11 Tools Reflection

• What are your favorite tools you now have in your personal technology toolbox? Briefly describe a particular activity that you will plan for your students using at least one of these new tools.

Google Documents will be very useful to my students this school year throughout all of my different classes. Whether we are working in group in World Geography or sharing ideas in Humanities, students need a secure place to save their ideas and share them as well. Google Documents will allow students to access information on any computer. This will help students organize their online world; from all of eight of their classrooms to their home computer they can find their work easily.

• How have you transfomed your thinking about the learning that will take place in your classroom?

I don't think my thinking about learning has been transformed but I do feel less hesitant about using technology and excited to receive the new netbooks in my classroom. In the past the computers available to us were slow and not reliable. I think the new technology will be up to date and allow students to delve into new areas of online learning.

• Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

I really enjoyed the blogging experience! I read blogs in the past but had not created my own. Every time I tried to create something I didn't like the way it looked or couldn't access a certain feature of the blog; I would get frustrated and quit. With this project I had to see it through. Just like anything one spends time on it became easier with each tool. Blogger is easy to navigate and I am considering using a blog in my classroom this coming school year.

Tool #11: Digital Citizenship

• In YOUR blog post, discuss at least three things you would want to make sure your students understand about being good digital citizens. Explain briefly how you would "teach" the idea of digital citizenship to your students.

Ideas from Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship

1. Digital Etiquette: I think that this element covers a lot of what I expect of my students when they are online and in the traditional classroom. They are to treat others with respect and to behave appropriately when they are siting at a desk or if they are working in an online community. I think that several of the websites make an excellent observation: digital etiquette and responsibility is something that needs to be taught and not simply expected. In the past when I have used Ning in my classroom I have discussed digital etiquette with my students.
2. Digital Security: This is so important for anyone working online to understand. Technology can be an important tool, but it also opens up the four walls of a classroom to the rest of the world. The tools we use to access technology and what we create using these tools must be protected from the viruses and corruption of the online world.
3. Digital Literacy: As we have been told over and over, teachers today are preparing students for jobs and college majors that do not yet exist. Technology is moving at a fast pace and we need to prepare students to keep up with it. Even if we can't show students how to use every new element of technology as it is created, we can teach them how to work with what they do know to understand new ideas.

Tool #10: Mobile Devices in the Classroom

• Discuss some of the free educational apps you reviewed.

The USA Factbook: We use a web-page similar to this when on desktop/laptop computers and it would be nice to have this information available in the palms' of our hands. In World Geography questions often arise about population, economic, and just about every other type of statistic about states, countries, and regions of the world. This will be a useful source for this information.

Hear Planet: This application could be useful to students researching specific cities or countries around the world. It provides "guided tours" of sites throughout the world. As advertised it encouraged users to use it while traveling, but I think it would also be helpful for students wondering about a location we are studying in class.

• Discuss ways your students could use the iTouch or iPad and appropriate apps in your class.

My students often jump to their own iTouches in class to look up current data that the textbook cannot provide. The two applications above are excellent resources for this type of information. I think the iPad would fit well into a World Geography classroom as well. From browsing online newspapers and magazines to searching Google Earth for satellite images of the area of the world we are studying, students could find many uses for this technology.

Tool #9: I went to Brazil this summer...Okay, so I Skyped with someone in Brazil this summer...

• Discuss how the screencast could help your students and how you might have students use Jing.

I like the idea of using Jing in the classroom. At the 9th grade level students are being held accountable for their MLA Works Cited and they use a program called Noodle Tools through our library's resources page. Each time I teach the brief lesson on how to set up an account their are some students who find the links and press all the right buttons very quickly, there are others who need more time to go through the many steps of setting up their account and Works Cited. A Jing video would a perfect way for students to go back and see the steps of setting up an account.

Students would be able to use screencasts for mapping projects as well. The example in the video of a person sending an image of a GoogleMap is an ideal way the screencast could be used in the World Geography classroom.

• Discuss how you might use Skype with your students and share across the district, the state, the nation, or the world!

This past summer I had the opportunity to attend a workshop at Brown University through the Choices program. We needed to speak to a professor who was in Brazil. The solution--Skype! Brown had a state of the art flat screen TV and video conferencing room set up which allowed the twenty people in the room at Brown to be seen by the professor in his office in Brazil. It was as if we were all in the same room. While I may not have the video camera, flat screen TV, and ideal room for a state of the art experience, I do have web-cameras and head sets for students to use. We can use Skype to share ideas and learn from people on the other side of our school district to people on the other side of the world.

Tool #8: Video Resources

Fareed Zakaria's interview with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, GPS on CNN, July 9, 2009:

PBS's Frontline's Ghosts of Rwanda Part 1 of 8:

PBS FRONTLINE: GHOSTS OF RWANDA 1 OF 8
Uploaded by Top-Notch112. - Discover videos of people, family and friends.

• In your blog post for Tool #8, discuss how videos are useful resources for your students and how the 2 videos you selected will add to the learning in your classroom.

In my World Geography class's unit on Africa we watch the movie Hotel Rwanda. My students are moved by this movie and genuinely interested in the many issues that are presented by the film. I remind them that it is still a movie and like to also show them clips from news programs and some clips from documentaries (that are appropriate for the classroom). I just found the clips above, using Blinkx, that provide clips from Rwanda and a recent news interview with the current Rwandan president Paul Kagame. I use articles as well to help students see a more complete portrayal of what happened in Rwanda, but I think that video images help them to see more clearly what humans are capable of.

Tool #7: Summer Recap

For your Tool #7 Assignment:
1. Create a PhotoStory or I-Movie.
These resources are already loaded on to your district-issued computers.
The sample can be something you might use in class, a sample a student might create, or something for you personally.
I-Movie tutorial help. More iMovie help. PhotoStory help. More PhotoStory help. Atomic Learning PhotoStory tutorials (district password required)

2. Include pictures, music, and text and/or voice-over in your digital story.
Each resource has music contained within it, but here are some copy-right friendly free music sources: Incompetech, FreePlayMusic,Soundzabound
You should not use music from CDs you have without getting permission...all that music is copy-right protected!

3. Upload the finished product to your blog. If it is a PhotoStory, be sure you saved it as a finished product--a wmv file or it will not load. If you made an iMovie, it needs to be a mp4 file.
You will use the video icon on the Post Box tool bar.

• In your blog, write a short post about your experience with digital storytelling. Include how you might have students use digital stories in your classroom.

Tool #6: Wiki, wiki, what?

• IN YOUR BLOG post, discuss how students might use wikis to aid in their learning. Did any of the sample wikis you viewed give you any particular ideas for using a wiki in your classroom for students. How about for and your team or department?

I have yet to use a Wiki in my classroom, but I have used them several times as a member of different district and school committees. They have been useful, when everyone knows what they are doing, and team members to "meet" and discuss objectives and ideas without sitting down in person. A Wiki allows learning or work to be accomplished outside of the four walls of a classroom or office building.

I think that Wikis could be useful in some of the same ways Google Docs and blogs are. Wikis allow students and teachers to share information in a real-time format without worrying about editing the most up to date draft.

Tool #5: I do love new ways to organize my online life!

• In YOUR blog post for Tool #5, include the two webistes you discovered. Be sure to include hot links so that participants can visit them easily. Discuss what tags you used to locate your information. Briefly describe how social bookmarking will be useful in your classroom.

Two new sites I found through tags in Diigo are National Geographic Xpeditions Lesson Plans and EdSitement. The National Geographic site will be useful to my World Geography class and the EdSitement will be useful to both my Humanities and Geography classes. I used simple tags for these searches: "geography" and "humanities" but Diigo allows for much more specific searches. I can see social bookmarking being useful to both me and my students as a way to organize websites we find as well as access tools and resources others have found.

Tool #4: Documents and Reader prove to be very useful already!

I was excited to read that tool #4 concerned Google Docs as I just started using it a few days ago. Three of my colleagues and I are currently planning a trip for students to Africa. We were beginning to collect many documents about the trip and couldn't always sit down to meet in person to edit the documents together. Google Docs has allowed us to share documents and edit them. While it was difficult for me to give up the complete power over a document, and allow others to format, it has been extremely useful and I know I will be using this tool again.

Google Reader will also be useful in the coming school year. I am currently subscribed to several 11 tools blogs: being Patty Joyce, Beth Bray's Blog, Onward and Upward Learning, Everyday Mathematics from Mr. C, and Director's Thoughts. I've also subscribed to Gwyneth Paltrow's blog Goop because she provides fun to read newsletters about travel and trends.

• Briefly discuss how you think these 2 Google tools will aid you in your particular classroom or benefit your students in their learning process.

Out of all the tools I have read about so far I believe that these two will create an efficient way for students to share their and organize their knowledge. These two tools may not have the creative bells and whistles I have seen in other tools, however, they will be very useful with the new net-books in my classroom as everything is saved to the internet. I have watched teenagers struggle with keeping their assignment organized and share responsibilities when working with their peers. Someone forgets the document in their printer, another student's printer didn't work in the first place, the USB drive is lost; there is always an excuse, legitimate or not, for why assignments are not ready to be turned in. I think that Google Documents will allow students to share their work with others, collaborate with peers and teachers, organize their thoughts, and not lose important information.

Tool #3: A Glog in my blog...

Wordle: I just got back from an amazing leadership institute at Choices and the topic was Human Rights. I had some words on my mind that will definitely be coming up in my classroom this year:

Briefly explain how these samples would be used and how they might add to the learning process in your classroom.

I will add to this post once I figure out how to make my Wordle clearer!--Any suggestions???

Updated on August 3, 2010

Glogster: I have added a glog (after quite a bit of trouble with the website; warning: if you plan on using Glogster create an account before creating the Glog. I lost one that I had spent quite a bit of time on! The one created and posted on my blog did not take nearly as long...).

The glog created shares links to my classroom web-page, WAIS's web-page, as well as a link to some cool maps I use a few times throughout the year. I think this tool could be useful to students who are looking for a creative way to share links, images, and video. However, I can't help but think about the amount of time it takes--is this use of technology worth it or would my time be spent better elsewhere? I see the purpose of and use technology in my classroom but was slightly frustrated with this tool. Perhaps it was my difficulties that caused my frustration!

Credits:
Image generated on Wordle

Virtual poster generated on Glogster

Tool #2: Building Community & Comments

• What are your thoughts about building an online education community and participating in a PLN?

Personal learning networks seem like the next logical extension of the classroom. I have used online communities in the past, such as Ning, and students have enjoyed and grown from the opportunity. Our classroom Ning allowed students to share ideas, respond to questions, post video, post pictures, and post final products of our learning experiences. While using a Ning I also realized the need to learn not only about what a new technology means for a learning experience, but also what it means to have good digital citizenship.

As we have more access to technology we should be teaching our students to be good digital citizens; they will be expected to have a wide range of skills we can hardly imagine in jobs once they leave our classrooms. In order to become a good digital citizen, students must have an area in which to practice. In addition to being a good training ground for the real world, PLNs allow students go beyond the four walls of their teachers' classrooms. Whether they are reading blogs from around the world or Skyping with students in classrooms outside of their school they will be learning from a variety of sources they didn't have access to only a few years ago.

• What point stood out to you from the commenting advice?

Engaging students on a blog is much like engaging students in the traditional classroom. Bloggers, as do students, like to be rewarded for their thoughts and know they are recognized for their contributions. It can be very intimidating to share one's ideas on a topic or issue and I think an online community can make that process easier; however, positive feedback will encourage more thoughts and ideas from all involved. Once a student or blogger has shared her ideas, she also likes to see that the blogger/teacher she is responding to doesn't already know everything about a topic and is genuinely interested in their ideas. One final point that stood out to me is that it needs to be somewhat easy to share ones ideas. Whether a blogger is a student or a teacher these tips for commenting make sense for all contributing to a collection of thoughts; we want our ideas to be heard, yet we also want to feel good about our contributions.

I'm guessing the question my students will ask is "Is this for a grade?" So my question to you is, should it be for a grade? If so, how should I grade it? (Sigh, I do hope I am wrong and they all want to blog for the sake of learning!)

• What five blogs did you select for your comments?

I commented on Onward and Upward Learning and The 11 Tools of Arbuckle thus far. I will follow up with an updated list soon!

Update 7/18/2010: Commented on Beth Bray's Blog, Frogs, Chihuahuas, & Good Times, and being patty joyce.

Tool #1: Creating the Blog and Avatar

Success! And it is about time. I attempted a blog a few years ago while travelling in China. My mistake was attempting to start the blog while I was in China! I did not give myself the time or comforts of my home computer to start blogging and therefore had some difficulty, gave up, and sent emails throughout the trip. I have always thought about starting a blog in my classroom but always found an excuse not to see it through.

I had some trouble creating the Voki Avatar. I received the error message "Saving failedundefined" several times. I will try again next time I attempt the "11 tools".

I think that both the blog and avatar will be useful in my classroom. The blog will be a new way for students to share their ideas and research they find on topics we cover within class. They can journal, share notes/strategies, and include final products on the blog.

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This is only a test...