Reflections

Finally, I'm done....yes, yes, yes!!! Wow, I remember feeling very stressed out and apprehensive about this 11 tool online training. I'm a very computer challenged person and although I've heard and have seen many of these stuff such as some of the iPhone apps, Wikis, blogging, digital storytelling (my husband does many of these), I've never tried them out. Working through each of the tools has been very stressful yet exciting and has been such a great learning experience for me. I can't wait to show and teach my students some of these tools. I know I still have a long way to go but with appropriate support from others and practice on my part, I believe I can do it.

Some of the tools that I really, really like are the digital/photo story telling, wikis and some of the iPhone apps like the Math games. Our class can create a photo story to retell a favorite story or maybe a photo story to summarize their learning on a unit (e.g. magnets, dinosaurs, etc.)

This experience has opened up to me so many exciting possibilities that for sure would greatly enhance my teaching and support the creativity of the students and the learning that takes place in my classroom.

Tool # 11 Digital Citizenship

Technology is very much part of our lives. More and more people, especially younger ones are getting exposed to it. I believe that people, students in particular should be made aware of what's appropriate and what's not, as far as the use of it is concerned. Digital citizenship to me, means being able to handle technology with a sense of responsibility and accountability. These are the 3 things I would teach my students about digital citizenship.

1. Technology and all its resources must be understood as a valuable tool to support and enhance learning. There are several things online that would help develop and reinforce students' skills to be critical thinkers and problem solvers. There are many things that are being put out there online and one has to learn to filter these information and not just believe and accept everything that's being said. Students need to be trained on how to weigh in on issues and have the proper perspective when making opinions.

2. Technology is a form of communication. Students need to be taught of the ways that these technology resources can contribute to enhance conversations and collaborations between and among people. I believe it is in the students' advantage to be able to learn from each other and grow from their experiences of each others' culture, way of thinking, etc.

3. Technology users must have a sense of safety. Online predators are so prevalent nowadays that students must be made aware of these dangers. They need to be taught on the signs of these dangers, how to detect them, and handle them by letting proper authorities know about them. It is also of utmost important that students are trained not to give out personal information not only for their own safety but for others' as well.

Tool # 10 Exploring Mobile Technology and Apps

These are some of the free Apps I have reviewed.

1.ABC Phonics would be helpful in that it has pictures to reinforce the letter and word.
2.Alphabet Tracing uses fun train, truck and worm animations to show students the proper way of writing the letters of the alphabet.
3.Read Me Stories is a fun and interactive way for children to learn new concepts.
4.My First Words helps students acquire new vocabularies and it's also helpful for language development.
4.Kids Math has fun games that reinforce basic Math principles of counting, adding and subtracting.

The ways that I think the iPhone or iPad would be useful for my students are using Math games to reinforce learning of early Math concepts such as counting and shapes, using the Reader Apps to learn new concepts/ideas, using ABC Apps for early phonics and Alphabet tracing to help students learn to write letters properly.

Tool # 9 Sharing Information through Jing & Skype

One thing I like about Jing is adding visuals/images to make the sharing of information even more interesting. For small children, visuals definitely enhance their learning and retention of it. I might use it to reinforce or explain concepts or ideas to the students or just share information.

My husband uses skype and he thinks it's great, it's clear and the best thing, it's free. After learning about it, I can say that it's another great medium for collaboration with other teachers and for interaction with students and people from other places. Learning is no longer confined within a classroom but it's now worldwide where people can not only share information, but learn from each other.

Tool # 8 Video Resources

I have used video resources several times before in my class. I find them very useful in reinforcing students' learning of concepts in many subject areas, particularly Science and Social Studies. There is a higher rate of retaining information acquired by the students. In my experience, it can generate lots of discussions and questions among students.

I Have A Dream - Martin Luther King

Inauguration Speeches

Tool # 7 Digital Storytelling

This digital story telling is great except for the fact that I had quite a lot of difficulties completing it. Because I am somewhat computer challenged, I had to enlist my husband's help in creating one. I chose to create a story about a ministry that we've been involved in for several years now.

I thought that this would be a great tool for my students to create a class project such as retelling of their favorite stories or even summarizing what they learned about a unit/concept(e.g. dinosaurs, magnets, etc.). As a teacher, this would be useful for introducing a concept, brainstorming about an idea, or creating a response to a story,

Tool # 5 Tagging & Social Bookmarking

I set up an account with Delicious. I find it easier to work with than Diigo, although Diigo has a lot more features I think would be very helpful in organizing information. Again, this tool helps you to be more efficient in collecting and organizing sites by bookmarking them so that you have them all in one place. For the students, the bookmarks and tags would help them make their search a lot easier. This tool is great to help students in all subject areas such as Math, Reading, Writing, Science, etc. The websites I found are;

http://www.rocksforkids.com/
http://www.kidsdinos.com/

The tags I used are the following;

Rocks, Crystals, Dinosaurs, Fossils and Minerals