After 11 Tools: Reflections

1. 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.
It is hard for me to pick a favorite, because they are all so interesting. Some of them are alike, but slightly different like Animoto and the Photostory. Others were totally different like Wordle and Google Tools. I am planning on using most of them in the classroom by creating fun activities and to teach students how to create their own. I am thinking on creating a Photostory of my family to prompt writing activities such "First Day of School" and "All about me". I will use the Ipods with my small group instruction by creating various level of lessons to keep students motivated and focused.
2. How have you transformed your thinking about the learning that will take place in your classroom?
My thinking about learning has been always the same. "I believe that all students can learn", some children learn fast while others take their own time but they all can do it. The 11 tools training has opened my eyes as a learner, I am a great believer that we learn by doing and students now seem to have an ability to work with technology faster than what adults do. As teachers, we must take advantage of this and continue to make it interesting for the students. Technology is all around us, so it is easier to teach to students because it is something they can relate and connect with.
3. Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?One of the things I had trouble with was the time, and I know it's because I was not familiar with the at least fifty percent of the 11 Tools. They were totally new to me so it took a while and a lot of reading to figure them out, which was hard because I had to balance the time between working on this all Summer and time I spent with my family during my summer vacation. I was amazed of the special bonding I made with my coworkers and members of my PLN. I learned from my colleagues, and I hope some learned from me. We all had different levels but at the end, everybody got to understand that Technology is here to stay and YES WE CAN MAKE IT WORK, WE OWE IT TO OUR STUDENTS. The knowledge I gained is priceless and I hope it will be a foundation for my continued growth in using this new technology in the classroom.

Tool # 11: Digital Citizenship

I will explain to my students that the same way we have norms in the in the school, the classroom, and all around us, we also have norms we must follow that will help us stay safe when we use the internet. I will go over the WebSafety4kids Internet Safety Tips which are very easy to understand at any age and will show the Brain Pop videos on Digital Citizenship. For the little ones, it will be a good idea to create a puppet show where they will be the actors playing the different characters and have them act out some of the various scenarios on how to follow these norms, or even better make our own classroom digital Photo story or video to watch on our Ipods.

Tool 10 : Exploring Mobile Technology and Apps

In the Ipod Touch training, we reviewed some of the free Apps available on Itunes. We explored the Dicitionary.com App which features Dictionary and Thesaurus, English and Spanish Word of the Day, similarly spelled words, Phonetic and audio, and many more features kids can use.
Some off the apps I am planning on using in my classroom with the little ones during small group instruction Bilingual Pair Centers, Language Art Centers, and Math Centers are:
I Can Read Lite designed for young children to read and spell.
Number Fun Time good for interactive see, touch, and recognition skills.
Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Tale of Peter Rabit, Dr Zeus children's ebooks.

Tool 9: Sharing information through Jing & Skype.

Jing allows you to capture graphics from multiple sources such as applications,presentations,and web pages to share via URLs, or to embed in blogs, web pages or E-mails.
I use Skype to communicate with my relatives in Venezuela,Spain, and Italy.It is a wonderful and cheap way to keep in touch. I will use Skype in the classroom, to video conferences in cooperation with other teachers, first in the same school, then the district,and later another state or country.See 50-awesome-ways-to-use-skype-in-the-classroom

Tool 8: Using video resources

Videos are very useful in the classroom. I have been using videos in my classroom for a while (approved and provided by the district of course) as a complement to, and to enhance my lessons. It is a good way to reach students of all ages and provides them with many experiences that otherwise they would not encounter in their daily life. Videos are an excellent tool to improve students’ oral language. It allows students to focus their attention during an instructional activity. There are thousands, if not millions of videos in the web that are allowed for educators to use in the classrooms from sites such as Teachertube, Watchnow, and Edutopia
I will use these two videos to help with our Plant Unit.

Tool 7: Digital Storytelling

It was fairly quick to create the photo story after I worked through learning the Microsoft Photo Story 3 for Windows XP. It did take me a little while to chose the pictures and audio I used for it. You can get very creative with this program, it can help me create lessons that will meet the needs of each individual student in all the content areas. Students can also use this to make a record of a trip, put together a story with the help of their bilingual pair, write their own biography, make a number book, a shape book etc...

Tool 6: Creating Wikis to store and share information.

I can use a Wiki as a an interactive tool to use with my kindergartners. We must remember that is easier to learn by doing, which is exactly what we are doing right now. I can use a Wiki to store student electronic portfolios, which will be easier for me to check and give students feedback of their work. We can have group photos of activities where each student can record what they have learned etc. I can also use a slide show Wiki where students can retell or sequence how the project was done. As a Team, a Wiki will be an excellent and more effective way not just to plan as a grade level team, but also use for vertical planning with colleagues in the upper grade and pre-kinder levels.

Tool 5: Tagging and Social Bookmarking

I joined the Delicious and Diiggo Social Bookmarking sites and tagged these two interesting Sciences websites. The first one, What is Science, is a series of videos explaining what science is; and the other one, Interactives, provides the site visitors with strategies, content, and activities that can assist learning in a variety of curricular areas.
From now on I will be able to track and share websites from any computer with other people including my team members, other colleagues, and students.

Tool 4: Cool Google Tools

I created a Team Contact list using one of the thousands templates Google Docs has to offer, this made it easy for me, being new at this. I then shared the document with three members of my team explaining to them in a little note. Instead of using a note we can also use a chat box; isn't that amazing? I also subscribed to Google Reader and I am following five or more of my PLN colleagues. I am now thinking of all the possibilities and many ways I can be using these two tools, not only with school assignments and planning, but also in my own personal life.

Kinder Farm Fieldtrip

Kinder Farm Fieldtrip

Animoto

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

This is just lovely! I can't wait to see my son's reaction when I show it to him. Very easy to do just follow the instructions step by step. It only gives 30 free seconds, but like they say, a picture is worth more than a thousand words... remember if I can do it, anybody can do it.

Tool 3: Image Generators & Mashups

This word cloud was very easy to do. I can create word walls related to all the content areas to use in my classroom. My students will be amazed how we can use technology to move beyond just playing around with words.

Word cloud made with WordItOut

Tool 2: Building Community & Comments

1.Participating in a PLN (personal learning network) and becoming part of a learning community makes me feel important. It is amazing to see how technology has advanced in such an expeditious manner that includes so many aspects of our lives. We must take part in it, it is the future which has became the present, and it is here whether we like it or not. I learn a lot from looking at the other members' projects and postings and I am looking forward to start commenting using the proper etiquette and professionalism.
2.The commenting advice that stayed with me the most is the one that says to "Remember the power of words". We can criticize but never be sarcastic or personally attack a person. I have to appreciate the Project Manager and Viking and my other friends for the great comments so far.
3.I commented on these PLN participants blogs.
1.Teaching and Technology
2.Kinder Tech
3.Discovering Technology for Education
4.iluv2teach
5.Tomorrow and Beyond

Tool 1: Blog Set-up & Registration

This was an easy but lengthy process due to the fact Blogger has been unavailable for a while. To save time I went ahead and created my Avatar with Voki first, and it was fun. Now I feel confident enough to continue working on my other tools. I can't wait to integrate them in my lesson planning this Fall.