Blog Post #7

Summary of Videos

#1. The first video I watched was of Michele Bennett showing you how to create an audio QR code. I have never heard of this before this video, and I have to say I think it can be very useful in my teaching career. How it works is you can go to an audio recording website such as: www.recordmp3.org , and then record yourself possibly reading a book to students, giving instruction, etc.. From here you can create a QR code to send to your students or parents using QRcode-monkey. I think this can be very effective since most parens now have smart phones. When the students go home to do the assignment, they can just scan the code and be easily guided through the work. The great part about this is that if you are using it in the classroom, then the sutdents can stop and go back as often as necessary without having to interupt the rest of the class. For those students who are more timid and do not like to ask questions such as "can you reapeat...", it allows them to go back and hear whatever they are asking about without hesitation.

#2. This video was of Ginger Tuck who is a Kindergarten teacher at Gulf Shores Elementary School. At this school they are fortunate enough to use Ipads as part of their teaching and learning programs. They have an Ipad center, and how they have used these Ipads in this video is for reading. The student records themselves reading aloud, and then goes back and replays the recorded video while reading the passage for a second time. This can be useful to students because it gives them an opportunity to hear the mistakes they made. Sometimes when reading you think you are doing it right, until you have a second chance to hear what you said and maybe hearing it will allow your mind to register that maybe you did not say it correctly the first time. This is great for teachers as well because they can walk around and give encouraging words to students and help them however they can.

#3. Ginger Tuck is showing us how to use Poplets in this video. Poplets are essentially a web that you create to outline your students reading. They create them using pictures and text to keep organized what they have read. This is a great tool because the students can print these poplets out or take a picture of them to be able to go back and look on it later when studying, to enhance typing skils, and to enhance picture editing skills as well.

#4. Ginger Tuck is teaching us how her Kindergarten class uses Alabama Virtual Library (AVL). AVL is a search engine that you log into and can search whatever it is you are looking for. The way she used AVL is that she gave her students a topic to research, then they listened to the audio introduction telling them about the topic, once they learned a little about the topic then they drew a picture of it, and finally they had to write a sentence about each picture. This tool is something that I used akk throught middle school, high school, and college. I think this is a great tool for younger students to become familiar with at an early age for research projects to become easier as they continue their schooling careers.

#5. This video was also created at Gulf Shores Elementary School, but in a 1st grade class. Mrs. Shirtley and one of her students shows us how to use Discovery Education to create a board. They search topics and create a board that helps organize the things that they discovered.

#6. Mrs. Tassin had her students create booards for her 2nd grade class at Gulf Shores Elementary School. They used these boards as part of their Project Based Learning. It helped them research topics and organize what they found onto a board to present.

#7. This video was talking about how kindergarteners are using tools like iMovie and AVL in the classroom. They are using iMovie to make book trailer, and AVL to help research different topics. Each of these tools are making kids excited to learn and active in their learning process as well.

#8. This video was a conversation had about Gulf Shores Elementary School and the things they have been able to incorporate into their classroom using the Ipads. These teachers talked about how they can use the Ipad to find a new program, and sometimes the students actually figure out how to work the program before the teacher. When the student has the opportunity to teach the teacher, then they are both becoming learners and growing together.

To become a teacher whom incorporates teachnology and Project Based Learning I need to start doing some research on what other teachers have used and been successful with in their classrooms. I also need to research schools who have started using research and hopefully talk to some of their teachers like at Gulf Shores Elementary School. I think my greatest stregnth with this technology is the ability to learn how to use different programs quickly, however my weakness is not knowing how to incorporate these tools into effective lessons. Through my Personal Network I will hopefully add different teachers to use as a reference to help with new ideas, and involvment of Project Based Learning in the classroom.

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