BP17_2009103_Web 2.0 Tool - Medis Asset- Podcasting

BP16_2009103_Web 2.0 Tool - Blog

Blog, blog, blog…

My next web 2.0 tool of choice is the blog. Blogs can be different things to different people. But for my kindergarten class, and me I found a terrific blog site: 2,4,6,8, Meet me at the Garden Gate… (http://2468meetmeatthegardengate.blogspot.com/). The kindergarten teacher at this site uses her blog posts to show her students, parents and other teachers the wonderful things that are happening in Mrs. McMahon’s classroom. The educational benefits of sharing on line is win-win-win.

Students can feel a sense of pride in their work. They can use language skills to retell their family stories about their day. They can show their family who their friends are and describe special projects.

Parents can have a frame of reference to see what is happening in the classroom, learn about upcoming events, and practice skills their child needs extra help with. One of the biggest frustrations parents have is not feeling connected to their child’s educational experience. If a parent asks their kindergartener, “What did you do today at school?” more times than not, the answer is “nothing!” If a learner has a concrete picture to spark their memory, that child will be able to tell lots of stories about their day.

A big complaint from educators is a feeling of isolation in their school. Although there are many adults in a school, the time a teacher actually interacts with these adults can be very sparse. Between planning, teaching, meetings, and grading work, time to share ideas is hard to find. Due to funding cuts, teachers at my school do not even receive a duty-free lunch. By posting classroom content to a blog and reflecting on special events, teachers can connect to an online community. Due to blog comments, teachers can connect and share. By signing up to receive other educators’ blog posts, teachers can learn new ideas to use in their classroom.

I have signed up to receive Mrs. McMahon’s blog posts and look forward to joining the 21^st century sharing via the web.

References

Mcmahon, J. (2009, September 26). Our Friends Across the Country. Message posted to 2,4,6,8, Meet me at the Garden Gate…: http://2468meetmeatthegardengate.blogspot.com/

BP15_2009103_Blog Response to Jolyn

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2009

BP_8_2009103_Reflective_Media_Asset_StoryBird

References

jw51387. October 14, 2009. Storybird - The Jungle World. Retrieved October 14, 2009 from Storybird site: http://storybird.com/books/the-jungle-world/

Chris09. October 14, 2009. Storybird - Adventure Pigs. Retrieved October 14, 2009 from Storybird site: http://storybird.com/books/adventure-pigs/

BP14_2009103_Web 2.0 Tool - Podcasts

Podcasts are a fun, quick, and innovative way to share your world. In the classroom, podcasts can be shared amongst peers, parents, or around the world on the web. Creekside Elementary, right here in my hometown, tells all about their 21st century school through the use of podcasts. Yeah! I may have found a new dream school for my 21st century son!

What first drew me to this site was the kindergarten teacher, Kathy Shields, and her students that had volumes to share. The site motto is: Small Voices – Where being small is a big deal! Listen to your Kids! The site posts many episodes of fascinating podcasts from the school. What I, as a viewer, like most about podcasts is that you can be like a fly on the wall and get a glimpse of what is going on in the classroom. What I like about podcasts, as a teacher, is that the children are interacting in their education. They are not merely digesting content; they are creating the content.

I plan to join PodOmatic (https://www.podomatic.com/user/register) to receive a free podcast page, audience statistics, an online community, and video and photo sharing. This will allow my class to get started with documenting our journey for the students’ parents to view.

Podcasts, as web 2.o tool, will allow my students to participate in 21st century learning. I look forward to the collaboration, engagement, and posting to the web. I will show my students the Small Voices site to begin our discussion and podcasting journey.

Isn’t learning grand?

References

Small Voices. (2008, March 7). [Episode 30: Girl Power]. Podcast posted to http://kinderteacher.podomatic.com/

BP13_2009103_Web 2.0 Tool - Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling is a wonderful way to embed technology, creativity, and student participation into lesson plans. Vanessa (2008) states, “Digital storytelling incorporates a variety of multimedia such as audio narration, music, video, and still images to tell a story.” Students can collaborate to decide on the content of their story, set up the roles for the group, sequence the steps needed to complete the project, and go to work! Kindergarten children are creative because most have not developed a fear of failing. Once taught proper handling of digital cameras and video cameras, children would love the chance to be the directors of their own story.

I have not tried this out in my classroom yet, but I plan to start with a discussion of items that would make a great movie. We could brainstorm together on chart paper so that learners could later use the list as a reference to choose their theme. We could start with ideas such as: shapes around us, friend addition/subtraction, and the ABC’s of Woodward Mill Elementary School. I’m sure the students would have many more ideas to add to our list.

I would send a small group of students with a teacher to find the location that suites their story. I would let them make the decisions and just follow behind to assist as necessary as they film their story.

The students would learn by creating their movie, but also by watching the movies of their classmates. Children love to share and learn from one another. They would all feel empowered because the students that may not be able to write their thoughts on paper yet could still express their thoughts in words and actions. This would later give them the confidence to transfer their thoughts to letter sounds and later words.

References

Vanessa. (2008, March 29). Digital Storytelling. Message posted to Inside Pre-K: http://blogs.preknow.org/insideprek/2008/03/digital-storyte.html

Vimeo

http://vimeo.com/838368

BP12_2009103_Blog Response to Holly

BP#8_2009103_Web 2.0_2of3

This picture is taken from Kerpoof (www.kerpoof.com). This site is all about having fun, discovering new things and being creative. Here students are able to create artwork, animated movies, print a card, T-shirt, mug, tell a story and a make a drawing. This program is free for all schools and educational institutions but there are a few options that are available for a monthly charge. The shot above is showing the create a drawing page. Very kid friendly and easy to use. I like the bright colors.Kerpoof runs in your web browser. To get started and create a teacher account. Students are then able to login in under your account. Your whole classroom can be on at the same time. Teachers will find lesson plans and classroom ideas. Students will be able to save, edit, share and email theirwork. Another great tool in your teacher account at Kerpoof is that you the teacher are able to control what students can do here. I personal love this option. I could see locking some of the features so I am able to introduce students to it and/or show them how I would like it to be used. The more I am writing about this the more excited I am and hoping that my school would be able to use it. We do have a drawing program called Pixie. It is nice but we have had some issues with it. I love the options that you have in Kerpoof and would like my class to explore and try it out and see if it works. If anyone out there has used this I would love to hear what you think of it.

BP11_2009103_Blog Response to Aimee

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2009