Lifelong Learning Journey

Skype is a great tool for communicating and bringing the outside world into the classroom (and the classroom into the outside world). While it can seem difficult to some teachers, having a technology person on hand to help troubleshoot any problems makes the process quite easy. Teachers on my campus have used Skype in a variety of ways. We are a very international school, and our families tend to move around quite often. Recently, one of our families was relocated to Indonesia. A few weeks after moving, this student's class at my school Skyped with her. She was able to share with them how things were different in Indonesia, both in regular everyday life as well as at school. This was a great lesson on different cultures. This same class adopted a low-income 2nd grade class in another state last year. Around the holidays, the students at my school sent books and homemade bookmarks to the students they had adopted. These books were for them to take home as many of them didn't ha...

I had never searched for Podcasts before or thought them relevant for use in class. I knew there was valuable information in some Podcasts to grow my personal thoughts and ideas as an educator. However, I never realized what all was available to me until I started searching. While I do enjoy learning from others' experiences, I realize that I am more of a Twitter/Blog girl. I prefer to read what others think or have experienced. I don't enjoy just listening to someone talk. I did, however, find some Podcasts that were videos. Those I enjoyed watching AND listening to. One I found particularly useful to teachers in a classroom setting was called The Amoeba Sisters. This podcast had a series of short videos to teach students about different biological processes such as cell transport and mitosis. The videos were short, cute, fun, and informative. I thought them particularly interesting for my sister who teaches freshman biology at a tough high school. I shared this blog with her ...

I created my YouTube video using a source called Screentastomatic . This site allows you to do a recording of what is happening on your desktop, which I love (especially at 5 in the morning when I am trying to get my homework done before everyone wakes up, and I  don't really want you to see what I look like). It was so simple to make the video, and when I was finished there was an option to directly upload my video to YouTube. It really could not have been more user friendly. I have used YouTube videos in my classroom. I like to use them as an intro to a lesson to capture students' attention or to explain a concept in a different way. However, I try to just use TeacherTube if I am looking for something for my students. I feel I find more relevant and school appropriate videos in that way. I don't think I would feel comfortable with asking my students to post a video to YouTube. I think my students are too young to be posting on YouTube (I'm pretty sure you have to be...

I had fun taking the time to search for videos on YouTube. I searched with the thought of helping the teachers on my campus find useful videos. I first searched for book recommendations for third graders. I was hoping to find videos of children recommending books to other children. I knew that would be a long shot though, given parents' valid concerns for student privacy. However, what I did find was just as useful. I found a variety of book read-alouds. The link I am sharing is a read-aloud of The TRUE Story of the Three Little Pigs. I have read this book before and have used it as a comparison tool for students to compare different versions of fairy tales. I feel that a YouTube read-aloud would gain student interest a bit more than a teacher reading it aloud. I also searched for (and found) a variety of math videos. Some of my favorites were for 3rd grade geometry. Obviously, teachers have to be diligent to watch the entirety of any videos they plan to show students to make sure ...

I used Animoto for my presentation tool. I have tried playing with Animoto in the past and got quickly frustrated. This time, however, I found the process to making a short video quite simple. Perhaps I have gained in my knowledge in how to manipulate these types of tools or perhaps Animoto has become more user-friendly. Either way, I very much enjoyed playing with this presentation tool this time around. I did not upload any of my own pictures but instead used stock photos already available on Animoto. I chose to make a video for our 1st grade classrooms. Adding pictures was easy, as was adding a title and captions to the photos. The video did, however, cut off part of some of the pictures I wanted to use so I had to delete those photos. Animoto is a great tool to create short videos to help catch your students interest at the start of a unit or lesson. Singular and Plural Nouns Video

I chose to use Voki for my animation tool. Again, this was a new tool for me. I chose this particular tool because the video I watched looked like it could be a fun tool to use. I was able to create a cute squirrel avatar. I was thinking this would be a fun way to introduce the question of the day in my math class. I usually deliver the question that we need to answer or have a student read it aloud. I think using Voki would be a bit more engaging for an introduction. After creating my own account, I got to wondering if my students would have to create an account in order to be able to use it. I logged out and started over. This time I did not sign-up but "continued as a guest". This worked fabulously! I was very excited to see that my students could use this tool, as well! What a great way for them to EXPLAIN their understanding. They always struggle with explaining their math work, and I have found that they explain better verbally rather than written. Just a quick note tha...

Zoho Doc is a new resource for me! I had never even heard of it until today. I have used Google Docs on a number of occasions, and I feel like Zoho Docs is comparable. One feature I especially liked about it was how user-friendly it was. It was super easy to insert a math equation. I would even say that it was easier to use the equation editor on Zoho than on Microsoft Word. The equation editor on Zoho shows you a preview of what you are typing. I also liked the grid in the background. When I tried to move shapes around, the grid certainly made it easier to see if the shapes were lined up. It was rather difficult to move smaller shapes around though. For some reason, I kept grabbing the shape and altering the size rather than dragging it to another location. The bigger shapes were easier to move around. The other thing I really liked about Zoho were all the ways to share a created document and the ability to see changes and versions. I definitely would not mind playing with it a bit mo...