e-portfolio

I was extremely fortunate to have a working computer in my classroom back in the year 2000. My students and I mostly used it for word processing and educational games. Most of the time it just sat there collecting dust.

 So much has changed in ten years ... kids have adapted to think and learn digitally. I am continually amazed at my own kids' computer skills. They teach me something new every day.

Teachers have a whole new digital tool box at their disposal. So many new tools, in fact, that, personally, I find it completely overwhelming.

 Throughout the last few months, I sometimes have felt like the guy below, frustrated with my ineptness at figuring out and completing my assignments, especially because I don't have a classroom of kids.



If you had put a stethoscope to my head over the last few months, many times you might have heard something like this...

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﻿However, in the end, this class was absolutely necessary for someone like me. I look forward to putting my new knowledge to use and utilizing the tools available to me to enrich, engage and reach the many needs of my future students.

Some Web 2.0 tools I found helpful:

youtube I used an entertaining Youtube video to introduce a research assignment on parrots. It showcased how smart and intriguing these birds can be in a humorous way. It also helped to illustrate what kind of information the students needed to provide for the assignment.

joongel.com dogonews.com kidsknowit.com The above links are all research sites, especially geared towards elementary aged students. The third site proved to be the most kid-friendly and was the one they ended up using to research their topics. It had the best graphics and general set up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/games/questionaut/ This was an excellent link for English, Math and Science exercises - very friendly and easy to use (for students AND teacherts!)

Below, I have included an iMovie that my 10-year-old, Riley, created for her family as a gift. As I mentioned earlier, digital tools provide so many options for personal and creative expression, in AND out of the classroom.

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*For some interesting reflections from my 4, fourth grade students,
== please open up the "reflections" page within this wiki. I asked them some questions about using the computer and wikispaces in general to complete work at home or in school. Their comments are varied and interesting. ==

The following is an assignment I might do in the future which is designed to utilize social networking as a tool to complete a character study:



For the future:

I had a chance at the beginning of the class to play around with some Google Docs, specifically, google calendar. I would like to further explore more of the Google Docs. I just need to take the time and do a tutorial...I am particularly interested in some of the presentation forms. I'm always looking for new ways for my students to present information in creative and engaging ways, not just to me, but to each other. I would also like to become more proficient at using Google Surveys.

As I mentioned in the beginning, taking this class was imperitive for me seeeing that I have been out of the teaching world for the last 10 years. So much has changed, and quickly! I feel like there is this great big digital cornucopia filled with tasty tools in front of me. Now I just need to dive in and explore.