1/1/09

Can you believe that it is 2009! It has been a pretty exciting fall for me as I have been integrating technology Web 2.0 tools into my classroom atmosphere and learning. There have been some failures but many successes, too.

Most of the failures were caused by lack of access. It is frustrating to find a tool that can be really helpful to students and then not be given permission levels to use it. Our OIT Department has been working with me a great deal; however, I've been bumping up against district-level policy issues.

The successes have been great:

1. cdn.voicethread.com - My students have loved this site. You get three free voicethreads. The one we have used most recently was a group of pictures from our field trip to our school's business partner, Norfolk Iron and Metal, Inc. I uploaded the pictures to Voicethread then each child took a turn looking at the pictures and choosing three about which to comment as a thank you to our hosts. I then emailed the link to the company CEO, Ron. I, of course, sent a copy to my principal, too. It never hurts to keep them in the loop.

2. pbwiki.com - this is the wiki site I settled on after playing with a few. I stayed with the version 1 level so kiddos didn't have to have a pbwiki.com email account. They all already have an email account through our echalk program. Each child has a page on the wiki. I do the introduction page. I try to write each Friday but it doesn't always happen. :-) On the students' pages, they can format and design them to their liking as long as it is school-appropriate. Then we upload their writer's workshop pieces or PowerPoint presentations. I sent home directions to parents on how to access the site so that they can share their children's work with their other relatives. I got a great response.
The biggest glitch came with the Comments option. My kiddos used it kind of like Instant Messaging! Once I explained that the comments were to be critiques/feedback about student uploaded work, they self-corrected and all has gone well since.

3. Camtasia - Yippee! It has allowed me to take a PowerPoint presentation and record information for each slide then I uploaded it to my iTunes account. It is really slick and easy. It also has editing capabilities which I am still learning. My plan is to turn one of my students loose on it to explore then he/she can teach me the tricks. He/she has more time is more comfortable "messing" with software than this ol' digital immigrant is.

4. I have also been accessing quite a few podcasts and screencasts to use for building background knowledge for my students. They like the multi-sensory presentation of video/sound. Plus, much of the work is already done for me; I just have to push, "Play."

In addition, my kiddos are on a nice, stable rotation for their math facts practice software called "Fastt Math." (Yes, it is spelled with two "t's".) I have 30 students in my classroom and most days every student gets a turn at Fastt Math. I have seen great increases in their general math fluency.

I have also gone to some old technology - laserdisc player - to use a great program from Tom Snyder called, "The Great Ocean Rescue." It is a science simulation which involves a lot of technological reading, inference skills, researching skills, and collaboration. It was a huge hit, so now I purchased the other one, "The Great Space Race."

Another piece of software I have been using is "Reading for Meaning," also by Tom Snyder Productions. It is a software that has you practice reading skills/concepts such as Cause and Effect as a class with a video and graphic organizers. Then you print out other short stories (three different reading levels are available with two stories for each level for each concept) and the handouts for students to do OYO (On Your Own). Inference, summarizing, main idea and details, and cause/effect are some of the topics.

We also have 16 palms; however, I haven't been very good at using them. I bought some software to use on them and had trouble getting it on the palms. Right now, we use a few math programs and the kiddos love Crazy Daisy which has little educational value!

As you can see, life is grand in my classroom. Running smoothly some of the time, too, but we are all working together to see technology's place in our learning.

In a week or so I begin traveling to teach about Web 2.0 tools to other teachers. I hope they find at least one program or idea to use right away. My newest goal is to use Yackpack. Check it out on the web. It's free and a great way to support students when they need help away from school. Let me know what you think.

Good luck with your Web 2.0 journey!