Tool #4

I think Google Docs is really helpful! I am responsible for creating homework for the 1st 9 Weeks and I think it be great to be able to send homework through Google Docs so my team will be able to edit and send information to each other without attaching... editing... and reattaching or printing everything. I think it will be a great resource for us to use throughout the rest of the year.

Each of us on the 2nd grade team like to create games and resources for our classrooms and I think it will be great to be able to share these documents with each other so they can be easily edited to fit our own classrooms.

I am not sure that Google Docs is a resource that could be easily accessed and used by my 2nd graders. However, it might be nice to try. It could be a great resource when they are working on projects so that students could work on projects and allow me to comment on their work digitally.

Tool #3

One of my favorite resources to use in the classroom is Discovery Education. There are so many great videos that can show my students exactly what I’m trying to teach them. I love the idea of putting these videos on iPods for students to watch in centers. This would be a great way to guarantee they are really watching the video – it can be hard to make sure that all students are paying attention when watching a video whole-group. I like Discovery Education because you can search for and watch whole videos or video segments.

http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=3E36C918-48AD-4B18-89BE-07EEBA3DE78C&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US

I used this video in Kindergarten, and a again with my 2nd graders. This is a great video that explains different American Symbols and I know it would have been a great video for students to view on iPods on their own.

I spent some time looking through SchoolTube and I really like that you can search for videos by your school’s name. This could be a great way to allow students in older grades to teach students in younger grades.

YouTube is another great resource, although I definitely think it’s important to preview the videos – you never know when something might show up! I used a lot of Dr. Jean songs in Kindergarten last year, and I loved this little 5 senses video that features her song! The kids really liked the semi-creepy puppet!

I was happy to read that copyright laws allow teachers to use many forms of media freely as long as it is for educational purposes. This makes me feel more comfortable sharing videos with my students.

I downloaded Drop box and haven't used it yet, but it seems like it will be a great resource for moving documents and pictures from my school/home computers without always emailing myself!

Picasa also seems like a great resource - I think it will be a nice resource of finding real world pictures without having to search forever through Google images.

Tool #2

I really enjoy being able to view and comment on blogs from other VOE teachers and throughout the bloggy-world. I do not comment regularly on blogs that I read, but I love that it is available so that bloggers know how much they are appreciated. There are so many great ideas out there and I am so glad there are so many teachers who spend their time blogging about their amazing ideas. I have gotten so many great ideas from teachers all over the country just by searching through blogs.

I use Google Reader to track all of my favorite blogs. When I first started reading teacher blogs, I kept them all in a "Teacher Blogs" folder in my bookmarks. It is SO much easier to use Google Reader. All of my favorite crafting, teaching, and cooking blogs are in one place and I can see all of their latest updates. Some of my favorite teaching blogs are The First Grade Parade, Step into 2nd Grade with Mrs. Lemons, and The Inspired Apple. It amazes me that these teachers have the energy and creativity to produce so many amazing (often FREE) resources that I can bring into my classroom! It seriously keeps me striving to be a better teacher when I see these teacher bloggers and their (seemingly) amazing classrooms.

I also have a serious addiction to Pinterest which allows me to search any topic and find tons of blogs with ideas I can use. My favorite part about Pinterest is that it saves a picture from the website and not just a title because I am way more likely to remember the idea if I see the idea. I like that I don't have to save everything to my computer - it's all on Pinterest waiting for me! Sites like Diigo and Delicious sound like they would be great for students to save and search for information at school and be able to access the information at home.

Tool #1

Blog and Avatar created! I have a blog for the parents in my classroom to follow, so I found it to be very quick and easy for me to create a new blog to fit this project. Since I have already learned to use Blogger with my classroom blog, I also decided to add a simple banner and background... mostly because things will be more enjoyable for me if this blog is cute :)

Fortunately, I also found it pretty simple to navigate through the Voki website and it took me no more than 10 minutes to complete my avatar. It looks nothing like me of course, but there are only so many features you can choose from. I liked that you could try to make your avatar resemble you and I personally just didn't want to have an animal representing myself on the blog.

Tool #1 was quick and easy so I am excited to learn more through the other 10 tools!