Oh.....the things I have learned

Incorporate technology into your lesson

NOT

Your lesson into the technology

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My last three courses on integrating technology into the classroom have become the most rewarding experiences I have had throughout my professional careers. My journey of learning how to take technology and incorporate it into the students learning has evoked a passion even I never thought it existed. My whole life I have told myself that I just want to find that one thing, besides my family, that I can be passionate about. The career that will allow me to feel like I have a purpose, I have a focus, and I want to continue to learn from it. But most of all, a career that I can help others become successful. Well, I have to say, at this point in my life, I have found it. And I thought it would take my whole life to try to uncover it.

My last career in the media field involved me working with technology. I loved it. I loved the problem solving aspect of technology. I loved the ease of technology. I loved the outcome of technology. I loved the integration technology brings. But I did not enjoy the atmosphere that I was experience this love in. I knew there was another place for me. I stepped away from the media field to pursue my dream of becoming a teacher. And even as I began my academics, I did not feel that passion, until I took Computers in the Classroom. This is when my passion began. I was able to take the two strong interests in my life and pair them together; teaching and technology. Yahoo!

The three technology course each created a different layer of learning technology. When I first started I didn’t even know what Web 2.O meant. I thought it was a software program. I also had no clue what I was doing. I learned in Computers in the Classroom the difference between a digital native and a digital immigrant. Boy was I an immigrant. I sat in that class listening to several of the younger students, the digital natives, speaking a language I knew nothing about; web 2.0 tools, wikispaces, weebly, prezi, the cloud, digital citizenship. Wow, talk about feeling like you are from a different place. I was overwhelmed but determined. I was not determined to prove something to myself, like I wasn’t that old was I? But I thought, I need to learn as much as I can because my students I will be teaching are digital natives. And I want to provide them with the best education that I can possible give them. In order to do this I need to learn their “digital native world.” As I progressed I realized that I was not so far behind because of my previous background in the media field. It was not so much the technology I had to learn, but the tools that were out there and how to find them.

Once I became comfortable with the tools, a whole new world opened up. With each new tool I was introduced to in the courses, my mind began to twist and turn on how I could implement them into my classroom. Except at the beginning I was looking at it all wrong. I was looking at the technology and how I could put it into my curriculum. The technology was fascinating me on how creative the tools were and how the students would love to work with them. I would look at a tool, for example a website, and say I want this in my classroom. Once I did that I started to panic. How am I going to get a website in my curriculum? I need to get technology in the classroom or I am going to be behind. The students need this technology. I have to create a lesson for me to integrate the website into the curriculum.  Talk about crazy thoughts. This time was very stressful for me until I was involved with a Skype call from Aviva. Aviva is a elementary teacher that integrates technology into her 1^st and 2^nd grade classroom. After listening to her speak about how she using technology, it wasn’t about what she said, but it was through her passion and her explanations that I came to my own understanding of technology in the classroom; incorporate the technology into the lessons, not the lessons into the technology.

 This statement will stay with me for the rest of my teaching career. As teachers we already have our lessons in place. We know what we want to teach our students and what we want them to get out of the lesson. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. With technology we just need to incorporate technology into the existing lesson to tweak it or to “kick it up a notch.” For instance, I have a lesson where the students have to perform a skit to demonstrate the dos and don’ts of positive parenting. The skit is used as an assessment tool for their understanding of positive parenting. Well, why not use a tool like GoAnimate.com or Bitstrip.com to have the student create comic strips to demonstrate their understanding. The lesson is still the same; the activity is just performed by use of technology.  In some senses using technology allows for extra learning that the students may not even know they are involved in. With the skits, students would work in groups, discuss what they will say and then perform their skits in front of the class. With using the Web 2.0 tools such as GoAnimate.com, students had to write up their skits first (literacy skills), work on them and discuss with their partners (collaboration), create their comics by choosing characters, setting, etc. (collaboration and decision making), and then play their comic strip to make sure it fits the expectations of the assignment (evaluation). I did not change the lesson; I just change the assessment tool. Once I had the understanding of incorporating the technology into the lessons, my ideas became endless. Now when I am beginning a lesson I think, “is there a technology I can use in place of what activity is planned?” But don’t get me wrong, I still have students do skits and create posters with markers. I feel these are just as important tools to use in the classroom and don’t feel that they should be removed.

Armed with this understanding I am able to look at technology in the classroom in a completely different way. I am not intimidated by it like I felt I was. I have the understanding that I don’t have to use every technology out there. I don’t have to overload on technology in the classroom. I also have learned that what technology may work well for one class, may not work well with another class. Each class and each level of learners in your class will determine the technology you should use. And if you think, like I did, that it will take too much time to teach your students the technology, think again. We are teaching digital natives. My experience is that they know how to use most technology before you even show them. I spend very little time on how to use the technology as opposed to the time I have to spend on explaining the lesson. This works out exactly as it should.

The courses I have taken have provided me with an understanding how to accommodate technology to the different level learners. Implementing technology for literacy skills was a connection I had not made prior to taking the course Integrating Technology and Literacy. I was able to obtain the knowledge of how technology can be used to continue to help develop literacy skills for students. Students utilizing a blog in the classroom aids in all aspects of their development of reading and writing skills. Creating a digital story allows students to decipher and comprehend a topic. Creating a wiki space provides a playing field for students to collaborate while enhancing literacy skills. A Voki lets students hear what they are saying so they can decipher what and where they need improvements. These tools help students read, write, organize their thoughts, hear the outcome, and many other aspects associated with enhancing their literacy skills. Technology becomes another tool that helps create the strategies for students to learn.

One of my most rewarding experiences with my courses was when I learned about assistive technology in Technology for Learners. The course opened up my eyes to the many tools available to aid ALL students. Students are able to be on the same playing field for learning. What assistive technology reiterated for me is that all students have the ability to learn, some students may need a different aid or tool to achieve this, just like I depend on spell check when I write my papers. Just like for me, assistive technology does not enable students to learn, assistive technology empowers students to learn. For me, if I do not know how to spell a word, spell check will help me. After several times of being corrected and noticing how I am spelling it wrong, I eventually spell it right. This is what assistive technology can do for those students that need the tools to succeed. The impact that assistive technology has on student learning is their ability to be part of the class. Programs such as text to read, talking word processors, graphic organizers along with numerous applications for tablets, provide students with the connection to classroom learning.   

I cannot skip over the importance the role teachers have in educating students about digital citizenship. Digital Citizenship plays an important part in incorporating technology into the curriculum. Students need to know their role they play while participating on-line. As teachers we cannot assume that students understand the importance of being polite, using appropriate language, not using their full names, and being empathetic towards those that are not acting like positive role models on-line. The process of becoming a digital citizen is not a one-shot-deal. This process should be on-going and incorporated into all lessons. We, as teachers, are the students’ connection toward on-line participation therefore we are connected to developing positive digital citizens.   

There was a time that I was intimidated about using technology in the classroom. I also was panicked as to how I could create lessons for particular technology. Well, as I had stated earlier, it is incorporating the technology into the learning, not the learning into the technology. Understanding the use of technology in this manner will allow teachers to succeed in the integration of technology into the classroom and therefore provide students with another tool to empower their learning.

What have you learned about technology in the classroom? What do you want to learn about technology in the classroom? 

Talk to me Voki

Voki is an easy to use web 2.0 tool that allows you to create animated avatars. What is an avatar – in this case it is a talking character. Students can create an avatar on any topic within in any content area. There is no limit to how a Voki can be used with integrating technology into the lessons. For teachers, you can become creative and immediately engage your students by creating a Voki to introduce an assignment or a unit. Your imagination is the only limit with creating a Voki.   

Setting up a Voki account is free. But this is only for one account. You can have your students individually create a sign in account. Be aware that they have to accept the account through their email, so if they do not have access to their email make sure you do this prior to the lesson. Or they can use one account under the teacher’s name. There is an educational version (Voki Classroom) that required a fee. With this version you can access and monitor the students work. I had the students open their own accounts and did not find it necessary to monitor their accounts. The students had to post their final products on our class blog where the class had to evaluate their work. Due to this I did not find it necessary to pay for an account. Also, the students now have their accounts so they can create a Voki for other courses. Spread the technology use.

With creating a Voki, students can work independently, with a partner, and/or in small groups. The creator of a Voki is allowed to pick their character, background, voice and some features with each character. What a Voki says can be typed in or recorded in through a microphone or called in through a phone. A Voki cannot be used for a whole presentation but for brief statements, this could aid those students who have a difficult time speaking in front of the class. And may ease them into a comfortable place where they could speak. Once their classmates can hear what they have to say, there may be a sense of support that could bring a comfort level to that shy speaker. The Voki sites provides lesson plans for a variety of subject areas.

This blog post is very simplistic as compared to my other posts. This is because Vokis are a very simple web 2.0 tool to use. There is not too much to it but the results are so creative, appealing, and engaging for students learning. Use a Voki once and you will be trying to figure out what other lesson you can incorporate it into.

What do you think about a Voki? How can you see using it in your classroom? How would you use it for your teaching? Do you see any drawbacks from using a Voki? What are they?

Voklog - An innovative Literacy Project

                                                                    Students Voki

Thinking about using a Voki for the literacy project did not make sense to me at first. I was not sure how a talking avatar could help with the continued development of literacy skills for students. I then began to think of what other tools I could use for the project. I went right to the obvious, a blog. A blog allows students to write about what they have learned, and apply their understanding through words. I began to pursue this route only to realize that verbal content plays an important role in how students are able to process the information they have learned. The avatar was a connection to the creativity students could have toward developing a verbal understanding of their comprehension of the topic. The Voki and blog allowed the students to convey through technology their learning. Thus the Voklog was born. (The name Voklog actually was created by the students because I kept trying to say Voki blog and would stumble over them.)

This project turned out to be fun for all of us. For me it was a pleasure to experience the level of engagement the students had toward the assignment. It also was a rewarding moment for me when I read their blogs and heard their Vokis and got the understanding that they “got it.” Also the whole process required minimal work on my part.

The students expressed verbally their enjoyment of the project on several occasions. But as a bystander, the students did not have to because it was evident that they were engaged by their actions. The students would come into class and immediately sit down at the computers and get to work on the assignment. I did not have to encourage them at all. And that was with every single student in the class.

The results of the literacy project proved once again to me that technology can play a key part in the continued development of literacy skills. The Voki allowed students to hear their organization, use of words and the clarity of conveying what they want to say. The blog allowed them to enhance their written words. Students evaluated each other’s work which guided students toward an understanding of their own writing, aided in the development of their peers writing, and created collaboration for the whole project in general.

                                                                     Student Voki

Again I see the benefits of incorporating technology into the learning and look forward to using this literacy lesson for my future classes.

What is your reaction toward a Voki being used as a literacy skill? Would you or do you use Vokis in your class? What technology tools do you use for your students to develop literacy skills? Have you used a blog? Why or why not have you used a blog in your curriculum?

Kidblog is not just for kids

I had started using kidblog.org this school year. When I began to learn about using a blog in the classroom I had many concerns. I was not sure about the security of the blog, how I would use the blog, would it take away from the development of their literary skills and/or would the students like using it. These were just some of my concerns, I am sure there were several more but I can’t remember them now because I could not imagine not using a blog within the curriculum.

After researching several blogging platforms to use, I decided to test out kidblog.org. What I decided was that I wanted a blog where students could post their thoughts and learning without feeling like the whole world was reading them. I wanted the environment to be for the students within the course, not public. I also wanted it to be a platform that I could add images, links, video, and be able to embed information if I needed to. The other option I was looking for was for the students to be able to create and edit their own posts. I also wanted to be able to manage the information being posted before it went live. Besides the privacy and management concerns, I also needed a blog platform that did not require an email address from all students. I wanted this because some students may not have email accounts, and/or some parents may not want their students to use their accounts.  

 

This is how kidbolg.org came along for me. The kidblog.org platform allows me to do all of this. I was able to set up the students accounts for them with their first name and they picked their own password. Although I had saved their passwords, by having the students create their own they tend not to forget it. I also am able to insert images, videos, links and more. Kidblog.org provides several templates for you to choose your own look and allows for color changes and font changes to your liking. It is easy and simple to make these changes at any time. I had the students pick which template they would like the class to use. And as a side note, I use kidblog.org in the secondary level although it indicates on its homepage that it is geared for elementary and middle school teaching. Nothing about the blog interface indicates that it is for younger students.

The biggest success I had of understanding if using a blog in the classroom would interest the students was proven to me when I introduced the blog to the students toward the end of one class period. Right after I told them, I had posted a current event article with some questions. I posted this at 2:15. At 3:00 when I got home I checked the blog. All but three students had submitted a post. And by the next time the class met, all students had submitted a post. This showed me the interest the students had with using technology such as a blog. I began using the blog more and more in the class and I foresee that I will continue to use a blog for my future courses.  

Kidblog.org provides management pages, called the dashboard, that allow you to organize and monitor what is going on within the blog. The dashboard is straight forward and easy to navigate through. The dashboard allows you to set up the blog. You can monitor the blog posts before they post for all to read, as opposed to allowing posts to be published immediately. I had monitored the posts from the students at the infancy of the blog, so I could monitor their posts as well as direct them with appropriate language and manners if needed (digital citizenship, to read more about Digital Citizenship). And now I am at the point where the students post are immediately viewed. I got to the point where I feel comfortable that students are following the proper expectations. The dashboard also helps to keep track of who is posting and the time and date the students are posting. This is helpful if you give a deadline time for when the assignment is due. This area also lets you add and delete users, set up new accounts, and/or change passwords.

And kidblog.org is FREE!!!!

If you are worried about literacy skills, students are typing the same information they would in an essay if you set the expectations. Using the same method as you would for grading an essay can be applied to grading their blog posts. Although you cannot make private comments directly to the students and their work, you can copy and paste their posts into a document file and make comments that way. Or into an email and add the comments. Creating writing rubric will aid in this process. Make sure to add in appropriate on-line use and language within the rubric. Peer evaluations can also be incorporated by students replying to other student’s posts. This helps students learn how to give positive feedback to those that may need it. These replies were also monitored at the beginning of using them. Now students in my class post and comment freely. They have developed a respect for the blog as well as for each other.

Can you see using kidblog.org or another blogging tool in your classroom? How would you use it? What are your concerns? Do you use a blog now? What are the benefits of using a blog in class? How else do you see the connection to blogs and literacy skills?

  

Weebly wobble but it stands up strong

For a long time I had been searching for a way for my students to go to one location to access all the information needed to work within our class. The search actually started when I was continuously hearing from students, “I lost it. Do you have another one?” It is not that I did not believe that they did not lose it, it was that they then were waiting until the next class, when the assignment was due, to ask me for the directions to the assignment. The students were expecting to hand in the assignment the following class because they did not know what to do. So, I wanted a location that students could go to and find the information for the assignments. This got me to thinking that I could also post the information for those students that were missing class, posting the PowerPoint or notes for the day for those students who maybe cannot write as fast, or need a visual to comprehend and/or may be having a bad day and can comprehend the information at a later time. I also wanted to create links to the other on-line programs we are using in the class so students only have one location to go to.

Creating a website seemed like the right direction to go. I started working with Weebly.com, which basically is a drag and drop web design platform. The set up and the ease of using it worked great for my busy schedule. I had created websites in the past using Html language, but I had forgotten all of it and I did not have time to go back and relearn everything. And why should I have to when there are sites like Weebly.com that will do it for you.

Weebly.com is free to sign up and there is an upgrade package for a fee. The free version has a variety of features to begin a website that will allow you to create an appealing site. Both versions will allow you to load images, create a variety of pages, and insert assignment pages, contact forms, slideshow, photo gallery and more. The free version does not allow you to insert video and/or embed documents.

Weebly.com education version provides the same features but also has a protected environment where you can have your students create a website. As a teacher you are able to manage and can password protect your entire student’s websites. You are allowed up to 40 sites. For each additional 10 students there is a $10 charge. The platform also provides a blogging feature which is great to post assignments, class information, and/or news for students and parents. You are also able to buy your domain name if it is available. The weebly.com extension will not be on your URL address.

Creating websites for your class or having your students create websites on a topic can be a powerful tool for learning. Students are able to be creative with design as well as how they present their information. Weebly.com allows students to work at an idividual level or they are able to collaborate with one other or several students. The wonderful part about using a web 2.0 tool is that students do not have to be in one location. They can be from other classes within the school, within the state, country and/or world.

For teachers you can create a site for the course, on a topic, or for a specific assignment such as for a web quest. Weebly.com can also be used to create a portfolio of your work or for your curriculum vitae.

Here are some great examples of how weebly.com web creator are being used –

http://33359123.nhd.weebly.com/  - this site was created by a 6^th grade student for a project

http://depaolawebquest.weebly.com/  - a webquest created for elementary school but can be adapted for any grade level

http://www.merciermagic.com/ - an teacher that is using it for her class where there are an abundant of information located within this site. Notice how she had embedded the use of other technology tools within her site.

http://jenniferfariello.weebly.com/index.html  and http://www.michaellahammond.com/index.html   both have created their educational portfolios.

And here is the website ecbacon.weebly.com that I have created and use in my class.

I have enjoyed using weebly.com for a central location for my students to go to. They are able to go to our class site find information about assignments, notes from class, Power Points, due dates, contact information, as well as links to other tools we are using such as kidblog.com , voki.com and to our class wiki page. The only negative I have found was the formatting tools are temperamental at times. There are times when I copy and paste and have to spend time adjusting the formatting. This is typical with any web-based program, and it does depend on your computer and internet speed, but I have found it to happen more often than not. That being said, it is nothing that would deter me from continuing to use weebly.com.

And the other great thing about creating a website is that it continues to be a never ending work in progress.

Just remember when you are signing up for this free website creator tool (weebly.com) that you click on the education version which is located on the top blue tool bar.

Can you think how you would use weebly.com in your class? What lesson do you have now that the students could create a website rather than using another tool? What are your concerns about using a website creator? If you already use weebly.com, can you share your experience with us, good and bad? What do you think about using weebly.com?

Digital Story - Myths about Childhood

I hope you enjoy my digital story of Myths about Childhood. This digital story will be used in my classroom to introduce the realities of childhood. The story may seem dark and depressing at times but the intent is to expose students to the realities that many children face in today’s world; hungry, homeless, abuse, etc.

When I was deciding what to choose I tried to find some topic that I could use to teach the students. I was looking at several ideas that would help enhance what they were learning. I remembered that we introduce Myths of Childhood briefly at the beginning of the semester. This usually is a one day lesson with some quick activities. That is always what the intention is but the lesson always seems to take up a lot of time for something that was to be just a brief discussion. Using the PowerPoint presentation to discuss the topic took up a lot of time. Our department had talked about taking this out of the curriculum but I argued that it is important for students to understand that there are real issues going on with children outside of their immediate understanding of the world. And the activities after the PowerPoint bring home the understanding that these facts are happening right outside their door. This is how I came to choose Myths of Childhood as my digital story project. I am pleased with the outcome of the project but realize that I can work to enhance it as I become more familiar with iMovie. I am also very pleased that what would have taken me 20 to 25 minutes as a lesson, now will take less than 4 minutes. Not only will the digital story have a stronger impact on the students understanding, it will also engage the students toward the learning as opposed to them having to listen to me talk about it.  

What do you think? If you were a student in my class, would this digital story help you to understand Myths about Childhood? What message do you take from watching this video?

Digital Story Draft

Digital Story about Childhood Myths

Here is my draft of my digital story. It is a definite work in progress. This has taken me longer then expected. This is mostly due to learning how to use iMovie. I am so use to using a PC that it has taken many hours just to get this. I still have to do a lot of fixes to it. Let me know what you think. I know I have issues right now with how it looks and the graphics. I need to figure them out. My voiceover may need some help also. Any tips on the voiceover. 

This may seem a little depressing. The unfortunate thing is that with Child Development you sometimes have to talk about the depressing things related to children. This digital story is about the myths of childhood. Students are very colored with the idea that childhood is bliss for all. The media paints a pretty picture for them which they tend to believe. They also have the notion that things happen to other people in other far away lands, not to them and those within their communities. This digital story is for part of a three part intro of the course. Students will view this video and then break off into work groups. There are four areas where activities for each of the myths are discussed. This video will make it easier for me because I will not have to spend a lot of time telling them the information which will allow them to have more time to work on the activities. 

We are all just floating in a CLOUD

Lately I have been hearing the term “The Cloud” used more often. At first I was not sure what that meant. What was this cloud? Was it a specific program, software, or some term that the internet world had created? And then I was asking myself, do I need to know what this “cloud” is? Is this something I will have to get or use in order to maintain everything I am doing on-line? Well the answer is; I was already using “The Cloud” without knowing it.

“The Cloud” is space out in the unknown of your computer. When you use programs such as Google or  DropBox – you are using “The Cloud.” What is happening is that you no longer need to have flash drives, thumb drives, your physical computer – you can access all your files from any location throughout the world. For instance I can create and save a file from a computer in one location, walk away from that computer, drive 3000 miles across country, and finish working on that file in another location on another computer. Incredible!

What is really happening is that the sites, such as DropBox (same concept as Google Docs if you are using that), are providing the storage somewhere out in cyberland for your files to live. You do not need to carry any devices with you or take up any space on your hard drives. Those large files you may want to save, you can now save without having to wait long for them to download as well as for them to take up all your space.

For a teacher something like DropBox is an incredible tool to use. I access my DropBox account at home, correct, update, and/or change a file, then access it at school through my account. No forgetting flash drives at home, no forgetting copies at home; it works out great. I have all my students using DropBox also. They have expressed how it has made things easier for them.

“The Cloud” is something you are probably using already. It is just another term used to describe the cyber space that we are all now connected to.

Boy, we have come a long way since 8 track tapes

How would you describe “The Cloud”? Are you using “The Cloud”? How do you feel about using “The Cloud”? Do your students use it? How are you feeling about all these quick changes in technology?

Diigo - Orgainze me Please!!!

Social Bookmarking is a way for you to save, organize, monitor, and access on-line resources. Social bookmarking is a tool that is available to any on-line user. You are able to save the URL or a screenshot of the first page of a website for future access. If you are like me, I come across several dozen sites that provide me with information that I am currently using or want to use in the future. And I don’t want to have to remember how I searched for these particular sites or write down the URLs and then try to remember where I wrote it. Prior to learning about social bookmarking tools, I would save the sites in my favorites. And although it worked out well with creating files for the variety of topics I was interested in, it did not help me to organize and access them as quickly and as conveniently as an on-line social bookmarking tool. Yes I admit I have become that person that expects technology to provide things for me immediately. I don’t want to wait, look, or spend the time looking when something can do it for me quicker.

How do we choose what social bookmarker to use? Well, this answer is up to you and your preferences. There are many social bookmarkers out there but for the purpose of not overwhelming us, I will briefly discuss Diigo. Other bookmarking tools to check out are LiveBinder, and Sqworl. All three of these bookmarking tools are easy to set up and easy to use.

Diigo has been around for awhile. After the bookmarking tool Delicious (2003) popularized the use of on-line book marking tools, Diigo (2006) followed in its footsteps with its popularity.

Diigo allows you to save the URL from a site, make annotated comments about what the site is, how you would use it, what you would use it for, and/or any other information that you may want to remember why you wanted to save the site.

Diigo also allows you to use tags to help organize your resources. Tags come in handy because you can really get carried away with saving sites and then when you have to go back and think about what site is it you know you saw the information on, you can click on the tag of interests to find all the sites within that category.

Diigo also has a bookmarklet tool. What a bookmarklet tool does is it provides you with just one-click to do many functions. For instance, when you find yourself on a site that is of interest to you and you want to save this site you just click on the Diigolet icon on your toolbar (you have to load the Diigolet icon onto your computers toolbar by following the directions provided by the Diigo website.) Once you have this loaded, you are able to use many of the tools provided.  Within the Diigolet, the bookmark tool allows you to save the sites URL by capturing the title of the website, your annotated information about the site, create tags or use the tags they provide, and also allows you to share you findings with other groups.

There is also the highlight tool that allows you to highlight information of importance to you on the site so that when you go back to the site you will notice only the information of importance to you or if you are sharing the site, the information that you want others to see, is highlighted.

The other tool that works well is the sticky-note tool. This works just like a post-it note. Click on this and a note page appears. You can type in a reminder, information, a question, or anything that you want to make a note about for the site and/or page.  

The read-later tool is great for those sites you may not want to save but want to read at a later time. The tool will save the site for you to access it later to read.

Where these tools can be used with any browsers, Diigo also provides other tools such as screenshot (allows you to save a visual of the site) and quick-note tools, that can only be used with specific browsers.

Sharing your Diigo bookmarks or creating a shared bookmark group, is a great tool to use in the classroom for your students or among your colleagues. For you students you can create a group that allows them to access certain sites on particular topics. And for your colleagues you can create a shared bookmark group that houses sites that are related to issues related to teaching, content area topics, and/or tools for teaching. Creating shared groups is easy to do. Using the highlight tool or the sticky-note tool can became a positive benefit for any shared group. These tools take away from the time it may take to read a site and also allows for collaboration on both levels. 

Make sure you create lists for all your bookmarks. List help you further organize your sites. Create different lists for your different areas of interest and/or for you classroom. Lists allow you to create a list on your topic of study and share it with your students. . On the main library page, go to the “My List” section. Click on edit and here is where you can title your lists, give a description of your list, as well as make your list public or private. Your list will show up on your left side toolbar within your library.

Think about using Diigo in your classroom. By creating groups and lists, you can organize your topics so that students can easily access the information they need. You can also create an group and have your students do the research on the topic and add the sites for other students to use.

Check out this video on how to incorporate Diigo in the classroom. 

Don't forget to visit the Community tab within Diigo. to find sites that others have bookmarked to share. I do not know how Diigo has this set up, but it seems to target bookmarks that are of interest to most of my bookmarks. Diigo mysterious!!

At first I did not like Diigo. I thought it was too simplistic and “wordy.” To me it just looked like a list of sites with words attached to them. And although all the sites of interest were in the same spot, I had a difficult time finding what I needed without reading all the titles or using the tabs and then reading all the titles. After playing around with all the settings I was able to organize even further with the use of the “My Lists” feature. Now, like when I saved my sites in my favorites, I was able to organize them into groups that I can easily access and find. And although this sounds like it was doing me a service, I still was not completely pleased with the site. I started looking at other sites because I am a visual person. What this means when using a social booking marking tool is that I don’t always remember the name of the site or the tab I could have put it under, but I can tell you some features that the pages of the site consisted of. I find things quicker on a visual level. It is like when that person comes up to you and starts talking to you as if you are great friends, you know the face but for the life of you, you can’t remember the name. Diigo must have heard my cries because they now have a screenshot feature. This allows you to bookmark the site by saving the screen you are looking at. You can capture the first page of the site or any other page within the site. The only downfall is that you have to be using  Google Chrome, Mozilla FireFox, or Apple Safari browsers. This is not a downfall if you already use them or are willing to use them, which I have done.

Here is my Diigo Library. I say it is a work in progress. Enjoy and feel free to save any sites into your Diigo account.

What social bookmarking tool do you use? Do you use Diigo? What do you think? What neat feature do you use with Diigo? What challenges have you encountered with Diigo? How do you use it in your classroom? Would you use it in your classroom?  

Are you Smart with your SMART Board?

Being new to teaching I am excited about using technology in the classroom to connect with my students. Last semester was my first time teaching my "own" class. I had begun to integrate technology into my classroom. And let me tell you, not only did the kids have fun, but I had fun also. How incredible to be able to play with great technology tools and then benefit from the learning experiences of the kids. I am so excited about integrating technology into their learning as much as possible, and to continue to have a fun time doing it. 

One of my technology goals this year is to work on using the SMART Board the smart way. Currently I am using it mainly to view PowerPoint presentations, show websites, and/or  show VHS/DVD videos, to name a few. I mainly use it as I would a projector. I have been using some of the tools such as the slides, pens, and highlighter. I also have had the students brainstorming or writing on the board. Although I feel that this is a good start to using the SMART Board, I would rather find ways to use in as an interactive tool.

I have begun to research how to use the SMART Board as an interactive tool within the secondary level. The activities that I have come across have been mainly for elementary level students.

I watched this video to get more information on how to use the SMART Board on an advanced level. The video gives some great ways to use the tools as long as you have the activity tool kit.

How have you been using your SMART Board in your class? What tools have you been using? What interactive activities have you created? What have you noticed about the engagement of students in the classroom?

If you have not used the SMART board, what other technology have you been using? If you do not have a SMART Board do you think you would or would not use one in your classroom? How would you see yourself using it.

Looking forward to hearing your answers and learning from each other.

iCitizen Town Meeting

On Feb. 9^th 2012, Saint Joseph College (SJC) hosted the iCitizen Town Meeting. The meeting was held to give the opportunity to have a discussion on how to create a positive climate within the school systems that will help to prevent and stop bullying and cyber bullying. Marialice Curran Ph.D, assistant professor of education at SJC, and SAGE put together a well verse panel to discuss these topics. Below is the url to the video courtesy of CT-N.

http://www.ct-n.com/ondemand.asp?search=iCitizen once on the page click on the link to watch the video

What are your thoughts about creating a positive climate? What are you doing personally to create a postive climate, in your classroom and in your personal life? Do you feel that creating a postive climate in our schools will help stop cyber bullying and bullying? Is it important to have a positive climate in every state?

Empowering Students and Teachers

According to www.dictionary.com, empower means to give power or authority to; to enable or permit. Now isn’t this exactly what we as teachers need to do for our students. Empower them to become responsible for their own learning. In my class I tell me students, if you don’t know the answers don’t feel ashamed, embarrassed, or not intelligent but feel empowered that you don’t know the answer but have the ability to learn the answer. For some reason, the more and more I keep saying this in my class, the more students are willing to share that they do not know or do not understand and this allows me to have the other students that know the answers, to teach each other.

In his book, Empowering Students with Technology, Alan November gives many suggestions on how we need to allow students to take control of their own learning through the use of technology. But in order for them to do this, they need to understand how to use the technology the proper way. One way, like Michelle – Skyping with Alan November, had stated in her blog is “that it’s so important for students to learn about validating their information through multiple reference sources.” Students do take for granted, and I am sure many adults, that what they read on-line is the truth. How many people will state to you, “I read it on-line”; As if all of a sudden this technology has come along with all the right answers to all of the worlds questions. Some of that may be true but unfortunately there is no on-line police to catch those that do not share the truth. Students are just as easily able to believe what they read on-line as anyone else, and teaching students how to do it the right way will empower them to succeed. Mr. November discuss the importance of understanding how to read a URL correctly and what you should be looking for; who wrote it, the domain name – private or commercial, and the institution it is coming from. How many students know the breakdown of a web address/url? I know I did not until I started reading books like Mr. November’s. These are the things we need to be teaching our students in our classrooms if we want them to be empowered.  I have been searching on line for more information on this but have yet to come across anything as well as Mr. November had written about.

Mr. November had so many great points in his book. There has been talk about how in the future some classes may be offered on-line. He did make some great points when he mentioned on-line learning and how peer interaction on-line becomes an even playing field for students. All the students are in there together and there are no "clicks" to join. You work on the projects either independently or collaborative. Technology helps students to take down the barriers that may otherwise hinder their collaboration in a face-to-face arena. And although this is a plus for some students there are some disadvantages toward on-line courses.

It is books like Alan November’s and sites like Aviva Dunsingers’s, that allow us as teachers to learn how to empower our students in the learning process, as well as empowering ourselves within our profession.

I unfortunately was not able to stay for the whole SKYPE session with Alan November, What were you thoughts about the SKYPE experience? What is the main point you got out of your conversation with him? Do you think technology empowers students or teachers more?

Thank You Aviva!!!!

Aviva, Aviva, Aviva – I hope you can hear my admiration in this. I am so impressed by what Aviva is doing with her students. I want to take her class!! Can I regress, please, please, please, please!!!!

These are the sites that when you read them, you get inspired as a teacher to do better for your students. Learning about the different tools allows you as a teacher to empower students to become responsible for their own learning. I say thank you to Aviva and to all other teachers who are so willing to share their learning’s with others. We can only grow as professionals if we are willing to share and learn from each other.

Aviva’s site contains numerous ideas about how to incorporate technology tools into the classroom which in turns allows for students to practice reading, writing, arithmetic, collaboration, communication skills, and creativity skills – just to name a few. Being a secondary teacher, you may think that I would not be able to apply much of what Aviva is doing for her 1^st and 2^nd graders. Oh how wrong that it to assume this. I can easily see using Twitter with my 9 – 12 graders to help increase their writing skills as well as their etiquette skills while being on- line. The unfortunate thing right now is our district is apprehensive about using Twitter in the classroom. I am working at it though, and I am one that does not give up. I am going to have to share the video administrator Justin Tarte created called, "Why Educators should be using Twitter- Justin Tarte" - Thanks Aviva.

It is also very inspiring to see all the tools she is using with her students as collaboration activities.

Group Blog

Narrative eBook Project

Kindergarten Around the World

Like Aviva, I am using  Edmodo in my classroom. I have been using it as a classroom organizer of assignments, due dates, and notices as well as a way to communicate to the students, other teachers and parents. I never thought of having the students use it as a writing tool. Thank you Aviva!

I am also using a blog in our classroom, Kidblog. It has become another important tool in our classroom. I will be moving toward using another program next year, but started with the simplicity of Kidblog to see how it would work in our classroom. I have been pleasantly surprised at how engaging the students are with it and how they look forward to the next blog. They have never complained about blogging but they seem to complain about writing papers even though the questions are not questions and/or responses are not composed differently, they still are doing the same work. Overall the students have enjoyed posting their ideas, thoughts and learning’s. Next year, like Aviva I will have the kids create and run the blog posts and replies.  

Aviva shares so many ideas that she is doing in the classroom that can be tweaked to your content or grade level, your imagination is the only thing that will hold you back (or your district at times, but don’t let that stop you from exploring options). Thanks Aviva!

The one thing that caught my eye on Aviva’s site, and that I have been thinking a lot about lately, is how to make a virtual connection in our classroom. I want the student to experience the world outside of their “world.” I have been thinking how and with whom we can Skype with. I have ideas and have been reaching out to others and I am sure something will happen.  But recently a new, more exciting idea came to me when I was playing around with our new iPads. And then after reading Aviva’s site about how she had become a virtual mentor, something clicked (very excitedly I will say). What about having my students become Mentors to younger kids either within their districts, community, and/or world? If I can find the right teacher, we can set up times where the students can talk with each other on a one-to-one bases as well as group conversations. WOW! And for my students of Early Childhood Education, they can apply what they are learning by the interaction they are having with their Mentees. I thought of using the iPads. so they can have more of a personal arena, of course it would be nice if the connecting students had iPads. but it is not necessary. Oh and of course right now we don’t have Wi-Fi, so Skyping may have to be the tool of choice. But it can work…..time to get networking.

This is when I say Thank You to all the Aviva’s out there that share their ideas and allow us as teachers to become creative about the learning process.

What do you think about my idea? Do you see any concerns about trying this? Do you have ideas of how I can network this idea? What did you find of interest from Aviva’s site? What things can you see yourself using in the classroom and how will you tweak it toward your content or grade level? 

Let the iPad tell a story!!!!

Recently, my colleague had taken the 5 iPads we have in our department and used them for digital storytelling. The students in her class used the iPads to video tape their skits about how to properly handle confrontations (Teen Issues course). The students broke into groups, wrote out their skits, assigned the roles, and then recorded their skits on the iPads. Students were able to delete any videos they did not like, view the videos to make corrections, and then evaluate their final recording based on the rubric the teacher had provided. Once their recordings were completed students were able to place the video clips in a time line by using the application Storyrobe  (The app does cost .99 per iPad). The Storyrobealso allowed for audio input, so students had to narrate their story. The videos came out great and the students were so engaged with the activity. Although there is the capability to share the video, I am unable to share with you the videos done in the class because the students are in them but watch this video to see how easy it is to use Storyrobe.

The iPad can become a valuable asset toward the incorporation of digital storytelling in the class room. There are many applications in the Apple store, that can be downloaded for free or for a small fee that will aid in the ability for students to become engaged in their learning. Click on the picture below to be linked to a very simplistic site that houses information on applications and valuable resources on how to incorporate digital storytelling with the iPads into your classroom.  

I can’t wait to start incorporating digital storytelling into my classroom with the use of the iPad!!!

What are you thoughts about using the iPad as a digital storytelling tool? Do you use one in your classroom or personally? Do you see any cons about using iPads in this way in the classroom? What applications have you used for digital storytelling? Do you think students would benefit from using the iPad as a digital storytelling tool in the classroom? Why and/or Why not?