App Fun
Since I teach 3rd grade, I thought I would look into the app Telling Time the free version. It was a cute enough concept but not a lot of bang for my free buck. It is a very easy concept. Tell the time digitally from an analog clock. I believe this is a decent starter activity when it comes to telling time. I could see using it as a game to see how many a student could get correct in a certain amount of time. I noticed that the game site says you can go to More Apps which I assumed was the priced Telling Time games, but the site never went to the app store when clicked. Possibly this app needs an upgrade. I was also hoping for more sounds and effects to go with it when you tell the correct time. It did not have that feature but I will understand that there are always going to be limits to the free apps and it really will just have to be me biting the bullet and paying for a more higher quality product.
Since I teach 3rd grade, I thought I would look into the app Telling Time the free version. It was a cute enough concept but not a lot of bang for my free buck. It is a very easy concept. Tell the time digitally from an analog clock. I believe this is a decent starter activity when it comes to telling time. I could see using it as a game to see how many a student could get correct in a certain amount of time. I noticed that the game site says you can go to More Apps which I assumed was the priced Telling Time games, but the site never went to the app store when clicked. Possibly this app needs an upgrade. I was also hoping for more sounds and effects to go with it when you tell the correct time. It did not have that feature but I will understand that there are always going to be limits to the free apps and it really will just have to be me biting the bullet and paying for a more higher quality product.
Tools That Impressed Me
BoomWriter
I really am thinking about ways to engage students into writing and I think that BoomWriter is a really good tool. Especially as the end of the school year approaches I want to encourage stronger writers. I like the fact how you can create your class and then assign them to groups with different projects which allows for a lot of variation and creativity to emerge when the students do not feel pressured by a whole class looking at what they wrote. It encourages classroom community building and allows younger students like the 2nd and 3rd graders to be able to learn how to critique others and themselves when it comes to their writing. I love that it is monitored by the teacher and how I could go in and make comments and monitor progress. I think this also helps students learn how to take responsibility for things they say or do on the internet and remind them that someone is watching. Of course the fact it aligns with Common Core makes it very easy to convince administration about encouraging other classes to use this valuable resource.
BoomWriter
I really am thinking about ways to engage students into writing and I think that BoomWriter is a really good tool. Especially as the end of the school year approaches I want to encourage stronger writers. I like the fact how you can create your class and then assign them to groups with different projects which allows for a lot of variation and creativity to emerge when the students do not feel pressured by a whole class looking at what they wrote. It encourages classroom community building and allows younger students like the 2nd and 3rd graders to be able to learn how to critique others and themselves when it comes to their writing. I love that it is monitored by the teacher and how I could go in and make comments and monitor progress. I think this also helps students learn how to take responsibility for things they say or do on the internet and remind them that someone is watching. Of course the fact it aligns with Common Core makes it very easy to convince administration about encouraging other classes to use this valuable resource.
Sqworl
This name alone makes it cool for some reason and it drew me to check this tool out. This is a great tool for gathering safe sites for students to use and research. I made an assessment folder that gathered all of the sights mentioned in the Edutopia article on formative assessment. It is another great site for teachers to make sure students are using credible sites to gather information without having them lost in internet space deciding on which site is the best to use. This is a great tool for all ages but I think it is really great for elementary students who are learning how to navigate through the internet. You want to make sure as a teacher that the students are using strong relevant resources in their work and Sqworl helps to put it all in one place. I thought about how this site can be differentiated for students with disabilities and how you can provide multiple Sqworls on the same topic but it can be leveled to that student’s ability and learning style.
This name alone makes it cool for some reason and it drew me to check this tool out. This is a great tool for gathering safe sites for students to use and research. I made an assessment folder that gathered all of the sights mentioned in the Edutopia article on formative assessment. It is another great site for teachers to make sure students are using credible sites to gather information without having them lost in internet space deciding on which site is the best to use. This is a great tool for all ages but I think it is really great for elementary students who are learning how to navigate through the internet. You want to make sure as a teacher that the students are using strong relevant resources in their work and Sqworl helps to put it all in one place. I thought about how this site can be differentiated for students with disabilities and how you can provide multiple Sqworls on the same topic but it can be leveled to that student’s ability and learning style.
Screen-O-Mite!!! (Well how Screencast-O-Matic would be said by JJ from Good Times)
It just so happens that this week our Technology Coach caught up with me to borrow my computer to help set up Screencast-O-Matic in the media center but I didn’t get a chance to use it so I was glad I was able to work with the program which I found very interesting to use. I like the fact how I could use the screen and narrate what was going on. Even though I think Podcasting is just as interesting I love “bright and shiny.” I want to see it or play around with it myself so I really like how quickly you could record and have a record of a lesson or a student explaining a problem.
The two ideas I had was really dealing with math which is why I think using this is such a cool thing for me an adult. Imagine letting a student in my class explain a math problem and using that recording as the review the next day. I think another great way to use it is for students to examine close readings and explain or justify answers they made and they can cite the text. I think students would be very excited and engage in order to have a chance to narrate their work and how they determined that what they wrote was the best answer. I chose to expand on my podcast I did on the assessment tool Plickers to really show what I have done with it and maybe you can use it to next school or even now as we approach testing season for many of us.
It just so happens that this week our Technology Coach caught up with me to borrow my computer to help set up Screencast-O-Matic in the media center but I didn’t get a chance to use it so I was glad I was able to work with the program which I found very interesting to use. I like the fact how I could use the screen and narrate what was going on. Even though I think Podcasting is just as interesting I love “bright and shiny.” I want to see it or play around with it myself so I really like how quickly you could record and have a record of a lesson or a student explaining a problem.
The two ideas I had was really dealing with math which is why I think using this is such a cool thing for me an adult. Imagine letting a student in my class explain a math problem and using that recording as the review the next day. I think another great way to use it is for students to examine close readings and explain or justify answers they made and they can cite the text. I think students would be very excited and engage in order to have a chance to narrate their work and how they determined that what they wrote was the best answer. I chose to expand on my podcast I did on the assessment tool Plickers to really show what I have done with it and maybe you can use it to next school or even now as we approach testing season for many of us.
assessment.mp4 |
Management and Challenges
Managing these internet tools works like managing any other thing in your classroom. I think that if you set up strong rules and consequences for using these tools, students will stay in line and focused for the most part. It will never be perfect but if you show the students how to use the tools and objective of using these tools, they will use them for exactly how the teacher wants them to be used. For example the BoomWriter applications, along with a lot of the other applications require that the teacher still be a facilitator, checking to make sure the students are doing what they are expected to do and if they are not, stay strong with consequences like when they break any other rule.
I think the challenges with all of the tools is really being able to make sure the students have enough time to use these tools without become bored easily or taking too much time in between the tools that it seems like you are spending everytime with their technology showing them how to use it. As a coach I would work with what the teachers would want to work on in technology and give them one or two strong tools to start with to see if they found themselves using them more often or if they didn’t like them or if their children didn’t seem engaged by them that we could move on to a next tool. I would not want to throw 20 different technology tools at a teacher reluctant to use their boards. The other problem is cost of premium sites. I think if the school has a budget for technology I would be part of that board picking out the best sites and apps that would be considered money well spent for these tools to use in the classroom. Overcoming these challenges could be as easy as grants when it comes to costs and to making sure you find support with your school’s technology coach to find out what all is available to meet the needs of all of your students. People seem to have lots of concerns regarding tech in the classroom. In Solomon and Schrum (2014) they stated regarding iPads and mobile devices “have to move away from the question of “how to use an iPad in the classroom” and think more in terms of “why to use the iPad in the classroom.” As educators in the 21st century, we have to get more professional development regarding these tools in order to be able to determine which tools from iPads to computer programs through the internet are the best to work with our students. We do not want to drown ourselves and our students in all of this technology unless it is serving the main purpose of educating our students in their curriculum and providing internet safe and tested technology that the students will be able to use throughout the school year.
Reference
Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2014). Web 2.0 how-to for educators (2nd ed.). Eugene, OR: International Society of Technology in Education.
Managing these internet tools works like managing any other thing in your classroom. I think that if you set up strong rules and consequences for using these tools, students will stay in line and focused for the most part. It will never be perfect but if you show the students how to use the tools and objective of using these tools, they will use them for exactly how the teacher wants them to be used. For example the BoomWriter applications, along with a lot of the other applications require that the teacher still be a facilitator, checking to make sure the students are doing what they are expected to do and if they are not, stay strong with consequences like when they break any other rule.
I think the challenges with all of the tools is really being able to make sure the students have enough time to use these tools without become bored easily or taking too much time in between the tools that it seems like you are spending everytime with their technology showing them how to use it. As a coach I would work with what the teachers would want to work on in technology and give them one or two strong tools to start with to see if they found themselves using them more often or if they didn’t like them or if their children didn’t seem engaged by them that we could move on to a next tool. I would not want to throw 20 different technology tools at a teacher reluctant to use their boards. The other problem is cost of premium sites. I think if the school has a budget for technology I would be part of that board picking out the best sites and apps that would be considered money well spent for these tools to use in the classroom. Overcoming these challenges could be as easy as grants when it comes to costs and to making sure you find support with your school’s technology coach to find out what all is available to meet the needs of all of your students. People seem to have lots of concerns regarding tech in the classroom. In Solomon and Schrum (2014) they stated regarding iPads and mobile devices “have to move away from the question of “how to use an iPad in the classroom” and think more in terms of “why to use the iPad in the classroom.” As educators in the 21st century, we have to get more professional development regarding these tools in order to be able to determine which tools from iPads to computer programs through the internet are the best to work with our students. We do not want to drown ourselves and our students in all of this technology unless it is serving the main purpose of educating our students in their curriculum and providing internet safe and tested technology that the students will be able to use throughout the school year.
Reference
Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2014). Web 2.0 how-to for educators (2nd ed.). Eugene, OR: International Society of Technology in Education.