Tool #8 Video Resources

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! Video on TED.com
This first video came from TED and was show at Admin U.

Tool #7: Digital Storytelling

I personally enjoyed making my digital story. At first, I was concerned that I would have to take a video of myself or just speak to a video. I was abo ut to ask my son to help me out on this one since he loves creating movies and editing them. Then, I discovered PhotoStory 3! This is a great tool that I will use many times in the future. It is similar to another program that I have used in the past called Photo Show by Simple Star. My family and I take many pictures and enjoy creating shows with them. Photo Story does just that.
Unfortunately, I have had difficulty loading my video to my blog. I will try editing it to make sure the file is not too large, or creating another one and try again. I think the motto on some of these tools is perseverance!

Tool #6: Wikis

When I first learned about wikis, I liked them but did not quite see how students could post to them. As I have learned about them further and have see how others have used them I have changed my opinion on them. I see now how wikis give students a place to "publish" their writing and research for an audience. That audience can be their own class or it can be a larger group of people. On idea could be a group of 2nd grade students who post their learning on their annual bird unit. 5th graders could also create their own study guide of the concepts they have learned over the year. Wiki can give research a home for students to reffer back to in any classroom. I see wikis used the most on problem based learning activities. Since problem based learning activities are not quick assignments, this is a platform for students to hold all their information and be able to share their learning with each other.

Teachers can also use this space to share their learning with each other. Just a problem based learning is for students, wiki can be a place for teachers to solve other educational problems they come across. Grade level teams can develop a wiki on a project they would like to work on. A campus based committee can do the same on a different kind of project. For example, this year we will be developing a committee to develop an outdoor learning environment. A wiki might be a great place to keep our ideas in one place as we can include videos, plans and pictures not just words.

Tool #5: Tagging and Social Bookmarking

Using a social network to keep my favorite websites was a totally new idea for me. I even commented to my husband that I thought of myself as pretty knowledgeable about technology only to discover that there is so much out there that I am not aware of. I can see how a professional learning community can easily share ideas and reserach by using tagging. I can create different groups to share different information. The leadership group can share ideas on how we can incorporate new research into our staff development. Teams can share ideas on best practices or sites they can use with their students.
RTI Tools : a response to intervention directory
http://www.rti4success.org/

Tool #4: Google Documents and Google Reader

This tool was not as much fun as the last one. I was very excited about the possibilities of collaborating with others with greater ease by using Google Docs, but it was frustrating when it became difficult to share a document. Even though I had sent an invitation for another user to be able to view and make changes to my documents, I still received emails to approve the user. This seems like an unnecessary extra step. It also took several tries for the documents to load successfully. If these issues become easier, I do see how powerful Google Docs can be in many aspects of school.
Keeping up with the latest news on education can be a challenge. Google Reader quickly places articles on the different topics in one place for me to view. I see this as a useful tool in keeping up with my own personal growth and then sharing the most interesting with others in our learning community.

Tool #3: Image Generators

Creating and adding pictures and images to has been the tool that has been the most fun so far. I had to make myself stop and go on to the next tool. I probably could have added one of each of the tools. I used spell with flickr, big huge labs, Image chef and one other one.

I can see how this would also be exciting for students to use in their work. Some students who have a difficult time writing, can express their thoughts through pictures. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. We all can see a picture and without words feel what others are trying to convey.

Tool #2: Creating Professional Learning Community

• This is the second year we are trying to set up a professional online learning community. We thought of it last year as a way for us to communicate and share ideas on important topics. It is exciting that this year we are making this happen. I believe that it is the next step in creating a school that works together towards a common goal with shared ideas. This is way for everyone to have a voice. At times there are some that are unwilling to share due to several factors, this is a way for some to feel comfortable with sharing. It allows all of us to share our points of view and understand were others stand on the same issue.
• When reading about how to comment on others blogs, I connected to the part of asking questions and leaving your responses open ended so others might want to comment on your post. I think that asking others questions is a great way to get others to share their ideas in more detail to keep the dialogue going. This is a great way for others and ourselves to reflect on our own practices.
• I commented on Irvin, Hammack, Leon-Garcia, Ramsey and M. Garcia.