Reflections..............

Finally.............I am Done!!!

My favorite tool was the Video Resources. I really liked all the videos I explored on teacher tube. Even though I do not have a classroom, I will use this site to pull great visual activities for children with specials needs.

I look forward to working and collaborating with the teachers at my school next year on how we can integrate all of this new technology into their classrooms.

At times I was very frustrated...but I have to say in the end I did learn a lot. I learned that I am not as computer savvy as I thought. There is so much free technology out there for we as educators that we don't even know about. This blog was taught me so much this summer but I'm glad I finished!

Tool # 8: Video Resources

I did not even know about Teachertube until today. Wow...how cool! I have to say I really like this website. I chose two "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" videos. I think that this site would be very beneficial to Prek teachers, especially teachers that work with children with special needs. Working with children with specail needs I use tons ands tons of visuals....so I love this website!!


http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=117336&title=Brown_Bear__Brown_Bear

Tool #7 Photostory

For some reason I found this tool to be the most difficult one and actually ended up saving it for last. Since I do not have a classroom, I decided to make a video using pictures of my family. After watching some videos on Teacher Tube, I now realize we can scan in pictures of student's work and make a Photo Story. I also think is a great place you could scan social stories for children who love technology. I am still having difficultly uploading the story.

Tool #11:Digital Citizenship

First...The students will need how to how to use the computer appropriately. Turn the computer on and off, how to use the mouse and how to use the computer. Once they have learned how to appropriately use the computer.


Second...I feel that it is imporatnt to for them to learn to never got to a site without your parents or teacher permission. Only to to sites that have been apporoved by their parents at home and at school will only be able to explore sites approved by their teacher.


Third....I feel that it is VERY important for our children to learn to tell their parents or their teachers if they see something on the computer that they feel they are not suppose to see. As educators it our job to teach our children to be safe in cyberspace. If they come across something they are not suppose to see or makes them feel uncomfortable they need to let an adult know right away.

Tool #10:Mobile Technology and Apps

My 22 month nephew plays with my brothers I-Phone. There are some amazing educational Apps. I discovered quite a few that can be used in a prek classroom! Also my best friend works in the Assistive Technology department in HISD. She sent me several links to special education Apps for parents and teachers. Many of the Apps I found will be great to use for reinforcement of ABC's, counting, numbers, and daily schedules for children with Autism.

Tool # 9: Jing & Skype

I have never used jing or Skype before. I think that Jing could be used when you have a group of children learning to use the computer. You could create a lesson on how to start a computer.You could teach this in a large group and in small groups.





Skype could be used to talk to other Prek classroom in the district or around the country. Back when I went to school we used to have penpals. Now we can have the kids write letters and Skype around the world.

Tool 6: Creating wikis to store and share information

I think that it would be difficult for the Pre-K students to benefit from Wikis. However, I do see many uses for them, for me as a teacher. I could use Wikis to gather information for myself when researching a specific topic or share ideas with other teachers.

Tool 5: Tagging information

I joined Diigo at http://www.diigo.com/

The websites that I bookmarked are:
http://www.speakingofspeech.com/
http://www.boardmarkershare.com/
trainland.tripod.com

The Tags that I used were: special education, autism, thematic units, prek thematic units, assisstive technology, & Boardmaker.

I think that for older students Social Bookmarking can be very useful. Students will be less likely to lose links that they have found useful. It is also very useful because teachers and students can move from one computer to another and still have access to all their bookmarks. Teachers can share collections of bookmarks they have found with their students as well their colleagues.

Tool 4: Using cool Google tools to share information.

Wow... Google Docs is so cool....It is like an instant messaging for email. I was amazed how you can instantaneously share and collaborate with any document you upload. Google Docs allows teachers to share ideas, lessons, and documents created for assessments.



http://groups.google.com/group/googleforeducators_googleinyourclassroom/topics

Tool 3: Image Generators & Mashups

Well....this took me a little while to figure out this assignment out. The "Word Mosaic'" was easy but for some reason I had difficulty with the Mosaic Maker. I think that these sites would be a little difficult for special needs and younger children to use without adult supervision.

Tool #2: Building Community & Commenting

PLN's can be very useful in education if used appropriately. PLN's allow teachers to share ideas and from one another. Especially for specail education teachers.



The point that stood out to me on commenting advice was asking a question to get more responses.

Here are there the blogs I commented on:
http://srasimon.blogspot.com
http://tigercathe.blogspot.com
http://npilon.blogspot.com
http://angela-toolsfor21st.blogspot.com
http://tigertrailcenturylearning.blogspot.com

Tool #1

I just created a "Voki" avatar and a blog so I can start blogging. It was a little confusing at first but I finally figured it out.