Tech Play 2

This week my assignment has been to explore options to create an ePortfolio. As with blogging, ePortfolios are a new concept to me.  Even after reading a variety of articles about them I am still unsure what goes into an ePortfolio or what I will be putting into my own. The tool options I explored were Blogger, Wikispaces, and Weebly.  Since I have been using Blogger for a few months I felt most comfortable with this option but do not believe a blog will work for creating an ePortfolio because the posts are archived by month/year and not by individual post titles.  I was not too impressed with Wikispaces (to use for my own ePortfolio) as the page is very basic and has more of a social media vibe to it.  The tool I believe will work best will be Weebly. It was fun exploring these different tools. I just wish I had more time to devote to developing them.

If I were to pick one of these tools to use in my CLASSROOM it would probably be Wikispaces because as I have already stated it works more as a social media. There are options to change your Wiki between use as a wiki, basic website or a classroom feature. The classroom feature includes a news feed and formative assessment feature.

Here are the links to the ePortfolios I created. At this time there really is nothing on them as I was just exploring the creation of them. 

Wikispaces
Weebly
Blogger

Tech Play 1

Early September of this year was the first time I created a blog.  I am still trying to get the hang of it and have been considering the past few months how I could use this technology at school.  I currently teach kindergarten and since I am not yet proficient in blogging I believe it would be difficult to guide my students in blogging.  Also, at this time I’m not sure what I would like for my students’ blog to include or what the purpose would be for their blogs. I believe my blog should be geared more toward my students’ parents. There is so much that happens during the week that I’d love to share but only send home a newsletter once a week. This year I have been using the app “Remind 101” to send home short reminders and requests to classroom parents.  What this app does not allow me to do is send pictures with the texts to allow parents to see what is happening in the classroom. I think a classroom blog could allow me to share with parents what’s going on during the week. I’d like to share pictures of our activities, family literacy and math ideas to use at home, and a place for parents to post questions that other parents may also have.

The two obstacles that come to mind at this time are student safety and some families lack of computer access.  Since a classroom blog provides just another way to stay in touch with families I believe with is worth using.  

Capstone Video

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Week 7 Reflection

This section of the textbook addresses new directions and emerging technologies for IDT. For your final post, reflect on how you might apply each of the following in your current or future position in the IDT field:

Distributed or E-Learning Environments

I believe my district is currently serving students in the area of e-learning. Elementary students attend 30 minutes in the computer lab daily to work on computer programs for reading and math (iStation and SuccessMaker). I believe my district should utilize more e-learning for teachers. Instead of having to take the time to attend workshops after school and on the weekends they should offer the workshops online.  This would help teacher who have children that they must find childcare for during these workshops.  I believe teachers would actually attend more workshops if they were available online.   

Reusable Design or Learning Objects

My favorite graphic organizers to use in the classroom are Thinking Maps.  In kindergarten I mostly use Bubble Maps (to describe using adjectives), Double Bubble Maps (to compare/contrast), Circle Maps (to define in context) and Tree Maps (to classify and group). While kindergartners are emerging readers these maps are easy for them to follow and they understand the information listed on them. 

     

     CIRCLE MAP

  

Rich Media

I believe my classroom is very rich in media use.  Our reading and math adoptions have online websites that enrich the programs. We can play quizzes, watch videos, listen to songs to support what we are currently learning.  For daily brain breaks we watch and dance to “Just Dance Kids” videos on YouTube.  I also make interactive Power Points to introduce lessons in Math and Science. The Power Points are also useful for informal assessments. Two examples of Power Points I created this week were “Introducing Living vs. Non-Living” and “Reviewing Sorting Rules.” Students are involved with all our computer media through the use of Easiteach Class Pads. This pad moves around the room and students are able to manipulate the computer through the use of it. This helps get everyone involved and makes lessons more student centered instead of teacher centered. 

Emerging Instructional Technologies/Games

While I do not have much experience in Gaming and Virtual Worlds I know this appeals to many people. In the future I can see Virtual Classrooms being created.  While I would hate to see the actual classrooms disappear because I believe the face-to-face interaction between students/teachers and students/students are extremely important, I think this would be an interesting addition to the actual classrooms.  A possible idea would be to use it after-school for tutoring or homework.