Krista's+Application

** Application of Tools

**

I am so excited about all the tools I have learned in this class. Currently in my pullout Language Arts Fundamentals class I use a variety of these tools. I started a class blog and I have my students use it as a way to reflect about class. I also use it to get to know my students better by asking them various questions about their lives. They love the practice and love using the technology. Besides blogging, I also have used Voicethread. I have used it in a lesson about strong verbs. The kids love to record their voices. With Audacity, I also have had students record their voices for fluency purposes. We hope to hear their fluency improve throughout the year. I use my Flickr site often for class purposes. I use the photos for power points, writing promps and for projects such as Photostory and Glogster.

Within the next year, I have many plans and ideas to integrate the technology tools I have learned into my lessons. One thing I hope to do is create a class wiki page that we use almost every day. I hope to post assignments, links, students work, various tools and much more. I think the students would be incredibly engaged with this. I also have a lesson planned for Glogster where students write a mini essay about a topic and then use Glogster as a way to present the information to the class. My team LA teacher and I also plan on using Google Earth in a unit about places. This will give the students the opportunity to use Google Earth and make their own kmz files, rather than the teacher just using it as a model (which is what I have done). Of course, I also hope to keep looking for new ideas and always integrate these into what I am teaching.

Personally, I have used some of these programs with my own kids. They love it. I hope to do a Voicethread with son’s class based on a field trip that they will go on. I think it would be awesome for all the parents to see. In my personal life, I also plan to continue to use Flickr as a means to keep in touch with family through photos. They always tell me that they love checking out my Flickr site!

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">One next step I would like to see from Randy or Dana is a way to keep in touch with all the participants in the class. Could a blog or wiki be started so that we can continue to collaborate and share ideas and tools? Could we have a place that we could post lessons, units, thoughts, reflections, etc… Just an idea!

Krista Krikke LSS Teacher Newton Middle School   <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">