My Social Bookmarking Experience

Here is my Diggo URL:  http://www.diigo.com/user/lal2012

I enjoyed this activity as now I have many resources to use for my classroom. It was very easy for me to bookmark websites using the digolet tool from Diggo. The only thing that I found difficult was creating this word cloud of tags. Since I do not have a Delicious account, I had to hand type all of these tags. However, if I would have used Delicious all I would have had to do was type in my Delicious username and it would have transferred all of my tags in one easy step. I enjoyed making a word cloud regardless of how long it took me. Check out my word cloud below.

My Google Reader Experience

                     The seven blogs I subscribed to are:

1. CoolCatTeacher Blog- http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/

2. Will Richardson- http://willrichardson.com/

3. Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day- http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/

4. Free Technology for Teachers- http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

5. A Media Specialist’s Guide to the Internet-http://mediaspecialistsguide.blogspot.com/

6. Teachers Love SMART Boards- http://teacherslovesmartboards.com/

7. Librarian.net: Putting the rarin back in librarian since 1999- http://www.librarian.net/

Until I took this course, I had never read a blog in my life. I can proudly say that I am a blog reader now. Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day, Free Technology for Teachers, Media Specialist’s Guide to the Internet, Teachers Love SMART Boards, and Librarian.net were my top 5 favorite blogs. All five of these websites offer several technological resources and lesson plans that I can use with my upcoming 5^th grade classes in the library. I have been making a list of all the awesome resources I have gathered from reading these blogs. One thing I have to say about Ferlazzo's blog is that while it is not my overall favorite, he provided a lot of links to resources and videos about animals. I remember watching a very good video about polar bears which my second grade class would love.

           If I had to pick my overall favorite blog, I would pick A Media Specialists Guide to the Internet. As a librarian, I have to say that this is my dream blog. It has technology tools to use with students and websites with lesson plans and activities related to history, science, language arts. A few blogs list wonderful authors and titles for elementary and junior high ages. I have always been worried about using PowerPoint with my students because I am afraid they will may have problems saving it correctly, but this blog introduced me to Slide Rocket. It keeps all the students presentations in a cloud on Slide Rocket’s server so I do not have to worry about them losing them.  

My favorite blog post came from Librarian.net. “The origin story of Mousercise” was posted on June 6, 2012. In this post, Jessamyn West (library technologist) retells her email interview experience with the creator of Mousercise Chris Rippel. I liked this post because I had never heard of Mousercise. After checking it out, I realize that this tutorial will be a great site to use with my fifth graders. It includes typing and mouse tutorials, exercises, and games. At the beginning of the post, I learned that it was originally called Mouserobics until Disney found out about it. At the beginning of the interview, Rippel talks about when he made Mousercise after teaching his first computer basics class in Kansas and how he is currently working for the Central Kansas Library System (CKLS). For the rest of the interview he gives advice for teacher librarians who want to teach computer basics to their students. Since I am that teacher librarian, I found his advice helpful and encouraging.

Digital Citizenship

It is very important to be a good digital citizen. Every action on the internet leaves a digital trail. If people wanted to find out any information about your past or present endeavors, there are certain tools available that they can pull this use to find this information. We need to be responsible and have ethical behavior when we are using the net. We need to treat others with respect, act in an ethical manner, and take certain precautions when it comes to security. There are several viruses that are just waiting to “eat up” our hard drives. If we are good digital citizens, we will make the right choices when it comes to visiting safe internet sites. Another reason it is important to be a good digital citizen is it gives you the status of credibility. It is important to give credit where credit is due. In other words, do not plagiarize or use copyrighted works without permission or permissible citations.

Having a good digital reputation can impact your life on a large scale. It could make or break your chance of getting a job, as well as make or break your personal reputation. If you own a facebook or blog, be careful what images you put on it and what you write. Teachers must be careful as well. Since we are responsible for educating young minds so that they can have a positive impact on the future, we need to have high standards when it comes to the internet and social media.

          Here is my Digital Citzenship PPT I made for my students:

Web 2.0 Authoring Tools

Blogs, wikis, podcasts, e-portfolios, social networking sites, and video and photo sharing communities are the six web 2.0 authoring tools. Out of the six web 2.0 tools, I believe that wikis, podcasts, and video and photo sharings are great tools to use in my library classes.  Wikis allow students to edit the pages and contribute to the content. I could use a wiki to encourage students to read more books and then share the books they read and why they liked it. Depending on the grade level, it could be picture books, chapter books, and biographical series (etc.).  Another way I could use a wiki is by having students do individual research on a particular topic and add what they find onto the wiki. 

Podcasts are another great tool I could implement in my classroom.  Students would find a short poem they want to recite.  Then I would create a podcasts of the students reading their favorite short poem. This will help them to be aware of their tone and encourage them to practice to ensure their best performance. I could have other classes listen to the poems and vote on which ones were their favorites.

Video and Photo sharing tools, such as Vimeo, Animoto, and Flickr, would be wonderful tools to use in the library as well! With Vimeo, I could split the students into groups and have them pick their favorite mother goose nursery rhyme. Each group will have to act out the nursery rhyme while one of their members reads it. Each group will have to have a narrator, characters, and props to enhance the performance. Then I would share the video with their class or with the younger ages. Also, I could post this on the class blog so that they can show their friends and family their performances.

Using Flickr or Animoto, I could go over fair use guidelines of using pictures on the web. Then the students could do a search on their favorite country, sport, food, or animal (etc.) and save the images they find to Flickr. They can show their slideshow of what they found to the class from Flickr, or they could create a thirty second Animoto video.

5 Types of Instructional Software

Software can be a wonderful asset to the education of young minds. Educational software contains colorful graphics and funny characters that will keep students engaged in their learning and help better their coordination skills.  There are five kinds of instructional software: Drill and Practice, Tutorial, Simulation, Instructional Game, and Problem Solving.

Drill and Practice refers to structured and repetitive practice of previously learned concepts. Drill and Practice software benefits students because it provides them with adequate practice so they can transfer learned material into long term memory. Also, computers are private and give students plenty of time to answer the question. This may motivate some students to complete their drills. Also, this type of software gives students immediate feedback so they know whether they got the answer right or wrong.

http://www.aplusmath.com/Flashcards/index.html
http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/math/

 Tutorial software provide information and instructional activities to help students master a topic. Like drill and practice software, tutorials provide students with immediate feedback and increase their motivation. A good tutorial will allow the student to learn at their own pace and provide them with appropriate learning activities. Here is a free tutorial website that provides lessons and practice. It also gives them immediate feedback when they answer questions.

http://www.adaptedmind.com/Math-Worksheets.html?gclid=CJ2ao_ia27ACFUZN4AodDDvq2g

Starfall.com

Simulation software provides models of real or imaginary systems that are used to enhance instruction. It is great because it gets the students involved in learning.

There are three types of simulation software. First, physical simulation allows students to manipulate objects to help them learn about completing a task. Second, iterative simulations speed up or slow down a process to the help the student understand it better. Third, procedural simulations teach students steps of a process by providing them with visual models. Fourth, situational simulations teach students how to handle certain situations such as how to operate a business.

http://www.froguts.com/

http://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/cow_eye/

Instructional Game Softwares are usually used as rewards or to reinforce a skill. After students have learned a skill, the best way to test their knowledge is through letting them play games. They have to use what they have previously learned if they want to get a high score.  is a wonderful site that allows teachers to create online games based on what they have been going over in class.

http://www.amazon.com/Broderbund-CARMENWORD-Carmen-Sandiego-Detective/dp/B00027Q6YA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340142708&sr=8-1&keywords=carmen+sandiego+word+detective

http://www.funbrain.com/kidscenter.html

http://www.cookie.com/games/viewallgames.html

Classtools.net

 Problem Solving Software provides good hands on experience with skills such as logical sequencing, figuring out relevant information to solve problems. Students will find this type of software interesting as it teaches how to solve various problem solving situations.

http://www.greatmathsgames.com/number/items/33.html

http://pbskids.org/games/problemsolving.html

Software Review

The software I chose to review is JumpStart for 5^th grade created by Vivendi Universal. I found both positive and negative aspects in this software. This software offers fun activities in language, math, science, U.S. / Native American history, art history, and geography. At first, I was a little worried about the main character being a girl, but she is very tomboyish so she appeals to both girl and boy audiences. What I do like about this software is that it offers several levels to fit the need of each student. It gives teachers the opportunity to print reports so that they can keep up with their students’ progress. When the student exits the software, it allows them to pick up where they left off the next time. This software has a lot of fun games that will keep 5^th graders from being bored; it will keep them engaged. One particular game I liked was one that had to do with fractions called “Juice Bar.” This math game helps strengthen students’ knowledge of numerators and denominators as they mix together weird sounding treats.

The first thing I did not like about this software is that the student or teacher cannot choose the subject or activity to focus on. The students have to go in the order of the software. It will not let the student do anything else until they have completed the next step in the game. This seems inconvenient if a teacher needed a program to work on a specific skill with her student. Secondly, if the students do not have quick reflexes or good gaming skills they will find this game to be frustrating as sometimes they will have to dodge or out run objects. The third thing I did not like about this software, is that the directions for some of the games are unclear. For example, one game involves adding two digit numbers. However, instead of the students typing the final answer in the blank, they have to start with the answering what goes in the ones place and then it carries the number so they answer the tens place. Another game that I did not enjoy was the crossword puzzle game that contained very hard art history questions. No fifth grader would know those answers without having to look up the answer on Google. I guess that could be a good thing to learn how to do. It gives students the opportunity to have to search on the web to find the answers.

Web 2.0 Assignment



CONCEPT MAP FOR SOLAR SYSTEM UNIT

Link 1: LINDSEY L'S GLOG!
For my Web 2.0 assignment, I had to use glogster.com to create a page for my unit on the Solar System. While I had lots of fun creating it, tI had some difficulties. First, it was very difficult to select graphics and notes once I added them to my glog page. I had to select them just right or it wouldn't select them, or it would group a bunch of them together and move them all has a whole. Everytime I underlined a word or phrase, it would mesh the words before and after together. It took me 4 times to correct this by continuously saving and renaming it. Also glogster.com would not let me copy and paste my URL to link a website. I found typing in the URLs to be time consuming. On a more positive note, I liked how glogster gave me access to images from Google which is where I got the background for my glog. Also, they offered a lot cool graphics and note templates! It was easy to select them and add them to the page. I also liked how easy it was to post videos on the glog. Glogster.com let me search for video using YouTube and then it would allow me to play the video before I selected it. This made the process of finding videos a lot easier. I will definitely use glogster.com in the future because it is a wonderful resource to have. I learned a lot from creating this one so hopefully it will not take me so long next time.

Link 2: LINDSEY L'S ANIMOTO VIDEO
The second tool I used for my unit was animoto.com. Animoto was a lot easier for me to use than gloster.com was. The only thing I did not like about animoto was that it would not allow me to put text and pictures together on one slide. I tried to add text to label the pictures, but it took the text and added it on a separate slide. It did not offer different color text either. I decided to create each slide on a PPT document so I could add colorful text and backgrounds. After I saved each  slide as a JPEG,  I was able to easily upload them in animoto as one image. I had lots of funs creating this image video.

Link 3 and 4: LINDSEY L'S GAME 1 and LINDSEY L'S GAME 2
I chose to use classroom tools.com to create games for my unit. I enjoyed using this website. It offered a lot of resources for free. I can only imagine the extra stuff they offer for those that become premium members. This was very easy for me to use. It was fun to create games my students would play and then play them myself. It was easy to save my games that I created. I found a lot of teacher resources that I can use in my classroom as well like the countdown timer and random name selection tool. I would highly recommend this site for classroom teacher.