What I have learned this semester

Looking at my Inspiration graphic organizer from the first week of class, I really did not know a lot about technology. I knew how to do a basic word processing, basic email, Powerpoint, and how to use a digital camera. I was really intimidated about taking this class, but I needed the foundation credit.

Now, I'm really glad that I took this class. Now I can create a webquest, do wikis, make a digital text, do a digital movie, podcast, blog, Skype, do social networking, do threaded discussions, Voki, etc. The other teachers at my school are pretty impressed with what I can do--in fact, I'm pretty impressed with myself.

I realize now that technology is something you have to just jump in and try. There are a lot of things I still could not figure out or master--at this date, I still haven't been able to post my digital movie----. As a teacher, you just can't stand back and say "I don't know or our school isn't equipped---you can make things happen with technology and your students if you try. My kids were excited about using technology and if we want them to learn and to appeal to them, teachers (myself included) need to learn more about technology.

I hope to continue using many of the tools I learned about in class. I think this class should be a requirement because technology is the wave of the future. We must embrace it and try to use it successfully in our classrooms if we want our students to become productive, future citizens.

Virtual Classes

I was a little hesitant about the idea of a virtual class. It had its pros and cons.

Pros: save on time (1 1/2 hour drive), save on gas (extremely high,isn't it), able to do some things around the house (cook, laundry, etc), less stress (no driving, no hurrying to get to class on time), better diet (no stopping at the fast food drive in); able to explore on my own in a quiet environment

Cons: able to explore on my own in a quiet environment ( I need some noise!); no classmates to talk and brainstorm with; no professor to beg help from

Tools to make it work: highly structured lesson (like the tutorial using GabCast); able to communicate with others (via threaded discussion with classmates & professor); using virutal classes occassional (no more than once or twice a month--preferrably less); working on an easier topic

Voki

I liked using Voki. I think it is alot like podcasting, but better because the kids would have a character to watch and listen to. I think that this would be great to use as a host for a classroom blog. It would also be great to have on a class webpage to give announcements or assignments. Additionally, you could use this to share books with the character being the narrator.



Get a Voki now!

Using Movie Maker

I really like Movie Maker. In class, I was having difficulty with the book I had scanned (I used Powerpoint to save it) so I made a movie of my dog, Foxie.

Later, I took photos and downloaded them to my computer for a movie maker version of "Joshua by the Sea" by Angela Johnson. I narrated the book as well. I then showed the movie to my students. We watched it several times and then my kids made their own variations of "Joshua by the Sea" poems and illustrated them.

My students really enjoyed this. They liked the transitions and the narration. This is another tool that I would use again in my classroom. In fact, I recently wrote a Donors Choose Grant for the equipment for my students to create their own digital books and Movie Maker productions.

My students' Poetry Podcasts

Here are my students podcasts of their poetry. They wrote a variety of poems including I am poems, Love That (based on Love that Boy); Joshua by the Sea Poem Variations, So much Depends Upon poems (Based on the Red Wheelbarrow)

http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&id=19307

Podcasting with my students

This week, I used podcasting with my kids through the Gabcast program. It was awesome. My students shared the poetry that they had written during our poetry unit in their podcasts.
The kids loved it--the recording,listening, and sharing with others. I was so excited I showed everyone--the librarian, the computer lab assistant, other teachers on my floor, etc. Everyone was so impressed and they asked me to show them how to do it as well--which is great! I ran down to the office to show my principal and assistant principal--they were impressed too, but the first thing that they said was " you said the kids' last names--do they all have Internet permission for last names---I guess I was just caught up in the moment that I didn't even think about it---what a downer--they're just so "administrative"---why couldn't they say "wow these are great poems--your kids did so well--how innovative to use podcasting--anything!"

I'm not going to let that discourage me though. My kids loved it and that's what counts so I will definitely use it again. Some of the kids were so funny recording. When I asked Phillip in the classroom if he would record one of his poems in the library on the phone, his whole face turned red! Ty (the cool kid in my class) froze on the phone and just handed it back to me! I was most proud of Keynari. Keynari has a major stuttering problem. He knows he has to use "his controls" that the speech therapist has shown him, but most of the time he does not. He wanted to do such a good job on this that he practiced and really used his controls well and did a great job!

I see so many other uses for podcasts in the classroom--books on MP3, summaries of content units, interviews, book reports, etc. I even taught our grade level's part-time Title I assistant how to record and she helped some of my kids to record. I think this would be a great tool to use in the classroom and easy to implement.

Podcasting

I just used GabCast. It Worked!!! I'm so excited. This is going to be so great to use with my students. I really see this as a great way for my students to share with others. Since I teach 3 blocks of Reading/Language Arts I could do a Podcast performance of Block 2 and share it with Block 3. I can also share with other teachers, adminstration, and parents!

I am planning on using this with the kids tomorrow. They are going to share some of their poetry writings to create new episodes!!!

Here's my episode,giving a summary of my poetry unit to give some background information before my kids share their poems this week.

Gabcast! Mrs. Church's 5th Grade Class #1

Tutorial

I just finished my tutorial on using Social Bookmarks. I used a Powerpoint presentation to do this so that I could share it easily in a teacher meeting. I ended up using the print screen feature. Until this class, I had no idea what that button was used for! I never did get Jing to work.

I think that this could be used for kids. By using the print screen page button, it gives a visual for kids to confirm that they are on the right track which would be helpful. Instead of repeating yourself over and over, you could simply pass out a list of directions with the photos on there.

I will probably use this most often with adults. In fact, I may do a tutorial on doing a Powerpoint Presentation next because I made 2 presentations for 2 other teachers for our EOG parent night and one for the entire group who went to the Reading Conference for our faculty share event because " no one else knows how!"

Update on digital text

Just wanted to give an update on my digital text. Tuesday night was our EOG Parent Night. I told the kids that I was planning on sharing my digital text with their photos and voices that night and many said that they were "embarrassed" or "excited" about their parents seeing it. When I showed it that night, the kids were so excited and the parents enjoyed seeing and hearing their kids. I must say that I impressed my fellow teacher colleagues! It was a great experience and I will definitely use digital texts again.

Wiki

On Monday, Dr. Koppenhaver showed us how to create a wiki. Kelly D. and I worked together on a wiki about webquests. It went really well. It was very easy to do and I felt like I really got something successfully accomplished when I left class on Monday. It was neat how Kelly and I could colloborate to do this. She and I discussed how to split up the project and we each worked individually to create our parts and then it just all came together on the wiki page. I think that would be great for kids. I remember when I student taught (about 7 years ago----7th grade---these kids are sophomores in college now---yikes!) my students worked in colloborative groups to create powerpoints about a region in Africa. They split up the tasks, but they were all crowded around one little computer with one person do all of the input while everyone else either offer suggestions or didn't do much at all. If we had used wiki, everyone could have completed their own task at their own computers and then put the information together as it was posted on the wiki! So much better.

Wikis would be great on any colloborative process in any subject.

Jing may not be the Thing

I don't know about everyone, but I was really frustrated with Jing. When we finally figured out what I did wrong, (the mic was not on), I felt pretty stupid. I should have came home that night and did my tutorial, but it was late and I put it off until the weekend. Now I can't remember how to embed my link into my Powerpoint presentation! Ugh! If I don't write it don't step by step, I'll forget it!

I really need to remember this. I planned on doing my powerpoint tutorial today and I'm also working on a powerpoint for the EOG Parent Night about reading for Tuesday night. I thought I could take an image of the sample stories that DPI has on their website to embed in my powerpoint to show my parents the different kinds of stories that the kids will read. Maybe I can figure it out tomorrow night and fix my powerpoint for tomorrow.

Social Networking

I explored the Ning website and registered for the account. This social networking site is designed for teachers, which I think is helpful. I then explored Facebook with my little sister who gave me a personal tour which was great. I actually looked at some people's Facebook accounts and was a little surprised at what they put on the site (ie. my husband's little sister). It makes you think about future businesses and colleagues looking at these sites to get an idea of what kind of person you are.

My digital text

I did my digital text on Getting Ready for the EOG. I plan to show this at our EOG Parent Night on April 8th. My kids were really excited about getting their pictures taken with my digital camera. Then, when I asked them to add voice, some were excited and some were a little embarrassed. I told them that I would show them the finished product at the EOG Night, so maybe that will be an incentive for them to come with their parents so they can see themselves in the book.

I loved doing this! I really see the applications in the classroom. It would be great to have 5 digital cameras to check out at school so the kids could work in groups to create their own texts. I will definitely use this again.

Here's my Badango address for my book.

http://www.badongo.com/file/8334245

Social Networking

I tried using Ning tonight with regards to Social Networking. I still have to read the articles about this which I will put on the threaded discussion. So far, I have found this to be more frustrating than anything. I know that my little sister is big into Facebook and My Space, but I'm pretty sure that this would be firewalled at my school.

Everyone's webquests looks great

I just went to Nicenet to view everyone's links to their webquests. They look great. I'm still working on mine, but hope to have it finished soon. I can't wait to show the science teacher on our grade level team Caroline's webquest on biomes and Cher's webquest on landforms and erosion. Wouldn't it be a great idea if each grade level in a district got together to make a bunch of webquests that would correlate with the Standard Course of Study. If each teacher did just one, that would be a lot of webquests!

Progress on Digital Text

Due to the work day, I got a lot accomplished on my digital text. I just started over using the template on an older version of PowerPoint which will actually make it easier to use at my school. I got all 44 slides finished with text and pictures. All I have left to do is to add sound with my students' voices and to post it on this blog and Nicenet. Yeah!

Thankful for a work night on Monday

I am so thankful Cher suggested that we have a work night on Monday. I definitely need some help because I feel so behind and confused! I finished my digital bookmarks last week, but I can't get them to upload again. I have had a web cam video of me for a while, but still having trouble Springdooing it. My digital text and webquest isn't finished either so I'm hoping to get some things accomplished on Monday if I can please have a little assitance.

Social Bookmarking

I worked on Social bookmarking this week and I really liked it. I tried several different methods. First, I just put some websites that I'm always looking at. Then, I typed a key word in the search box such as poetry to see what I could find. I also looked at other people's list of bookmarks and linked to them as well. I found some websites that I heard about a long time ago (like the Laura Chandler site) but forgot about. I also found some new websites such as the one on digital storytelling. I hope to show some other teachers at school about this so we can share bookmarks.

Sorry I didn't post last week

We moved last week and it was really hectic!! The horses escaped the pasture, the satellite man didn't come, I can't find anything, people keep coming by to see the place, etc. It was just crazy! Anyway, I promise to be more with-it this week.

Learning about Skype and Springdoo from Everyone

Mary showed the basics of Skype. The hardest part was waiting for the program to download!

Lisa shared about Springdoo. I've registered for an account and hope to try it this week with my kids. We just finished Stone Fox today as our novel study. My kids are doing novel projects where they can use different ways to express what they learned from the book. I think I'm going to try to record them using Springdoo so I can create a Powerpoint to save for next year's class so they can see examples of what other kids have completed for projects.

I also thought about using Springdoo with Author's Chair. Our fourth graders are getting ready for the Writing Test and they are having the "Big Deal" day where they are assigned a faculty/staff member in the school to read their favorite piece of writing that they created for the year. Instead of having them roam around the school, wouldn't it be great to video tape them reading their story and then emailing it to a favorite teacher or their parent. Then we could reply back in an email with positive comments.

More on Using Gaggle

I had better results from Gaggle by the end of the week. I spent a couple days emailing the help desk back and forth trying to get logged in as a teacher, not a student. One thing I did learn from this is that they are prompt in replying to your help needs/questions.

• When you do get logged in as a teacher/administrator, there's a jump to link for school adminstrator's. This link will help you set up the default info for your school. It will also help you log your students into the program.

The best link I found was the Frequently Asked Question section. On the first two questions, there is a teacher guide you can download that will help you through the set up which is nice to have a hard copy of. There is also some flyers to send home to parents and students to get them excited about using Gaggle too.

Using Gaggle

Well, I have spent most of the night trying to get my Gaggle account to work. Apparently I am listed as a student, not a teacher, so I have to wait until I hear a reply from the company's help desk.

I did do the online tour. It does seem to be a very safe website for my students. I also looked at the schools in NC who are using this website and no one from my school district is using Gaggle.

I was really hoping to get things started with a Gaggle account soon for my kids. I'm thinking about using it as an alternative to journals.

We're doing a novel study now, so maybe we can use it for our next novel since I won't have time for this one.

Introduction to Blogging

I guess this is the first time I have blogged before--threaded discussions doesn't count, right. Anyway, I know that my nineteen year old sister will be so proud of me. She uses My Space and Facebook all the time. I told her that I was doing a blog for one of my classes and she said that she would help me and make my blog more appealing!