Three tools that I feel really make a difference and that I am excited to implement into my classroom are: Lino, Soundcloud, and iMovie: Trailer. First, Lino is a sticky note and photo sharing tool that is very similar to padlet.com. Students can add notes that contain text, photos, videos, or a combination to a website. Some useful features for educators is that teachers are able to set a due date and Lino can be accessed on any device with internet connection. Lino also has the capability of allowing users to sign-on with their Google accounts, decreasing the number of logins teachers have to remember. The uses of Lino are wide-ranging. Teachers can create the canvas and pose questions for students to post, encouraging participation by allowing students to read and be part of a larger group discussion. On the other hand, Solomon and Schrum suggest that students could create a Lino canvas (with their Google accounts) and share with the teacher or a small group of students to host a discussion (p. 275).
Second, Soundcloud is an audio and podcasting tool in which audio recordings can be made directly within the site in minutes. Solomon and Schrum suggest using Soundcloud as a podcasting tool in which students create or listen to podcasts (p. 309). However, in my own classroom, I envision using Soundcloud as more of a quick and easy way to make an audio recording that is easily shareable and saves to a cloud-based storage. I like the idea of using Soundcloud as a Choice Board option to show mastery of content. I like that students can login, and within a few clicks, have an audio recording they can share with me! This can support student preferences, as well as students with diverse learning needs. I can think of a couple of students in my classes now that could benefit from this. Several of my students with disabilities have trouble writing because of their motor skills that could get great use out of this tool. In addition, I have one gifted student who has broken his writing wrist. This can be a great tool to use until his wrist heals! Lastly, I have recently tried iMovie’s Trailer maker. I have used the movie maker in the past, but just discovered how easy the trailer maker is! I created a trailer on iMovie in less than ten minutes and it looked very professional. I can definitely see my students using this tool! Once the pictures and video clips are downloaded, it is just a matter of taste! iMovie puts everything together in a template that is customizable. Just like Soundcloud, I see this as a great tool to use as an option in a Choice Board to show mastery of content. This app is so easy to use, that the learning curve, even for my inexperienced students, would not be significant. A downside to this app is that it is designed for Apple products. Our school only provides Chromebooks to students, so this may have to be an “at-home” option. Below, I have added a Slides Presentation that contains more details with screen captures of the tools aforementioned. Use the arrows at the bottom to navigate through the presentation. Solomon, G. (2014). Web 2.0 How-To for Educators. (2nd ed.).
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I have been using screen casts for several months to supplement my classroom and my coaching teachers in using technology. Typically, I use QuickTime and iMovie on my personal computer, so they are my comfort zone. However, I came across a new screen recording tool: Jing. I like the idea of Jing because of the cloud storage. Storage is an ongoing issue in my life! Overall, my initial experience with Jing was good. I think this is a great tool for those quick and basic screen casts. You can create this and share your screen cast within several minutes AND have it stored in a cloud-based space! However, a downfall is that there is no editing (that I could find) of your screen cast. Thus, I would prefer to use QuickTime and iMovie for longer tutorials with multiple layers and use Jing and Screencast.com for those quicker, less complex casts. I really like to use screencasts for my technology training with teachers. I have created a website that hosts all of my tutorials to make it easier for teachers to find support. Recently, I have been supporting teachers in creating and maintaining their web pages and supporting materials for their web pages, so that has been the focus of the majority of my tutorials. In the classroom, though, I have used screen casts to supplement new assignments or new sites that students have not used before. Typically, I only use screen casts in a self-paced lesson. For these self-paced lessons, my screencasts guide students through new tools they may be using, giving them step-by-step directions. An idea that I have for students using screencasts is to record a presentation (Slides or PowerPoint). This would allow some of our shyer students to be more comfortable during their presentation. Another benefit is to have a copy of their presentation stored. Students and teachers could keep the recording for grading purposes or to use a teaching tool. Overall, there are multiple uses for screencasts in the student world, as well as the teacher world. Below, I have added a screencast that highlights an assessment tool that I use in my classroom regularly: Google Forms: Quiz Mode.
I drive roughly an hour to and from work, and I have been looking for a new way to keep myself entertained. My answer: Podcasts! I have a few new favorites in which I have been tuned: TeacherCast Educational Broadcasting Network, The Dave Ramsey Show, TEDTalks Education, and Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. All of these podcasts, with the exception of The Dave Ramsey Show, are geared towards education. I love that most of these podcasts are under an hour- perfect for my commute! It is almost like getting a short and sweet piece of professional development whenever it works for YOU! The convenient part of podcasts is that YOU are in control of when you listen. While I already have a few podcasts in which I have subscribed, I am still looking forward to exploring more to follow!
Podcasts can be used as I described above, an on-your-own-time professional development, but they can also be used in the classroom more directly. Solomon and Schrum (2014) suggest that students create their own podcasts to show mastery of a skill or concept. Students can create a podcast and post online for review. This can be a great way to reach a larger audience beyond the classroom, while maintaining a distant, safe online presence. According to Hobgood and Ormsby (2016), one way in which teachers can differentiate is through the process in which they deliver the content. The video titled, “Using Technology to Differentiate by Process” describes students using an online classroom management system called, Blackboard. This is similar to a system my school uses: Google Classroom. These systems are great tools to push assignments, notes, videos, images, or anything else you can think of to your students. Students can then have access to this content anytime they are on the internet! This is a great way to differentiate to meet diverse learning needs. Teachers can survey students to discover their learning preferences to help guide them in the development of a more personalized classroom. This personalized classroom is made much easier through the use of technology. Technology not only allows teachers to deliver content in a variety of ways, but also allows students to show mastery of content in a variety of ways. Using internet in the classrooms have a great impact on the understanding of diversity by allowing teachers to break down the walls of their classrooms. Students can explore beyond their schools, beyond, their towns, beyond their states, and even beyond their countries through the use of technology! As teachers, we can take advantage of the limitless resources the internet has provided us. We can take our students on journeys with Google Tour Builder or Google Expeditions, but we can also collaborate with experts or other students worldwide through a few clicks on Twitter. Students in the school in which I teach share a common low socioeconomic status. Most of my students will not get the opportunity to explore places, people, or even ideas outside of their local community. While it is important to bring in the local culture, it is also important to allow students the opportunity to branch out and explore in a safe and productive way. Teachers have the ability to connect with other teachers and experts in order to facilitate this type of learning with tools such as Google Hangouts or projects such as Journey North. Hobgood, . "Inclusion in the 21st-century classroom: Differentiating with technology - Reaching every learner: Differentiating instruction in theory and practice." Learnnc.org. n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2016. <http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/every-learner/6776> N.a. "Using technology to differentiate by process." Learnnc.org. n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2016. <http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/19119> Solomon, G. (2014). Web 2.0 How-To for Educators. (2nd ed.). |
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July 2017
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