it to create a video…and I was really looking forward to it.  Kim, Brooke, and I used a flip camera to record our video.  We tried many different ways to get the video to work but we could never get the picture to show up.  We could hear the audio but not see the video.  Then Dr. Dave helped us to get the picture to show up but then we couldn’t hear the audio.  So all in all it just didn’t work out to well.  Maybe when I get another type of camera to use I can try to use it again.  I was really looking forward to working with the program to make a video because I would like to use it in my classroom to video record activities my students do so that I could post them to my blog so that parents could see their children at work.  I will try to do this with a video camera that we have at school.  I might have better luck with it.  I think that making videos of students in class of activities that students are participating in give the parents a way to look into the classroom without coming in and disturbing learning of students.

I have always used the favorites button on my internet explorer to save pages.  I didn’t know until this class that there was a way cooler sight like Delicious that you could do the same thing with but be able to log into it anywhere and use it to find matches to searches of the same object you are looking for in google.  I think that bookmarking is something that I will use in my classroom for my students for websites that they get onto.  I will be able to provide them with a list to choose from of which sites they may visit.  This is especially important in kindergarten to help limit the confusion of where they can go and how to get there.  I really enjoying using this technology myself because I am constantly using my favorites to make lesson plans and activities for my classroom and by using Delicious I can access all my sites at home and at school without having to save them to multiple computers.  I think that this is a technology that I will no longer be able to live without…I love it!  I never would have thought that saving favorites could get easier…but it just did with Delicious!

I used igoogle to make a personal homepage.  I think that igoogle is fun and easy to use.  This program walked you through quickly and simply on how to personalize your page.  I like that you can change themes and gadgets.  I also like that you can add different frames with information that you want to have displayed on there.  Using igoogle helps you keep up with information that you want to know and find out about.  It is there so you don’t have to go hunting for it on the internet.  I really like that about igoogle.  Everything becomes so accessible.  I am really glad that I set up my own homepage now all the information I want about what is going on in the world is right there at my fingertips.

Yay!!!  I love Photo Story and can’t wait to use it to make my wedding video for the reception and to use it in my classroom.  I thought that this program was set up to easily use without getting frustrated or overwhelmed.  I get excited to think that I can make my students an end of the year video with all our pictures from the school year.  They would love to have this and I think parents would to.  I think that this program was a little more complex then slide but I think if you worked one on one with students they would be able to figure it out.  Especially the older students.  I think this program would also be great to take pictures of students work to make a slide show of for PTO.  This tool has so much to offer to a classroom and I cannot wait to get started using it this year.

I have never made a webquest until now and I am really enjoying finding the information about pumpkins that I want my students to learn and putting it into my webquest.  I think that you can use webquest in any grade.  As a teacher we just have to adjust and make the information grade level appropriate.  I am working on my webquest for my pumpkin unit and I have been able to incorporate United Streaming videos into it to help show students the information about pumpkins life cycle that I think is important for them to learn.  In the past I have seen how excited my students get completing activities on the computer and I think that this would be another great learning tool and interactive activity that would really engage students so that they grasp what is being taught.  I am using Zunal to make my webquest and it is very helpful when setting up your webquest.  It is easy to follow and very direct on where to put the information.  Once I complete my webquest I know that I will use it for years to come with my kindergartners.  This will be the first time using a webquest in my classroom and I know it will be a little challenging showing them and training them on how to do the activity but I know once I do it with them I will be able to go back and make corrections and make positive changes to it for future years.  If it works out smoothly on the first try then I will make another one for more units.  I can’t wait to try it out.

I thought skype was really neat.  It gives you so many options when setting it up to make your appearance fun and show personality.  Skype is something that I definitely want to try out in my classroom this year.  I think that it could be a great tool to communicate with classrooms in other locations and to share information back and forth about different cultures and ways of life for children.  I think my students would really enjoy getting to make a friend from somewhere else and talking to them about what they do in school and who they are and what they like to do.  It would teach great communication and interaction skills.  I also think that as a teacher I could set up lessons with my students using literature and find another teacher that is willing to do the same lesson and then let students get on Skype and discuss what they liked about the book, and elements they found throughout the reading that are important to the story.  I think students would like to share their opinions of the story with other students.  It would be easy to do this with another kindergarten class in my school.  I think that Skype will open up so many doors for new way for my students to communicate with other students in our school and around the world and to also learn how to express their ideas and reflect on lessons and books that are being read in the class.

I loved this website and the technology they provide to make slide shows.  There are so many cool things that you can do to make our slide show of photos look great.  I think this would be a great program to use for PTO night or PTO programs to show parents what you have been doing in class with their children.  I also think that it would be great to use with students.  I think you could use this to help them upload their pictures into a slide show and present it to the class at the beginning of the year during an all about me unit.  It would take time on the teachers part to scan in photos from students but I think the kids would love making it and be proud to share it.  To prevent having to put in so many pictures at one time you could also pick a star student of the week and let each student make a slide show as they are picked to be the star student.  I could then post it on my class web page or blog so that it could be shared with parents.  This is such a cool program and I am so excited to use it in my class.  I will have to guide my kindergartners but as long as I am there to help them I think they will enjoy making their own slide show.  At the end of the year I could copy all their slide shows onto a disk and it could be their end of the year present!!!! Love this!!! : )

What can I say?  I thought that using threaded discussions in here was very cool.  I like that you can have conversations with a group of people and respond to multiple people at once.  I think that this would be very cool to use with older grade like fifth grade and up.  you could use it for lit circles or for small group discussions.  I don’t think that I could use it with kindergarten but if I taught a higher grade I definitely would use it.  The threaded discussion site that we used was very easy to work and keep up with everyone’s comments.  I liked how there was a main topic and then the responses were under that under and then comments on another arrow under the response.  I wish we had been introduced to threaded discussions in undergraduate or in other graduate classes because I think it would have been nice to have discussions this way in the class.  It gives people more of a chance to express all the ideas they are thinking and have plenty of time to do that.  I think that threaded discussions will one day become something that many teachers will use in their classrooms if they are taught to.  I would like to share it with the teachers at my school so that they have the resource to use it if they like it.  Having a big computer lab at our school that has free time to sign up for it.  The teachers could take their class in their and give their students the time to respond on the topic.