Exploring Popplet: My Final Reflection

I decided to use Popplet to create my final course reflection. I like using graphic organizers with my students and I figured this visual representation would be a good way to highlight the things I've learned in this course.

My Popplet is a reflection of the different tools I learned about in this course (some of which I have already implemented into my own teaching: a class blog, voki). This will be a nice reminder for me to have as well. Once this class has come to a close, I'll have this nicely organized visual graphic of the different tools I'll be walking away with.

Of course, the tools themselves aren't the only thing I learned in this class. One important fact that I'll always remember is that technology should be implemented into our lessons, not the other way around. We have to use these technologies appropriately given the lesson we are teaching. I also will remember that one of the greatest factors of using technology in the classroom is to enhance student collaboration and interaction. I learned so much from my own peers in this class--I want my own students to do the same.

Voki in the Classroom

I figured out a great way to incorporate Voki with my ELL students. I tried it today, actually. As a beginning of the day activity, I'm going to play a Voki for my kids that is all in English. They are to listen and write what they hear. I think this will be an awesome way to get them to practice their listening, writing, and reading skills. Here's the one we did today. The message is simple enough for them to understand and attempt to write it correctly. 




Something else I plan to do is implement these Vokis into my class blog. This way, they can practice listening and typing what they hear. Should be fun!

Does anyone have other ideas as to how I might use this great tool with my ELL students? I'd love to hear suggestions. Thanks! 

Go Animate! A Practice Video

Dinner Math by Diana511 on GoAnimate

Animation Software - Powered by GoAnimate.

I created this quick GoAnimate video just to fiddle around with the tool a bit--I even used my sister and friend's names for the characters, just for fun :)

GoAnimate was an easy tool to use. I can see great potential for it as far as using it with my students, since it can be used for many different concepts. It's a great tool to enforce using English with my ELL students. I could even use it to create stories in English so they could practice listening in English and work with vocabulary.

I'm excited to have this tool at my disposal to use with my students in the future. Now I just need to think of some neat ideas to implement it in my teaching. Any thoughts?



 

English Voki!

 VOKI!

After seeing some people create Vokis, I decided to experiment with the tool myself. I created this voki as an example of what I might create to use with my ELL students. 

I had a hard time recording my voice on the Voki itself, so I saved a file of a voice recording and then uploaded it onto the site.

For those of you who have created Vokis, did you run into the same problem? I'd love to know what I was doing wrong! 

Blogging: A Literacy Project

I implemented my literacy project with my third and fifth grade ELL students. I created a class blog through Kidblog and my students have been using it to practice their reading and writing in English. 

During a read-aloud, I read my students the book A Balloon for Isabel, a lovely story about a young porcupine who would do ANYTHING to receive a balloon for graduation. As I read the book, I encouraged students to dig deeper into the text by analyzing character emotions and choices of actions.

After reading, I asked students to reflect on different elements of the story. What was their favorite part, and why? What was the theme of the story? I also encouraged them to think of their own "why" questions about the story and its characters, then post these questions for their peers to answer them. 

I've been noticing how much my students like blogging. Although it's all in English, and most of them are beginners in English proficiency, their excitement for reading what others have posted to them does not go unnoticed. This blog is allowing them to respond to literature while also practicing their reading and writing in English. They are collaborating with each other and communicating through media. 

I'm excited to keep going with this blog in my class to see what other things they come up with to write about! 

For privacy purposes, I am not sharing our whole class blog in this blog post, but I would be happy to share it with everyone during our class! 

Here is the link to our blog so you can see the overview of it and how many comments they have been posting! 

Trip to Madrid: Video Complete!

My digital story is finished!

I created this video with my ELL students in mind. At the beginning of the year, we as teachers try to learn a little something about our students. They want to know about us, too. This video teaches a bit about my culture. I based my digital story on the country where my family is from, Spain. 

The friendly format of this video and the idea that it has personal images from one of our vacations back to Madrid, is sure to keep students engaged. They will be able to learn something about their teacher's culture. My digital story teaches about three important characteristics of Spanish culture: authentic foods, sights and attractions, and the World Cup.

The purpose of this digital story is to introduce a new (or different) culture to students as an introduction at the beginning of the school year. Then, students can share their cultures and backgrounds with the class.

The World of Writing Digitally

The World of Writing Digitally 

Troy Hicks (2009) really explains how the advances in technology can impact student writing in his text The Digital Writing Workshop. Audience is a big factor of how students will write using digital tools. When they blog, or add text to wikis, students must think about who will be reading their work, which will impact the way they write. 

A big strategy taught to students when writing is to "show not tell." This takes on a whole new meaning when students are not writing traditionally (pencil on paper). What if students are to create a video with narration to persuade an audience? Hicks explains that "showing" rather than "telling" "takes on new meaning in multimedia writing and gives us even more opportunities to discuss how written text, images, audio, and video can work together to create a more powerful composition" (p. 54). Students can use photos to get a point across, which may have a strong impression on viewers. It's a whole new level of persuading!

Assessing digital writing should focus primarily on the quality of information. Digital tools are just that: they are tools to enhance the quality of writing, but assessment should never focus in mainly on the tool itself. Forget counting the number of slides, the colors and fonts used, etc. What is it that the students are trying to state through their writing? Did the media add to the quality of their information? Did it help them express their thoughts in creative and effective ways? This is what is important to remember!

Fun in Spain!

Want to learn about Madrid, Spain?? 

I created this digital story with the intent of using it as an introduction at the beginning of the year with my ELL students. Each new school year, teachers do something to get to know their students. My story will teach my students a bit about my culture. After watching the story they will know me a little bit better and then they can teach me about their culture and backgrounds.

I focused in on three different areas about Madrid in my story: food, attractions, and the World Cup!

Did you learn something new about Madrid? Let me know what you think!



Please take the following survey after watching this digital story. Thanks!!







Click here to see the survey on a new page.

Writing Digitally

The Digital Writing Workshop

The students in Aram Kabodian's middle school language arts class had fun using digital movie making to create public service announcements. The project itself is an engaging one. Students tend to like coming up with creative ways to persuade an audience. Pair that with the technology to  make the PSA digital, and you've got a really engaging project for these middle school students.

Hicks discusses all of the factors that go into creating a digital story. Students are thinking critically, working collaboratively, and using digital tools to reach an audience. There were some really cool examples of their PSAs.

Check them out here. They were very well done! 

Let's End Bullying--in All its Forms!

Bullying is a big problem. What's even worse, is that the problem is spilling over into technology. Kids (and young adults) aren't just worrying about bullies at school. Because of cyberbullying, the problem follows them home now.

Here are some resources I found on the effects of bullying. This first one is of Anderson Cooper interviewing teenagers about bullying.

Watch it here. 

Ellen DeGeneres has become a voice for anti-bullying. Each day she ends her show with "Be kind to one another." In this clip you see a more serious side of Ellen as she talks about the very negative effects of bullying and the impact it has on young people's lives.

Watch it here. 

As cyberbullying has become more of an issue in our world, more and more people are speaking up about it. We need to put an end to it. No one should ever feel afraid of going to school. No one should be worried to log into an online website to see what mean things people are writing about them. 


ABC Family put out a movie titled "Cyberbully." It follows the story of a girl who becomes a victim of online bullies and we see the devastating consequences of it. I watched the movie when it first aired and thought it was really well done. 

Check out the trailer.

Have you seen a change in the way people deal with cyberbullying? Awareness is a big part of it. Please share your thoughts!

Rap in the Classroom?

Ever heard of Flocabulary?
 
When I was doing fieldwork in a fifth grade class in Hamden, the teacher played this really catchy tune for her students that I'll never forget! It's a rap about the five elements of writing. I loved it so much I want to use it with my own students. Check it out here!

The Flocabulary site offers a lot of other songs/videos to use in your classroom. It's really a great resource. Fun, too!

Literacies vs. Technologies?

This quote struck me as a little confusing when I first read it: "Keeping up with technologies is not as important as keeping up with literacies." I guess the first thing I thought was, literacy is such a big part of technology. Doesn't keeping up with technology also mean you're keeping up with literacies?

Then I thought about it from a different angle. Literacy itself is more important than understanding technology. There are plenty of teachers and students who are high readers but may not know anything about technology. In life, technology isn't going to mean much to you if you lack in literacy.

I think it's important to keep these two connected. Literacy is such an important part of education and life in general. And technology is a tool that when used appropriately can be very effective in achieving higher levels of literacy. The concern, I guess, is that we shouldn't get too carried away with keeping up with technology and paying less attention to literacy. 

I hope I'm making sense. What are your thoughts on this quote? I'd love to hear other people's reactions and thoughts.  

8th Graders are Blogging!

As I read through some of the blog posts of the 8th grade students in Iowa I saw that most of them thought blogging would be beneficial for them. Many of the students expressed that blogging is a good way to communicate with people they don't know. Someone said they should blog in their class because it gives them a chance to share ideas with students that are outside of their own school. 

When I responded on one of the student's blogs, I mentioned that what's really neat about blogging is that it's instant and we can now connect with people all over the world quickly. When I was in elementary school my classmates and I had pen pals from a different state (don't remember which one now...). It took so long to hear back because we had to wait for our letters to be written, sent, and then delivered... the slowww way. Now, it's as simple as logging into the internet, reading a blog, posting a comment, and hitting publish. That person across the country or across the world can read your comment in the same day, even hour. 

I've really been thinking about using Kidblog with my 3rd and 5th graders. For those of you who blog with your students, can you comment on how it has been going? What has been working well? 

Using Diigo

I'm really starting to get used to using Diigo to save important/interesting websites. I'm taking a literacy graduate course and in our text the author mentions some great websites for kids to use to practice phonics and the alphabet. I typed the sites into my browser and then saved them right to my Diigo library! It's definitely going to be a useful site for me. 

I was talking with a colleague about another interactive website that is great for kids (starfall) and she mentioned another one I hadn't heard of before: abcya. I added that right to my library, too. Now I'll have all of these great resources in one place where I can access them from any computer. Very exciting!

Has anyone else been using Diigo to save websites from work or other courses?

My Diigo

I just started tagging resources to my Diigo Library. I searched through different examples of Wikis and added some to my library. I thought "Tech Tools 4 Teaching" was a good one because there is a nice variety of technology tools that teachers can incorporate into their teaching. It's nice to have all of this information in one page.

Judy also mentioned that "30+ Open Wikis Every Educator Should Know About" would be a good place to start so I added that to my list, too. I'm hoping to have more resources to add to my Diigo library after class this week.

What has Facebook Become?

 
2004

I was a freshman in college when Facebook first came around. I remember my friend Cory (she attended Susquehanna University in PA) telling me that my school had Facebook. She was so excited and I was very confused. What in the world was Facebook? I signed up for it anyway, and as I started browsing and experimenting, I learned that it was a place to see profiles of old (and recent) friends while also sharing my own. It was a great way to get back in contact with people I hadn't seen since high school. At the time, Facebook was only open to college students (and not all schools yet had access). 

As time went on, Facebook evolved into something much different. It soon became open to high school students, and now ANYONE can join! Its whole appearance has evolved a lot, too. I remember what it used to look like when it first came out. It was a simple page and you could write on someone's wall and that was about it. Soon, it began to implement features such as adding photos, videos, links, people could "share" things on other people's walls, and now there is a news feed on everyone's home page. Very different from its original appearance. 

Richardson mentions that there are ways to create groups (private) and implement Facebook into the classroom. This raised a big red flag in my mind. Facebook is very much a place for personal information and for personal use. People use it to connect with friends and family. I am very hesitant about using Facebook with students because it would be a mixing of a personal life with a professional one. I can be open minded and see the benefits that Richardson talks about, but I'm not quite convinced to take that leap yet.

 I think Edmodo is a safer alternative to use in schools. What's cool about it is that it looks like Facebook and has many similar features. I learned about this last year in my "Technology for Learning" class. One of the teachers at my school uses this program with her fifth grade students and it has been working very well. Last year I worked in a high school and the teacher I worked with was doing a unit on The Hunger Games. She followed a set of lessons created by another teacher and one of the activities was to have students create Facebook profiles for one of the characters and add updates to that character's wall. This was done via paper/pencil, but I can see great benefits to having students use Edmodo instead. Given that it gives a similar feel to Facebook, I really think students would like using it. It's also a great alternative to using Facebook because teachers and students are able to keep social media meant for personal reasons (Facebook) separate from ones meant for educational purposes (Edmodo).

Do you have any experience using Edmodo? 

Sources: 
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. 

Podcasting (School Radio)

Would You Podcast?

Remember watching "Saved By The Bell?" I used to watch this show all the time. It's a bit dated now, but for those of us who remember, the show touched on a lot of relevant issues and was very relatable! While reading Richardson's chapter on Podcasts, I remembered the episode of "Saved By The Bell" when Zack and his friends discovered the old radio station of their school. They convinced their principal to let them start up the station again and they each took on roles during their radio show. Slater wanted to do the sports segment, and much to everyone's surprise, he was not a very good DJ. It wasn't until the end of the episode that Slater found his "voice." 

From what I remember about the episode was that Zack and his friends had a great time putting on a radio show for their classmates. It gave them a voice and they were able to reach the student body more easily with important news and events. I think this is what podcasting is all about. Richardson explains that students can connect through audio media. 

Being from Madrid myself, one particular podcast site caught my attention: Madrid Young Learners Podcasts. Reading about "tapas" and "Madrid night life" brought me back!

Has anyone tried using podcasts in their schools? I'd love to hear about it!

Sources:
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. 

What is Flickr?

When I first started reading about Flickr, the first things I thought of were Google images and Instagram. I use Google images all the time, and though I don't use Instagram myself, I know of people who do. To be completely honest, this semester is the first I've heard of Flickr.

After reading about Flickr in Richardson's book, I came across something cool that I could actually incorporate with my ELL students. I learned that Flickr is a place to search images and also upload your own if you become a member. One of his ideas is that teachers can start online discussions about images they upload and students can comment on what they see (p.105). This would be a great tool to use with my ELL students to teach vocabulary. 

Richardson also mentions that students and teachers can use Flickr to upload pictures of vacations they take (p.107). What a great way to stay connected and share experiences with your classmates!

Another cool idea was Flickr Magazine Cover where students can use their photos to create a magazine cover. This would be great for a project!

What are your experiences with Flickr? Please share! 

Sources:
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. 
 

My Animoto!

The Alphabet!

My animoto video is complete! I really wanted to create a video that might help my kindergarten students practice the letters of the alphabet and their individual sounds. Some of my kids are still having a hard time with some of the letters. This video goes through each letter of the alphabet, is followed by an image of something that starts with that letter, and finally shows a caption of the word of each object. 

One of the things that NETS wants students to do regarding technology is to  "demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations." Students are to understand how technology can be used in the classroom. This video exposes them to different technologies.

NETS for teachers states that teachers should "develop digital age learning experiences." Animoto is a great way for teachers to incorporate technology into their lessons. I've been working on letters and sounds with my kindergarten students, but I've never made a video! 

I think my students will enjoy watching this video and stating the letters they see and the images that accompany each one. The repetition will be good for them as well. 

Check out my animoto video!

 

A Cool Blog

Something nice about blogging is that it can serve as a student portfolio so that all student work becomes digital and is neatly stored in one place. I like the way Mrs. Alaniz created a blog where she uploaded student work samples right onto the page. She also included some personal photos into her blog as well as photos from what is going on in her classroom. It's nice to look through someone's blog and see concrete images to reflect what they are talking about with regard to what they're doing in their classrooms. I love that student work can be added right in as examples. Check out her blog here!

My Alphabet Idea

I'm really thinking that my Animoto video will be one about the alphabet and the sounds of each letter. Some of my kindergarten students are still struggling with their letters and their sounds. I want to create an animoto similar to Kelly's animoto below. 







 
 I can see my students benefiting from watching a video like this that goes through each letter of the alphabet followed by a picture of something that starts with that letter. Something else I could do is create a separate animoto for each letter of the alphabet. For example, if I was going to create a video of the letter "D" I might first have a picture of both a capital and lower-case "D" followed by a set of images that start with the letter "D": Dog, doughnut, etc. The repetition would be good for my students. This may be a bit too much work right now, but it's a good idea for next year!

What are others thinking for their animoto videos?

Social Networking: We're Only a Click Away

Twitter

Do you tweet? I haven't used Twitter in either my personal or professional life, but I have learned something about it. Last year I was introduced to Twitter by a professor but the process, I suppose like anything else that's new, seemed overwhelming. From what I understand about Twitter, it provides a stream of tweets that is constantly changing and being updated as people continue to post new tweets. I've heard it's great for educators. You can "follow" someone who has great ideas and stay updated on new happenings in education. Twitter for Teachers is a good example. 

Something else I learned about Twitter was that you can become a member but not contribute to the stream of tweets right away. You can start out by "lurking" around and checking out other people's pages. Once you feel ready to start sharing your own ideas, you can begin to tweet too. 

I remember seeing an article about a kindergarten teacher using twitter with her students. Even more surprising, doctors tweeting during surgery! Check it out here. 

Anyone have any info regarding twitter? Do you use it personally or with your students? I'd love to hear about it!

Sources:
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.  

The Benefits of RSS

What is RSS?

As I read about RSS in chapter 5, I thought about a Facebook newsfeed. When I log into Facebook, the first thing I see on the homepage is a list of posts and pictures other people are uploading. I can see all of these things on my main screen without having to go to everyone's individual walls. This is how RSS works. It's cool to think that we don't have to go out looking for information as much anymore. Once you find a page of interest, you can subscribe to it and it appears in your google reader. It's like receiving a magazine right in your mailbox that you subscribe for instead of going to the store to buy it. 

 
So What are the Benefits?

Clearly there are many ways to use RSS for personal and professional reasons. But I wondered, how might a teacher use it with students? One thing I thought was cool was connecting your Google Reader to your student blogs. Instead of going to each individual blog to read and check over what they're posting, all of their posts could come to you, the teacher, via RSS. What a convenient process! Teaching students to use their own RSS is also something to keep in mind. Instead of constantly looking for information (to use for research, etc), subscribing to pages of interest would be a real time-saver. Would have saved me a lot of time had I known about it!

Examples of RSS Feeds

Richardson mentioned some good examples of RSS feeds to get us started. I thought the Weather and Word of the Day were interesting. 

Sources:
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
  

Blogging and Multiple Literacies

I was surprised to see that Karen, a first grade teacher, was able to set up a blog with her young students. But then again, why should I be? Children as young as first grade, maybe even younger, may have a better grasp at some of these new technologies than most adults. The way of the world is changing as far as literacy goes, so why not begin blogging with students as young as first grade? Blogging gives students a sense of pride because others are reading and commenting on their writing. This is a great way to promote engagement and motivation in the youngest writers.Karen includes pictures of her students into her blog. This is a great way to show parents and others what you are doing in your classroom.

As far as global awareness, I thought that The Global Read Aloud was very cool. Students are able to blog and communicate with other kids from all different parts of the world. It's crazy to think that we are really just a click away from people in Europe, or Australia, or China! What a great way for students to stay connected and learn from kids they have never met! I've heard of teachers using Skype with their students to connect to other classrooms around the world. Also very cool!

In her article, Online Collaborative Inquiry: Classroom Blogging Ventures and Multiple Literacies, Judy states that blogging serves all purposes with regard to technology standards for students. When blogging, students are constantly reading other people's work (thoughts, ideas) and in turn, commenting on their blogs which enhances their own writing. They are also practicing writing for an audience when they create their own blogs or comment on others. There is a different feeling that comes with knowing that your writing is reaching others. I'm sure that when students first read a comment someone has posted on their blog, they will feel a sense of pride in their work, knowing that others are interested in what they have to say (or write). Blogging is a great way for students to communicate with their peers, teachers, and perhaps others out there who read and comment on their blogs. They can start to make connections by having this new sense of communication with others. Blogging gives students a voice: a voice that can reach anyone across the globe. This is a very powerful thing!

Examples of Animoto Videos

I've been thinking about what type of Animoto I might create to use with my students. I've seen ones that deal with specific vocabulary, like Sara's Animoto on community vocabulary. I'm thinking I might go in a similar direction with my first Animoto video. My students are ELL students and a good number of them are beginners in the English language. They have a lot of vocabulary to learn. I might make an Animoto that highlights important "school vocabulary" that they need to recognize and know.

Taini's animoto was also used to teach vocabulary about a book she has been reading with her students, Mice and Beans. I think this is one of the ones we saw during class. I like the way these videos introduce a word, then follow up with an image, and then show the definition in writing. I can see this being a really helpful tool with my ELL students.

I also work with Kindergarten students and have been working on letters/sounds and will soon begin teaching sight words. Kelly's animoto was designed for letter and sound identification. I may do something similar. Perhaps start with a letter and then directly after include an image of something that starts with that letter.

Blogs and Wikis

After reading these two chapters, I have a bit of a debate going on in my mind.... blogs vs. wikis. I can see great benefits to both, though for some reason, wikis make me a bit nervous when thinking about using them in the classroom. My main concern (apparently the same as many others out there) is that anyone can post anything at anytime. Anything. This raises a red flag for me.. Richardson did well explaining that there are ways to approach creating a wiki with students in safe ways. Sometimes only students themselves can edit. This rules out the possibility of random readers adding whatever they want. Louise Maine's wiki uses this approach. Wikis allow the option for a password/login system which I think is great. Much safer in my opinion. I may want to use wikis with my students eventually. I might not be quite there yet, though. I would rather start with using blogs. There are some cool examples of wikis included in this chapter. Some I thought were interesting were the Recipes Wiki and Traveling Wiki. I do love the idea that so many people can come together and share their thoughts/ideas on one page.

Incorporating Blogs into Instruction

I've started thinking about ways I might incorporate blogs into my instruction. I agree with Richardson that the first step to using a blog in your own teaching is to practice with blogging by creating your own first. Teachers should practice blogging before trying to teach kids how to blog. Last year at USJ I created a blog on digital citizenship for my technology for learning course. Click here if you want to take a look at it. It was a fun project!

This year I am teaching language arts with third and fifth graders. Recently we've been coming up with deep questions to ask of ourselves as we read our texts. For homework and during class, I've been having my students read their books and mark down questions they are asking of themselves as they read. These questions should reflect critical thinking. What a great idea it would be to create a class blog and have students respond for homework rather than doing everything paper/pencil. My fifth graders could publish their poems on our class blog, then read each other's poems and comment on them. Ideally, all students would have their own computers at home. This isn't always the case, but there are ways to work around that. Perhaps we could take time each week to go to the computer lab and blog.

Blog Safety

Blog safety is very important. Richardson suggests having students create pseudonyms so they don't use their real names on the blog. I took a course in undergrad where we blogged as part of our homework. We created usernames so our identities remained anonymous. This also opens up a new feeling of freedom. Students can write without fear of judgment.

With blogs, I like the feature that allows the teacher to revise any posting first before it is published. Teachers also have the power to accept or reject an outside source form posting on the blog. This is a very important feature when blogging within schools. I may not use blogger with students. Some good alternatives are Edublogs or Kid Blogs. They seem a bit more kid-friendly.

Am I not being open minded enough with the wikis? I'd love to hear if anyone has used them with their students. How did you use them? Did you find the experience beneficial? What did you like or dislike about wikis?

Sources:
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

NETS for Students and Teachers

To me, new literacies with regard to technology is simply redefining the way we used to view literacy by incorporating more technology into it. Before this age of computers and different softwares, students and teachers relied on books and magazines to gather information. Today, the internet is one of the first places people go to to research. Not only is the internet used for looking for information, but other technologies are starting to take the place of books (kindles, ipads, tablets, etc). These devices are becoming more and more commonly used among people, in some instances taking the place of traditional books with actual pages made of paper. There are new literacies advancing in education, too. Many teachers are using programs such as blogs, or edmodo to receive student responses versus the traditional paper/pencil method.

NETS for students defines what students are expected to know and achieve with regard to technology. Technology will be a big part of how students collaborate (with teachers and with each other). A big thing to remember too is that through the use of technology students will be able to reach a wider audience. Posting blogs and comments online can reach anyone on the web. This is an amazing thing. Students will be writing for a wider, more vast audience, an audience that expands beyond the people in their classrooms. Digital citizenship is a big part of NETS for students. Recently we have heard some cases (sometimes devastating) of people using the internet inappropriately and for the use of bad versus good. We've seen and heard cases of cyberbullying, something that needs to stop. Teaching digital citizenship is such vital piece of this technology movement. Students need to understand what it means to be responsible and respectful when working online.

NETS for teachers defines how teachers can model using different technology programs to their students while simultaneously promoting opportunities for students to practice using these technologies in an appropriate manner. Teachers should be incorporating more technology into their lessons (for both instruction and assessment). It is also the teacher's job to really explain the importance of digital citizenship and what it means to be a respectful and good digital citizen when it comes to using the internet. Teachers need to set up and enforce rules of safe and respectful internet behavior with students before beginning any type of digital work. I believe this needs to start early. Students need to understand what is and what isn't appropriate behavior when using computers and the internet.

I know that if I decide to blog with my students, I will make sure to set up rules beforehand. I would discuss with my students what types of responses and comments are appropriate and which ones are not. I would make sure to explain how we all must be respectful of one another. Students need to understand that the good manners and behaviors that are expected of them in school are also expected of them online.

In my own classroom, I want to try to incorporate more technology into my lessons. One idea I had was having my students create a wordle document of the book we are reading. I may have them each choose a character and come up with adjectives that describe him/her. This might be a good way to get them started and more used to using technology.

Has anyone used wordle? I'm wondering if there might be other programs out there that are similar that I may also try to use. How else are people incorporating technology into their lessons?

Blogging on the Read/Write Web

In these first chapters, Richardson alludes to the idea that technology is really making waves in all aspects of life today, including education. He explains that the people who will know the most about these technologies are probably just being born. Teachers today face somewhat of a challenge given that many are not fully aware of the programs out there and how to best use them in their classrooms. Richardson states: "Whereas students are open to the ways of new technologies, schools by and large are not" (8). With regard to technology, schools at times lack appropriate resources and teachers who may have the materials do not always know how to best use them.

One of the ideas that Richardson mentions is the usage of blogs between students and teachers. I created a blog last year in my graduate technology class. I was able to experience first hand the power of sharing ideas through a medium in which everyone can participate. Richardson explains that one of the benefits of blogging is that it opens up the window for all students to participate and learn from each other. Quieter students might shy away from voicing ideas and opinions during class, but through usage of a blog, they will be  more apt to feel comfortable writing their thoughts down for others to read.

Richardson mentions other types of programs that I would like to explore and get to know better. He mentions social bookmarking sites such as Diigo.com and Delicious.com  that I had never even heard of. Even twitter.com is a bit abstract to me. I know people who use it, but I myself have had no experience navigating it.

Just by reading through these first two chapters I have seen what a powerful tool blogs can be. I was amazed to see that a class of students was able to communicate through blogs with the author of The Secret Life of Bees. This blog is an example of what can happen when people collaborate through the use of blogs.

Though I can see the many different advantages of incorporating blogs into teaching and learning, I can't help but worry about the safety issue. Richardson touches on this issue in chapter one and explains that one of the first things to do is talk about the rules and expectations of your students with regard to blogging before beginning to blog. Once students have a good understanding of what is and what is not appropriate internet behavior, a class can begin to share ideas through blogs. I'm curious if anyone in this class has tried blogging with their students. I teach elementary school so I'm wondering how this might work with my students. I know that not all of them have a computer at home. I could take them to the computer lab when I wanted them to respond on a blog. Any ideas? I'd love to hear what experiences people have had with blogging with their own students. How did you promote safety for your students while they work online?

Having said this, I learned a great deal last semester about digital citizenship and what it means to behave appropriately on the web. If anyone wants to look at the blog I created last spring, click here to see it.

Sources:
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

This is Me

My name is Diana. I teach ESL and Bilingual Ed in an elementary school. I received my Bachelor's Degree from Southern CT State University in elementary education and bilingual education. I am studying at USJ for my Master's in Reading and Language for Elementary School. After this course I have one left to take, and then I can graduate!!

I am originally from Madrid, Spain and am bilingual in English and Spanish. I have been living in CT since I was 8 years old. I am enjoying my first year as a full-time teacher and love all of my little ELL students :)



I have a very loving family and a wonderful boyfriend. I also have a Golden Retriever named Regina. She truly is the queen of our house! Her favorite food is bread (something I think she learned from me!) While I love different seasons, I'm more of a sun-loving kind of person. We have family coming from Spain this summer, so I am really excited for that! While it's an experience having family in a different country, it can also be hard having them so far away. But I've learned to cope and just truly enjoy the time that I do have with them.

I'm hoping to learn many new ways to incorporate technology into my teaching. I've taken one other technology course previous to this one, and I have become very interested in some of the programs out there!