Reflection

WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!! I am FINISHED!!!!!!!  There were so many neat tools I worked with, that are now in MY TOOL BOX!!!!!!

1. Some of my favorite tools and the tools I feel I will use the most include image generators and mashups, digital story telling, skype(if available), and mobile technology and apps!  One of the easiest (although can be somewhat time consuming) is the digital story telling.  I plan to use this a lot...the possibilities are endless!!!!! Basically, we can make a digital story for everything we do, learn, or study. I especially think the students will love it, when their picture or a picture they have taken is included in the digital story.
2. Most of these 11 tools I have either heard of or have somewhat used.  I think there is so much technology out there that it can be overwhelming! I now realize there are more technology tools that can be used in our classroom that before, I really never gave much thought about using in the classroom setting.  The scary thing is, all these tools will probably be considered "ancient" and obsolete by the time my PreK students finish high school-CRAZY!
3. I don't really think there were necessarily any unexpected outcomes, but I do feel like it made me think differently about some of the tools. It is a wonderful thing to have accesses to all of these toolsand technology!

Tool 11

In teaching PreK, sometimes it hard to teach the concept of digital citizenship.  Much of the concept is hard for a 4 year old to grasp.  All they care about it being on the computer and getting to actually do something on the computer!
1. One of the first things I try and teach and reinforce is DO NOT click on the pop ups! Even thought they can't really read what the pop up says, they still click on it because it popped up and is colorful. By clicking these they can do a lot of damage.
2. It is also very important for the students to understand not all the sites are safe. That they need to only go to the sites approved by a teacher or parent. This might be done by only allowing the students to click on icons that are set up on the desktop, or the teacher or parent loads the site for them.
3. Although they don't really "chat" on computers yet, I think it is very important to talk about never chatting with someone on the computer that you don't know. That it is not safe to give out information to others...such as, even if you are excited about your birthday-don't give out your age, location of party, what you will be wearing...!

Tool 10

The iTouch Apps are going to be a BIG hit with the students!!! Perhaps even a good tool to be incorporated into a reward system :)  I think everyone will be excited to work with this form of technology, it is very hands on and offers a ton for my PreK students...a lot of times things have to be adapted for the little ones, but I found a ton of neat apps that they can actually work with!
I love the ABC Phonics Animals, Baby Flash Cards, Alphabet Tracing, and I Wash My Dogs lite (all free!).

Tool 9

The Jing tools seems really neat...I like how you can instantly capture what you are seeing on your screen and are able for someone else to then see it instantly! I am not really sure how I will use this with my students, but I think it can be very beneficial with sharing information with colleges and for my own personal use.

I would love to be able to use Skype with my students.  I think it would be very interesting for both my students and myself to have "Skype pals" from another country!!!!!  We could learn so much from our "Skype pals" about their country, culture, and school life!

Tool 8

There are lots of neat, easy, simple videos that the students can watch to help reinforce what they are learning in class.  After viewing this video several times, students can do something very similar during work stations.

http://www.teachertube.com/members/viewVideo.php?video_id=7672&title=Top_Ten_Things_You_Do_Not_Learn_About_Teaching_in_College
this was a cute video for teachers I found on teacher tube...watch it, it will make you laugh!

Tool 7

I LOVE this tool!!!!!! It will be so neat to make lots of videos on different topics and themes.   This was an EASY tool to work with...much easier than painting a story on a building (Hansel and Gretel) The only problem I had was uploading...but, that was my fault I was trying to upload the incorrect file.

Tool 6

I like the possibilities of using Wikis for different things!  I am having a little trouble thinking of ways to use this with my PreK students.  Maybe I could use Wikis for linking pictures to themes or something that the students show a strong interest in???
I think it could work great with parents! Especially when we are having a party or a special celebration. The use of Wikis could help us stay organized...who is bring what?- Just like the camping example.
It could also be very helpful with sharing lesson plans/roadmaps...with teammates!!!!