Follow this link to my comment on Solange's blog.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
BP5_BrainPop
When I first was looking over the web2.0 tool list, I really wanted to find something that I could focus on in the classroom as well as around my Action Research Project. Brain Pop first appealed to me when I saw the adorable characters and some of the video topics. I also love the fact that there is a Brain Pop Jr. site for grades K - 3.
Brain Pop has been utilized within the school district that I am currently working for. Some teachers utilize it as much as possible, while other teachers use it for filler if they have time left over. While my Action Research focuses on Technology Integration, I can utilize this Web2.0 tool because of the great interactive choices on their website. After watching the movie there are quizzes and fun facts that the teacher and students can opt to do.
The presence of the website can definitely be seen as fun and interactive. A great thing about this website is that it is very user friendly. You can have students use the website on their own or utilize one video for the whole class if you have the technology available to you. Because of the interactive activities at the end of the movies, there is a big area for socialization. You can have students answer individually, as a team, or as a class as a whole.
As far as accessing the videos, you do need to have a membership. Some school districts carry a full membership for all teachers to use. If your school district does not carry a membership, there are different membership options that you can look into with all different types of access and price ranges.
Teachers also get great lesson plans to accompany the videos. What I liked about the videos that I previewed was that they are not too lengthy. They pack in just enough information without going overboard. There are also blogs and discussion boards that teachers can interact with.
Monday, October 4, 2010
BP4 ~ Kidthing and Zoodles
You might be asking yourself why do I have two tools listed. The reason why I have two listed is because I fell in love with both tools, but one of them I could not use fully. My main goal for this assignment was to find tools that I really would be able to utilize in my classroom setting currently. I am not in a teaching position yet, but I am in the classroom. My dream would be to teach the Fourth Grade, however since I am in a K - 1 setting, I took my expectations down a notch.
Kidthing was the first tool that I happened upon. It is an interactive educational site that children can go on to read books, connect with friends, and be creative. Unfortunately, I could not interact with this site fully because it is only currently for PC computers, not Macs. That is ok thought, because I am on the list to be contacted when it is available! The adorable creatures from this website really drew me in. The fact that there are no ads for the children to be distracted by was a big seller for me. To this day I cannot show a video on YouTube in the classroom because you do not know what inappropriate things might pop up, and you cannot risk the chance of that happening!
Information retrieved from: http://www.go2web20.net/site/?a=Kidthing
Since I could not fully interact with the site, I decided to check out another one. And boy am I glad that I did!! I happened upon Zoodles, which is a children’s web browser. What is great about it is that there are so many interactive activities for the parents and the children. Everything that the child/student does is recorded on the parent’s own personal website. The parents can see what games or activities the child did and it even keeps track of which subjects were reviewed. This information is so great for parents today to interact with their children. It is also great information for teachers as well. What I really liked again about this web browser was that the adult could monitor specific settings. There are settings to eliminate violence, set time limits, etc. The parents have complete control over what the child can have access to.
Information retrieved from: http://www.zoodles.com
Overall, I was impressed with the two tools that I came across. I will definitely be utilizing them in the current classroom that I am in.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
W1 Reading
While searching for articles for my thesis last year, I found that I relied on a few good sources. Those sources include (but are not limited to) Edutopia, PBS, and Scholastic. Specifically within Scholastic, the magazine which I have a subscription to: Teacher. I was fortunate enough to be able to rely on those sources again for some articles dealing with Technology Integration and Professional Development.
The first article I found was actually hanging up in a local Educational Store. The article entitled, Smart boards: Not your parents' blackboard (Lang, 2010), is a great piece that serves as an introduction to the interactive whiteboard world. A high school teacher presents different view points and activities to a town meeting. There were some obviously skeptical people that attended the meeting whom might not see the benefit out weighing the cost of the products. It is a very nice overview of some of the great things you can do with an interactive whiteboard that you can not do with a chalk or whiteboard.
Lang, K., (2010, February 10). Smart boards: Not your parents' blackboard. Retrieved from http://www.fairfieldcitizenonline.com/news/article/Smart-boards-Not-your-parents-blackboard-358555.php
The second article I found from Scholastic entitled, SMART professional development: Tech training benefits school leaders (2010). This article is from the Scholastic website and had graet information about SMART Professional Development. What I loved about the article was that it encouraged all administration, teachers, etc to become proficient with technology. That is absolutely true and would be phenomenal if everyone could get on board. Since the technology is new in our school systems, we need to find interactive ways to get teachers and administrators trained. SMART Professional Development is looking to do just that.
Retrieved from: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3751977
The third article, which was also from Scholastic, was titled Tech Favorites: Professional Development. The article reviewed four technology sites that can be utilized for professional development. With teachers needing to earn professional development hours, a lot are looking to online resources. How do you know which sites to go to and which to stay away from? Scholastic is a reputable resource so I would almost automatically trust the reviews from this article. The sites that were reviewed are: Discovery Education, PBS TeacherLine, PD 360, Smart Exchange. I have heard of and visited all of the sites except for PD 360. That is one site that I will be visiting.
Retrieved from: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3751931
The fourth article, which I found from Smart Technologies, was actually more of a newsletter. This was a very comprehensive newsletter that discussed all the ins and outs of training, resources to use with interactive whiteboards, and websites for learning. What I really liked about the information was that they gave you snapshots of what schools around the United States were doing with their technology. There is nothing better then learning from others and sharing ideas. It creates new ideas and items for you to expand on in your own classroom.
Retrieved from: http://www.education.smarttech.com/common/education/pdf/edcompassnovember2008.pdf
BP_Diigo Group
Here is my Diigo Group... No members yet - so I included the Screen Shot of invited members...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)