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. :)

Tool #6

Wikis are great, I have had experience using them with both adult peers and students in the past. I have seen how they can be used with much success with both groups.

In my position as LA SIS I hope to get teachers using wikis this year to track their learning and "refining" of Balanced Literacy. I am thankful we are all adding this knowledge to the toolbox and look forward to us using this knowledge this year.

Tool #5

I previously had a Delicious account but will admit that I did not use it much. For this tool I signed up for a Diigo account and found a few websites to tag. These are both websites from presenters I saw at a recent technology conference. They are ones that teachers will find useful.

www.edutecher.net
www.lesliefisher.com

I see the usefulness with this tool in that teachers can tag websites and make getting to those easier for their students.

I learned about another tool- www.only2clicks.com that is similiar to tagging. It would be a tool that teachers could use much the same way, They have a "home" page were they add the websites they want their students to use. I see the potiental of teachers really liking the "friendliness" of only2clicks.

Tool #4

I recently attended a technology conference where Google Docs was "all the buzz." I know it is the direction we are headed in public schools and I really think once we "play" with them we will become comfortable with Docs. The ability for collaboration within Docs is a great and something I hope teachers will embrace.
I already have a Google Reader that I use to follow some educational blogs. I have added a few new blogs to my reader.

Tool #3

I used the spell with Flickr tool (see above) , it is a cool concept and one that can add to a student project. I also created a collage (below) but used Picasa for that. I have used most of the other image generators with both teachers and students. I find that image generators are a fun was to display information. The challenge is making sure there is some content learning involved in this process.

Ready for a run?????

Tool #2

I think online communities are something that we HAVE to be comfortable with. Our students are so past us when it comes to social networking, it is their world. The "real" challenge teachers face is how to tie the content in with the new methods. In order to face that challenge we can't also have a fear of the technology and what that involves.

I commented on the following blogs-
Kindergarten as SOE
Cashiola's Chronicles
Technofitness, Here I Come
Always Learning

Tool #1 part 2

WOW, yall did it! It was so exciting to spend the afternoon with 19 SOE bloggers and a few guests working on the 11 tools. We all made great progress and I think everyone walked away with a little more confidence that they CAN DO THIS. I know there were times of frustration and a bit of anger but hang in there- tool #1 really is one of the most challenging.
I wanted to add a bit of reflection about this tool after basically doing it with a class of students, they are adults but still learners. It was so good there were 2 of us there (thanks to April, you rock) because I fear that had it just been me they would not have made it as far as they did. This is something that has to be considered when working with students, there is only one you and possibly 25 of them, plan ahead and be ready for the glitches you might face. Something that happened (often) was after one person "got" the task, they walked others through it. We all know the power in this and allowing it to happen in a classroom is crucial.
I hope some others felt they walked away with some valuable learning, I know I did. Thanks to all of you :)

Tool #1

The process for setting up the blog and adding the details was not bad. It could become very time consuming with all the choices that are available. When using this with students I am thinking some limits may need to be set so they don't spend all their time with the designs/templetes/avatars.

Here I go-

Here is the first post for the the 11 Tools for the 21st Century Learner