Thing #16 - Final Evaluation

Photopeach was a fun and quick way to get a cute slideshow up.  Here is my slideshow that I created:  http://photopeach.com/album/yllkju

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
My favorite discovery on this learning journey was obviously finding new things that are out there that can be used in the classroom and/or on a individual level.  My favorite find was the software Kizoa that is able to put beautiful movies together.  I also found Edpuzzle that I believe will be very useful in my classroom.

2. How has this type of program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
This reminds me to take the time once in awhile to see what new and valuable 2.0 tools are out there that can help create a wonderful learning environment in my class.  Perhaps I will even continue with this blog and have a goal of searching twice a month if not once a month.

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from the 16 Things exercises that surprised you?
I am always surprised that there are more things out there that have unique twists and ways of using it to simplify not only teaching in the classroom but also on a personal level.

4. What could I do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I think it would have been neat to sometimes have 30 minutes in class to explore each others blogs once in awhile.  This way you could actually have a little designated time to look at some of the things they recommend and found themselves.  Maybe even at the end of the "16 things" students have a presentation on three of their best take aways.

Thing #15

Skype what a beautiful thing or at least Skype like things...lol.
Let me explain what I mean.  Skype has been awesome in the classroom many ways.  In my class we have this awesome thing called "Mystery Reader."  This mystery reader comes and visits the classroom and reads a book.  They send in three clues in the morning before they arrive in the afternoon before my class leaves for home.  The kids then try to guess who is the "mystery reader" by the clues given.  Many times we have had "mystery reader" call in over Skype or Google circles etc. When they call in the read a special book they have chosen.  It all works so well and the children love it.  This is just one way that we use it in the classroom.
On a personal level, my oldest son Cameron, is in Lishui, China teaching English and will be there for almost a year. As you can imagine I miss him very much but the invention of Skype like apps have made it much more bearable.  The app that we use is called Viber and it is an awesome way to keep in touch with people internationally for FREE!!  Yes Free!! It sounds to good to be true but it is true.  I can text, call and video call just like Skype for free.  This has been such a lifesaving lifeline for me.  I am sure my son would be fine without it.  So if you ever go over seas make sure to download Viber.  I don't really know how they make money but they do.  I was introduced to it by my sister the year before my son left because they were traveling Europe for the summer.  It worked well and she was continually sending me pictures.  Here is the link: http://www.viber.com/en/

Thing #14

You can find some good information from Podcasts but I just don't use them very much.  I do enjoy that not all podcasts are just audio.  I definitely prefer to not only hear but to learn watching something as well.  The podcast I finally decided to listen to is right up my field because it is based on technology ideas for K to 2nd grade.  The whole podcast was based on using iPads to enhance K-2

Many of the thing that it covers are: 

• How to use book creator on the iPad
• Endless alphabet app
• Educreation tutorial
• Organizing apps
• Quick voice to name a few...
• and my favorite....screencasting Apps to help differentiate your instruction.  

I particularly loved listening to the screencasting app. because I can use it for my summer website.

The link to this podcast is: https://itunes.apple.com/us/course/using-ipads-to-enhance-k-2/id663788743

Thing # 12-13

Discovery Exercise 1: 

I have been very interested in a few topics lately so I went on youtube and started searching under some of the topics.  I came across this one after about 45 minutes and watched it.  I found it very heartwarming and so important.  Basically it is about play and the importance of play in not only children's lives but also in adults.  That is why I chose this blog post.  It is over 15 minutes and it kept my attention the whole time so i felt it was good enough to share.
I liked how he was dressed all goofy so that might be one fun thing to do in my post if I decide to have it geared to my kids but that might be to silly.  It might be cool to do a post of experiments for the students.  Then we could do some of the fun experiments at school.  Melissa and I saw Steve the science guy and that was really fun so maybe something like that would be fun to create.  Another one of my favorite videos from YouTube that I always use is class is Jack Hartman and learning the teen numbers.  The guy is definitely goofy for my taste but he does have some great songs that the kids love.  Here it is:

This video is great.  I would love to figure out how they make all the slides come in and then move to video.  I love singing but again I don't want to look like a dork.  LOL  Jack Hartman is looking too goofy but the kids love....love this song.

Discovery Exercise 2:  Making this video is a bit awkward because I would rather not see myself.  LOL  It was a fun activity but I will start brainstorming ways to create videos and screencasts to use in teaching without showing myself.  This is great practice to start implementing for my website I am creating for parents to refer to in the summer.

Discovery Exercise 3:
There are some definite advantages of having learning videos available online using sites like YouTube.  First, videos can show a more fun side to learning something, a teacher can create playlists to use with lessons to jazz it up, class lessons could be recorded and used later for a flipped classroom or regular classroom and students are more engaged in visually stimulating videos.   Student-created work would also be very helpful if uploaded as long as the student work is protected and remains anonymous. A teacher could use student work videos to show examples to classes and the students would love seeing what they have done on a video. I love how using SchoolTube and / or TeacherTube are safe and protected.  You can also view tremendous amount of videos to refer to for your lessons.

Thing #11

I loved...loved this assignment.  One of the main reasons I loved this assignment is because I love to create memory videos.  This is based on presentation tools and I am already familiar with Prezi, Power point, Animoto etc.  So I decided to look at the only one I have never tried Kizoa.  Jackpot!! I love it and ended up spending way to much time on it.  I will definitely be using this again and have even thought about creating a video of each child in my classroom for mother's day.  Please check it out and see what you think.


What I really liked about the tool is that it is very easy to use and offers a very polished look.  You can make these beautiful animated collages with the video and I think that is really neat.  This would not be something I would have the children use, however, I could use it as a fun "Welcome" video with parents when they come on the first open house as well as it could be used in conferences.  Maybe I would make a short video on each child and then learning and send it to the parents the day before they arrive for conferences to help them get into the celebration mode.  Last but not least, also as a gift.  It is free except for the time I decide to put into it.

Thing #10

I really liked using the tool DoInk.  Although it was somewhat difficult to learn what to do and how to get it done, I liked my simple little duck animation.  In pre-k our children are very young so I am not really sure if they could create something with it.  I could always show a few of maybe my older students how to work it and see if they could take off with it.  I believe if they could figure it out they would enjoy using it and creating characters.  Also if I could get a few students to learn it they could in turn help other students that were interested to learn it.  I can definitely see me use it for a fun little addition to get children excited if need be.  Useful features were that when you hover over something it gives you an idea of what it is.  If you click on the question mark it also helps to give you more detail.  Hope you like my little flying quacker duck!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3faDuRqrWFnd1BxV0JMMzdrdnM/view?usp=sharing

Thing #9

Zoho docs seemed to copy google docs for the most part.  I created and uploaded my rough draft presentation of EasyBlog.org.  I did like how it would point arrows to the next step.  However, for the same thing I can use Google docs for free and Zoho costs money.  If I play for it a little more I may see why it costs money but I am happy with Google docs at this point.  My powerpoint is at this link: https://docs.zoho.com/home?rd=docs&plan=premiumTrial#allfiles  This will only work for 14 days because I have not paid for it.

Thing #8

Quizlet is a free website providing learning tools for students, including flashcards, study and game modes.  Although the basic set up is free, it does cost money if you want to be able to do many different things with it.  I see how wonderful Quizlet can be but mainly for older children that our able to read.  I created a Quizlet located at this link: https://quizlet.com/_213kse if you would like to look at it.  What I created is not appropriate for all the students in my class but for some that are ready.  Basically they are given a picture of something like a dog and then on a sheet of paper they can write the CVC word DOG.  Then they click at the bottom right hand corner to check their answer.  

I really like Kahoot but again it is limited on how much I can use it with my students.  It lets us build fun quizzes. Students use computers, cell phones, or other devices to join in the game. You can create flashcards for review. You can also embed videos and use Kahoot as part of the teaching process, or students can create review games to share. For my students it can be used if I use pictures and or videos for their learning.  Plus you have to have a cell phone, computer or iPad to use it.  Visit my sweet and simple Kahoot at #800461.

I do enjoy this idea and I think it allows variety and something fun for kids to do while learning.

Thing #7

Wikis are not my thing.  I looked at the links that Dr. Wilson provided and Wikis still seem to appear basically the same as I remembered them.  To me they started out mostly like a google doc which is what I use so why use a wiki.  They have evolved to a place that holds a ton of information.  That is my problem.  They use more photos then I remember but I get so overwhelmed by so many links and information typed in such small print it drives me crazy.  I am not saying they do not have place and that other people do not love them.  I can see the value of being able to get some great information for teachers.  Specifically on topics that teachers need to get more information on.  You can get some great info.  For example I enjoyed this video from one of the educational Wikis but the time it takes to read through so much information is not worth it. (https://youtu.be/w3PhJDxvgJM)  Sorry but Wikis aren't my thing.

Thing # 6

Pocket Album I think is a really cute idea.  My students could use the ipad or camera to take photos of something that needs to be in sequential order.  For example: How to feed Brownie (This is our pet hamster in the class) Students could also create a pocket photo album on their life at school.  With Pocket Album you create and print a pocket-sized photo album. Choose photos for you pocket album from Flickr or upload them directly from your computer. Print it out, fold it up, and share the love with family and friends.  Here is the link to my pocket album.  It is sequential directions on how to feed our hamster.  http://bighugelabs.com/photos/4ae4d2a54a76cf507bf200ed75142630/pocketalbum3e1e48f9fb3fa7726c3adab7b83e142c531bf225
 This was found in BigHugeLabs website.   

My second choice was to do use Wordle.  As a teacher of young children, I didn't really think Wordle would be appropriate.  However, it would be a great way to group rhyming words as a class and then make a word cloud out of them! Or come up with words that we know that remind us of a theme that we are working on. It would also be a fun way to gather words from each student and make a class cloud together.   I think there could be a place for wordle in Pre-k.  Can you think of any other ideas?

Thing # 5

Mashups are pretty fun.  I enjoyed using Mosaick which shows you how to create trading cards.  I could see younger kids in elementary school enjoying this mashup. They could create these trading cards on people in history and of course write way more detail on them then I did.  Here is my mashup:

 I could see children using this for people famous in American history, black history month, Presidents of the United States, the periodical tables, even cards describing themselves and having a class set created.  Can you think of other ideas and add them in the comment section?

Thing # 4

I have been enjoying using Flickr for about two years now.  It tops my list of a place to save photos for these main reasons.  First of all the memory and how many photos it will hold for free is amazing!!  When I say amazing I mean amazing!!  The quality of the photos is superior, and it can be shared with whomever you would like to share it with in many different ways.  You can also download your picture from your album for free.  I use to love Shutterfly but the bad thing about Shutterfly is that when you upload all your pictures to that website, you will have to pay to get it back.
My Flickr sight is only for family members but I am going to share one of the photos with you but giving you a link.  https://www.flickr.com/gp/96302836@N07/2kAE44 This picture is me with my three boys.  Cameron is the oldest starting on the left, then me, Connor my second oldest and Collin my youngest.  I would highly recommend this website. Did I mention it is free?  Lol

Thing # 3

I love to do things with family pictures.  Finding apps and programs that are descent and free are not always easy to find.  I like to use befunky which is free and has some fun functions as well. One of the things I like to use are the backgrounds as well as the funny stamps you can add to pictures.
If you look closely at my collage you can see a moustache I added to my son, a pink curly wig on me at the bottom right picture, heart glasses on me on the middle picture and an orange braided pig tail on me as well at the top middle picture.
The link is: https://www.befunky.com/
I would highly recommend that you try this software particularly because of the quailty and it is free.  At some point you can pay for it to get the extras but I have not found their to be a need for that yet.  Have fun!

Thing # 2

Setting up the blog was not to difficult.  I decided to use Blogger because it is connected with my Gmail account and I have had some experience with it as well.  I watched and read all the things about blogging and really don't know if it is something I have time to use.  I am so busy with teaching and this class I don't see how it would really be beneficial for me at this time. However, it would be neat to start a blog about "Technology in the Pre-k classroom" but again it would need to be when I have more time.
I did have some difficulty trying to remember how to edit my page but it did come back to me.  I wish I had more choice of fonts but this one will have to do.  Hope you enjoy my blog and all 16 things.

Thing # 1

What I love about being a lifelong learner is that no matter how strongly you feel about certain beliefs on what is best when teaching your kids, it can change and probably will change.  I have been teaching for 26 years at many different grade levels: fifth grade, seventh grade, fourth grade and now pre-kindergarten for 18 years! In all those years I have learned that things change, change is important and accepting change is what is best for our students and for myself as an educator.  

The tutorial on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective people was a very good tutorial to ponder about.  I would say the easiest of the habits for me is Habit 6 Use technology to your advantage.  I LOVE technology and it comes fairly easily to me.  Therefore it is an easy habit for me.  One of the hardest habit for me would be Habit 1 Begin with the end in mind. At our school, pre-kindergarten has been so fortunate to be a part of many speaker visits.  Unfortunately, the speakers have never truly been for pre-k but rather Kindergarten and up until this January.  We also have a population of highly intelligent children so we struggle with what is appropriate for our students.  I believe we are getting on the right track at this point and I am very excited about it.  However, because of the confusion of what is right and wrong for my students and can be difficult to begin with the end in mind.

In my learning contract, I have listed to continue to explore web 2.0 tools to continue to grow and bring new and exciting ideas into the classroom.  I do have to be careful however, I tend to jump in to many things and then become overwhelmed and I don't learn any one thing well.

Here is a link to my Learning Contract: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-O7SVk8SR4ig55zmYyW1LRkUpAGZa2aPt7KKcxKuz8Q/edit?usp=sharing