Tech Play 4

There are a few tools that I would and do use to teach content in my classroom.  I use iPads daily that have apps that reinforce the concepts I am teaching.  I also use computers for the same reason.  We use promethean boards during lessons that are interactive.  Of all of these tool the iPads are my favorite because there is a very wide variety of apps to cover the concepts of the lessons.

I have been looking into Kahoot to use as a form of assessment in my classroom.  The app is a great tool.  I can set up an assessment on my computer and then the students can use the iPads to answer the questions.  It gives instant feedback to me on if the concept I am trying to teach has been received by my class.  I think this a great tool for all teacher of all ages.

Tech Play 3

I have looked at several different Apps for creativity for young students.  I looked at Petting Zoo, Disney Creativity Studio 2, and Puppet Maker.  My favorite is the Petting Zoo.  I feel that it is a good App that allows children to explore with their imaginations.  They can create an image and animate it.  It could allow them to write and illustrate their own stories and bring them to life.  I think most students even older ones could use and love this app.  In my classroom we have iPads and they all have several different creativity tools and the students love playing with them and I enjoy watching what they come up with.  

Link to my e-portfolio

Misty Garner's e-portfolio

Technology Play Testing Assignment 2

Ok, so this week I look into a few e-portfolios.  I found that a lot of colleges and universities offer students a free one if you attend that school.  While looking around I also found that a lot of places charge you for them.  I was not interested in paying for one and was very grateful to a classmate for informing the class that Texas A&M Commerce offers a free e-portfolio for it's students and also provided instructions on how to find them on the web-site.  The e-portfolio that TAMUC offers is very easy to use and navigate.  I have only just started to set mine up so I am still learning about it, but so far it seem fairly simple.  I'm still not real sure what I will use this for other than this class, but maybe as time goes on and I learn more I will see this as a more useful tool.

If I was going to ask my student to use an e-portfolio I would have to do some major research to find one that is free and very simple.  I teach 5 and 6 year olds and some only started using a computer this year with me.  So I would be interested to know if there is one out there geared towards young children.

Techonology Play-testing Assignment 1

Let me start with my definition of blog, I would define a blog as a personal web space to express my thoughts and feelings.  It is a relatively user friendly way to communicate with others and allow them to communicate back. I came to this definition  by my past experiences with a blog and by reading a few formal definitions as well.  

Blogs, glogs, vologs or discussion boards are all different. Here are the formal definitions of all of these according to Webopedia. 

• blog - Short for Web log, a blog is a Web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
• glog - Short for graphics (or graphical) blog, glog is the name used to describe a publicly accessible graphical blog. A person or organization's glog is actually an interactive multimedia image that looks similar to a poster, but readers of a glog are able to interact with the content.
• vlog - (n.) Short for video blog, it is the term used to describe a blog that includes or consists of video clips. Typically updated daily (or with regular frequency) vlogs often reflect the personality or cause of the author. Also called vog.
• A discussion board is a fancy term for a message board where you can leave a message or question and expect a reply or answer from others with similar interests or questions. (my definition)

All of these forums are similar, but still different in their format. I am choosing blogger as my blog of choice.  I chose blogger mainly because I had used it in another class last semester.  I have looked at Webbly and honestly it is way more user friendly.  It is very simple to navigate and it is easy to make changes.  Blogger is a little more difficult, but with a little common sense you can figure it out.  If I was going to have someone write a blog, especially a student I would probably lead them to Webbly.

I think a blog could be used in a class to discuss current events.  The students could set up a blog and each we they could discuss a teacher chose current event.  This would allow for research and critical thinking.  It would also allow the students to give their opinions.  Guild lines would have to be set in place and professionalism discussed, but it could be a fun year long project. I don't know that I have ever seen this done before.  I do believe that this would be a great project for older more mature students, but it could be done between a grade level as well with teacher guidance and support for middle school students.  They could set it up where each class in the school or grade level has a blog and they research the assigned current event and post as a class for the other classes to read and discuss. 

Being that I teach kindergarten I'm not sure that it would be quiet as easy to use a blog, but I think it could be done. We do a research project twice a year.  It might be fun to set up a class blog and each class research an animal and post all the information learned about that animal.  Then the other classes could read what the other classes had to say and possibly do more research and add to the project.  Other wise I think it would be very difficult to use a blog in a k-2 classroom. 

I can see how a blog could be fun in the classroom if used correctly.  I think the idea would have to be talked up to be sold as a fun way to turn in assignments, but I think with the write class it could be successful. 

And that's all I have to say about that!