Flipchart

I used the flip chart to write the daily message to the class.  I had left letters out of words and I had students come up and use the pen to fill in the missing letters.  The children have a hard time writing legibly with the pen.  It is giving them exposure to the pen and they are practicing their handwriting.  I can also see if the child knows how to spell the word.  After we finished filling in the missing letters, I had children highlight or circle words they know in the message.  The children like coming up and using the pen.  I also like how big the message is on the whiteboard as opposed to using chart paper.  When we are finished reading the message, I print the message out for my teacher helper to take home.  I do think the Activinspire tools are easier to use than the Epson tools.  I do miss the lined background on the Epson program.  I should figure out how I can put that background in the Activinspire program.

BYOD

While I think BYOD can be very successful in intermediate grades, middle and high school, I am still having a hard time invisioning this working in a kindergarten classroom.  The children in the video knew how to read and write.  I am not sure how I could manage 22 children with different devices and mostly non-reader sand writers to make BYOD time productive and meaningful.

Keynote Speech

After watching the video, I have more questions than answers.  I agree with Kevin's idea to get children to love to learn.  I thought he asked more questions than providing a framework of how to go about teaching project-based learning.  I thought it was also hard to watch the video.  There was a lot of movement of the camera and the sound was in and out.  While he made several good points, the video was about 18 minutes longer than it needed to be.

Writing Relaunched

The article about digtial writing was interesting.  Children should have the opportunity to write many kinds of pieces.  I did like how the article stressed the importance of knowing how to write and orangize throughts.  Once children can write conventionally, then they can use digital tools and write creatively.  I think their should be a balance in the classroom with conventional forms of writing and writing using 21st century digital tools.

Observation of Technology Lesson

I observed how Peggy Cooksey uses her Blog at the end of the day with her class.  She posts something the class has done that day during her planning time.  She has her students view the latest Blog post.  She uses it as a reflective tool for her students.  It reminds the children something they did at school today.  The children enjoyed seeing themselves reading a poem earlier in the day.  I think it can be motivating for students to work hard, so they can see themselves working hard on the Blog through pictures or video.

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

I think the idea of BYOD is a good one at the intermediate level of grade school, middle school and high school.  You are able to more with technology when students can bring in their own devices.  You are not limited to the technology that the school district can provide.  I am nervous about trying BYOD in my kindergarten classroom.  I think it could work, but I worry about how they can care for such expensive tools at school.  As a parent, I wouldn't want my 7 year old bring an expensive device to school.  Older children can handle the responsibility of caring for expensive devices.  I think it is a lot of responsibility to put on a young child.

Reflective Practitioner

After reading the post, I started seeing my blog in a different way.  My focus of my blog is to share with parents what is happening in the classroom beyond the calendar and monthly newsletter I send home.  I post on my blog once a week.  I would like to post more frequently, but I haven't figured out how to naturally fit it into my day.  I always reflect on activities that I have done in class.  It could be while I am watching the children at recess or maybe at lunch with my colleagues or at the end of the day.  I can see how looking at my blog can help me reflect about my class and what I need to provide them.  I can see how looking at other teacher's blogs can help me get ideas for my own classroom.  I do see how looking at other teachers' blogs can be like a PLC.  I don't think it is as effective as having a real life PLC.  I think it is so important to bounce ideas with your colleagues and come back and reflect  about how the students are doing and what we need to do next.  I think you miss the important conversation by just looking at a blog.

21st Century Student

In the early years of school, the 21st century student is being exposed to technology as he learns how to read and write and do basic math.  He might use technology tools to practice the skills he is learning.  It could be listening to stories on the computer to help with reading skills.  Maybe the student would write on the computer.  The child could practice math by playing games on the computer or practice basic math facts on the computer.

Later in elementary school, the 21st century student is creating projects on the computer.  The traditional book report could be done in a word publishing program.  The diorama or moblie might be replaced by using programs like Powerpoint or Publisher.  Again the student is creating something using computer programs to show content learned in class.

In middle school, the 21st century student is using the computer to take notes in class.  Instead of taking a notebook home to study, the student is making sure there is enough battery life in his device or a plug near by to study those notes in class.  Again the student is creating projects using technology to show content learned in class.  Students can go online to get homework help from the teacher or from classmates or people around the world.

In high school, the 21st century student is always going to class with his device.  If he forgets his device, it is like a 20th century student not showing up to class with textbook, paper and writing tools.  His backpack is much lighter than a 20th century student.  All textbooks needed for six or seven classes can all be on one device.   The high school student is creating difficult pieces using technology just as he would in college or in the workplace.

Unconference

The first session I took was Class Dojo.  I had never heard of this website before.  I was interested in learning more once I read the description of the class.  I created an account and learned how to create a class.  I learned to track students' positive and negative behaviors on the site.  I liked that there was a positive sound when entering a good behavior and a different sound when negative behavior was entered.  The site is very visual which I think would be appealing to students.  I also liked the feature where you can see a student's behavior for the week.  You can see the percentage of positive and negative behavior.  I really liked how you can e-mail parents the weekly behavior report.  There are a couple of negative aspects of using this site right now.  The biggest problem I have using this site is I that I am confined to my laptop to enter positive/negative behaviors.  Once I have a tablet, then I can track behavior wherever I am in the room.  Another negative about using the site, is that I can't have the board displayed all the time as a visual for students.  If I am using the document camera or the projector to display something, then I would have to minimize the Dojo website.

The second session I took was Blogging 101.  I already had a blog, but I thought I could learn more about blogging.  I learned what the word blog means.  I had time to learn and play with the features in Blogger.  I added a translate feature to my blog since I have three families this year who need notes translated.  I also had a chance to use the Blogger app I had just put on my phone.  I saw how easy it is to take pictures on my phone and download them to my blog.  I enjoyed just having time to learn more about Blogger.

The third session I took was Schoolwires 101.  I learned how to copy pages in html on School Center and paste them on my Schoolwires website.  This was very helpful because I thought I was going to have to recreate all my pages.  I was able to finish several pages on my new website.  I wish I could copy and paste all the cute clipart I spent hours looking for when creating my first website.  I didn't feel it was worth my time on this new website to add a lot of clipart.  Most parents do not spend much time looking at my website.  I feel they look at it several times before or shortly after school starts to learn who is in their child's class, look up the supply list or to look at the wish list to help supply items for the classroom.

Overall, I thought the Unconference was a good use of my time.  I was able to walk away from each session feeling productive and learning more about technology.