11 Tools Reflection

1.There were some tools that were difficult to use for me, and others were intuitive and user friendly. The one I like the most was Photostory. I think this is an easy tool to use, and it allows children to be creative and make their own product. Another tool that I really enjoyed using was the apps on the iTouch. Many of our students will already be familiar with this technology and there are a lot of different ways to use it for instructional purposes.
2. At first, I was aprehensive about these tools. I thought that they may be difficult to implement in the classroom. After playing with them I realized it just takes opening your mind and spending some time to familiarize yourself with the tools. I know personally it will be a bit of a struggle and will need time to become more comfortable with some of the tools.
3. Many of the tools gave unexpected outcomes just because I had never used them. I was surprised by the amount of different tools available to use for free.

Tool #11

Digital citizenship is a great concern for our students. There is a wealth of information on the internet and our students need to know how to use it correctly and responsibly. One of the things I would stress to my students is about copyright laws. Often times we want to take information or pictures that belong to someone else and use them as our own. This is illegal. I would want my students to know the correct way to use other's information and give credit where credit is due.
Another important aspect of good digital citizenship is being able to determine what information is valid and what is not. The internet is open and available for anyone to post anything they wish. This means that people can post things that are not true. Our students will need to start learning how to decipher valid information from non-valid information.
Lastly, our students will need to know how to stay safe while using the internet. Staying safe includes keeping imporant information private to prevent identity theft, and physical safety. Teacher students how to use technology ethically and safely should be a priority.

Tool #10

I use apps on my phone currently. The ones that I use in my personal life are on my phone. I know that pretty soon our classrooms will have at least 5 ITouches or Ipads. I think that it will be great to set up workstations for students. I can specifically see students using the Itouches for math workstations. Of the few apps I looked at, there were some for practicing Math Facts, logic games, and puzzle games.
They can also use it as a research tool because there is Wikipedia app as well.

Tool #9

I had never heard of Jing. It is completely new to me. It took me a while to figure it out, but it can be really useful. Our district is really pushing the use of technology in our classrooms and sometimes it's hard to get all students on the same page. With Jing you can create a tutorial for students to watch which will guide them through whatever steps they need to achieve for a particular task. It was really difficult to get all students to find their folder on Norway server. I can just create a tutorial to finding their Norway folder and let them loose.
Skype is great! I use it sometimes to call family in Colombia. The video conference tool is really nice. As far as educational use for skype, well it really brings everyone together. Student can have a call with other students and exchange ideas or ask questions. Student ability to collaborate with others is incredibly important, and Skype is a great way to encourage that collaboration. Teachers from our district can agree to work on a particular project in teams consisting of students from different schools. With all of these great tools, collaboration is becoming easier.

Tool #8

This was a really easy tool for me to complete. I use videos often and have become more comfortable with them. I love to go to Discovery Education for the great videos. I am posting the most recent ones I used.

Fiddler Crabs - we ordered Fiddler Crabs this summer for Science Camp and the students were able to study them for 4 weeks. They constructed their habitat and we all wanted to see the molting process. Students really enjoyed this video.


Here is another video we enjoyed....

Tool #7

This summer I worked teaching science summer camp. We had lots of hands-on activities and student had many opportunities to explore and have fun. I created a Photostory with some of the pictures I have collected.

Tool #6

I love using Wikipedia and use it often, but I never realized it was a "wiki." After learning a bit more about wikis and how easy they are to use, I am thinking about many different ways they can be used in the classroom.
Well, we use interactive journals for science, and there is nothing more interactive than a Wiki. It could be a great way for students to document their findings during science investigations, and then collaborate with eachother. They can get input from classmates, teachers, or anyone at all.
Teachers could also use wikis to collaborate on documents, however, GoogleDoc also served that purpose.

Tool #5

For this tool I decided to use Diigo. I browsed through Delicious and I thought Diigo's groups would be useful.
It is full of websites that have been tagged for educators. I applied to join a Science Educator group and an waiting approval. In the meantime, here are 2 links that I ran into by simply searching science tags. I know I can use these in class....

Fun Cool Science Experiments

Moon Phases

Tool #4 Google Docs

It was enlightening to see the cool tools available with Google. I can see teachers using google docs as they are planning and finalizing lesson plans or roadmaps, which are evolving documents.

Tool #3 Image Generators

I found different images of animal adaptations on Big Huge Labs. There were many to pick from. I can see us using this in class when studying different animals adaptations. We could classify them and open a discussion about behavioral and structural adaptations. Students are being encouraged to use different types of technology so this could be a perfect way to integrate technology TEKS with Science TEKS.

Tool # 2

1. My thoughts on creating a PLN are concerning and at the same time exciting. It is exciting as a professional to be able to share ideas, strategies, and lessons with other educators. My concern lies in using this with the students because the time factor. I have seen students communicate on my space but their content is not what I would accept academically. They will need lots of coaching on how to properly communicate using a social network.

2. The points that stuck with me in the commenting advice were:
-disagreeing respectfully
-Supporting or questioning, not just agreeing.

I commented on the following blogs:
Mimi the blogger (Michelle Garcia)
11 Tools Training: Tool 1 (Nancy Delgado)
RGEdavisi (Ivonne Davis)
Discovering Technology for Education (Guadalupe Menjivar)
Teaching and Technology (Eric Zulaica)

Tool # 1

I've just created my blog. I had to follow all the steps very carefully since this is totally new for me.