Tweet Tweet

When I used to think of Twitter I thought of social media, celebrity gossip and personal use. Never before had I thought Twitter could be used with students (let alone K and 1st graders) in the classroom setting. When reading Why Didn't I Do This Sooner? I came to the realization...what am I waiting for? I love the idea of kid blogging and I have made it definitive decision to start a class blog next year. But until then, I need to do something...right?! At this point of the school year, between district testing, snow days throwing off our schedules, SRBI files, report cards,  conferences and exhibition nights I really don't think I could put one more thing on my plate...but maybe in April? Here's to wishful thinking...

I am itching to start something new with my students. I want something that engages them in their learning, gets them excited about content and has them wanting to share their findings with the greater community outside our four walls. Our next Social Studies unit starts in three weeks and focuses on Geography. We use Flat Stanley as the basis of our unit and I want to incorporate Twitter, Blogging, or something along these lines into this unit.

Twitter seems to be a great avenue to provide instant communication with parents, students and families. I have been following some  Kindergarten teachers'  Twitter accounts and love that they upload pictures and short captions to keep the parents in the loop of what's going on in the classroom. Kids can no longer say "I don't know" when their parents ask them what happened at school that day!

For those of you who use any (or all) of these technologies in your class do you have any suggestions for the overwhelmed but eager teacher?!

Kidbloggers and Modern Day Literacies

Literacy takes on a new form in todays classrooms. It is not simply reading a book in class or writing a one page response to a prompt. Today, students of all ages are asked to go one step further and bring their learning to life through technology. Experimenting with technology is the easiest way to get kids interested and testing out these new resources. Kidbloggers are the latest edition to the blogging world. It is now quite common to see students blogging about their learning, as well as using their classroom blogs as a platform to share their opinions and ideas.

The 8th graders in Mr. Boylen's 8th grade class have implemented blogging in their daily learning. His students are given prompts to respond to as well as given a bit of freedom to write about their personal lives. These students are much older than my 1st graders but it is great to see students interested and engaged in blogging. The principal at their school, Greg Miller, shares his thoughts and opinions on kid blogging in his post Getting to the How and Why of Student Blogging. I think it would be beneficial to share this administrators opinion with my administration when I try to implement a kid blog in my classroom (hopefully in September!). I agree with many of the arguments Miller has in support of student blogs.

Kid blogs are beneficial in helping students to: 
-Become better readers
-Become better writers
-Exercise their opinions (working on defending their ideas with support)
-Become engaged in the material being taught
-Communicating skills (with peers as well as adults)

Do you agree that blogging should be implemented in the classroom? Why or what not?

A Hodgepodge of "Techy" Thoughts

There are so many amazing sites to look into that I couldn't decide what to dedicate this post to...so it's a bit of a hodgepodge...

Digital Storytelling
I'm starting to think about creating our Digital Story and feeling a little lost in all the information there is out there...here is a great link to a Wiki describing the simplicity of digital storytelling I found on Integrating Technology and Literacy's main page. As a visual learner myself I think having the ability to include pictures, videos, and text all in one digital story will be very helpful for all students. I'm looking forward to creating my digital story. Have any of you started thinking about what you'll do for yours? If you've already made a digital story, do you have any special tips?

Resources
Having an iPAD in the classroom is wonderful. It's a resource that allows students the freedom to use technology and explore new apps. I am always looking for new apps for my students iPAD. Our district was piloting a reading program that ended and now I am searching for a reading app I love equally. This site has awesome apps that are FREE and easy to use! You can follow them through your GoogleReader (check out mine if you'd like!) and get daily updates from their blog.

Class Tech Tips
My little ones just finished a math unit on 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes. Of course, now that we're done I find this awesome resource using a Geoboard iPAD app instead of a regular geoboard! I am definitely going to use this app when teaching the same unit next year.

There are so many amazing resources available online. Most of the ones I find have to do with reading. Are there any useful math blogs/sources/freebies that you recommend?

The Importance of "The Daily 5"

Literacy, Reading Language Arts, ELA Block, whatever you call it in your school this large piece of your curriculum drives your daily instruction from start to finish.

The Daily 5 can look different depending on what school you are as well as what grade.  Typically, it includes:

1. Reading to Self
2. Reading to Someone
3. Listening to Reading
4. Word Work
5. Teacher Work

This may seem like a lot to fit into a literacy block but in actuality it is pretty simple. With my 1st graders attention span being relatively short I try to vary up their daily activities (although I keep the same routine I try to spice up the tasks when I can!). At my school we include all five aspects of the Daily 5 in our Teacher's College Reading Curriculum. Students read to themselves during independent reading as well as to their reading partner for 5-10 minutes a day. They use iPADs, the listening center and the computer to listen to stories being read as well as to myself when I read books aloud. We complete a word work lesson every day focusing on short/long vowels, digraphs, blends, etc. and I run three leveled guided reading groups a day. All of this within a 90 minute block! It is a lot to coordinate but I see the benefit as my students' reading levels are improving and their confidence in reading soaring.

When looking at Tales of a First Year Teacher I found some amazing resources regarding The Daily 5. If you are at all interested in starting this in your classroom or making changes to your current instruction check out some of the links on her page!

What Most Schools Don't Teach

When searching for this weeks inspiration I came across this video on coding created by those at Code.org. Coding, put simply, is a language that people use while writing, designing and creating computer programs. It's the building block of a computers knowledge of what steps to complete to accomplish a task. I know, it sounds a little daunting, but this video puts coding into a simple, easy to understand format. I like this video for a few reasons:

1. It has all the famous "tech" people in pop culture explaining how they got their start in computers/coding

2. It shows really how simple coding is

3. It compares the ability and skill of coding to excelling in sports or any other hobby

Sometimes when thinking about all the technology we use on a daily basis it can all become a little overwhelming. But I found this video a little inspiring and made me think that starting my students with activities like blogging on a class blog can be the trigger that makes them fall in love with computers. Who knows where this passion and interest could take them!

Considering a New Social Networking Avenue

In a world that is so dependent on social networking there is always a new friend on Facebook or follower on Twitter. Yet many of the social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are not allowed in public schools.  They are not seen as a safe space for students to communicate. But do not fret, because there are other social networking sites like Ning that allow educators the freedom to use with their students.  As Richardson states in Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, Ning is a site that allows students to share images, thoughts, video, etc. about anything they are passionate about among one another. It can be completely private to your class or is can be made as public as well. Richardson shares a variety of Ning sites that were used in the classroom. One of my favorite Ning's I fell upon was St. Joe H20 where people and experts share their love and knowledge for marine biology with high school students who go on yearly field studies. These students are able to share their learning with people who are interested and have personal experience.

Using a site like Ning allows students to practice their writing skills as well as using technology such as sharing images and videos. I also see the benefit of using this site to prepare students for their personal use of sites like Facebook when they get older. So many young people are not "trained" in how to use such sites and that's when they get into trouble with what to share and what not to share. If teachers could devote a little time each year students would be better educated on their social responsibilities when they are ready for Facebook and Twitter in their middle or high school years. Exposing students to Ning has many benefits

My Growing Diigo Library

 (Compliments of my new favorite site...Photo Pin!) Photo Pin is an awesome site to get pictures from and they have a huge variety.

Through the past few weeks I've started to get more comfortable with browsing between other teachers blogs. I have loved finding creative ideas to use in my own daily instruction. One of the most helpful tools when looking at such a large variety of blogs is Diigo. Here is a link to my own Diigo Library. This wonderful tool essentially acts as a large bookmark so you can keep track of all the pages and sites you like. You can tag the pages with a simple word or two such as, classroom blog or literacy lessons.  That way when you come back to find that page it is easy to access. Here is a sample of what a Diigo Library page looks like.

You'll see on my Diigo Library page it's still a work in progress. I have not quite mastered the "tagging" of sites, just the following of the site so that I come back to it later on. Continue checking back into my library for helpful sites and links that you may enjoy! The benefits of using a site like Diigo is it helps to organize your favorite sites. There are no more excuses of finding a site and saying to yourself, "Oh, I'll find this again". With an easy tool like Diigo you can bookmark it and access it whenever and wherever you want. That's another fabulous aspect to Diigo you can access your account anywhere, not just on your home computer. If you haven't already looked into Diigo it is definitely a tool to start using. If you already have an account I urge you to continue working on adding more resources to your library like I am!

Animal Classifications Animoto Video

I love that creating an Animoto was simple, quick and creative. The concept of placing your own pictures and words into a template that already has the songs and background is fabulous! It's pretty much "iMovie for Dummies". I would recommend using this site to any of my less technology-obsessed friends and family members as an easy introduction to creating a video.

The Animoto I created is age appropriate for students in my 1st grade class. It is meeting students' needs because it is a visual representation of what they have learned so far. Seeing that my students are only 6 years old and I am teaching them and asking them to remember a lot of detail about each classification of animal I feel that the Animoto provides them with a wonderful tool to help their memories. Since starting this class I have also been trying to integrate more technology into my students daily lives so showing them this video allows me to increase their exposure.

The Animoto is specifically related to the content we have been learning in our Museum/Science unit. Students are studying what animals need to survive as well as about the different animal classifications (i.e., mammal, reptile, etc.).  This video allows students to see a visual and written example of each classification.

One of the standards under ISTE Standards for Teachers is that educators facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity.  I believe that showing students this Animoto video (as well as others in the future) broadens their horizons and sparks ideas for their own creations and creative outlets to share learning. As a Museum school we focus a great deal on Project Based Learning (PBL) and students ability to showcase their academic work in a creative manner. Tools such as Animoto help students to achieve this.

Start 'em young

The more I look through other teachers blogs the more I think to myself that this is completely possible. I also think that the younger students start using technology and the more comfortable they become. On the blog Powerful learning Practice Wright details the importance of blogging and discusses how blogging is becoming the new persuasive writing tool for children. This is a new perspective that I haven't heard before, yet, I completely agree. Blogging for children is about their ability to share their knowledge and personal opinion about a topic. When students are young they do not know that they are persuading their readers to think in a certain way. Yet, it is a good skill for them to start using young.

Collecting Animoto Inspiration through the Social Web

I started writing this post about 35 minutes ago, and yet I'm still here on the first sentence. Something I find myself doing each time I sit down is continuously exploring other peoples blogs and getting so deep in thought (and experiencing minor "Blog Envy" of all the fabulous idea I find other teachers using) that I forget that I started writing my own post!

So...getting down to business I found a link to an Animoto video I liked in my search. I like it for three reasons:
1) It seems simple enough for students to listen/watch/actually LEARN something new
2) It seems simple enough for ME to understand how to create!
3) A wonderful visual for all my active and visual learners!

Community Unit Vocabulary (from Sara's Blog, Spring 2012 Class Blogs on EDUC584's site)

I'm still in the collecting stage of my Animoto. I'm thinking about all the terms I need to add and the images that will go well with them. To be honest, I'm getting very excited to start my Animoto!

If you're looking for Tips to make your Animoto better look through this site for helpful ideas!

If you ever thought that the surfing the internet was a solitary activity you may to rethink that. Richardson (2009) spends a whole chapter in Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts discussing the Social Web as a tool for communication, collaboration and building social relationships. You are never alone on the internet and with the relatively recent boom in communicating through Blogs, Wikis, Twitter accounts and Facebook there is always a person to talk to, a post to comment on or a picture to share.

In the world of teaching there is no such thing as an original idea. A new lesson always comes from someones old lesson or a conversation with colleagues or a textbook read on the topic. The Social Web that we all use so frequently is making it that much easier for educators to share their ideas and collaborate with one another. Until most recently (well...about 10 minutes ago) I was pretty skeptical about using Twitter as a personal or professional tool. Yet, I have to admit after reading Tales of a First Year Teachers latest post I see that using a Twitter account in the classroom can be pretty seamless.

There are so many accessible tools that help in making your life easier. One of those is Diigolet. It makes bookmarking seem so 1999, organizing all your favorite sites into one library that no matter where you are you can access with ease.

Now I admit, I just mentioned a lot of different sources and that may seem overwhelming to some of you (and some days to myself as well!). But just remember, they're simply suggestions of how to organize yourself before tackling all that the Social Web has to offer you!

RSS: Really Simple Syndication

RSS, also known as Really Simple Syndication is going to be my new best friend in this whole blogging assignment. If you're looking for a simple tool that will help you "subscribe" to and organize your favorite sites in one neat and tidy package, stop here, I've found it!

Creating and RSS feed is as simple as 1, 2, 3...

1. Create a mailbox or an "aggregator" to collect all your RSS feeds
         I have a Google Reader account which is probably the simplest aggregator to use and is free! If you already have a Blogger account through your Google account you already have a Reader account!

2. Think what you are interested in (start with either a hobby you have or something you're working on in your classroom like integrating iPADs into your lessons) and type that into the "Add Subscription" link on the top left of the page

3. Reader will then display some feeds about the topic you typed in. If you're interested in one of them click "Subscribe" and your aggregator will start filling up

It's as simple as that folks! Now you have no excuse to go searching through pages of Bookmarks you've made on your desktop and you can access your Reader on ANY computer ANYWHERE you are!

Searching for Inspiration to Blog

When looking at my peers blogs and at the Integrating Technology and Literacy class blog I can't help but get inspired to create even more posts with ideas and feedback. I'm not quite there yet...I still feel like I am in the beginning stages of actually putting important information on my blog, but I'm making baby steps.

To be completely honest, it feels good that I am not the only one having reservations and worries about integrating blogging into a classroom of 6 year olds who already have a lot, I mean A LOT on their plate. When reading Bello Blog I feel like I can relate to the frustrations of fitting in the common core assessments, district assessments and daily instruction as well as technology that is relevant and age appropriate. I always say, "If I had more hours in the day".

On the Writing Process blog post there are a variety of Animotos that showcase students learning in all areas of content. I am really excited to make an Animoto and integrate this creative tool into my instruction.

Out of all the technologies we have discusses in class (and read about in Richardson) which are you most excited about integrating in your classroom? Which one are you most hesitant about?

Animoto...a work in progress

When looking through sample Animotos I see a variety of topics and styles. For my class, I feel that the vocabulary Animotos will be most helpful because I am trying to add academic vocabulary into my students everyday language. I really enjoyed Meghan's Animoto about plant vocabulary. It was simple, informative and had pictures that students could use as a visual tool when remembering what the vocabulary words mean.

Another Animoto that I thought would be useful to my students was Mary Ellen's solar system Animoto. I feel that the visuals along with the use of distance and space with the planets will allow students to really comprehend what size each planet is and how far apart they are from one another. Even my students who are not learning about the solar system would learn something from this Animoto.

Currently, my students are learning about the classifications of animals and what animals need to survive. I am hoping to use this content to create an Animoto to help students better comprehend the material.

For those of you who work in early elementary do you think Animotos are a good tool to use with students? If you work with older students, do you think it is applicable to use with them?

Online Collaborative Inquiry: Classroom Blogging Ventures and Multiple Literacies

What this article begins to mention is that with so much technology available to students teachers first need to weed through which technologies are best for the academic purposes of the classroom. I agree with The National Council of Teachers of English that in this digital age students need to be readers of multiple literacies. Students are required to analyze, synthesize, collaborate, critique and evaluate information.

I agree with Arzt and her use of the NCTE, IRA and ISTE guidelines that blogging allows students a creative outlet to share their learning as well as a collaborative environment to share and critique ideas. Students need to learn how to write their ideas coherently, read others ideas and comprehend what the message is, as well as respectfully respond to peers ideas.

Seeing a first grade teacher use blogging so effectively in her classroom gives me hope that it is in fact possible and is seamless when run effectively!  Her students' blogs allowed them to have a voice and to become real writers. My students writing has come so far this year and I can only imagine how much further I could push them if they had that individual accountability and drive to work on their own creations.

The Skype Literature Circle idea that Aviva Dunsiger uses in her classroom are simple but amazing and resonate with students. Allowing students to participate in traditional literature circles allows them to share their thoughts. Yet, adding the technology component of Skype to the conversations changes the students audience and allows them to practice speaking to people outside of their classroom. Again, it is more practice students can get in working with multiple literacies, discussing their thoughts, agreeing and disagreeing with peers on their arguments and supporting those ideas with evidence from the reading or writing.

I have many friends from my undergraduate degree who teach in other states. How amazing would it be to collaborate with them and use their classes as resources during literature circles or in buddy reading programs.

Out of all the collaborative strategies mentioned in "Online Collaborate Inquiry"which do you think are the most beneficial and which would you use in your own classroom?

Wiki, Wiki, Wiki

If any of you had that kind of day and you need a good laugh...I fell upon this and couldn't help but share. I am a sucker for funny/cute kid videos.

I feel like every time I come onto my blog and search around others I learn something new. I think I may be catching the bug...it's starting to become a lot more fun for me to share my thoughts and post to others. I went searching on some sites Richardson suggested in chapter 4 and it's funny but none of them appealed to me. I immediately was overwhelmed with the amount of text on the page and I could tell I was not engaged by the lack of pictures or interactive components to the blog. So...I have made it my mission to make my blogs as colorful, interesting and relatively simple as possible to attract a wide range of readers and followers.

My experience with Wikipedia started and ended in high school when our librarian told us that if we used as research or information from Wikipedia it was automatically false and we would be graded down accordingly.  So, needless to say I stayed away from the site. But, my how much has changed!

Richardson states in chapter 4 that wiki means quick...I have mixed feelings about this. The steps of researching, reading and blogging is a quick way to share information but every time I start looking at other peoples sites I get lost I start losing my breadcrumbs to where I began. Richardson also says Wikipedia is the poster child for collaborative learning because anyone and everyone can share and edit information. And if you didn't think Wikipedia could get better...if you love cooking and finding fast and simple recipes as much as I do check out this site!  I just found it and am automatically obsessed.

What's most interesting is that scholastic information is being shared and created freely using Wikipedia. My prediction is that one day (not any time soon), textbooks will be nonexistent. The children who are in my classroom are twenty times more literate with technology than I was at their age (and really still am!). Richardson made a valid point that in our Read/Write Web we are all editors and are becoming responsible for doing that job.

On PlanetMath math becomes accessible to all. Now, it seems that this is not as child friendly as I would need for my first graders but looking around this site made me think of how I could use a wiki like this. If my district allowed all the 1st grade teachers to create a wiki regarding our new math curriculum it would open a world of collaboration and co-teaching strategies that are not available currently. We could make it a resource to us as well as to the students and parents with activities to do at home as well.

There are even Wiki's that get the community involved like Operation Katrina 2009 which was started by a school group that assists each year in the area affected by Hurricane Katrina.

In all the blogging and searching you've been doing in the past few weeks, have you found a favorite wiki?

Starting a Class Blog...

The minute I feel like I'm ready to tackle this whole "blogging my thoughts while still talking about professional ideas" I'm thrown by another bloggers post about technology troubles and my confidence is once again shaken. So far one of my biggest worries with blogging is getting my "voice" and personality across and not being that boring blog that nobody wants to read. So...I guess this will be trial and error for a while.

In Richardson's Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms he talks about the importance of teachers blogging. I like that he explained the benefit of teachers blogging and becoming comfortable with the activity before asking their students to do so. I am excited about the prospect of trying blogging with my 1st graders, but I definitely want to get a handle on the whole concept before I get them into the mix. Richardson mentions taking baby steps with the kids and I feel like that's what Prof. Arzt is doing with us. She does such an amazing job of walking us through visual tutorials that I feel like I can handle this overload of information that much better.

A worry I have when using blogging with my students is the fact that they all don't have internet access at home. With the strict confines of our curriculum there really isn't much extra time to play with so I'd like the kids to do most of their blogging at home. Yet, for some this will be problematic. Currently, we ask students to go onto www.xtramath.org and complete math flashcards for homework and the initial response from many parents about the use of technology was not exactly glowing. I feel like showing the parents examples of other students blogs would be helpful for them to come around to the idea.

In my search I found some sites that I like and think I could share with parents...

Ms. Cassidy's Blog is one of my favorites right now! She has her Kindergarteners showcase their learning through the class blog as well as individual blogs and it's amazing that their families from around the world get to be a part of their daily learning! To start my kids off I would probably have them read some of these Kindergarteners blog posts as well as watch the videos they have posted.

"Three Approaches to Blogging" as featured on Integrating Technology and Literacy overviews distributing information through blog, discussing information and demonstrating information learned. I think all three approaches are crucial for kids to partake in but I feel the most hands-on section is the demonstrating where students can actually get their hands dirty and actually blog.

I think my take away from this blog is...baby steps...no good teacher was ever born overnight so I need to cut myself a little slack and ease into this whole "blogging with six-year-olds" idea!