Poetry Introduction

Using Twitter

Using Twitter has taught me that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. There are so many professionals out there with so many good ideas. Collaborating with these individuals, sharing ideas and experiences is a much better option!
Twitter made absolutely no sense to me in the beginning. I couldn’t find my way around very easily, I didn’t understand the hashtag or how to communicate with everyone. I not only learned to navigate through Twitter, but also how to use it to my advantage! There is so much great information out there for teachers to use!

The person on Twitter that I enjoyed following most was, Eric Langhorst. He was interesting to me because he is a history buff. He constantly added links with great history websites! I always wanted to take extra time to look at the information that he provided his followers! I’ve paid a lot of attention to his tweets.

I do plan to continue to use Twitter professionally. I think that it is a great reminder of all that is out there to move forward with in education. I want the constant reminder that there is more out there for me to introduce to my students. I want to make sure that I give my students the best opportunity that I can and using Twitter can help me to make sure that I do that.

"Free Technology for Teachers"

I discovered so many forms of free technology on this blog! One link that I'm excited to explore further is, "77 Web Resources for Teachers to Try This Summer." The helpful links on this website are endless, no matter what subject you are looking to add to!
I think it's great that there is a way to share so many free resources with teachers! With all of these resources and ideas, there is more and more that we are able to do each day to help student learning develop!
The resource that I've found to be most useful are the links that are available on this website. It gives great ideas that I can incorporate into my daily class. I even found "15 TED Talks for teachers to watch" on this website. TED Talks first caught my eye when we listened to and reflected on podcasts.
I do think it is possible for me to make a blog that would be a great resource for my students. The problem at this time is the lack of time that I am able to find to start a functional blog for my classroom. I think that when I get an opportunity to spend more time on updating the website and making it functional, it will be a great addition to my classroom!

VOICE THREAD ON PERSONAL GROWTH IN 552

http://voicethread.com/share/2907151/

Screen Cast

Animoto Video on Collaboration!

Animoto is a great tool to use in the classroom! It allows the teacher an easy way to introduce a topic to their class! I find it to be an extremely engaging tool! I thought it would be difficult to use, but it was fairly self explanatory! I look forward to creating Animoto videos in the future to introduce topics to my class!

Podcasting

I have subscribed to a few podcasts and have enjoyed listening to them. I have subscribed to “The Story Home Children’s Audio Stories”, “Math Dude”, Stuff You Missed in History Class”, “Teaching with Smartboard” and TedTalks.”

I’ve found them all to be interesting and would really like to have the ability to listen to them in my car. I was really interested in a Ted Talk that was based on introverts and extroverts. The speaker said that most situations anymore are designed mainly for extroverts, rather than introverts.

I am an extrovert and so I did find some of these comments to be offensive because she talked a lot about how introverts are typically smarter, get better grades, are more creative. Although some of this seemed offensive to hear, I do think it is good for me to hear that there needs to be more of a balance.

As a teacher, I set up my classroom in pods or groups. I encourage teamwork and create collaborative activities for my students to complete together. I think that it is important for students to be able to work with/get along with peers. They won’t only work others in school, they will grow up and they will need to know how to work with others. This speaker challenged teachers for teaching to the extrovert and I realized that I am the teacher that teaches to extroverts. Although it did get me thinking about how maybe I need to pay more attention to what an introverts learning needs may be, but I do still think it’s important to teach students how to work together and interact with one another.

I think that these podcasts will offer a lot of advice and insight.

Digital Storytelling

I made this video in reflection of an article written by Jennifer New. The article is called, "How to Use Digital Storytelling in Your Classroom"

Reflection:

I thought this was a great article for someone who is interested in beginning implementation of digital storytelling into their classroom. It offered great advice to follow throughout the introduction process. It was also a great reminder of what students are really capable of when we allow them to use tools like digital storytelling. They can produce information in an interesting and professional way.

I agree with what the author of this article presented. I love what it extended to other teachers. This article could definitely have an impact on my classroom! I want my students to be able express themselves in creative ways and challenge themselves with new tools! I can't wait to introduce new projects to them!

One part that this article mentioned was to not count on things working out the first time. It did include a resource that I wanted to share with you- “Creative Cow” it said that it was a resource you can go to in order to find answers quickly. That’s the most frustrating part of technology, when things don’t work out and you need to find an answer but don’t know how. I appreciated that they included this resource for their readers.