Tool 10 - Digital Citizenship

For your Tool #10 assignment:

In YOUR blog post:

1. Discuss at least three things you would want to make sure your students understand about being good digital citizens.
Not stealing content, not sharing personal information, and learning email Netiquette.

2. Share at least one of the resources mentioned above or on the Ed Tech website that you plan to use instructionally. I would like to use some of the Atomic learning devices to help them learn about being good digital citizens.

3. Explain briefly how you would "teach" the idea of digital citizenship to your students. Students need examples. They need to recall when "bad" things have happened to them online.

4. Explain briefly how you plan to share the idea of digital citizenship with your parents. I love to communicate with parents. As we do projects that use technology that may be new to students or parents, it will be easy to send out an email to parents explaining what we are doing and why. It is also a good chance to review Netiquette with parents and encourage them to review it with their children.

Tool 11 - self assessment

. What are your favorite tools you now have in your personal technology toolbox? Briefly describe a particular activity that you will plan for your students using at least one of these new tools.
Favorites are always a hard question. I love the idea of Google Docs so that students can collaborate on classroom assignments. I also am very fond of Dropbox and use it all time already. I plan to use Google Docs to have students in all 3 of my 8th grade classes work together to do a project about a Spanish Speaking Country. 

2. How have you transformed your thinking about the learning that will take place in your classroom? How has your vision for your classroom changed? Are you going to need to make any changes to your classroom to accommodate the 21st Century learner? I have had my vision change. I would like to see my students doing more project bases assignments that will require them to use more technology. I am seeing more clearly that my students don't want to be lectured to, they want to "do, do, do". 

3. Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I am always surprised by the amount of tools that are available. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many I was familiar with, even though I haven't used them frequently. 

Tool 9 - Tools for learning

Tool #9 Assignment, create a new post in which you respond to the following:

1. Why do you think it is important to tie the technology to the objective? Studnets are very used to playing games in a digital environment. They don't need more gaming practice.The iPads will be a new novelty for many students and they will want to find the "fun" and entertaining things to do but in a classroom it is important that powerful instrucitonal time is not widdled away as kids "play" on the classroom devices.
2. Why should we hold students accountable for the stations/centers? Students must be held accountable for how they use the devices in the classroom. They are very much a priveledge, not a right and as a teacher I must be very attentive to what they are doing with these devices.
3. Visit 2 of the applicable links to interactive websites for your content/grade level. Which sites did you like. How could you use them as stations? How can you hold the students accountable for their time in these stations? One site that will be nice with the iPads is Colby.edu. They have so many lessons and activities for students learning Spanish. The same is true of Quia.com. Many of the listed applications were not for foreign language but there are so many resources out there to dig into.
4. List two to three apps you found for the iPod Touch/iPad that you can use in your classroom. What do you see that station looking like? How can you hold the students accountable for their time in these stations? I am still researching apps. I haven't found a lot of free apps for the iPad that relate to spanish learning. But, I can hold them accountable by frequently wandering the room and being engaged as students use the devices.
5. What about other ways to use the iPod Touch/iPad? Share another way you can see your students using the device as a station. Using the devices with a program like Splashpad would allow them to turn their iPad into the driving device running the Activ Board. It is a way students can be empowered. They can use the devices during presentations. I have a cord that connects the iPad to the digital projector as well and it will be great to connect them togehter.

Tool 8 - Using my devices

1. I will have the iPads in my classroom. I have been using and iPad for many months and I feel that I am pretty aware of the tool. I didn't see it in the video but I saw a little hub port the other day that allows several devices to plug into one sound source. I thought that would be so great to use for students doing something simultaneously in class.

I have also been amazed the how facetime can work. What a great tool that we can use to collaborate with other classes.

2. I feel it will be so important to check the equiptment frequently to be sure students haven't added and deleted programs. Since I have a personal iTunes account I'd like to set up a second iTunes account for my school iPads only. I can use my work computer to be the syncing location for these iPads and use "the cloud" to keep them synced as well.

Tool 7 - Digital Projects

The idea of working with other classrooms on a project has always been appealing but I have always pictured it as being very difficult. Looking at some of the tools mentioned throughout this course it seems that it would be easier to start such a project but I know it would require a lot of prep work with another teacher.

I thinking using Google Docs and VoiceThread students could easily work together to create digital projects. At the beginning of the year I would like to do a "why study Spanish?" project and have the students learn about where Spanish is spoken and what they can get out of learning another language.

I could collaborate within my school with our other 8th grade Spanish teacher to do this or I could find a middle school teacher on another campus that is willing to do the project.

I think this would be a great way to get the collaboration off the ground.

Tool 6 - collaborative learning

One tool I would like to use more is Poll Everywhere. I would like to figure out how to allow more than 40 responses. I have more students than that! But, I love to travel with students and so I created a poll to gather opinions about where we should go. Here it is...



The second collaborative tool I would like to use more of is Today's Meet. It seems like a fun way to get the kids engaged during a lecture. It can also be a "safe" way to ask questions and and a way to ask the students to participate but providing a low key environment.

Finally, this year I'd like to use blogger blogs for my students. I can require them to post specific posts and I can check their progress. They can also use it as an online portfolio for their projects. I am excited to integrate this tool.