Podcast Reflection #7: Driving Question: Edu Blogger Can Discussion

In this episode of Driving Questions Sue Waters, Kim Cais, Scott McLeaod, Darren Drapper and others delve into the issue of leadership in school. The comment made by the panel that stuck to me the most was that leadership depends on the schools faculty, "we could have the most motivated teacher but if the principal is not on board than it might not go anywhere."He explained that this was because the principal is the one that controls the resources, if they are not on board with the teacher's idea than they might not be going anywhere. Social norms also discourage and at times pushes teacher to try and excel within the system. Appropriate support from the leaders is crucial.

Podcast Reflection #6: Driving Question: First Year Tech Integration

On these episode we they talked to Tamara Padfield, a tech integration specialist from Inman Kansas. She talks about the people and things that got her hooked with technology integration. She mentioned that one of the people that got her hooked to technology was Cyndi Danner-Kuhn, my current technology teacher at Kansas State University. She took the TRC grant that allowed her to have a better equipment in the classroom such as one-on-one laptops. this allowed her to "truly" integrate technology in the classroom. An advice she gave to new teacher is that its ok to start small but we cannot think we are the exerts now a days, especially with technology. She encourages teachers to take a leap of faith and find helping teachers that can help. Collaborate, don't just take.

Podcast Reflection #5: Driving Question: Relauch Episode

Smart phones have not yet been taken under consideration for a classroom tool for learning. Smart phones can work as a document machine, email, radio, CD player, its more than a phone. Smart phones can be used in school as a tool as long as schools would change policies to allow the use of personal devices on their network. Some apps that can be used in classrooms are graphing calculators (replacing the cost of a real one), kindle, gps, compass, geography fact book, music instruments. In addition, not only do musical instrument apps allow you to play them but it also teaches you how to play them. By using smart phones in school the cost of resources and education can potentially go down!

Podcast Reflection #4: Driving Question: Interview with Stacy Williams

Stacy Williams is an instrumental music instructor at Colby Middle School. She has branched out into teaching and facilitating technology driven classrooms. She began teaching technology when her school principle assigned her the 5th and 6th grade technology class. She believed she was was not efficient in technology but she decided to take on the task anyways. She was able to manage both of her classes, music and technology, at the same time. Her class is an art class through technology. She does not use material that is pre-programed, she comes up with the materials and activities herself. She does her best to come up with creative on her own. She does her best to come up with ideas to keep her students engaged and activities that the students can enjoy while learning.

Podcast Reflection #3: Driving Question: Kimberly Wright

Kimberly wright teaches science and technology to 60 fourth graders everyday. During her first year of teaching she was all about power points but soon enough she moved on to video conferences and pod-casting. When she began teaching she was not tech savvy but because she was at such a young age people though the contrary. When she got her first classroom she found a cart with many technology related materials such as cam recorders and cameras which she took advantage of. Later on she decided to attend conferences and see what other teachers where doing in their classroom. This way she build a network and learn how to use technology in her classroom. She also learned that to make both, the administration and the students, happy she needed to use technology which helped her bring up scores and keep her engaged. She is currently trying to expand her wings and help other teachers become familiar with technology. Technology has opened many doors that does not limit her classroom to what she knows but what the world knows.

Animoto in my classroom.

In our technology class we learned how to use Animoto. I like it! It was fun to make different videos, even if our options are limited it was still pretty fun! there is so much you can do with animoto for the classroom. You can have the students make their own yearbook, teachers can use it to introduce different materials. We can also use it for the students to introduce themselves to the class, or present their learning or understanding of the material to the class. The options are endless but we must be creative. In our class we had to make two videos one about ourselfs and the other about education. I used mine as an short introduction for my students, and the education Animoto was about effective teaching. Here are my two Animotos!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Fun with Text:

Wordle (http://www.wordle.net/) and Tagxedo (http://www.tagxedo.com/) are two web-pages in with you can have fun with words! In the website the students type in words into a box, the more words the more fun it is! For words to come out bigger than others the student must type the word more than once, the more the word is repeated the bigger the word. When the students are done typing their words the student hit summit button and their creation appears! It is simple to use and fun when its done.

Both wordle and tagxedo are good resources to use for many classroom activities. In these two websites students can work on their vocabulary by memorizing words while they type them. It can also be used as an activity for the beginning of the year for students to get to know each other. Teachers can use it to introduce new lessons for the class, and the vocabulary for it. There are many ways to use wordle and tagxedo, we just have to be creative and find new ideas every day.

These are examples of what can be done with wordle and tagxedo: