Reflections

One of my favorite tools that I explored would have to be digital storytelling.  This tool will work beautifully with storytelling and all of its components.  I will encourage the children to create dramatizations of both adult -authored and dictated stories so that they can view them over and over again to increase their comprehension skills.  When thinking about having the children do this, the process will be just as important as the product. 

My thinking has been transformed in that teaching in the 21st century requires us to reach all children through technology integration in all areas of learning.  Careful planning and training on our part will have to take place so that we can meet the needs of all children.

Nothing unexpected, but I have to say that this experience was an eye-opener for me.  There are so many useful and user-friendly tools that will make teaching and learning exciting and meaningful.

Tool # 11

Teaching good digital citizenship for our little ones will require task analyzing at the most basic level and build upon that.  Good modeling of appropriate behaviors and facilitation to ensure these skills are internalized will be so important and required for the iTouch implementation to be successful!

Tool # 10

I could spend hours looking through the apps.  Some of my favorites that would be age-appropriate for our Pre-K students include:

   Read me Stories:  Talking picture books that are updated daily which teach new vocabulary and concepts.
  
   Shape Builder:  Reinforce shape recognition

   Toddler ABC's;  Assist children with alphabet recognition...including a photo that begins with the letter

   Learning to Count:  Great for teaching the sequence of numbers when counting

The iTouch is going to be a great teaching tool for the classroom.  The children will be able to work cooperatively and independently on specific skills and concepts. 

Tool # 9

Jing will be great for capturing a window and then explaining in further detail with captions/text.  I like that you can use Jing for screencasting by selecting a region or window and record up to 5 min. of video with narration.  This would be a great teaching tool to use with projects.

Skype would be a neat learning tool to use with students of other schools around the globe.  Children could communicate with one another about topics of study.  Great way to increase their oral language development.

Tool # 8

Videos are another avenue for students to become engaged in learning. It is an auditory/visual aid that has a high interst level with children and aids in retention of concepts.

The first vidoe I posted could be used in conjunction with teaching number concepts. It is a video about "Five Little Ducks".

The second video would be used in my classrrom in conjunction with a shared reading book that we use in the beginning of the year, "Fruit Salad."  The Wiggles created a song that works beautifully with this book.

Tool #7

This was so much fun creating.  As I was making the video, I had so many ideas about how this could be implemented in my classroom to improve student learning.  Photo story could be used hand-in-hand with storytelling...children could dramatize dictated stories as well as read alouds which could then be placed in story-baskets.  Children could create videos as they relate to projects, books read aloud,etc.  Digital storytelling could also be used with teachers who want to model a lesson/view a lesson or share student learning with others, including parents. 

 LOVE THIS TOOL!!!

Tool #6

Wiki is a great tool, and with lots of assistance, could be used by my Pre-K students.  This would be a fun way for the class to collaborate and create a story, poem or any type of writing.  This tool really opens the door to the rest of the world so that the children can see what others are learning and actually contribute.  It gives them an opportunity to be an active participant in the learning process.

This tool could be used by my teammates in collaborating to create a newsletter, lesson plan or just 'spreading the word' regarding teaching ideas.

Found this really neat Wiki and thought I would share...
http://mrsibrahim.wikispaces.com/