Here is my Diggo URL: http://www.diigo.com/user/lal2012
I enjoyed this activity as now I have many resources to use for my classroom. It was very easy for me to bookmark websites using the digolet tool from Diggo. The only thing that I found difficult was creating this word cloud of tags. Since I do not have a Delicious account, I had to hand type all of these tags. However, if I would have used Delicious all I would have had to do was type in my Delicious username and it would have transferred all of my tags in one easy step. I enjoyed making a word cloud regardless of how long it took me. Check out my word cloud below.
Lindsey's Technology and Education Blog
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Friday, July 6, 2012
My Google Reader Experience
The seven
blogs I subscribed to are:
Until I took this
course, I had never read a blog in my life. I can proudly say that I am a blog
reader now. Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of
the Day, Free Technology for Teachers,
Media Specialist’s Guide to the Internet,
Teachers Love SMART Boards, and Librarian.net were my top 5 favorite
blogs. All five of these websites offer several technological resources and
lesson plans that I can use with my upcoming 5th grade classes in
the library. I have been making a list of all the awesome resources I have
gathered from reading these blogs. One thing I have to say about Ferlazzo's blog
is that while it is not my overall favorite, he provided a lot of links to resources
and videos about animals. I remember watching a very good video about polar
bears which my second grade class would love.
If I had to pick my
overall favorite blog, I would pick A Media Specialists Guide to the Internet. As a librarian, I have to say that this is my dream blog. It has
technology tools to use with students and websites with lesson plans and activities
related to history, science, language arts. A few blogs list wonderful authors
and titles for elementary and junior high ages. I have always been worried
about using PowerPoint with my students because I am afraid they will may have problems saving it correctly, but this blog
introduced me to Slide Rocket. It keeps all the students presentations in a
cloud on Slide Rocket’s server so I do not have to worry about them losing them.
My favorite blog post
came from Librarian.net. “The origin story of Mousercise” was posted on June 6,
2012. In this post, Jessamyn West (library technologist) retells her email interview
experience with the creator of Mousercise Chris Rippel. I liked this post
because I had never heard of Mousercise. After checking it out, I realize that
this tutorial will be a great site to use with my fifth graders. It includes
typing and mouse tutorials, exercises, and games. At the beginning of the post,
I learned that it was originally called Mouserobics until Disney found out
about it. At the beginning of the interview, Rippel talks about when he made
Mousercise after teaching his first computer basics class in Kansas and how he
is currently working for the Central Kansas Library System (CKLS). For the rest
of the interview he gives advice for teacher librarians who want to teach
computer basics to their students. Since I am that teacher librarian, I found
his advice helpful and encouraging.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Digital Citizenship
It is very important to be a good digital citizen. Every action on the internet leaves a digital trail. If people wanted to find out any information about your past or present endeavors, there are certain tools available that they can pull this use to find this information. We need to be responsible and have ethical behavior when we are using the net. We need to treat others with respect, act in an ethical manner, and take certain precautions when it comes to security. There are several viruses that are just waiting to “eat up” our hard drives. If we are good digital citizens, we will make the right choices when it comes to visiting safe internet sites. Another reason it is important to be a good digital citizen is it gives you the status of credibility. It is important to give credit where credit is due. In other words, do not plagiarize or use copyrighted works without permission or permissible citations.
Having a good digital reputation can impact your life on a large scale. It could make or break your chance of getting a job, as well as make or break your personal reputation. If you own a facebook or blog, be careful what images you put on it and what you write. Teachers must be careful as well. Since we are responsible for educating young minds so that they can have a positive impact on the future, we need to have high standards when it comes to the internet and social media.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Web 2.0 Authoring Tools
Blogs,
wikis, podcasts, e-portfolios, social networking sites, and video and photo
sharing communities are the six web 2.0 authoring tools. Out of the six web 2.0
tools, I believe that wikis, podcasts, and video and photo sharings are great
tools to use in my library classes. Wikis
allow students to edit the pages and contribute to the content. I could use a
wiki to encourage students to read more books and then share the books they
read and why they liked it. Depending on the grade level, it could be picture
books, chapter books, and biographical series (etc.). Another way I could use a wiki is by having
students do individual research on a particular topic and add what they find onto
the wiki.
Podcasts are
another great tool I could implement in my classroom. Students would find a short
poem they want to recite. Then I
would create a podcasts of the students reading their favorite short poem. This
will help them to be aware of their tone and encourage them to practice to
ensure their best performance. I could have other classes listen to the poems
and vote on which ones were their favorites.
Video and
Photo sharing tools, such as Vimeo, Animoto, and Flickr, would be wonderful
tools to use in the library as well! With Vimeo, I could split the students
into groups and have them pick their favorite mother goose nursery rhyme. Each
group will have to act out the nursery rhyme while one of their members reads
it. Each group will have to have a narrator, characters, and props to enhance
the performance. Then I would share the video with their class or with the
younger ages. Also, I could post this on the class blog so that they can show
their friends and family their performances.
Using Flickr
or Animoto, I could go over fair use guidelines of using pictures on the web.
Then the students could do a search on their favorite country, sport, food, or
animal (etc.) and save the images they find to Flickr. They can show their
slideshow of what they found to the class from Flickr, or they could create a
thirty second Animoto video.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
5 Types of Instructional Software
Software can
be a wonderful asset to the education of young minds. Educational software
contains colorful graphics and funny characters that will keep students engaged
in their learning and help better their coordination skills. There are five kinds of instructional software:
Drill and Practice, Tutorial,
Simulation, Instructional Game, and Problem Solving.
Drill and
Practice refers to structured and repetitive practice of previously learned
concepts. Drill
and Practice software benefits students because it provides them with adequate practice
so they can transfer learned material into long term memory. Also, computers are
private and give students plenty of time to answer the question. This may
motivate some students to complete their drills. Also, this type of software
gives students immediate feedback so they know whether they got the answer
right or wrong.
http://www.aplusmath.com/Flashcards/index.html
http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/math/
Tutorial software provide information and instructional activities to help
students master a topic. Like drill and practice software, tutorials provide students
with immediate feedback and increase their motivation. A good tutorial will
allow the student to learn at their own pace and provide them with appropriate
learning activities. Here is a free tutorial website that provides lessons and
practice. It also gives them immediate feedback when they answer questions.
Starfall.com
Simulation
software provides models of real or imaginary systems that are used to enhance
instruction. It is great because it gets the students involved in learning.
There are
three types of simulation software. First, physical simulation allows students
to manipulate objects to help them learn about completing a task. Second, iterative
simulations speed up or slow down a process to the help the student understand
it better. Third, procedural simulations teach students steps of a process by providing
them with visual models. Fourth, situational simulations teach students how to
handle certain situations such as how to operate a business. http://www.froguts.com/
Instructional
Game Softwares are usually used as rewards or to reinforce a skill. After students have
learned a skill, the best way to test their knowledge is through letting them
play games. They have to use what they have previously learned if they want to
get a high score. is a
wonderful site that allows teachers to create online games based on what they
have been going over in class.
Problem Solving Software provides good hands on experience with skills such as logical sequencing, figuring out relevant information to solve problems. Students will find this type of software
interesting as it teaches how to solve various problem solving situations.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Software Review
The software I chose to review is JumpStart for 5th grade created by Vivendi Universal. I found both positive and negative aspects in this software. This software offers fun activities in language, math, science, U.S. / Native American history, art history, and geography. At first, I was a little worried about the main character being a girl, but she is very tomboyish so she appeals to both girl and boy audiences. What I do like about this software is that it offers several levels to fit the need of each student. It gives teachers the opportunity to print reports so that they can keep up with their students’ progress. When the student exits the software, it allows them to pick up where they left off the next time. This software has a lot of fun games that will keep 5th graders from being bored; it will keep them engaged. One particular game I liked was one that had to do with fractions called “Juice Bar.” This math game helps strengthen students’ knowledge of numerators and denominators as they mix together weird sounding treats.
The first thing I did not like about this software is that the student or teacher cannot choose the subject or activity to focus on. The students have to go in the order of the software. It will not let the student do anything else until they have completed the next step in the game. This seems inconvenient if a teacher needed a program to work on a specific skill with her student. Secondly, if the students do not have quick reflexes or good gaming skills they will find this game to be frustrating as sometimes they will have to dodge or out run objects. The third thing I did not like about this software, is that the directions for some of the games are unclear. For example, one game involves adding two digit numbers. However, instead of the students typing the final answer in the blank, they have to start with the answering what goes in the ones place and then it carries the number so they answer the tens place. Another game that I did not enjoy was the crossword puzzle game that contained very hard art history questions. No fifth grader would know those answers without having to look up the answer on Google. I guess that could be a good thing to learn how to do. It gives students the opportunity to have to search on the web to find the answers.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Web 2.0 Assignment
Link 1: LINDSEY L'S GLOG!
For my Web 2.0 assignment, I had to use glogster.com to create a page for my unit on the Solar System. While I had lots of fun creating it, tI had some difficulties. First, it was very difficult to select graphics and notes once I added them to my glog page. I had to select them just right or it wouldn't select them, or it would group a bunch of them together and move them all has a whole. Everytime I underlined a word or phrase, it would mesh the words before and after together. It took me 4 times to correct this by continuously saving and renaming it. Also glogster.com would not let me copy and paste my URL to link a website. I found typing in the URLs to be time consuming. On a more positive note, I liked how glogster gave me access to images from Google which is where I got the background for my glog. Also, they offered a lot cool graphics and note templates! It was easy to select them and add them to the page. I also liked how easy it was to post videos on the glog. Glogster.com let me search for video using YouTube and then it would allow me to play the video before I selected it. This made the process of finding videos a lot easier. I will definitely use glogster.com in the future because it is a wonderful resource to have. I learned a lot from creating this one so hopefully it will not take me so long next time.
Link 2: LINDSEY L'S ANIMOTO VIDEO
The second tool I used for my unit was animoto.com. Animoto was a lot easier for me to use than gloster.com was. The only thing I did not like about animoto was that it would not allow me to put text and pictures together on one slide. I tried to add text to label the pictures, but it took the text and added it on a separate slide. It did not offer different color text either. I decided to create each slide on a PPT document so I could add colorful text and backgrounds. After I saved each slide as a JPEG, I was able to easily upload them in animoto as one image. I had lots of funs creating this image video.
Link 3 and 4: LINDSEY L'S GAME 1 and LINDSEY L'S GAME 2
I chose to use classroom tools.com to create games for my unit. I enjoyed using this website. It offered a lot of resources for free. I can only imagine the extra stuff they offer for those that become premium members. This was very easy for me to use. It was fun to create games my students would play and then play them myself. It was easy to save my games that I created. I found a lot of teacher resources that I can use in my classroom as well like the countdown timer and random name selection tool. I would highly recommend this site for classroom teacher.
CONCEPT MAP FOR SOLAR SYSTEM UNIT |
Link 1: LINDSEY L'S GLOG!
For my Web 2.0 assignment, I had to use glogster.com to create a page for my unit on the Solar System. While I had lots of fun creating it, tI had some difficulties. First, it was very difficult to select graphics and notes once I added them to my glog page. I had to select them just right or it wouldn't select them, or it would group a bunch of them together and move them all has a whole. Everytime I underlined a word or phrase, it would mesh the words before and after together. It took me 4 times to correct this by continuously saving and renaming it. Also glogster.com would not let me copy and paste my URL to link a website. I found typing in the URLs to be time consuming. On a more positive note, I liked how glogster gave me access to images from Google which is where I got the background for my glog. Also, they offered a lot cool graphics and note templates! It was easy to select them and add them to the page. I also liked how easy it was to post videos on the glog. Glogster.com let me search for video using YouTube and then it would allow me to play the video before I selected it. This made the process of finding videos a lot easier. I will definitely use glogster.com in the future because it is a wonderful resource to have. I learned a lot from creating this one so hopefully it will not take me so long next time.
Link 2: LINDSEY L'S ANIMOTO VIDEO
The second tool I used for my unit was animoto.com. Animoto was a lot easier for me to use than gloster.com was. The only thing I did not like about animoto was that it would not allow me to put text and pictures together on one slide. I tried to add text to label the pictures, but it took the text and added it on a separate slide. It did not offer different color text either. I decided to create each slide on a PPT document so I could add colorful text and backgrounds. After I saved each slide as a JPEG, I was able to easily upload them in animoto as one image. I had lots of funs creating this image video.
Link 3 and 4: LINDSEY L'S GAME 1 and LINDSEY L'S GAME 2
I chose to use classroom tools.com to create games for my unit. I enjoyed using this website. It offered a lot of resources for free. I can only imagine the extra stuff they offer for those that become premium members. This was very easy for me to use. It was fun to create games my students would play and then play them myself. It was easy to save my games that I created. I found a lot of teacher resources that I can use in my classroom as well like the countdown timer and random name selection tool. I would highly recommend this site for classroom teacher.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)