Final+Examination

=Final Examination in Short Essay=

Weblogs
====A weblog, known to most as a blog, can be an effective tool for an educator and their students. As an educator we seek to make connections with other educators who teach the same subject matter. A blog can be a tool for teachers within a district that teach the same subject matter to share their what works and what does not work. For example in teachers can post science experiments and their observations of their students, so when another teacher begins to teach using the same or similar lessons they will have some expectations ahead of time of what may happen and will be able to have a solution or answer should it be needed. For students blogs is a way to create a discussion about a topic, this way of discussing provides all students the opportunity to share their thoughts. Blog discussions for students is a great way to get students to stop and think about their response, and then create a written response that is well thought out and appropriate for the audience. I plan to use weblogs this year to provide students in my class opportunities to share their thinking in different areas as a way to extend on content taught and discussed. I will do this through creating a new entry each week with an opening question or summary that provides them with guidance (third graders) but yet promotes thinking. My main goal in creating a weblog that focuses on discussion is to provide my students a place to analyze a given topic,this blog will serve as on "online filing cabinet" for their ideas, so that they can share them with others, including their parents.====

"Using Blogs to Integrate Technology in the Classroom, Education Up Close, Teaching Today, Glencoe Online." //Glencoe/McGraw-Hill//. Web. 08 Aug. 2011. []. Richardson, Will. //Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts: and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classroms//. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2009. Print.

=Wikis= media type="youtube" key="-dnL00TdmLY" height="349" width="425" [] ====A wiki can be a great way to promote participation in subject areas in a variety of ways. If students know how to use it. To begin the process of using a wiki in my third grade classroom I will show the short video from "Wikis in Plain English." Followed up by a discussion reviewing the key points. In this way it eliminates any confusion about its purpose. During this time we will also discuss our wiki rules, to ensure students do not abuse the priviledge to edit the wiki.==== ====It is easily created and organized to meet the needs of the students and teacher, and the best part, it can be accessed anywhere. In my subject areas science and math a wiki can be used as a virtual word wall where students will select words from text or experiments that they found important, and define them in their own words, and explain the importance of the word. A wiki could also be used for enrichment for early finishers. Each week an extention activity could be posted for a math assignment that students could then collaboratively work on. Blogger Wendy uses this to get students thinking about number sense.====

For example, " 64 is... 8x8, 60+4, 100-36"(Elementary Wiki Ideas, 2007). She also suggests incorporating writing by creating a math story, that can then be solved by other classmates.
"Elementary Wiki Ideas." //Teach Web//. Web. 08 Aug. 2011. [].

=RSS Feeds= =media type="custom" key="10155839"= ====As a teacher it is important to keep up to date on educational issues and news. RSS feeds are a great way to minimize the time it takes to check through professional websites that make updates regularly. As an educator I can use RSS feeds to further my knowledge of current teaching trends that can be implemented in my classroom to assist in student achievement. There is one pro/con to using an RSS feed to gain information on the educational front. On the pro side you can stay informed easily and quickly. On the con side it can be a lot of information to sift through and I perhaps will go into what I like to call "try it" overload. I want to try it all, and can't.====

====An RSS feed can be used by elementary students to recieve up-to-date news from subject related websites. These RSS feeds can provide students with information and ideas for writing assignments. The perks to this are students are engaged in reading and writing while learning perhaps about a current event or science research. The downfall is that some sites that provide current event information may feed inappropriate material for elementary students to view, and there is limited ways to block this information.====

"RSS Feed for Elementary Students." //A Not So Different Place//. Web. 12 Aug. 2011. .

=The Social Web= ====As a teacher I am constantly searching the internet for resources to use in my classroom at home and at school. Social bookmarking sites such as delicious help me to move from one computer to the next without the hassle of emaling sites found at home to my school address in order to bookmark them on my browser at my schhol. This not only saves me from the oh-nos that sometimes occur when an email is deleted or fails to go through but the use of social bookmarking also allows me the opportunities to share website resources easily with my colleagues. I have tagged my websites with subject matter words and what the focus is like PBL (problem based learning) these tags will allow me to search quickly for saved resources that I want to find in a particular area, and is also an easy way for my colleagues to search my links saved.====

====I frequently use the internet with my elementary students, but the filters that our district has can sometimes make it very difficult for students to access information on sites. What I like with Delcious or Diigo is that I can compile a group of websites that I would like my students to search, and then send my social bookmarking link to the technology people who can then review each site and create a window in the system that will allow students to easily access the sites without signing in under a user.==== media type="youtube" key="Nwealu6W2vY" height="349" width="425" ====The ideas presented by librarian Elizabeth Crispino helped me to identify and select Diigo as my choice of social bookmarking to use within my third grade classroom. One feature of Diigo that will be useful in the classroom is the ability to set up accounts for each of my students and then being able to place them in classes since I have more than one. Ms. Crispino also shared that students can add comments (summaries-to incorporate some ELA skills) to their saved link this will provide them with the ability to quickly view the links and see which one they want to return to. I plan to use Diigo this year with my third graders as a way to bookmark webistes for them to begin their research and like in the video have students add to it as a resource for themselves, others, and me.====

"Using Social Bookmarking in Schools and with Your Students- Part Two | Langwitches Blog." //Langwitches//. Web. 08 Aug. 2011. [].

=Flickr= ====Flickr has a variety of uses in the classroom. It can be a place to find pictures to prompt writing or thought. It can also be used to display the great things that are happening in your classroom. As blogger Amy Stanten put it in her blog post //My Friend Flickr: A Great Photo Opportunity// you have to be careful of posting classroom images on Flickr. Students must maintain anonymous, which can mean cropping images or digitally cutting them out using a tool such as photoshop.==== ====A great way to integrate Flickr into the classroom is to select images that correlate to your standards and what you are teaching. For example, below is a picture of the a flower. In third grade a standard is to understand and illustrate the plant cycle.====

====**Look at the picture. What do you see in thi****s picture? Describe the process that occurred to create this flower. Then illustrate your writing using the pictures flower as your star. Finally tag important parts of your illustration with key words. Turn in and complete for a grade. If students complete the activity electronically the could take a picture of their illustration and download to the wiki or blog beign used.**====

Photo taken by: Joe+Jeanette Archie (Flickr)
====The downfall to using Flickr to create a writing prompt may be that the picture does not always capture exactly what you want it to or the picture may be interpreted differently and if the outcome is to all have a similiar answer in their own words, it may not work to well.====

Standen, Amy. "My Friend Flickr: A Great Photo Opportunity | Edutopia." //K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies That Work | Edutopia//. Web. 12 Aug. 2011. []. "20110812_188 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!" //Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing//. Web. 12 Aug. 2011. .

=Podcasting, Video and Screencasting=

media type="file" key="beginning of year podcast.mp3" width="240" height="20"
====Parent communication has always been a vital part in educating our students. Through the use of Podcasts, video, and screencasting teachers can provide more opportunities for parents to engage themselves in the school community. Through the use of audio podcasts teachers can provide vital information in quick summarized blurts, this is great because most often its not that parents do not want to know what is going on, but they just don't have time to sit down and read the letters. This provides a way for parents to gain information without the time consumption. I plan to use Podcasts as way to communicate with my parents. Through brief podcasts I can alert parents of upcoming events, current happenings in the classroom, and any other vital information, all in less than 2-3 minutes. As the year progresses my hope will be to transfer this responsibility to my students, thereby allowing them to take ownership of their classroom learning experiences, and giving them a voice in their learning. A downfall to this type of parent communication is you do not know how often parents will check your website for updated podcasts, and I will need to check behind the students when they take over to ensure they provide accurate and appropriate information.====

Screencasting using software like CamStudio provides teachers an easy way to create video tutorials including "How-to" or mini lessons. These can be a powerful tool for a student who has missed several days in school and needs to be taught concepts. I can easily pool up my smartboard screen and present the lesson and provide examples the same way I do in class.

Kramer, S.e. "Tech How To: Podcasts | Scholastic.com." //Teaching Resources, Children's Book Recommendations, and Student Activities | Scholastic.com//. Web. 08 Aug. 2011. .

=Social Networks= ====Social networks have been looked down upon my district since the start of my employment in 2009, but it appears they are catching up to the times. Our district just announced that they will be launching a Facebook page for the district with individual schools to follow. YEAH district! Through our Facebook account we will be able to reach a larger portion of our parents, which is great. They are more likely to visit our Facebook page than our school website, so reaching out to them in this manner is great.====

====I myself do not have a personal Facebook page, but I have begun thinking about how I can use it as a professional tool in the classroom. First, a classroom Facebook page could be used to post current classroom happenings and upcoming events or homework assignments that parents will be involved with. For students I would use a kid friendly social networking site imbee. This site allows teachers to create an account and set up classrooms. I like Imbee for my third graders because not only can I view their pages, but the parents can also. This is a way to provide homework assignments, enrichment discussions on subject matter, and a place to create assignments for students to complete, that can then be viewed by other students. I would use this site as a communication tool between students, parents, and me. Since all of us can view it if there is something posted on the site in regards to work or upcoming events students know that parents who view this will know too. The downfall to using this site as a social networking site for students is that students may not be as willing to say their true thoughts on any given subject because their parents will see it. On the other hand, the positive is it allows parents to view the conversations happening between the students and me or between their child and student.====

[[image:imbee_picture.png width="800" height="450"]]
//The Social Network For Kids | Imbee//. Web. 13 Aug. 2011. .