Happy Saturday everyone! I am currently wrapping up my grad school class. I have two last assignments to finish and both have to do with blogging, so I am going to combine both assignments into this one blog. One of our last assignments is to reflect on our learning this semester.  I have to say that this course has been eye opening.  Last year I took a technology class for my grad school.  I have to say, I didn't learn half as much about using technology in the classroom as I did from this class.  This class has pushed me out of my comfort zone so much! The resources that we had to use were just awesome.  What I am going to take from this class is the realization that technology can be used and that I can show my students how to use it rather than just playing games.  Another thing that this class has made me realize is that our education system needs to embrace the use of technology.  Yes, we all know that testing is the big thing now but what about showing our students that there are other ways to learn items rather than using paper and pencil? What is so wrong with that? I went around my school the other to a couple different teachers and asked them if they knew what digital storytelling was.  Only two people out of ten teachers knew what it was.  Instead of inservices based on paper pencil items or teaching us how to use Jeopardy on the SMART board.  We need ILT that actually are updated on the new items.  We all need to start a technoloy revolution kinda of like Jamie Oliver's food revolution.  We are doing our students a disservice and ourselves a disservice by not using all this technology out there.  Whether we like it or not, it is staying and we better use it! On that note, I am going to get off my soap box and go outside to enjoy this weather! This will not be last my blog, it is only the beginning of my own personal technology revolution!! Come and join me!!!!!! :-) I promise, you won't regret it!

Happy Thursday! Greetings to you from my sister's house in PA! As I type this, my niece is watching me (a future 21st Century Learner).  Okay, so I will make this brief because I really want to go hang out with her before she goes to bed.  Today, I want to talk about Google Docs.  Now, no big surprise here, I don't really like to try to new things (I know, a shocker!).  I had to use Google Docs for my class recently and I have to say, much like this blog, I love it!! For the first project, I was able to make a power point presentation.  I didn't have to save any pictures to my computer for it. All I had to do to upload a photo from the web, was to put it's URL address and it did it for me.  So, I instantly fell in love.  Now, I am using it with my group in my class to create a rubric.  One of my group mates was able to to save the document and email it all of us (including our professor).  We are all able to work on it at once and save it.  Now, if that isn't cool enough, we are also able to have our own discussion while we are doing it.  The great things about Google Docs is that you can do a power point presentation or a word document and it is free. You don't need special software to do it. All you need is a google name, computer, and Internet.  How simple is that? Well, if you get a chance take a look at it. You will be as hooked as I am.  Have a great night everyone and weekend! I will post again next week!

Hey everyone! A quick blog today. Here are some blogs that my classmates have done.  Please take a look at them. The links below are the comments that I have made on them. Enjoy your Monday! :-)

http://a-digital-diva.blogspot.com/2011/04/readwrite-web-nahits-web-cubed.html#comments

http://capuanoland.blogspot.com/2011/04/art-of-blogging.html#comments

http://teachingfirstgrade.blogspot.com/

If you get a chance, take a look at them. They are awesome blogs done by some awesome educators!

Happy Saturday!!! This blog will be a short one, since it is the weekend and I am on Spring break (WOO HOO).  Earlier today, I was surfing the net looking for new educational blogs that I could follow since I am now a blogger myself.  I came across two blogs that I thought were interesting.  One blog dedicates itself completely to technology.  As I read this blogger posts, I thought about how interesting it would be if I could incorporate all the technology into my classroom.  Like myself, this woman is a fellow educator and at first I thought it was my professor since she had the same first name, but it wasn't.  I will post the link below for everyone to check out. 

The second blog I took a look at was one that was specifically for middle school teachers.  He did have a post about 21st century skills and their use in the science classroom. However, he did not elaborate anymore if it had been successful.  I did post a comment and hopefully I will get a response. Once I do, I will update you on it. I will also post the link below for everyone to check out.

Overall, since this is my 3rd post, I have to say that I like blogging. It is very relaxing. I get to post cool new idea's and hope that fellow educators will read about them.  The comments that I have received have been great.  I especially like MDunn's comment on my first post.  As educator's, we need to step away from just having kids play on the computer and we really need to start teaching them how to use the computer to make things like a digital story.  But first, we need to be trained on how to make digital stories, instead of learning on how to better test scores.  On that note, I am signing off. It is Saturday and raining. So, I am off to relax. I hope everyone has a great weekend and for those that are on Spring Break, enjoy yourselves. You deserve it! Have a good one!!

Oops, almost forgot the other blogs! Here is the link to the first blog:
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2011/04/top-10-coolest-mostly-free-things-for.html#disqus_thread

Here is the link to the second blog:

http://ericksonclasses.blogspot.com/2011/03/21st-century-literacy-skills-for-7th.html?showComment=1302980930125#c1935206536697563018

Good Afternoon all! Happy Spring Break to everyone that gets one! On Wednesday, we had a half day at school.  On that day, I helped a fellow co-worker with making a digital story.  For those of you out there that does not what a digital story is, it is basically a short video or movie that tells a story.  You can do it multiple ways. To make a digital story, I have always found using Windows Movie Maker works the best.  You can import pictures and music.  You can also add slides before the pictures or have subtitles along the bottom of them.  If you don't want to put music to your digital story, Windows Movie Maker allows you to record your voice (as long as you have a microphone) and to place your recording on it. 

So, I showed my co-worker my digital that I made for my class. She is taking a class as well and just learned about digital storytelling. Like me, she thinks that it is coolest thing since sliced bread.  As I showed her on to import pictures and change backgrounds, we both discussed how in the next school year, we would both like to use it more.  For the special education population that I work with, it would be such an interactive way for them to listen to the stories that we use.  For her regular education population, it works the same way.  After I showed her how to begin a digital story, I showed her some websites that I found that actually had student made digital stories (I will post some links below for you all). She actually used one today.

Digital storytelling has to be one of the  coolest things that I have learned so far in my grad school studies. It is actually something that I plan using. It is such an interactive way for the kids to learn and I am hoping to incorporate throughout next school year.  Please take a look at the following links that I have posted, they are all digital stories done by students. Let me know if you have questions! Have a good one!

Digital Stories:
http://www.wsd1.org/digitalstorytelling/2006/student06/06-281/281SD/281SD320x240.wmv

http://www.wsd1.org/digitalstorytelling/2006/student06/06-277/277SA/277SA320x240.wmv

http://www.mesquiteisd.org/imovie/monarchbutterfly.htm

A new adventure

Hello all! Welcome to my blog. This is my first blog and blogging experience.  So, this is a brand new adventure for me.  I am an avid facebooker (if that is a word) and tweeter (again, if that is a word).  Honestly, I don't read many blogs.  The one blog that I used to read religiously was about the TV show Lost.  Once a week, she would dissect each episode, so technically it was educational (for those Lost fans).  :-)  

Yesterday, I signed up for this blog and began to play around with a lot of the features.  I have to say that it was fun.  My purpose for this blog is talk about to incorporate technology within literacy skills.  As a 7th year teacher, I am finding myself not using as much technology as I should be.  It isn't that I don't like using technology, it is I feel that sometimes I don't have the time to really dedicate the time that I should to creating technology pieces and then using them.  My goal for next school year is use more technology and to expose my students to other uses of technology then just playing games on the computer.

I have been taking a class that has really begun to push me out of my comfort zone (this blog being one of the assignments).  So, as I take this class, I want to begin to incorporate everything that I am learning (the good, the bad, and the ugly) into this blog in the hopes that another teacher could relate and maybe willing to try.  If I don't mention something or if you think a different way may work better, please feel free to let me know.  In the end, we are all here to help each other out!