Post 11 Tools Reflection

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.

I think the students can learn from finding education Google Reader feeds. Also, wiki's can be a quick go-to resource for learning.

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

Given time I can see several of these tools being used in the classroom.

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

After completing the 11 tools, I now see that there are many other areas that could be included in my teaching.

Tool #9 Jing and Skype

I have not used either of the programs, Jing or Skype before, however Jing can come in handy if students want to share pictures of their projoects with friends. It is an easy way to keep relatives up to speed with ongoing schooling.

I think most of the students have used Skype - it can be an effective communication tool if one of their parents are traveling.

Tool #8 - Video Resources

This is a great video from the amazing Bill Nye the Science Guy about moon phases!


and here is one on Moon Cycles:



I found both of these videos on YouTube. YouTube can be a very educational resource for our kids.

Tool #7 - Photostory

Here are pictures from the recent Houston phenom 'Lois the Corpse Flower'.

Tool #5 Social Bookmarking

Using the diigo website, I found two new webpages. One is http://www.brainpop.com/ which is fabulous movies and activities for all subject areas. I searched for elememtary, school, and activities to find brainpop.

The other is a personal hobby, http://www.mahjonged.com/ which is a website about a fun game to play. This website was easy to find, it was the first result for a 'mah jongg' search.

Tool #4 - Google Doc

Here is the document that I created in Google Docs. It is a note page for the 5th grade team.

5th Grade Team Notes:
First Nine Weeks
2010 - 2011

Team Members:Karyn Lewis, Team leader, Language Arts, Social Studies
Carole Maniloff, Math and Science
Meredith Dixon, Math and Science
Jenny Holter, Language Arts, Social Studies

Week 1:
Welcome back to school! I hope everyone had a great summer!

Also, I used Google Reader to subscribe to the team's blogs. It is a one stop page for me to read everyones updates.

Tool #11

Three digital items I'm interested in sharing with my students are:
personal blogs, googledocs, and finding apps for the itouch.
Some of our 5th graders are pretty saavy with computers, and others are not.
I feel that all of our students need to be trained how to use all of the items appropriately.
I know we will need to start slowly, have a definite procedure developed by our team, and then continue the roll out of new tools to our students. We were very successful in our grant using the itouch and net books last year, and I'm confident that we will continue to expand the knowledge level during the new year! Looking forward to a great year!