As I shared in my first blog, I have been taking a class this semester on integrating technology into my classroom. Because of this, I am sure it is why I am so hypersensitive to hearing so many interesting technology examples of every day use from students.
Example 1: While discussing nonfiction in class last week, we were listing examples of where our families read nonfiction every day. The first shared answer was a biography book, and some kids shared that they had never seen their parents read a biography. When I called on the next student I was expecting the answer newspapers or magazines, but the answer was "on the Internet for news, my dad checks the weather and reads about sports on his phone every morning". Here was a perfect example of why teachers have to be aware of new literacies all the time. We need to teach our students how to navigate and gain the information they need to use daily.
Example 2: I was wearing my other district hat as a Responsive Classroom teaching coach and was working with a first year teacher. While I was in her class observing her social studies lesson she asked her students, "what do we need to do if we do not know how to spell a word?" The first child she called on said, "we can type it into the computer and if we spell it wrong it will have a red line under it, then we can click on it and it will help us spell it." I just about fell off my chair, (which let me tell you is easy to do on one of those little first grade chairs, I just don't know how you PreK-1 teachers do it!). This from a 7 year old. Will they even use dictionaries any more?
As I bring more technology into my classroom, I really do notice that children are extremely comfortable with it and it easily integrates the good teaching strategies I strive for, and allows children to show their learning at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy.
I have been digital storytelling with my class for many years, before I even knew what "digital storytelling" was. I love the program Smilebox.com . Teachers can have a free annual membership. It is a wonderful and quick way to drop your photos or videos into and share with parents. I was using it before Facebook to share family pictures with relatives, and then thought about how I could use it in my classroom. I get lots of positive feedback from parents when I share with them. Check it out!
A new program we have been having loads of fun with in my class is called Xtranormal. Recently we have been using it to do digital book reports and book reviews. Check out a few of movies. The kids worked with their pair reading buddies to produce these short movies. While we were sharing them with another classroom yesterday, I thought how great they will be for me to use next fall when I have a new class and I am introducing books for my fluency program.
A new program we have been having loads of fun with in my class is called Xtranormal. Recently we have been using it to do digital book reports and book reviews. Check out a few of movies. The kids worked with their pair reading buddies to produce these short movies. While we were sharing them with another classroom yesterday, I thought how great they will be for me to use next fall when I have a new class and I am introducing books for my fluency program.
Wyatt and Ryan
Finally, I would love to share with you the free program called Storybird. It is a site where the art inspires the stories. Your students will have so much fun with this program.
