Week 3 - Tools for Collaboration, Communication, and Creation...and Some Others, Too!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tammy Gilley on February 1, 2010 at 7:39pm

1) Share a powerful teaching example using one of the tools from the chapter.

In my district I would have to say google docs is the most powerful teaching tools that teachers use. It is used for collaborating. Teachers are spread out in different buildings; so this tools allows them to work collaborative to build units of study and plan meetings.

2) Share a teaching example using Web 2.0 tools and make at least one suggestion to improve the delivery/classroom experience in the the future.

Where do I begin? I've used all of the tools mentioned in this chapter. One of the most powerful tools that I've used is blogging. Students can use blogs for reflecting on their reading, building a math blog of videos and examples, or just about anything else you can dream up. Blogging helps students to reflect on their learning and improves writing skills; as well as, communication with students and teachers. However, to improve the delivery experience Wikis have to be the best. Here is an example of a Wiki that Macmare and I built for 6th grade students and teachers earlier in the year. http://metricssixth.wikispaces.com/

3) Share some strategies to promote accountability and creativity using technology tools.

One tools that I'm very fond of is Voicethread. Voicethread promotes creativity because students can write their own script, make their own pictures, and read with expression. It can be used as an accountability tool when students have to respond to a Voicethread.

4) Share some of the favorite virtual resources that teachers use in your school.

Two of our favorite virtual resources are del.icio.us (as social bookmarking tool) and plurk (a social network.)
Teachers use del.icio.us for marking their own websites and finding resources that others have marked as well. Plurk is used by some of our teachers (including myself) to collaborate with other teachers across the country. You can post something like "can someone tell a good website for teaching current events" and in a matter of minutes another teacher will reply with an answer.

Permalink Reply by Thomas Schmitz on February 3, 2010 at 5:18pm

February 3, 2010

http://www.epals.com/ also has a blog component. The user’s guide is currently available at http://schoolblog.epals.com/sites/schoolblog.epals.com/themes/epals... . Mulvane has explored this software a little. The district appreciated the level of security and monitoring available from epals.

Permalink Reply by Deborah Bantam on February 8, 2010 at 12:09am

I am excited to start using epals with our students. . . Our goal is to get students going on this in a month or so. I wondered what others thought of this. . . how are your students using it?

Permalink Reply by Thomas Schmitz on February 8, 2010 at 9:40am

The high school teachers started using it first as a means for the students to collaborate during assignments. E-pals also gives the students the chance to upload and download files from home/school. The website gives an amazing list of opportunities, but Mulvane has just scratched the surface of possibilities.

Permalink Reply by joyce frederiksen on February 3, 2010 at 3:38pm

4) Share some of the favorite virtual resources that teachers use in your school.
I have to agree with Tammy that Delicious is one of my favorite virtual tools. Over the years I have lost so many bookmarks because of computers crashing and now I know I will always have access to them. I also love that I can share my links with others and save them the time of searching for things I already have saved.

With my role as facilitator, I have also had to utilize Skype for several lessons. I spent this morning teaching a Big Huge Lab activity to all Triplains TRC students. Grades 3-6. It is a very powerful tool that everyone enjoys.

Permalink Reply by Deborah Bantam on February 8, 2010 at 12:12am

I love Skype! Actually I have used it for a few years for personal use. My class has visited with my daughter who is living in Japan. The kids love to visit and they created their own questions to learn about her area. It was a great experience- I would love to try a skype lesson activity such as yours. Great idea!

Permalink Reply by Melanie Farmer on February 9, 2010 at 3:03pm

I love delicious too, Joyce, and have you used Diigo? Some perks of Diigo include: you can create groups with your network and save pages with annotations so that others can see what you think about parts of a Web site. Here is a link to the learn all about Diigo =)

Permalink Reply by Tish Havel on February 12, 2010 at 9:44pm

Skype has been a great tool for us, too!

Permalink Reply by Melanie Farmer on February 3, 2010 at 4:18pm

I learned about the latest PBS documentary about the impact of technology in education and learning and you can see it online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/. There is a neat interactive digital native map that presents how we are 'changing with technology'. Please check it out because it is very relevant to all of our discussions =)

Permalink Reply by Casey Wise on February 8, 2010 at 1:47pm

I have not had a chance to watch the full video, but the map is full of great information and research. I think it is important to note that there are some great positives to technology use as well as some negatives. As educators we must be vigilant in our support and in helping our students understand the issues they face as digital natives.

Great resource!

Permalink Reply by Thomas Schmitz on February 3, 2010 at 5:11pm

February 3, 2010

1. Share a powerful teaching example using one of the tools from the chapter.

The implementation of Smart Response Clickers and Smart Boards/Airliner Pads has had a positive impact on Mulvane’s preparation for state assessments. Teachers are able to project the state designed resources (formatives and BAIP for example) and interact as a class through these lessons. The teachers are able to collect data that actively guide the lesson of today and help organize the unit ahead. The Smart Board tools (and Airliner) encourage the students to share their understanding with the class. The Smart Board adds the interactive piece that is missing for the state designed resources.

2. Share a teaching example using Web 2.0 tools and make at least one suggestion to improve the delivery/classroom experience in the future.

The availability of Web 2.0 tools is new frontier for my district. Many sites are blocked, but TRC has helped address this. Teachers have fully embraced http://www.ixl.com/. The next step to improve this implementation is two parts. First, the teachers need to individually target which lessons a student completes. Second, the teachers need to actively use the data provided to structure classroom lessons. Web 2.0 tools need to be actively and routinely administered by the classroom teacher.

3. Share some strategies to promote accountability and creativity using technology tools.

Student samples were a strong “buzz word” when I started my teacher career. Projects were impressive on the surface, but often only mimicked the samples shown early in the lesson. Experience has moved me away from samples and guided me to rubrics. Strongly designed rubrics will guarantee student mastery and also encourage and develop creativity.
http://www.thinkinggear.com/tools/ - http://www.4teachers.org/# - http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ - http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/ -

4. Share some of the favorite virtual resources that teachers use in your school.

http://wallwisher.com/ has been a great treasure that we borrowed from Amber and Melanie during a TRC training. The students work with their cooperative learning groups, and then they post needed responses to http://wallwisher.com/ . The teacher monitors responses from his computer, and he is able to facilitate needed instruction.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/PhotoSt... is a great download for your children. I would describe this software as an elementary version of Window’s Movie Maker.

Permalink Reply by Stacy Aschenbrenner on February 5, 2010 at 3:56pm

1. Share a powerful teaching example using one of the tools from the chapter.
Photo Story
My 4th grade TRC class was working on arrays. We were trying to come up with a better, more engaging, more fun way to have the kids create arrays, rather than the some old way of coloring the squares on paper and cutting them out. The idea we came up with was to have the students put the arrays together using connecting cubes. So each student or group of student was assigned a number. First they had to write all of the possible ways to make that number on a piece of paper. For example, 12¸1 x 12, 12 x1, 2 x 6, 6 x 2, 3 x 4, 4 x 3. Then the students used the connecting cubes to make these arrays. The students had the same number of connecting cubes as the number they were assigned. After they created one array, they took a picture of it with the digital camera. Then they created the next array. They did this for all of the array combinations they had. As the students worked, we watched them. It was fun to see that some students would take their arrays apart each time and rebuild them for the next array. Some students would just rotate the array to get the next one. And some students would rotate their bodies to take the picture from a different angle. After all of the pictures were taken and saved to the computers, we put the pictures into Photo Story. Here the students were able to label their arrays, add transitions and music. In the end, they had a little movie about their number and its arrays.

4. Share some of the favorite virtual resources that teachers use in your school.
Lately we have really been using the virtual manipulative at the National Library of Virtual Manipulative http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html. We have really been using the virtual spinners and graphs as we are preparing for state assessments.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page