Lessons Taught and Lessons Learned
Taking a class about how to integrate technology into the classroom encouraged me to try new things and has definitely pushed me outside of my comfort zone. Over the course of the semester I taught my students how to use Haiku Deck and Story Jumper. I also taught myself how to use Popplet, Educanon, and Educreations to make my lessons more engaging. In addition, I had the opportunity to create a quiz on Kahoot and share it with parents and students at a technology night.
What I have learned from this experience is using technology in the classroom makes learning more engaging and fun for my students. I remember watching them the first time they got to use Haiku Deck and being amazed at how much they enjoyed working on that assignment. I have also learned that technology projects take time but are definitely worth it. In the future, I hope to continue to learn more about different apps and websites so that I can continue to make learning fun for my students.
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Collaboration
One of our assignments was to find a way to collaborate with someone else on a project. So, Angie, Charissa, and I decided to collaborate together by having our students comment on each others' Story Jumper stories. We found the easiest way to do this was to share our usernames and passwords with each other and then let our students comment on the stories. My students have not had a chance to do this yet, but I think they will enjoy being able to see and comment on other students' stories.
One of our assignments was to find a way to collaborate with someone else on a project. So, Angie, Charissa, and I decided to collaborate together by having our students comment on each others' Story Jumper stories. We found the easiest way to do this was to share our usernames and passwords with each other and then let our students comment on the stories. My students have not had a chance to do this yet, but I think they will enjoy being able to see and comment on other students' stories.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Kahoot
Last night I got to present Kahoot to Campbell Elementary families at our Technology Night. It was a lot of fun! I just created a short quiz that highlighted some of the programs we offer at Campbell. I felt like it was a huge success!! The room was packed for each 15 minute session from 5:30-6:15 and everyone seemed to enjoy using Kahoot.
Last night I got to present Kahoot to Campbell Elementary families at our Technology Night. It was a lot of fun! I just created a short quiz that highlighted some of the programs we offer at Campbell. I felt like it was a huge success!! The room was packed for each 15 minute session from 5:30-6:15 and everyone seemed to enjoy using Kahoot.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Popplet
After reading some of my classmates blogs, I checked out Popplet and created a few that I could use to help teach my students how to brainstorm writing topics and how to organize a personal narrative. I really enjoyed using Popplet. I felt that it was user friendly and made organizing information fun. Click on the following link to see the Popplet I created for brainstorming ideas for a descriptive paragraph http://popplet.com/app/#/2443679.
After reading some of my classmates blogs, I checked out Popplet and created a few that I could use to help teach my students how to brainstorm writing topics and how to organize a personal narrative. I really enjoyed using Popplet. I felt that it was user friendly and made organizing information fun. Click on the following link to see the Popplet I created for brainstorming ideas for a descriptive paragraph http://popplet.com/app/#/2443679.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
ISTE Standards
The most recent project I have been working on with my students is to create a fractured fairy tale and then create a digital story using Storyjumper. First, we read the story The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. Then I had them write out their own versions of the story. Now they are working on turning their written stories into digital stories using Storyjumper. They are really enjoying creating their stories and using Storyjumper to add illustrations to go with their writing.
I feel that this project connects with the ISTE Standards of facilitating and inspiring student learning through creativity because they get to design their own stories and use technology to add pictures to really make them come alive. It gives them an opportunity to use their imaginations. I also feel that this project demonstrates my ability to create a digital age learning experience using contemporary tools. In addition, I was able to model for my students what I wanted them to do by creating my own story and then collaborating with them to create a story together. I was also able to collaborate with my practicum student and instructor on this project by having them help out in the classroom while the students were working on their stories. Finally, I feel that I am growing professionally by taking this technology class and implementing what I am learning into my classroom.
Check out our books at the following website: http://www.storyjumper.com/class/books/387648
The most recent project I have been working on with my students is to create a fractured fairy tale and then create a digital story using Storyjumper. First, we read the story The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. Then I had them write out their own versions of the story. Now they are working on turning their written stories into digital stories using Storyjumper. They are really enjoying creating their stories and using Storyjumper to add illustrations to go with their writing.
I feel that this project connects with the ISTE Standards of facilitating and inspiring student learning through creativity because they get to design their own stories and use technology to add pictures to really make them come alive. It gives them an opportunity to use their imaginations. I also feel that this project demonstrates my ability to create a digital age learning experience using contemporary tools. In addition, I was able to model for my students what I wanted them to do by creating my own story and then collaborating with them to create a story together. I was also able to collaborate with my practicum student and instructor on this project by having them help out in the classroom while the students were working on their stories. Finally, I feel that I am growing professionally by taking this technology class and implementing what I am learning into my classroom.
Check out our books at the following website: http://www.storyjumper.com/class/books/387648
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Screencast
My goal was to create a screencast to present to my students. I chose to use Educanon to create my screencast and had some trouble with it at first. However, after problem solving with my instructor and my practicum student I was able to figure out that when using the free version you can only use some of the different question types. Once I figured that out, I was able to easily create a screencast to supplement a social studies lesson on goods, services, producers, and consumers. I also shared the link with my Twitter followers. Yeah!
Graphic Organizer
I also created a graphic organizer using Educreations and shared it with my students. We just started learning about personal narratives and I was teaching a lesson on how to narrow down a topic. So, I used Educreations to draw an inverted triangle to illustrate how to go from a topic such as a vacation and narrow it down to the specific place such as Worlds of Fun and then to narrow it down one more time to what it was like to ride on one of the roller coasters.
I would also like to try using Popplet to show my students how they could brainstorm some different topics for their personal narratives.
Teaching using Traditional and New Literacies
I really enjoyed reading the following article: http://pwpresearch.wikispaces.com/file/view/Combining+Traditional+and+New+Literacies+in+a+21st+Century+Writing+Workshop.pdf
about how to integrate technology into the writer's workshop. I loved the idea of having students record themselves telling their stories and then listening to them to help them get the writing process started. I think this would be especially beneficial for students who are intimidated by a blank piece of paper and struggle to get their writing started. I think it would be challenging to have every student in my class do this, but I would like to start small and have at least a few of my students try this strategy. I also like the ideas of my students turning their personal narratives into digital stories. I think it would be really engaging for them.
My goal was to create a screencast to present to my students. I chose to use Educanon to create my screencast and had some trouble with it at first. However, after problem solving with my instructor and my practicum student I was able to figure out that when using the free version you can only use some of the different question types. Once I figured that out, I was able to easily create a screencast to supplement a social studies lesson on goods, services, producers, and consumers. I also shared the link with my Twitter followers. Yeah!
Graphic Organizer
I also created a graphic organizer using Educreations and shared it with my students. We just started learning about personal narratives and I was teaching a lesson on how to narrow down a topic. So, I used Educreations to draw an inverted triangle to illustrate how to go from a topic such as a vacation and narrow it down to the specific place such as Worlds of Fun and then to narrow it down one more time to what it was like to ride on one of the roller coasters.
I would also like to try using Popplet to show my students how they could brainstorm some different topics for their personal narratives.
Teaching using Traditional and New Literacies
I really enjoyed reading the following article: http://pwpresearch.wikispaces.com/file/view/Combining+Traditional+and+New+Literacies+in+a+21st+Century+Writing+Workshop.pdf
about how to integrate technology into the writer's workshop. I loved the idea of having students record themselves telling their stories and then listening to them to help them get the writing process started. I think this would be especially beneficial for students who are intimidated by a blank piece of paper and struggle to get their writing started. I think it would be challenging to have every student in my class do this, but I would like to start small and have at least a few of my students try this strategy. I also like the ideas of my students turning their personal narratives into digital stories. I think it would be really engaging for them.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Digital Citizenship
I think it is great that there is a free curriculum online that you can use to teach digital citizenship. Three main ideas I can stress to my students are how to deal with cyberbullying by becoming an Upstander, how to effectively find the information they are looking for with keyword searches, and teaching them how to use other people's work without plagiarizing it. I can include the cyberbullying talk into our class meetings that we have at the end of the day on Fridays. The lessons on keyword searches and plagiarism could be integrated into lesson on how to do research.
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