Tool #9

I think it's important to tie technology to the objective because it ensures that we are taking that extra step to incorporate technology instead of just relying on "the old way".  Of course, it is important to know the old way so that you can keep it as a back-up plan in case the technology fails.


Students need to be held accountable for their work at stations/centers because we need to know that they are doing the work, and we need to have a provable behavior.  In order to get on board with this, we need to ensure that we are on board with the "shifting paradigms" theory.  And, of course, we should be on board with it because times and paradigms are changing whether we like it or not.


I visited Thinkfinity, which had all kinds of educational games.  I liked the Essay Map because it put the outline into a more user-friendly format.  Students could create their Essay Maps and show them to me as their provable behavior.  This would be a great activity when we've finished our "pre-writing" but have not formally begun writing yet.


I also visited Comic Creator in Thinkfinity.  This was pretty cool.  Not only could my son use this at home (he LOVES Diary of a Wimpy Kid and would do this for fun), but my students could also do it as a provable behavior to show they've mastered a concept.  For example, they could write it to prove they know a certain vocabulary word.  They could write context clues and dream up situations in which those words/sentences can be used.  This is like a grown-up version of window panes in which we create one panel that illustrates a vocabulary word and what it means visually.


Students could be held accountable for both of these activities because there would be an actual product produced.


In the SBISD interactive database, I found many more flipcharts than I've seen before.  I also noticed the Classtools webtool.  I like the idea that I could host games on my blog.  To make students accountable, I could have them post something about the game to tell me how it went against another student.


I also saw that they have a Lexipedia webtool.  This webtool gives them the part of speech AND it relates the word to other words.  Students could be assigned certain words, and they could be accountable for them by creating a certain number of comics in Comic Creator as well as some related words in Lexipedia.


As far as the iPod Touches and iPad 2s are concerned, I know my students would enjoy the Flashcards App.  I usually hesitate to make them to flashcards because of all of the paper involved, but now they can make them and use them to review each other all in one sitting.


I also will love the Mad Libs app.  I already have them create their own Mad Libs in class, but this app will ensure that their Mad Libs make sense and are extra silly.  They will also be able to have more than one student fill out their Mad Libs.  This would be a great station because students are already chomping at the bit to share the Mad Libs that they've done, so accountability ought to be no problem.


I also love the Pages app.  Students will be able to use this to revise and edit their papers right on the device.  It will also save it to the iCloud so there will be no need for them to e-mail their final drafts.  They will even be able to print wirelessly.  I will definitely have to play around with this to see what the best way to do this would be.  It seems like it would work best with students during tutorials, but maybe I'll be able to use these in stations when we are doing very specific revision and editing changes, and the students will take turns changing their papers right on the device.

Tool #8

I learned many things about the Netbook:


Here are some examples:


1)  I can connect the Netbooks to my Activboard to show the class something


2)  There are 3 USB ports.


3)  They have a microphone port and a headphone jack.


4)  The network connector connects me to the SBISD network, and the tools are in the netbook cart.


I already have two iPads at home as well as an iTouch and a few iPods.  I even have an iPhone 4 and an Apple TV!  Therefore, I did not learn anything new about the Apple products except the bit about locking the screen so that it doesn't move with you.  That will be useful to use with the students when they are using it for projects, research, etc.


Managin the Netbooks, the iPad2s and the iTouches


I can assign students to certain netbooks.  I will need to number each one and have students check each one out and in before anyone is allowed to leave the class.  I need to establish the habit of making sure all materials are returned to the netbook cart as a prerequisite for dismissal.

Tool #7

I would definitely need to wait for the new technology to implement this tool, but here's what I plan to implement:

Content Objective: TLW survey another class in order to aggregate data about other students' reviews of books that they are critiquing literarily.

Timeline: 5th 6 weeks

Tools you plan to use:  Itouch and i pads; email; google doc/spreadsheets 

Brief Description:


Students will choose a book to critique and will post their titles on a Google Doc.  Then, students within the class and in other 7th grade PreAP LA classes will post comments about that book that they will in turn use in their literary critiques of that book.  They could ask certain questions about the book on their survey to insure that the "reviews" are thoughtful and indicative of critical thinking.


This can get them involved in a real-world type of dialogue about books that one might see on goodreads.com, amazon.com, or librarything.com.

Tool #6

On this tool, I had to check out certain educational tools that I can use in and out of the classroom in order to communicate with my students or have them communicate with me.

For example, we will be able to use Skype in the Classroom when we get out Netbooks. I can see that as an opportunity to talk to pen pals in a letter assignment. For example, for our letter assignment, we could pick a class in another school in another state. Then we can skype with them. We can also use Skype in the Classroom to see other students' projects in other schools.

Then I tried Wallwisher. Wallwisher is cool! I can have students post pictures that demonstrate a particular vocabulary concept. Students can double-click anywhere and put pictures in from Flickr.

Here's my Wallwisher account:

http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/grammarqueen

I also joined Today's Meet. I created a room, Servat, for a year. So, students can comment on what they've learned from a certain assignment, or you could use it as an assignment. For example, if I assigned a commentary for the students to read for homework, they could post the claim of the commentary, facts from the commentary, the author's tone, etc.

It seems like this would only work for kids to do as homework on their own computers at home, at least until we have more resources in the classroom.

I guess kids could use their smartphones in the classroom, but you would have to arrange groups around the kids that actually had smartphones.

Here's my Today's Meet room:

http://www.todaysmeet.com/Servat

Tool #5

I tried Animoto, and it was so easy. I just did the free one because I don't want to pay for it!

First I had to pick the background, but I had to pick one of the free ones.

All I had to do is download some pictures from Shutterfly to my computer. Then I put the pictures on the Animoto.

Then I picked some music. Then I titled it and pushed the "Produce Video" button. It was really that easy!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

I also created a glog on glogster.com that looks like something my kids need to do for their multimedia project. This is a great way to get students to demonstrate their poetry. I could also get them to use this for certain book reports and summer reading projects. Here's mine:

Tool #3

Here's a Grammar Rock video that I embedded!



Here's an author's purpose video I embedded.

I found that youtube was easier to use than teachertube. Also, some of the videos on teachertube are poorer quality.

As far as copyrights are concerned, teachers have the right to copy materials (as long as it's not the entire work) if they're using it in a face-to-face context.

As far as Picasa is concerned, it looks pretty cool for downloading images. It looks like it might be better than dropbox, which might do weird things to your computer!

Tool #4

So, I put my calendar into Google Chrome and sent it to my 7th grade team.  It was a LOT easier than I thought it would be.

My only concern is that it takes a while to load/open.  If you're opening a Google Chrome calendar, you definitely need to come back to it!

Tool #2

I watched a video about iPads in the classroom in Roslyn School District on Long Island.  One good point they made was that iPads are not only replacements for desktop computers, but they are also replacements for paper.  Some students in the video said that they had not used one piece of paper in the class since they had received the iPads.

iPads can also be replacements for paper novels, textbooks, and so many other things.

Additionally, the students would just do their "proving behavior" on the iPad and save it into folders, and that was like turning it in to the teacher.

Tool #1

So far, it's not too bad.  I've figured things out pretty much by trial and error.