Reflection

1. I really enjoyed sharing the tools that I created. The photostory I created of my daughter will show just a little piece of her. I would love to incorporate this tool with my students and perhaps make a photostory for the entire class of individual photos of my students and their recorded voices.  The many tools I got to play with and try really expanded my knowledge of blogging and internet tools that are out there and can be used in the classroom. 

2. I am still a little nervous about how this will all play out in my classroom. It is a lot to take in. I think it will be fun, and my students and I will just have to learn together as we go along. However, I think trying them and using them, I feel much more comfortable with it all. It is a lot to take in but the trainings and creating the blog were helpful. I want to go through and check out other people's ideas and blogs for ideas I could use in my classroom. 

 

3. The training definetly helped me and exposed myself to all the different programs out there. Some of the tools were difficult at first or were very time consuming and because I only had a month to complete it all I felt a little overwhelmed with everything I had to learn and create. I am hoping it will all get easier the more I use each tool.

Tool #11

I think the three most important areas to teach with Digital Citizenship are :

1. Digital Access- the students should be very familiar with the various technology items that we have and use. I want them to also know where to go to find the information and what to do once they get there.

2. Digital Communication: I want the students to be able to share their technology skills with others. I want them to know how to do this safely and with the most amount of success.

3. Digital Literacy: I want the students to be able to use the technology items to enhance their learning as much as possible. I want them to feel comfortable and excited about using the Itouches, netbooks, and blog items.

I think Digital Citizenship is very important since we will be using technology so often in the classroom. I want my students to establish rules and procedures for using the various technology much like I do for the classroom rules and procedures. The students need to know there are limits to how we will use and engage in the technology.

Tool #8

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=676185n

Childhood Obesity on CBS News

This is a video I found online that came from CBS news and it was about tackling childhood obesity and what we as educators can do to decrease this epidemic. Such as teaching our children healthy tips on what is good to eat and what to intake in moderation.


http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/keeping-early-childhood-learning-relevant/FydyjSBaqVw_3iCQ4LQk0Q

The Relevance of Early Childhood on blinkx.com

I found this video on the the video streaming website of blinkx. It talks about keeping early childhood education relevant. The importance of educating children to the "whole child." Attend to what the children are feeling and what they think about themselves. The most important aspects of educating a child. This was a good video to watch because it opened up my eyes on how important it is to educate these young children.

Tool #6

http://klh1985.wetpaint.com/

I think that Wikis are a great tool to share and organize information. Since anyone has the ability to update the page, it is a great way to collaborate. The sample video that discussed making a wiki to prepare for a camping trip made it very easy to understand. I think that this sample gave me some good ideas of way to incorporate wikis into my classroom.  You could share information about lessons and other teachers could add to your ideas. You could also use it as an organizational tool to keep track of school supply lists and things needed in the classroom.

Tool #10

I have been lucky enough to be able to download some interesting and useful apps to my new itouches. One of the apps that I have found is the shape builder. The kids have a picture and need to find the correct shapes to fit in the space. Another great app that I found was letter tracing. This will be very useful for extra practice when we talk about the letters in whole group. My last app that I found was pop math where the students need to find pairs of numbers to pop the bubbles.

I think that the itouches are going to be very useful in my classroom. They will help keep their short attention spans going! They are hands-on and will keep the students engaged in the activity. I believe that introducing technology is something that all Pre-K teachers should do. That way, they are fully capable of these skills at a young age.

Tool #9

I think that Jing would be a great tool to use in a Pre-K classroom. My kids are very young, so it is hard for them to follow multi-step directions. With the help of Jing, I could capture a certain screen and record the directions. That way, if the kids are struggling and do not know what to do, they could replay it to refresh their memory. That would be a time saver for me so that I do not have to go around and remind each student of the directions. 

I think that Skype could be used in the classroom for many ways. For starters, it could be a great way to keep in contact with parents. Several of my contact numbers are long-distance, so Skype could be used to call them from home and avoid using minutes on my phone. Also, you could use skype to do a video chat. For example, when we study culture, we could find someone from a specific country to talk to.  That way the kids could have a very memorable and engaging experience.

I have use Skype in the past on many occasions. I have two sisters that are both far away; one in L.A. and one in Austin. I can use Skype to get in contact with them so we keep in touch. I really enjoy the option of video chatting so that I can see my two nephews that are in Austin. Since my daughter does not get to see her cousins often, it is the next best thing!

Tool #5

I created a delicious account. I have attached my account so everything that I bookmarked can be viewed. I really like this social bookmarking site because you can add someone and view various websites that they bookmarked as well. You can organize it into various categories. I have alot of websites that I found that pertain to Pre-K curriculum and I can share with other people. You can even bookmark websites that can pertain to your personal life: I have my bank website, my college website, internet safety, news and so much more. I had so much fun with this and I added websites that I visit frequently. This would be good to share with team members, or even parents that are looking for educational websites to visit to help their kids at home. 

http://www.delicious.com/klh1985