NETS

Teachers and students have standards that are for teaching, learning, and leading in today's digital society. We refer to them as the NETS. Digital skills are necessary for this upcoming generation. We as teachers have to allow ourselves to be up to date on current technology. I try to get my students into the computer room once a week to work on or explore the Internet. Our most recent activity was researching a historical American figure. The students had to read through information they found and pull out what they thought was the most important to them. They found images and documents that they could use to create their poster project. I found the students were enthusiastic and motivated to work on their social studies projects throughout the month. Most students couldn't wait to share their findings while presenting their poster project to the class. Technology is a fantastic way to integrate many content areas. To find more information on the standards for students visit ISTE NETS for Students. Teachers also have their own set of standards. Teachers are expected to use technology effortlessly and provide students with authentic experiences incorporating technology. We are life long learners. I know in our district we have several professional development days throughout the year on new technology resources or developing on the current skills that we already use. To find more information on the standards for teachers visit ISTE NETS for Teachers.

Good Morning Voki

Every morning we all say our behavior pledge. This would be a great tool to allow students to recite the pledge with my Voki! I can see this being a great tool for new students who do not know the school wide pledge :) Thanks T!!!

Diigo

Diigo uses the cloud space so you can access whatever you have saved form anywhere. You can highlight or use sticky notes to allow easy browsing. You can use any web browser to use this tool. Great idea! I always run into problems where I wish I could access infomation I saved when I don't have my laptop handy. Your "Diigo Library" is where you keep infomation, favorite website, photos, and more. I'm surprised I haven't heard of this tool before! What a great way to sort and access infomation from anywhere!


Visit Diigo.com to learn more about Diigo!!

Blogs by Teachers

When exploring the teacher blogs, I cam across the blog called Tales from Grade K-1 Classroom. I really liked how the teacher designed this blog to help interact with her parents and with other educators. I was neat looking into her classroom and seeing the type of projects she does with her students. She also includes many resources for other educators. Blogs can be a great tool for sharing.


I also loved exploring Collaboreyes Project. This blog was created by four teachers who came together and started a blog where students communicate via blog. Collaboreyes is just sunglasses. It's a great tool that has the students share what's important to them through their eyes. What a great idea! It was very interesting to read about each child :) One girl convinced me to visit Orange, California just to see the "skyline".

Chapter 3: Effective Instructional Models

Teachers and students are now integrating the Internet within the literacies. Teachers can set up web quests for the students to explore topics. It was interesting to preview teacher's posted web quests such as Here Comes the Dinosaurs. The web quest explains the objective, the process, and even provides key vocab words that the students should know and use when they are exploring the Internet.


While browsing Kids Web Japan, I was impressed with this Internet workshop. Students can learn everything from the music, the school, the foods, and the games played in Japan. Students can even click on links to read about current events going on in Japan. What a great way to take students on a virtual field trip!


What a great idea! Monster Exchange is a great website that pairs classrooms up to work on read and writing skills. The website has students submit monster pictures and descriptions of the monsters they have drawn. The students receiving the picture has to try to recreate the original drawing of the monster by only using the description that was provided by the orignal creator of the monster. This is a great technique to get the students using descriptive langauge within their writing. They are thinking about their audience. I look forward to introducing this to my students!

Photo Story 3

Photo Story 3 looks like a great tool to create a digital story. The tools and functions look user friendly. You can edit photos within the program. I like that you can even add effects to personalize your story. Can't wait to figure out my topic so I can begin!!

Digital storytelling is amazing! Digial stories are short digital films that allows someone to share aspects of their life. This is a great tool for teachers! By using photographs, video, music, text and narration, a teacher or student can create a short video that goes along with a unit of study or something as simple as how they celebrate their holidays within their own culture. These videos can even be viewed by a world wide audience. Incredible!

Here is a site that has great student examples! ENJOY!

http://www.dtc.scott.k12.ky.us/technology/digitalstorytelling/studentstories.html

Yay I'm a blogger!

On display is my divorce gift to myself..My 2009 Kawasaki Ninja :)! Cross it off my bucket list.