1. My favorite tool is Digital Storytelling because it involves the use of a lot of technology such as pictures, music, text, voice and kids can really make their own story to use in writing. The idea that I have is using digital cameras, the students at the beginning of the year can start taking and saving their pictures or they can even bring pictures from home and scanned them at school, in order to collect special moments to help them make a memorable album. With a little description where they are on each picture and something unforgettable about that day, students might use the album as a reference to write different personal narratives. Each picture will be a story to tell. Having that as a photo story will add to their story lots more details, because they have the image right there.
2. I realized after reading all the information to complete this assignment that today's students are digital learners so we need to find out how to use more technology and apps in order to get more from them. It is very important to assist children to learn through technology, the only thing that really concerns me is time. As a teacher I really value the time because we are always wanting more time during the day to plan, to prepare classes, to grade papers, to talk to parents, to meet etc and technology requires a lot of that time that we do not have.
3. The unexpected outcome from this program was that even thought some of the tools were really hard and some of them made me cry, I was able to do it because I put a lot of effort on it. It was frustrating not to know more things about technology in some cases, I had to call some coworkers to help me but finally I found my way to do my best. I am very visual and I definitely do learn better if someone shows me how to do it, then I try it myself. With this experience I felt like when a child is thrown into the water without knowing how to swim, but the good thing is that I get out afloat and I did not sink.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tool # 11 Digital Citizenship
The 3 things I would like my students to understand about being good digital citizens are:
Safety: It is important for them to understand that everything they post in the pages they normally use to socialize as My space, Facebook, Hotmail etc, its going to stay there even if they deleted. They should not reveal any personal information such as address, street where they live or any private information because they should think first that anybody will have access to that.
How to discern information: Not everything you see it is true or valid. The kids do not realized that Internet, TV, Movies have stories with actors that represent different situations in life that not necessarily are true. They believed in that reality and they want to be part of that unreality. If that happens with simples soup operas, with the Internet is worst because they used Internet at home, most of the time, without any adult supervision, without anybody telling them what it is true and what it is not. We must teach them to discern, so they will be able to recognized between reality and fiction, what it is valid and what it is not.
Intellectual property: It is very important to teach them what copyright means and how you can use information, documents, pictures, videos etc without breaking the law.
After reading a lot of the information offered about digital citizenship, I think the way I would use to teach my students about safety, how to be discern and intellectual property will be making our own rules in class. Discussing first the meaning of those words, how they look like (showing them support with videos like Brain Pop-Cyberethics for Kids) and finally showing them real cases of how to be a good digital citizen and how easily you can break the rule of being a good digital citizen.
Safety: It is important for them to understand that everything they post in the pages they normally use to socialize as My space, Facebook, Hotmail etc, its going to stay there even if they deleted. They should not reveal any personal information such as address, street where they live or any private information because they should think first that anybody will have access to that.
How to discern information: Not everything you see it is true or valid. The kids do not realized that Internet, TV, Movies have stories with actors that represent different situations in life that not necessarily are true. They believed in that reality and they want to be part of that unreality. If that happens with simples soup operas, with the Internet is worst because they used Internet at home, most of the time, without any adult supervision, without anybody telling them what it is true and what it is not. We must teach them to discern, so they will be able to recognized between reality and fiction, what it is valid and what it is not.
Intellectual property: It is very important to teach them what copyright means and how you can use information, documents, pictures, videos etc without breaking the law.
After reading a lot of the information offered about digital citizenship, I think the way I would use to teach my students about safety, how to be discern and intellectual property will be making our own rules in class. Discussing first the meaning of those words, how they look like (showing them support with videos like Brain Pop-Cyberethics for Kids) and finally showing them real cases of how to be a good digital citizen and how easily you can break the rule of being a good digital citizen.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Tool # 10
Some of the free educational apps I most like are:
Google Earth: It is really fun to travel just with a touch from your current location to anywhere you want. It is very descriptive and show you in real life how the street or zone looks like. You can zoom your view and see the name of streets and have geographic information. I located the street were I used to lived in Cartagena, Colombia and it was really fun for me to recognize the houses, thanks to the perfect view google earth showed.
NASA Lunar Electric Rover Simulator: I personally did not try this one, but my husband was playing a little bit with it. I see more boys than girls interested in this application because it has a lot of action, great information on current NASA lunar rovers and it seems to be a fun game.
KenKen Lite: I really like this apps because you make kids apply higher level thinking to solve puzzles using math concepts. I even sign up for free puzzles that they send it directly to your e-mail and based on the grade level you requested.
It was really fun to play for a while in the Apple store, I think kids will love to use these mobile technology and apps in the classroom, considering the idea that student's now days are digital learners so we have to find out how we can teach them through digital delivery of content.
Google Earth: It is really fun to travel just with a touch from your current location to anywhere you want. It is very descriptive and show you in real life how the street or zone looks like. You can zoom your view and see the name of streets and have geographic information. I located the street were I used to lived in Cartagena, Colombia and it was really fun for me to recognize the houses, thanks to the perfect view google earth showed.
NASA Lunar Electric Rover Simulator: I personally did not try this one, but my husband was playing a little bit with it. I see more boys than girls interested in this application because it has a lot of action, great information on current NASA lunar rovers and it seems to be a fun game.
KenKen Lite: I really like this apps because you make kids apply higher level thinking to solve puzzles using math concepts. I even sign up for free puzzles that they send it directly to your e-mail and based on the grade level you requested.
It was really fun to play for a while in the Apple store, I think kids will love to use these mobile technology and apps in the classroom, considering the idea that student's now days are digital learners so we have to find out how we can teach them through digital delivery of content.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Tool # 9
Jing and Skype are great tools to use in the classroom. Using Jing could help us as teachers to save time because you can make visual directions, for example on how you want to set up your rules to use the class library. You make it visual to them at the beginning of the year and you have it available in case they forgot what the rules are. I used Skype all the time to communicate with my family in Colombia. It is a great resource because you can chat, use video and send information at the same time in life time.
In the classroom, I think the idea to have an author invited to the class using skype and discuss the content of the book, make questions so the entire class can enjoy the conversation, it is a plus to the learning environment. The only problem is that the use of these tools takes a lot of time and that's what we do not have enough throughout the day.
In the classroom, I think the idea to have an author invited to the class using skype and discuss the content of the book, make questions so the entire class can enjoy the conversation, it is a plus to the learning environment. The only problem is that the use of these tools takes a lot of time and that's what we do not have enough throughout the day.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Tool # 8 Part 2
This is a great video about how the brain works. It is powerful to show kids how the brain is able to convert more information under stress and how it controls every movement of our body. It can control millions of instructions within seconds and we do not even realize it.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Tool # 8 Part One
First Video:Fractions. This video shows students step by step the whole unit of fractions. Each chapter could be use as a mini lesson starter to introduce the diferent parts of the whole unit Fractions. Using videos in the class it is a great resource because it called attention for all the kids no matter how they prefer to learn. They loved to see the use of technology in the class. Details: This video includes the following chapters: * Understanding What Fractions Are * Fractions for Whole Numbers * Multiplying Fractions * Working with Fractions of Ones * Fractions on Number Lines * Adding and Subtracting Fractions with Like Denominators * Finding the Least Common Denominator * Adding and Subtracting Fractions with Unlike Denominators * Simplifying Fractions * Dividing Fractions * Working with Mixed Numbers.
Tool # 7
I can say that this is the tool that has taken from me a lot of time. At the beginning I did want to do something different than using pictures and making a story out of it. Then one night I was reading a story to my son and it immediately made a click on my head to make a digital storytelling with that book. My scanner was not working properly so I went to a public library to scan all the story. I came home and it stays there for a few days, not knowing what to do. Finally I had the time to sit and read the directions, and they were simple so I was able to made my personal digital storytelling using the great book: Oh my baby, Little One By Kathi Appelt. She is a great author that I had the opportunity to met and she dedicated the book to Pablo, my son. This is a great tool for students to create their own digital story, making a book review, and more using digital pictures, scanners, cameras, and other technology tools to create a great Storytelling.
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