Debbie's Tech Class

Refection on Literacy and Technology

Ending Thoughts on Literacy and Technology

Our world is ever changing. We have to keep up with the times. The possibilities are endless!

Actually, as I was thinking about literacy and technology, I realize that I was new literacy illiterate. I thought I know a lot about things that could be done on the computer and with the computer, but I quickly found out that I didn’t really know as much as I thought. I also began to think about people who can’t read. Do they really realize that they don’t know? Thinking about this it is much like people who live in third world countries. They don’t know what they are missing because they haven’t been exposed to it. My desire now is to keep up with the times and continue learning. I have a lot of practicing to do.

A recap of how what I am going to use from this class, with more practice.

Flip Video—I already use and will continue to use with more vigor.

Pageflakes—This will be my communication between myself, my students and parents. I hope to teach my students different aspects of writing a front page of a newspaper using Pageflakes.

Skype—I plan on finding other people who are on Skype and do exchanges.  More studying about this.

Digital Text—There are endless possibilities with this. I want to have camera’s and flip video’s available for students. Every nine weeks, I am going to allow my students to create a project for extra credit. This would be one avenue they could explore.

WebQuest—Using these in my class is going to be a must. I think this is a great tool to use to help with independent study. I like to be available for students to help, but still allow them the freedom to explore.

Social Bookmarking—This tool will be used to speed up my searches for projects. It will allow me to also help students with their searches.

Threaded Discussions—I can use this tool posing a questions of the week, a problem of the week. Students can spend all week discussing with each other, commenting on each other’s posts. This is a great writing tool.

Twitter—I like this now that I have gotten use to it. I was thinking about all the possibilities. One thing I thought of was for students to take pictures of their projects, events, or classroom happenings and post them using twitpic’s. Parents can then make comments. This is a great tool to bring parent closer in the loop as to what is happening in school.

Blogging—This is a must for me. I am going to set each student up with a blog that they can work with, and post their work.

Caption Tube—I have really thought about this one. Students can create movies, up load them to You Tube, many have accounts, and then create captions to them. How fun would it be for them to make a silent movie and let someone else create captions? Just though. Caption Tube can be used to read a book and add the captions to assist students with fluency. They can read the text and hear the story.

Movie Maker—I will continue to use this tool but I will also give my students the option of using PhotoStory.

Podcasting

I am thrilled to learn about podcasting. I thought that you had to have an IPod to use podcasting I found out that this is not true. Podcasting is broadcasting audio files. You can set up a program where students can Reader Theatre. I could use this as part of my literacy time. Students who struggle with reading can at the beginning of the week listen to the story. This could be used for support in reading by having the students listen to the story. This can be used across the curriculum. In fifth grade, we study the beginning of the nation. A podcast can be used to demonstrate how people got information via the radio. This can lead into “Fireside Chats.”

RSS Feed

I have seen the symbol lots of places and wondered what it was. I was too scared to click on it for fear that something would happen to my computer. Well, fear no more. I now have an RSS feed. It has been great to get the updates on what’s happening. I now have CNN linked and get the up-to-date news. I don’t watch much TV. I see the news and read the captions while running at the gym but I really only pay attention to the weather. I do catch the headlines. Now with my RSS feed I got information fixing my profile on Facebook so no one can use my picture. Our school system has also bought into RSS feeds, that is scary, more watchdogs. J I think the RSS feed will really help me stay connected better. After talking to Susu, she made me realize that I could link the RSS to Scholastic News, and Time for Kids. This class does not really end.

Movie Maker and Photo Story

I tend to like Movie Maker, but I have played with it a lot. These tools are great for personal use in the classroom and for students to create movies. With either of these, students can take photos or video’s and place them on a storyboard and create a movie that they can edit themselves. I am not sure that Photo Story can take video’s.  I like to make a video of all the activities my class did throughout the year. I usually get my students to help with this. This program allows me to upload photos and create a movie all year long. I don’t have to wait until the end of the year and scramble to get it done.

Another way to use this is to create a movie to teach with. Take pictures or video on vacation, shoot the pictures and create a great teaching tool custom to your needs. Example: You are teaching about simple machines or force and motion. You are going to an amusement park, take pictures or video of examples and make a documentary of what caused the Dumbo to fly. This is a great beginning or a quiz type activity for any subject area. Again, the possibilities are only limited by our imaginations.

Caption Tube and Jing

I finally got my video uploaded using Caption Tube and Jing. This was a difficult process for me, but I finally made it. I began the day the program was introduced and just finished the process. Through trial and error, I learned a lot. I learned about the timing and how to get the caption just where I wanted it. I learned about the text and checking, editing and viewing the captions that I wrote. With all of this learning, I was going to re-do the captions because I got Susu to put it on her computer to Jing it (I don’t have an internal microphone) and the captions were messed up. I really think they were messed up before it went on her computer but I don’t know. I spent this morning re-doing the captions for the hundredth time, well Dr. D it wasn’t exactly 100 times, but I felt like it, to put it again on Susu’s computer again this afternoon. As I opened it, I found that the owner of the video removed it from You Tube. Panic set in! Thanks to Dr. D, he allowed me to use the bad video. Anyway I did learn a lot and I can Jing a video faster than I ever thought possible.

Now, how would I use all this in the classroom? Jing is a great tool for putting videos on my hard drive. There were a lot of times I would plan to use the internet with United Streaming and the internet would be down. Plan X would have to take place, which I hated plan X. Now with Jing I will never have to plan X again. With a Jing and a Jang I will have my videos on demand.

Caption Tube on the other hand, I will have to read, read and study about how to use that in my classroom to promote literacy. I suppose that students could make a silent movie and add captions? Well, they could do that in Photo Story or Movie Maker. More thought on that one.

Flip Video

I have used Flip Video’s with my students last year. They loved this project. I had groups of 4 students a flip video and had them find examples of Force and Motion. We reviewed the ground rules and they were great. It was so much fun to see their creativity. Are they perfect, no but it is theirs and they were proud of it. Another thing that really showed was the students that didn’t put much effort into it were embarrassed.  This can also be as a tool for students to “act out” a book.  The students learned so much about the topic we were studying with the “real learning.” This could also be used for students at the beginning of the year to introduce themselves to the class. What a cool way to really see the students in their home environment. You could meet their family and the community in which they live away from school. Again, the possibilities are endless.

Pageflakes

This is the easiest tool I have every used for making a webpage. Having a webpage is a wonderful tool for the classroom. I have replaced my newsletter with a webpage. The ease of creating one of these webpages will allow my students to create their own webpage. I intend on using to enable the students to create a “newsletter” type paper. This will enhance their writing skills and teach the skill of making a “newspaper” type writing assignment. I am going to have to figure out what the structure of how I would go about creating the guidelines for the web page. I think it will be an added addition to my students learning.

Digital Text

Slide, Animoto, Voice Thread which is best?

Which of these will work with my students? I tried both Slide and Voice Thread. They are both easy to use. Slide is a program that allows you to upload pictures to the program, rearrange them, put captions under them, add music and turn them into a movie. Voice Thread does all this as well and more. One of the features in Voice Thread I liked was being able to turn the video. I couldn’t do that in Slide.

I can see my students doing projects such as a Photo Essay, taking pictures and turning it into a movie. This would be a great and easy way to present students work. I am going to have students do an introduction of themselves at the beginning of the year. I will do mine via one of these avenues and have it playing during my open house so that parents can get to know me. I have fallen in love with an inanimate object.

Skype

I have been wanting to learn about Skype. I love it as much as I thought I would. I have learned through this class to explore. I didn’t really appreciate all the wonderful tools available..and all free! Skype can be used as a tool for pen pals. As a learning tool, I have my students write a friendly letter to someone in another state and we mail these. My students love getting to know someone from someplace else. Now I can add Skype to that and they will be able to actually talk with them.

I also can see using this tool to read to another class. Class discussions could happen where two or even three classes could hook up—One of the article mentions epals—This could go as far as the classes reading the same book and having a discussion or a debate about it. My mind is going in circles thinking of the possibilities. As you are learning about other parts of the US geography can be taught. The Website you sent us to, CoolCats Blog, is a great tool and ideas for using Skype. It could also be used as a network to other classrooms in that area as a mapping and sharing tool. Students could link up and discuss the difference with culture, dialect, etc.  How cool would it be for my sister in California to talk and show her farm? Possibilities…endless.

WebQuest

I have tried to create a WebQuest before and it was a disaster in my opinion. It took me a very long time and I really struggled with getting what I wanted done. I went no further than the first attempt. Now with the tools we have, WebQuest are so easy to create. I am not sure about doing them in an hour, however they are easy. With a WebQuest, students will be doing research with a guide. As the tasks are laid out for them there is no question as to what they are suppose to be doing, time on task. Some of the AIG students could create their own WebQuest. They could use it for an author study, character study, and sights that have interactive games could be imbedded. The possibilities are endless. WebQuests tie in well with social bookmarking. What an easy way to find sights.