Oh the Places You'll Go...

Image from Google Images Search

Technology and I have always had a love-hate relationship.  I love it when it works, but when it doesn’t (which is often), I hate it.  So my first goal in taking the tech class was to become more comfortable with technology.  I definitely have become more comfortable and confident in using technology and even with trouble-shooting some situations that arise.  I have also learned that sometimes there just isn’t an explanation for why something doesn’t work or the trouble-shooting necessary is still way beyond my ability.  At least, I am not afraid to try now!My second goal in taking the tech class was to discover authentic uses for technology in my kindergarten classroom.  I am happy to report that there was quite a bit that I was able to take away from the class that I will be able to use in my teaching!  I will start with some of the “behind the scenes” technology ~ technology that I will use as a teacher, though not directly with my students. I learned some basic technology lingo ~ like EMBED!  Yes, not only do I know what that means, but I can actually do it!  I also learned how to design and create my own website!  Although I already had a classroom website, I did not create it and didn’t know how to update or change it.  I do now!!  As for technology I feel confident in using WITH my students, there is quite a lot.  One of the first assignments we did in our class was on content curation.  I chose to create a Symbaloo compiling resources for students.  This was a great resource that I am excited to embed in our kindergarten website.  Other valuable technology tools that I plan to use in my teaching came from the exploration of Web 2.0 tools.  I explored Popplet, Blabberize, and Voice Thread and have plans to incorporate all three of them into our curriculum.  Our final project was to create a WebQuest.  This was quite a project!  My partner and I chose to create our WebQuest around a STEM unit on Pushes and Pulls that we have never taught before.  While it was a lot of work, the final product is definitely something we will be using with our students! Teaching the youngest of learners in kindergarten presented natural challenges with some of the technology that was shared throughout the course.  Overall, this was a successful class!One of my favorite children’s books is Oh, the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss.  As I was reflecting on this course and my growth because of it, this book immediately came to mind.  I read it every year on the last day of school to my little kinders who never cease to amaze me.  I have learned a lot through this course, both about technology and about myself as a learner.  My mountain is waiting…

From my favorite Dr. Seuss book, Oh, the Places You'll Go!
Image from Google Images Search

From my favorite Dr. Seuss book, Oh, the Places You'll Go!
Image from Google Images Search

Digital Tattoos

Living in the digital world ~ the good, the bad and the ugly!

When I look at people’s tattoos on their bodies I am often wondering why they chose what they chose.  Afterall, this body inking is PERMANENT…FOREVER!  I do not have any tattoos for exactly this reason.  IF I were to get a tattoo, it would need to be something that I both love today as well as when I’m 80.  Plus, the chances of any tattoo that I were to get today still looking good when I’m 80 are pretty slim.  So…no tattoo for me!

So when I think about digital tattoos, I find that I have a similar feeling as I do about body tattoos.  I had always used the term digital footprint, but the term digital tattoo really highlights the permanency of the digital world.  The permanency of everything in the digital world is a bit creepy to me.  I am always warning my own children about this ~ “Be careful what you say or post because it will NEVER go away.”  But I’ve also realized that I have given these same children a digital tattoo long before they entered the digital world themselves ~ thanks to Facebook.  While I try to be careful to not use their names or the names of their schools, etc., it does happen.  I think it is time to go back and recheck my privacy settings!

After doing some digital mining of our instructor’s friend in our tech class , I decided to do some digital mining on myself.  Of course, I knew I would probably find some personal information and even legal documents.  I simply did a Google search of my name as well as searched several sites including Spokeo, Pipl, and Peekyou. I guess I really didn’t find anything that surprised me, but seeing it all on the screen, so easily accessible, was still a bit alarming.  As much as I try to be careful with what I post on social media, it is SO easy for anyone to find where I live, what I do, and learn my relatives'

names. 

This image is from Spokeo and shows the home in which I grew up.

The idea of digital tattoos is vitally important for everyone ~ teachers, parents, and students, to learn about and fully appreciate.  Living in the digital world has many great advantages, but also comes with great responsibility.

Tech-Tac-Toe #3 ~ Popplet

Success AGAIN! Popplet is a Web 2.0 tool that we explored in our tech class a few weeks ago. When I first explored the tool, I immediately thought it would be a great fit for my kindergarten kiddos with lots of exciting ways to use it racing through my head. Unfortunately, time slips away and I had yet to actually explore making a Popplet on my own, let alone with my kiddos. My Tech-Tac-Toe assignment seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore making a Popplet. Popplet is a wonderful technology tool that can be used to organize information visually and create graphic organizers or timelines. This tool can also combine different sources of media into the graphic organizers, such as text, images and YouTube videos. I decided to try my hand at making a Popplet, but I first had to create an account. I signed up for the free account, but unfortunately that only allows me to make 5 Popplets. If this tool is as promising as it looks, I would like to make many more than five. I then learned that our district has a Popplet account and the app is on our iPads. Yea! After watching a short YouTube tutorial, I was ready to go. It seemed simple enough. When thinking about creating my first Popplet and learning how to use it, I wanted to create something that I could foresee creating with my students. We do many science related themes throughout the year, starting off with a bears unit at the beginning of the year. At the beginning of the unit, my students and I create a list of things we THINK we know about bears. As the unit progresses and we read information books about bears, we either confirm the information we thought we knew or add new learning to our chart. This is where I thought a Popplet would come in handy. So, I created one to show some of things my students learn throughout our unit about bears.
 I very quickly learned just how easy this tool is to use. After typing in a title for the Popplet and choosing a background color, I was able to very easily add more popples (bubbles around the web) but just clicking on the small grey dots around each popple. This allows the various popples to be connected and visually illustrating their relationship. After typing in the text I wanted in each popple, I was then able to add a photo to illustrate the idea. I used screenshots images I found from Google searches. The popples were very easy to maneuver and place wherever I wanted. I also loved that idea that as new popples were added to the web, my name was attached to them. So, if my students were each adding their own popple to a web, their name would then be attached so we could easily see who contributed what to our learning. Using Popplet appears to be a wonderful way to create graphic organizers such as webs with my students. I can also envision using it with my students to create story maps or graphic organizers that show the main idea and details of information text. The next thing I will need to explore is how to use the app that is on our iPads and how many students can contribute to one Popplet. I would love for my students to be able to contribute their own ideas using their kindergarten spelling to create one shared Popplet. We will likely start with using just text first, and perhaps had images later, with support. I can’t wait to get started with my kiddos!

Tech-Tac-Toe #2 ~ Voice Thread

Yes ~ another technology success!  I have created my first Voice Thread!  After very recently using iMovie to create a digital story, but quickly discovering that while iMovie would be a tool that I would use again, I probably would not have my little kinder kiddos use it themselves (or even with support).  However, I still liked the idea of the kids creating something similar to the recent digital story that I had created with their own writing.  I am also always looking for authentic audiences for my kiddos to share their writing with, but had not yet found a program that is easy to use for both my students and myself.  Voice Thread looked promising, so I tried it out.

I was amazed with the ease of the program.  If I can teach myself to use it, it really can’t be that difficult (and it wasn’t).  I started by creating a short digital story about my family and very quickly was able to think of some meaningful ways in which my students could create their own Voice Threads.


In kindergarten,we create many class books, with each child contributing their own page.  I would love to make these books digital and easily sharable with their families.  My plan would be for the children to use iPads to take photos of their individual page for the class book.  Either I could load their images into Voice Thread, or they could even do it with some support.  They could then record themselves reading their page.  Voila!  We will have our own digital storybooks!  

The boys and girls also write their own books, both informational and narrative.  Again, we could take photos of the pages in their books and I can upload into Voice Thread so each child can create his/her own digital story.  I could then have each child narrate each page of their book into their own Voice Thread ~ creating their own digital stories!  These could then also be easily shared with parents who could then comment on their children’s stories and continue to share with other family members near and far.  This looks like a great tool for us!

Tech-Tac-Toe #1 ~ Blabberize!

Yea! I figured out another technology tool all by myself! I am feeling pretty accomplished right now. I chose Blabberize as a new tool to try out because I thought this would be a tool I could use with my little kinder kiddos. Blabberize is a super easy to use technology tool that allows teachers or students to speak through a picture. A mouth can be added and manipulated on a picture that you choose and then becomes animated to “speak” the audio that you add. The finished product is a Blabber! 

When I first looked at this tool, I wasn’t sure how I would use it with my little ones. I was seeing lots of uses as an engagement tool, but I wanted to find something my kids could create and would be meaningful for them. I then thought about the various explorations that they do throughout the year. One science related exploration that we do is a unit on oviparous (egg laying) animals. After learning about oviparous animals, the students then select or are assigned an oviparous animal to research with a partner. In the past, they have used what they learned from their research to create an information book about their animal. They share information about what their animal looks like, its habitat and diet, and any other interesting facts they learn. Then it hit me! The students could make a blabber with their oviparous animal! They could record some of the information that they learned about their animal and combine it with a picture of their animal “speaking.” This would be a wonderful, meaningful and exciting way to extend and share their learning! 

 I do, however, foresee some challenges for these little learners. I used a photo I found from the internet, but perhaps it would be easier for them to take a photo of their animal from one of their books using the iPad. The other challenging part that could become frustrating for some would be manipulating the talking mouth on the photo. Despite these potential challenges, I think this would be a fabulous tool to use with my little kinders!

This is a sample Blabber that I created of a sea turtle.

Digital Stories ~ Why Do I Do What I Do?

After spending a great deal of time researching and working on my Trends in Ed Tech presentation on Mashups, I was actually excited about the newest project ~ CREATING a mashup.  I was also excited to realize that I’ve already created mashups, without ever knowing it.  Every year, I create a keepsake slideshow for my little kinder kids and their families combing all the photos I had taken throughout the year and with music that is meaningful to both my students, their parents, and me.  So when I thought about this new project, I thought, “Well, I got this!”

Thinking of a topic wasn’t too difficult.  I thought of many and then quickly narrowed it down. I made a twist on the slideshow I make for my kiddos and used some of their pictures from the last couple of years to highlight the reasons why I teach.  Using narration was new to me, but writing the script came pretty easily.  I then set to work in iMovie.  Although I never used this program before to CREATE my slideshow, I found it relatively easy to navigate.  I actually had fun aligning my pictures to match the music and my script.  

With my project saved and the only step left was to publish it on YouTube (or so I thought), I was feeling really good about it.  Although it took a long time to create, I was very happy not just with the final product, but also with my ability to learn a new program.  

Then…trouble started!  I couldn’t re-open the project I had just created.  After a great deal of hunting and trouble shooting, I figured out the problem I was having was an issue with using an out-of-date version of iMovie.  That’s where my technical trouble shooting hit a wall.

Thanks to the help from a mastermind techie, my project was recovered!  I also learned that I can’t just save my project to the desktop and then drag it into YouTube.  I had no idea that I needed to export it.  I’m learning something new all the time!  So now, after shedding both tears of joy and tears of frustration, my project is on YouTube for the world to enjoy.

So, would I create an digital story again?  Yes.  Now that the technical issues have hopefully been resolved, I will definitely try my hand again at creating another digital story.  Unfortunately, the most purposeful uses I can think of are creating a project FOR my students, such as the slideshows I’ve created in the past and personal uses.  The amount of time and skills required to create such a project present great challenges for me to create a project WITH my kinder kiddos or for them to be able to create their own projects.  

Technology Integration ~ Stage by Stage

According to a 1980s study conducted by Apple, ACOT:  Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow, there are 5 stages of technology integration in the classroom.  

Stage 1:  Entry
Teachers in this stage are not comfortable with technology and avoid using it.  

Stage 2:  Adoption
Teachers in this stage use only a couple of technology tools ~ primarily personal productivity tools, with little student use of computers.

Stage 3:  Adaptation
This is a transition stage in which teachers begin to see the usefulness of technology and even start to try some technology with their students.

Stage 4:  Appropriation
Real change is happening at this stage.  Teachers feel more confident with the use of technology and try to integrate it everywhere ~ to the point of being excessive.

SAMR Model for Technology IntegrationImage from Google Images

Stage 5:  Innovation
Teachers in this stage are more selective in choosing the technology that is meaningful and useful in their classroom and curriculum.

The image to the right illustrates the SAMR model for technology integration, but I also think it is a great visual representation for the 5 stages revealed in the ACOT study.

Before I read the descriptions of the stages and thought merely about where I would fall on a continuum of technology integration, I definitely thought it would be pretty low on such a continuum.   Technology and I don’t always get along.  It seems that as soon I try to venture into some new technology, something “goes wrong” and I either don’t have a deep enough background to trouble shoot or simply just “bad luck” (I was actually told that by our technology integration specialist).  However, after the reading the descriptions of the stages, I find that I am a bit farther along than I would have originally given myself credit for.  

As I read more about the various stages, I think that I see glimpses of myself mostly in Stage 3 - Adaptation.  When I find technology that would be engaging and meaningful for my kiddos, I am excited to use it myself.  It is always encouraging to me to have colleagues sharing their success stories with using technology.  I am very cautious and even want to avoid Stage 4.  Time is a precious commodity for all teachers, but for me, teaching in a half-day kindergarten program and only seeing my kiddos for about 2 hours a day, every minute of our day becomes crucial.  I do not want to use technology just for the sake of using technology and being “flashy.”  Making learning meaningful and connected is always my goal ~ including the integration of technology.