Here is the IMovie I created on my new MacBook. IMovie is super user friendly and was great to use. I know that this is a tool that students can use with ease, I can't wait to see that they can create...

Reflections

I enjoy re-familiarizing myself with the tools. Working through them this time I really focused on how I can use them with teachers in my teaching. I think the 2 aspects that I will use the most are blogs and wikis. I hope to have teachers using those to track their learning and discovery (or rediscovery) within Balanced Literacy. Having completed the 23 things previously I will say that I did not experience any surprises, but I did enjoy the process.

Tool #11

Digital Citizenship is an aspect of technology that we are going to have to address frequently with younger students. I used to always say to my students that my goal was to teach them to be better readers, better writers, and better members of society. I think now I would have to add appropriate member of the digital society to that list.
There is no way to limit the list of important points to stress to the top 3, but here is that I think-
Make Safe Choices- this would include what you post, who you communicate with, what information you share, and what sites you visit
Give Credit- this would address plagiary and copyrighted materials
Find the Proof- this would address the idea that not everything you read online is completely true

Tool #10

so close, so close, oh so close
Apps- where do I start? There are too many to even begin listing but here is what I will add- there are people out there who spend countless hours searching for, exploring with and reviewing apps. I think as teachers we can do some of that but an even better use of our time is to become familiar with the resources of others.
www.appolicious.com
www.iear.org
Are both sites that are packed full of good app suggestions. You are able to set specific searches that will allow teachers to find exactly what they are looking for.

I think spending time on these sites would be time well spent :)

Tool #9

I am getting so close to tool #11, yippee! I will admit that I was already familiar with many of these tools but reacquainting myself with them has been good.

I have used Skype before and as part of the CCP refocus the LA SIS will be taking part in Skype conversations with John this year. I recently heard someone give the following suggestion- email an author with a specific question and ask that author to skype with your class for 5 or 10 minutes to answer that question. For example, when begining the year, generating ideas is always an important lesson. Getting Patricia Polacco to share where she gets her ideas would be a great addition to the lesson. Might need to start emailing her now to set that up, huh?

Tool #8

I decided to search YouTube. I have found youtube a good resource for finding clips of non-educational things in the past but was pleased to see the educational clips I found there. I added one on Author's Purpose from Learning Upgrade, there are several other clips from this source but this one fit with what we teach in SBISD. I also added Conjunction Junction from School House Rock. It is one of my all time favorite clips to use when teaching conjunctions. Who knew it was on YouTube???? :)
I need to get in the habit of using video resources more often.

Tool #7 part 1

I am going to skip this tool for now. I am familiar with photostory and have used it many times but I just purchased a new macbook, that I will pick up tomorrow, and would like to wait and use I Movie to create this product. I will come back to this and share my experience later. :)