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/