EDUC 584 Reflection

As I said in my Voki, educators need to embrace technology, and incorporate it into the classroom.  This class has made the idea of that possible.  I learned a lot about techology, and I learned about practical ways to make it an effective part of my students' learning.  I went into this class thinking that I was pretty tech-savvy.  That all came crashing down within the first ten seconds of the class, but was slowly rebuilt thoughtout the past eight weeks.  I learned to blog and to wiki, as a professional development tool. I also learned how powerful they can be for my students.  I discovered Diigo, which is now a rival to my Pinterest page.  I also learned about great tools such as Animoto and Digital Storytelling.  I can easily see myself using these tools for years to come!  Overall, it has been a whirl-wind eight weeks, but eight of the most useful and eye-opening weeks of grad school. 

Digital Story

Here is my digital story!  I created my story using Storybird.

 My digital story has gone through many changes.  Originally, my students were going to create a story, in groups, based on our Writing for Many Purposes writing unit.  The stories were going to flow like The Jolly Postman.  The students would then illustrate their stories, and I would record the students telling them.

The blizzard, however, threw a wrench into those plans.  The time-table I had was not enough, so I had to go back to the drawing board.  That's when my new idea came to me.  Our next writing unit is persuasive writing.  I have begun planning, and collecting mentor texts.  After I read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, we were going to talk about the pigeon's reasons to get us to let him drive the bus.  Using Storybird, I created a story about a persuasive little girl named Imogene.  The students and I will discuss how persuasive Imogene is, and revise my story to make Imogene more persuasive.

Diigo v. Pinterest

Here is my Diigo library!  I am really excited, and proud, of it thus far.  I felt much the same way that most of you felt about Diigo, before and after.  Before, I thought that Diigo was a Pinterest rip-off.  I LOVE Pinterest, and I didn't think that there was any possible way for me to even like Diigo, nevermind continually use it.  However, as I explored the tool, I saw the value of it, and I even found Pinterest's flaws (!).  One of the most important places for me to access Pinterest is at school, and, unfortuantely, it is now blocked.  Even when it wasn't blocked, I couldn't access many of the pins because they were from blogs, which are blocked.  With Diigo, I always have access to my library and my bookmarks!  Another Pinterest flaw is that trying to find a pin may be difficult because your pins are piled onto a board.  With Diigo, while the library is a list of bookmarks, each bookmark has tagged keywords.  When I need something, I can search through the keywords.  In the end, I have come to love, and value Diigo just as much as Pinterest!  Happy Bookmarking!

My Valentine Bag!

Last week, I posted a picture of a cute penguin I was thinking of having the kids make for their Valentines.  I made the penguins on paper bags, rather than shoe boxes.  I also used red, pink, and white paper instead of black and white.  Here's my finished product!

 

Live Binder

The same teacher who recommended Mrs. Renz's blog also recommended Live Binder.  Live Binder is an online "3-ring binder."  Any resources you have can be "filed" into a binder that can then be shared.  My colleague had gotten so many great resources form here, and this was another site that I have been intending to check out.  It's pretty neat!  I would love to have digital copies of all my resources and "file" it away.  It would save so much paper, and the reosurces would be so easy to look for!

Here is an example of a Live Binder with free technology tools for teachers!

Mrs. Renz's Blog

At the beginning of the school year, I was talking to one of the 5th grade teachers at my school.  She told me about Mrs. Renz's blog.  Mrs. Renz is a 4th grade teacher, and she has many great ideas!  I can see why she came so highly recommended!

Digital Storytelling Resources

Tom Banaszewski created a website that describes how he structures the digital storytelling process for his students.  I found it very helpful because he tells you how to break it down so that students understand what to do, and what to accomplish.  Check it out!

Another helpful website was by edtechteacher.org.  The website includes a list and links to tools, examples, media resources, and ideas to integrate digital storytelling into the classroom.

Also, check out this slideshow on Slideshare about Digital Storytelling Across the Elementary Curriculum.  It was a great way to think about other ways that digital storytelling can be incorporated into the classroom.