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