Updated Thoughts of Literacy and Technology
Where to begin? I have learned so much this week. I will have a completely different classroom in the fall if I am able to implement all of the technology I plan on using. Students will:
- Create podcasts for fluency
- Create podcasts “advertising” their favorite books
- Create Flip movies, such as interviews and video essays
- Use PhotoStory and/or MovieMaker to create digital texts
- Use Animoto for short presentations, like the phases of the moon
- Using a Blogging format to discuss a novel that we are reading in class
- Use WebQuests/TrackStar to discover things on the internet, like The Human Skeleton one I created
- Use Skype to communicate with someone in our community or around the world
My new thoughts are that due to my control freak nature, I have prevented my students from learning by not giving students control. However, now having seen the problem, I plan to let the kids have control. Almost everything we have done this week, they are capable of doing with very little guidance. I have learned that technology and literacy go hand in hand.
Podcasting
This is something I have wanted to do in my classroom for quite some time. I work on fluency using poetry with my struggling readers. On Monday students read the poem, which I record on a voice recorder, we practice the poem all week, and then on Friday we listen to our recordings from Monday, and all the kids say “Boy was that awful!” Finally, we read and record the poem on Friday and students marvel at their own improvement. The reason that I wanted to move this to a podcast is so that parents would have access to audio files. I played with the RSS feed and was able to create one for my Pageflakes page. Now parents will be able to go to my page and listen to recordings that their children have made in our classroom. How exciting!!
Really Simple ….
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and is means to receive updates from your favorite blogs or websites with having to check each daily to see if something new has been posted. If you subscribe to a particular website or blog feed you will receive updates when they become available without doing a thing. This is a wonderful time saving device. I currently have only have one RSS feed and that is Scholastic News on my Pageflakes page. I plan to add more when I have more time to sit down and decide what I want to have delivered. One is Common Craft that Dr. K showed up in class, because it is so simple even I can understand it. RSS would be a valuable tool in the classroom, when you are following a particular subject and wanted to keep up with current events. It’s like have only the things you want out of the newspaper delivered to your door. Pretty cool, huh?
Moviemaker and PhotoStory
I was not able to get Movie Maker to work successfully this week, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try again. However I did fall in love with PhotoStory. It is so easy to use!! It seems that I am saying that about most of the things I have learned about this week, but isn’t that great!! Anyway I found PhotoStory enjoyable, now while the video I created this week wasn’t that great, I was impressed with the ease of the program. I plan to make a much more professional introduction later with a little more time and better pictures. I also want to create something like Ashley did with her kindergarten class. I think students would love to create it and would take great pride in presenting their work. In addition, if you give a copy to parents they would have a priceless keepsake. I would give anything to have something like that from my children’s kindergarten days. PhotoStory is a keeper!
Animoto and Voice Thread
I loved using Animoto and Voice Thread. Two very different programs, but each well suited to a particular task. Animoto is another item that I learned about at the Catawba County Technology Conference. It’s so easy to use, even a third grader can do it. Before this week I had thought about only using it for myself, to create end of the year videos and that sort of thing. However, after watching Michelle’s animoto video on the moon phases, I realized that my students could create simple videos. These videos would be easy for students to create and a great assessment tool. Animoto would allow students another option, instead of pencil and paper.
Voice Thread was simple and easy to use. I created my project without a single glitch! I can see myself using this software to create digital books like the Ten Tiny Turtles example you showed us in class. I think Voice Thread has a lot of easy to use options making it an ideal choice for classroom use.
Pageflakes
I love Pageflakes! I first learned about Pageflakes at the Catawba County Schools Technology Conference this summer. I spent about 50 minutes listening to what it could do, and as soon as I got home I was creating a page. I still don’t know all of the things it can do but I will enjoy finding out. How will I use it in the classroom? If at all possible, I would like to use it for my class webpage, I am in the process of finding out if that will work. I see myself creating pages for various applications- the first page will be the “home page”, then I will have a separate page for each of the following topics- reading, math, science and social studies. I could even create more pages on such topics as the moon, plants, Statue of Liberty, penguins or any other theme. Really the possibilities are endless. Pageflakes is customizable and easy to use, making it a teachers dream come true! 
Ready, Set, Action
I was so excited this morning!! I bought a Flip Camera, and everything was going to be so easy. Ha, ha. But let’s start at the beginning. I knew we were going to work with Flip cameras today so yesterday after class I stopped in at Office Max to look at the new( ? new to me) marvel of technology. They only carried one style and it was kinda of pricey, and since I already own a fairly nice digital camcorder, I decided I didn’t need a Flip camera, so I came on home. At home I began working on my homework: reading and watching some things that children with disabilities had posted on the web. That’s when it happened- the aha moment. If I wanted to have the kids video in my classroom, I would have to be the one to do it. I was not giving the students any power, but if I were to purchase a Flip camera, the kids would be able to do it themselves without any help from me. So after having this aha moment, I was at the doors of Office Max when they opened this morning.
The camera is very easy to operate, and the download is very easy as well. I did have some trouble trying to move the images into MovieMaker. In fact, quite a few problems and I eventually gave up trying, saving that problem for another day. Because of this difficulty I simply used the software that came with the camera to create a movie. As Chef Tell would say, “Very simple, very easy.” My third graders could make their own movies without any help from me. This is a technology that I will definitely use in my classroom. I plan on trying to obtain more cameras from Donors Choose, making class projects a breeze. I have students do a biography project each year in which students get several choices about how they want to present to the class what they have learned. One choice is always to video something, like an interview. I know that some children have not had access to video cameras in the past, but now they could record in class with a Flip camera. I believe that I have made a good investment and look forward to putting it to good use.
Technology in Action
Here is an example of my use of some of the technology that I learned this week. First I created an image in Worlde, then I Jinged it and now have posted it to my blog. First, it was too big so I had to resize it using Microsoft Picture Manager, so I now I am able to post it on my blog. How cool is technology?!? I’m loving it!!
Third Grade 2009 - 2010
Blogging in the Classroom
This is the second grad class that I have blogged for, before last semester I thought blogging was something you did in the woods, kinda like logging. Ha, ha not really. I definitely plan on using this techno tool next year. I am going to add a blog to my homepage as another means of communication with parents. I know that all of my students will not have a computer at home but I would say at least sixty percent do. Of course the blog won’t be the only method of communication, but I liked what Erin said that I would have record of all communication that took place that way, perfect! I believe it would give parents/guardians an opportunity to know what is going on the class as well as leave comments and ask questions, without having to make a phone call or an email.
As far as blogging supporting literacy in my classroom, I can see setting up a blog like a student response journal-instead of putting it on paper; students enter responses, questions, comments and such into the blog. Students would be able to read other students blogs, as would family member and I would be able to quickly assess student’s knowledge.
Wow!! The blogs from students with disabilities in Minnesota was amazing!!! I saw things that I would have never thought about doing with my regular ed kids. Just goes to show how I am underestimating my students. I have added that website to my Delicious account, so that I can remind myself of all the things my students can do if I will only let them. I realize that there are multiple ways to use blogging in the classroom…I can’t wait to get started!
Hello, are you there? Skype
Wow! What can I say? I love Skype! I have talked to Britney and Debbie at night about the class this week, using Skype. It is so much more personal being able to see the person you are talking to. Personally I plan to use Skype with my daughter when she goes back to college in late August. I usually talk with her a couple of times a week, but with Skype I will be able to see her, and that makes such a difference. Unfortunately I don’t think she is excited as I am. I talk to my mother every day, if only she had a computer. (She just got a cell phone this year, and still can’t work it without help. I think she is beyond hope.
I know that I can use Skype in my classroom, (that I will have permission, because others in the county do) unlike much of the technology that I have learned about this week. At the technology conference I saw it used between a class in Alaska, and a class here in Hickory during the Iditarod Race. I can see myself using it in much the same way, communicating with a class or individual tied to a theme we are studying. Students could even conduct an interview with someone using Skype. Since our field trips will probably be limited it would provide a great way to reach outside our classroom into the local community or even the worldwide community. To be quite honest, when you think about it the possibilities are almost endless. In the meantime I am waiting for my Skype phone to ring….
