Final Reflection

At the beginning of this class I was intimidated by all of the new technology that has come out since I was an undergrad. I realized how behnind on the times I really was. Now I have a new found confidence that I hope I can keep up with in the coming years. I feel like technology is something that is just pushed to back burner and it shouldn't be. In fourth grade we have three EOGs, reading, writing, and math. From November to March there is such a huge push on the Writing test then as soon as that is over the march to the Reading and Math test starts. Everyday I have to do an EOG in with reading classes and my homeroom. I'm so frustrated with that. With all of the pressure and prodding to do well on the EOG I feel like I haven't been able to try out as many things I would have liked with my students.

I did get to start Gaggle with my students and suprisingly only got complaints from other teachers who thought I was trying to one up them or wasting my time on things that were not going to be tested.

The screen capture feature was also handy when giving directions with a tutorial. If I were staying in 4th grade next year I would probably create one on Gaggle and Power Point.

I used the movie maker to make a movie that my students and others were able to enjoy. My students now request that when we have down time. What a motivator it has become. I don't think I would have the patience to create one of those in the classroom. It just takes too long and is too stressful to have to do the entire thing on one computer.

I like the idea of creating a digital text after returning from a field trip. We only went on one during this semester and I'm waiting until after the EOGs to create a digital text about it. For next year I plan on creating some for my little Kindergarten students.

I don't think that Social Networking is appropriate for students my age. I had them create profile pages and they seem content with that. As far as my social networking pages I have chosen to keep those private and for social reasons. I just want parents and my friends mingling in the same area. My entire life is not school and I in order to keep my sanity it must remain that way. I feel like through my webpage, e-mail, phone, and ability to meet face-to-face, I have made myself available enough. As far as blogging goes to keep in touch with parents I'm comfortable with the webpage I have now. I have been working on that page for the last 3 years. To move everything over to a blog would take an enormous amount of time. I like using FrontPage. I like have the freedom to design my site the way I want it and not have to worry about losing it because a site goes down. When I move to Kindergarten I plan to continue using FrontPage to create a user friendly webpage. I may include a link for a class blog within the webpage but the entire page will not be a blog.

I look forward to creating a Voki that I can use at the beginning of the year to introduce myself to my new little ones. This year I'll probably show the site to my students and allow them to create their own Voki for fun after the EOG. I hate how everything has to take its place behind the EOGs. I can't wait to get out of a tested area.

One thing I have tried to this year that was inspired by you Dr. K is using PowerPoint to type up notes. When studying the Lost Colony I used a website that I had bookmarked to show students how to take notes from text. After reading a small section of the text I then worked with the students to write notes on the important topics. Everyday when we returned to the text we used the already typed up notes to review. When questioning students on how well they liked this new way of note taking they said that it was easier to read than my handwriting and they thought using the laptop was cool. Right now we are studying Blackbeard and I'm doing the same thing but with a book. The students seem to enjoy this kind of work and it is an important skill they will need in life.

I am definitely going to use podcasts to record books on a MP3 player and to record daily/weekly announcements. When I move to Kindergarten I won't have to worry about doing all kinds of EOG review so I'll have time for technology. When I first tried to let my students listen to the podcast I created, I learned that our county blocked Gabcast. What a disappointment. After several e-mails it was finally unblocked last week. I have not had a chance to use it with my students yet because it just hasn't been available for very long. I would like to try it out with my students before the end of the year. Maybe I'll think of a way to use it as an EOG review and get to do it soon. There is just something wrong with having to relate everything from March to May to a state test. It doesn't make teaching very enjoyable. I hope that things change very soon.

Overall this has been a very helpful class. I have enjoyed trying new things and talking to others about ideas. It is nice to have people to share ideas with and gain some in return. I wish it were like that in the school setting. I have been talking to our media coordinator and periodically to my principal. It's really weird that everyone seems to understand the importance of integrating technology but at this time of the year, its not what can we try that the students might find useful but what can we try that might boost tests scores. Sad. Maybe in time the pressure to do well on the EOGs and make AYP won't control everything we do in school.

Silly Sally by Audrey Wood

Record by phone with Gabcast.com
Well I tried using Odeostudio and I guess the site froze up. I've been waiting for about an hour now and it still says its saving. I just don't have that kind of time. Since then I have recorded Silly Sally twice, the first attempt was too low because I didn't hold my phone right up to my face. I also added some dings in between the pages from a sound file I found on findsounds.com. This is just so easy!

Another Idea for Podcasting

I was visiting with a Kindergarten teacher today at my school and was admiring her morning message in the form of a letter. Tonight after reading about podcasts I started thinking about how neat it would be to have students read the message and tell about the day or week in a podcast. I could then post the podcast to my webpage for parents. A fourth grade teacher in my county had her students read their best stories right before the writing test as a way to spice things up and build confidence. The ideas just seem endless.

Record by phone with Gabcast.com

Record by phone with Gabcast.com
Today I created my very first podcast using Gabcast. It was so easy and took only a couple of minutes. I created an account and used my cell phone to call the toll free number. From there I just followed the directions and spoke into my phone. I recorded myself reading Five Little Pumpkins. The only thing I don't like is my "beat" I sounded out when signaling the students to turn the page. I'm going to have to find a bell or something.
My principal and hopefully our PTO are going to help me and some other teachers who are interested purchase some inexpensive MP3 players. With those, we can record our podcast and down them onto the MP3 player so that the students can listen to books on the Mp3 player. What a cool idea! Apart from the initial cost of the MP3 players this will an inexpensive way to help reluctant and beginning readers read. I'm pumped!

Movie Maker

I absolutely loved this project!!!!
During class I took pictures with my digital camera and uploaded them to my computer. After that it was very simple to click and drag them into my working space in Movie Maker. Once all of my pictures were ready, I used my microphone and the sound recording program found in the accessories menu to record my voice reading the text. I also used http://www.findsounds.com/ to search for sounds of laughter, animals, etc. for my movie. Once I had everything in place, sadly my lab computer froze up and I lost my movie. When I left class that night I was upset but determined to recreate my movie. That same night I used the sounds I had found and my pictures to recreate the movie. The most time consuming part after everything was saved was uploading such a large file onto the internet. I really enjoyed using Movie Maker in this way. I don't think I would use it with my children to create a movie. There is just too big of a risk of losing everything when working in the program. The entire project should have taken me about 2 hours to complete. I just don't have that kind of time in my classroom especially this time of the year with all of the emphasis on the EOGs. I will definitely use this program again in my own time at home. This summer I plan to use it to record books for my little kindergarteners since I'm changing gradelevels next year. YEAH!!! I really liked the examples that Dr. Koppenhaver showed us in class. I think that by using pictures, sound, and my voice to record a book that even reluctant readers will be motivated to listen.
Click here to view Bubba the Cowboy Prince in Movie Maker.

Implementation
I showed my students my movie and they loved it. Celeste also showed it to her students and she said they were really impressed with my accent and the sound effects. I'm going to create more this summer for my younger students next year.

Wiki

Last week I created a page on our class wiki along with a partner. We were at separate computers but were able to edit and add content onto the page. I thought the set up and editing tools were easy to use and am excited about trying it out in my classroom. When we were both working at the same time from different computers it made me think about my students who argue or play when I have them working simultaneously on a project at one computer. Having students work in a wiki would eliminate that problem. Often times I have students that will write a report with a partner or group and argue over who is going to type it up. I have to set time limits for each person to type then make them switch after 10 or 15 minutes. By using a wiki students could both type at the same time on different sections of their project. I love it! I created a wiki on pbwiki.com and found it easy and free to start an account. I created a page and included an "I" poem I wrote on Blackbeard for my upcoming pirate unit. I'm thinking that my students could go in and edit the poem finding synonyms for words, etc. Then I usually have each student research a pirate and write their own "I" poem from the pirate's point-of-view. My students could link their poems to the class wiki so everyone can read them. Just a thought for now. I'm going to continue to brainstorm this idea and try to think of other ways I use wikis in my classroom. My school's librarian uses a wiki during Battle of the Books to share ideas and have students answer each others questions they have a book. It's really like a book talk. If you think of any ideas please share. Click here to view my wiki.

Implementation
I haven't yet used my wiki in my classroom. With all of the stress on the EOGs and pop up assemblies, Social Studies has been put on the back burner. We just started reading about Blackbeard on Friday. It will be next week before we explore my "I" poem on Blackbeard.

Jojo's Slideshow

Tutorial

I chose to create a tutorial for United Streaming since it seems to be a difficult task for some teachers in my school. Just the other day one of my colleagues asked to show her how to use United Streaming. I've shown her numerous times and she still just can't get it. She asked me early last week to sit down with Friday during our workday. When the option of typing up a tutorial was suggested in class Monday night I jumped on the chance of creating directions that she could keep. I used the screen capture feature in Microsoft Word to include pictures of the computer screen and then inserted a circle around the part of the screen I was explaining. This was pretty easy and a very effective teaching tool. On Friday she followed the directions I gave her and spent all day finding videos. She was so excited that she continually called me into her room to watch segments of the facinating videos she found. I will definately use this in my classroom. I tried the video option in Jing last week in class and my computer went down. I decided that I would just use screen capture from now on. If anyone in our class successful figured out how to use Jing and upload the videos I would be interested in giving it another try. Click here to view my tutorial.

I gave the tutorials to two of my colleagues and they loved it. They found it extremely easy to follow and they haven't ask me for help with United Streaming since then.

Social Networking

So much of my time is spent thinking about school and my students, that it is refreshing to know that some parts are completely separate. After much thought on using sites like myspace and facebook in the classroom, I have decided that I don't think social networking should be used that way. I have friends from high school and college that invite me to be their friend. They want to talk to fun-loving Kelly who likes to have drinks on the weekends and shouldn't have to sensor their language or the content just because parents use my page also. I am satisfied by communicating with parents by e-mail, telephone, and in person. My students have started using Gaggle to create profiles online and will soon start to blog. With fourth grade students, I just think using myspace or facebook would not be appropriate. There are too many dangers out there that 9 and 10 year olds should not have to face. I believe that you can discuss the issues and warn children not to talk to strangers online but that doesn't always work. We don't leave them at home by themselves or let them wonder around the mall, therefore, they shouldn't be wondering around myspace by themselves.

Digital Texts

I created a digital storybook using the PowerPoint template that was linked to the class syllabus. I choose to create one about myself that I can hopefully use with younger kids next year if I get to change grade levels. This year I used an idea I got from Dr. Frye's website and wrote a Me Map. I was able to use it to introduce myself my to students and then they wrote one of their own. It was a great way to get to get to know all of my students. Next year I hope to use this one to introduce myself and let my students use the template to create one of their own.
I found the template easy to use and think that children would find it easy also after they are shown how. When trying to decide how best to share my digital text with the world I had some problems. My county's firewall prevents me using badongo to upload my file. I tried convincing the person over technology at the the county office to take down the firewall but she insisted that I use Gaggle's file sharing capabilities to share it. I was able to successfully upload my book onto Gaggle but I don t' know who to share it. I e-mailed the tech guy 3 times and he never got to back to me. He is coming on Monday to do another round of Gaggle with my students so I plan on asking him then. For now I used badongo from home to upload my book. This will work for our purposes but I'm now sure how to share it with students and let them access it from home. I could download it to the county server and post it that way onto my webpage. I guess I will find out on Monday how to share the Gaggle page. Click here to see my digital text.

Reflections and Implementation
I had fun creating my digital text. I hope to allow students to create one before the year is up and after the EOGs. We went on a field trip to Maple Grove and I would like to have my students to create a digital texts about the house, the family, and the artisans we saw outside. Next year I think it would be great to create one about the alphabet, Letterland characters, popular books, and field trips. Without the stress of the EOGs I'm hoping there will be time to do some fun stuff like this.

Webquest

I explored through all of the webquest sites hyperlinked to the syllabus and decided that I did not like any of them. I felt like they limited what I wanted to do and were visually unappealing. I decided to use Microsoft FrontPage to create my webquest, which is hosted by Catawba County Schools, by simply designing new pages. It was much easier for me to start from a blank slate because I can add my own background colors and images. I created one on Animal Diaries. Click here to view it.

I created this webquest because this project is one of the very few that all of our 4th grade teaches use. I wanted to design something that would be available to my colleagues and myself in the future. I was planning on using this next year but since I now know that I'm changing grade levels, I won't be able to try it out. One of my colleagues is interested in using it next year though and is excited to have it all completed. She is not very techno savy and is rather sad to see me go so this will assist her some next year in continuing to use technology in the classroom. I think creating a webquest makes things easier on the teacher and student. Everything is laid out in a neat easy to follow pattern. I think that really helps students. The different sections help to break down the jobs and keep the students on track. I look forward to creating more webquests for my students next year. I think including a Voki or podcast would be helpful to my Kindergarteners since they will not be able to read the directions.

Snap Fish vs. Photobucket

This weekend I have tried two different photo sharing sites, Photo Bucket and Snap Fish. When trying to decide on the best site, I decided to do a Google search and take a look at what was out there. I had used Snap Fish before and actually already had an account from a friend who shared her album with me. While browsing through the other sites, I came upon Photo Bucket and it looked interesting. After creating an account, which was extremely easy, I quickly uploaded my photos from my computer. The only thing I didn't particularly care for were the pop-up adds. Using Photobucket I was able to upload my photos, create a slide show, make a remix including music and captions, create my own avatar, e-mail my photos, and post my album to blogger.com and myspace.com. I was very impressed with this. Snap Fish was also user friendly. I was able to upload my photos from a bulk file but the wait time was a lot longer than Photobucket. Also using Snap Fish I was able to view a slideshow but the option for a colorful background was not there. The only way I have found so far to share your photos using Snap Fish is to e-mail them or copy and paste the URL address. Overall I think I like Photo Bucket the best because of the numerous options for sharing and creating projects with my photos. Check out my album and www.snapfish.com by clicking here.

Slide Show using Photobucket

Colorado 2008

Photobucket Album

Social Bookmarking

I used del.icio.us to bookmark my favorite and most needed websites. The site was easy to locate and post sites onto. I had some trouble at first downloading the buttons onto my home computer but after some free time of playing around I was able to figure it out. I have included links to pages will assist me with my job as well as pages that are of personal interest to me. It was convenient when I went to Colorado last week to be able to find ski resorts quickly by using my social bookmarks. My friends and I were able to check out lift ticket prices and trail maps. After seeing how easy it was to use, my friends also created accounts with del.icio.us. Check out my stuff. http://del.icio.us/kd36836

Screen Capture

Today I was typing up sub plans and wanted to leave directions on how to use United Streaming. I decided to use the directions found on the syllabus for this class to copy the webpage (PrtSc + Alt) and pasting it into a Word document. I was able to type up step-by-step directions and it was so easy.

Reflection and Implementation
The first thing I used the screen capture feature to type up directions for a sub on using United Streaming. The sub loved it and said that it was really easy to understand and follow the directions with pictures on there. The next thing I did was create a tutorial for how to use United Streaming to view and save videos in your folder. I gave to two teachers who absolute love me now. Before they would ask me to assist them everytime they wanted to find a video. They haven't needed my help since I created the tutorial. I will definitely continue to use this feature.

V Cast Music

My cell phone doubles as an MP3 player and until today I did not know how to put music on my phone. Today Jason, my boyfriend, who has always just put it on there for me showed me how to rip CDs, buy music from V Cast, and then install it on my phone. I'm so excited! I have been going through all of my CDs and finding songs to upload. I even bought a new pair of ear phones for my cell phone to listen to music. Jason says that my 1GB card will hold a few hundred songs so I have a long way to go, better get back to jamming.

Springdoo Video

Click on the link below to watch my Springdoo video. I used the software that came with my webcam to record the video. I then uploaded the vidoe to Springdoo. My next quest is to record the video using Springdoo software.
http://www.springdoo.com/M1FAE2A310FD74696F

Web Cam and Springdoo

Well I have successfully recorded a video from my web cam. Last Monday night in class I had problems getting the camera to work but was able to record audio through my microphone. When I started attempting to download the software for my web cam on Wednesday I had exactly the opposite problem. At home the camera worked but not the microphone. I tried a few times after that plugging it into every hole I could find. Nothing worked. On Sunday night I got really frustrated and thought that maybe I had a problem with my computer. Today I brought all of my equipment with me to school. While my kids were busy doing morning work I popped in the installation disk for the web cam. All it took was a couple of clicks every few minutes and I was on my way to internet communication land. While my students were in PE I attempted to make my video, guess what-----you guessed it, the microphone didn't work. Finally I just started playing around with some of the audio settings within the webcam software. That is where I made my break through. I was able to record a video while my students were in music and successfully send it to myself using Springdoo (which I had signed up for earlier last week and was very simple). After that I recorded my class singing a song and planned on e-mailing that to all of you. The file is too big so I've posted it here from my website. I hope you enjoy. Now that I have everything figured out I'm trilled to have this new knowledge but I feel like I have traveled down a long, bumpy road to get here. http://www.catawba.k12.nc.us/SchoolPages/Murray/drum/

TI-15

Our school just received new calculators. They are so cool but really complicated. A represenative from NWRESA came to our school yesterday to train us how to use them. They simplify fractions, change fractions to decimals, etc. Our students are going to love these things once we get familiar enough with them to actually use them. It even has games, I bet my students will probably figure out how to play those before I do. I don't remember needing a special calculator until I was in high school. Boy times are changing! I'll keep you posted on my progress with this sophisticated adding machine.

Gaggle

My school system has a Gaggle account for all our students in the district. Today a technology specialist from the county met with me to introduce me to Gaggle's e-mail. He has offered to come back next week to assist me in training my students how to send and receive e-mail. I feel very fortunate to have someone to help me out. I can't wait to get my students up and going. He also briefly went over the blogging Gaggle. I think I'm going to set one up for both of my reading classes and my homeroom as well. I still feel a little overwhelmed but overall I'm really looking forward to integrating e-mail and blogging into my classroom.

Reflection and Implementation
I have been using Gaggle with my students to allow them to send e-mails back and forth to each other. Occassionally I have sent them e-mails complimenting them on their usuage and sometimes about the book we are reading. I ask them about their library books and they seem to really enjoy writing back. They even created their own profile pages. They think this is really cool! The most useful feature that I've found with Gaggle is the digital locker. Anything that my students start at school they upload to their digital locker so that if they need to access it from home they can. When we were working on a Lost Colony booklet a couple of weeks ago some of my students choose to type their book. Having the access to the digital locker made it possible for them to finish up typing at home. I will definitely continue to use Gaggle in my classroom.

Technology K W L

I used to think I was pretty techno savy until I read the syllabus for this class. Blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc???? When I was little I remember playing games on the computers in the library at school. As I got older I used them more for word processing. I still remember staying after school to type up papers my junior year of high school because I didn't have one in my home yet. That was the first year I can recall assignments having to be typed and not handwritten. Now everything has to be typed. In college is where I really learned how to use programs like PowerPoint, Publisher, and FrontPage. I feel like that is where my eyes were really opened to what was going on in the technological world. Since leaving college I have tried to stay up-to-date but it is hard to do when new technologies are created everyday. I have a class webpage that I use to update parents, post big projects, display student work, and link resources my students may find helpful. Click here to view my webpage. My students use Publisher to create newsletters that correlate with novels being read in class and Social Studies projects. I have been trained to use Inspiration but haven't used it in my classroom yet. My students have also created PowerPoint presentations for animal reports. I can take and upload digital pictures. Right now my students are finishing up a book they wrote about The Cherokee People. They used hyperlinks from my page, Microsoft Word, and scanned illustrations to put the book together. I am looking forward to learning about all of the technology that I'm lagging behind in and implementing some of it in my classroom.