Screen Recordings

The concept of screen recordings is new to me but I am very excited about trying it out.  We have several more difficult projects that our students are expected to tackle during the year and I think screen recordings would be a great way to provide that home-school connection so parents can lend the support that their child needs.   I can see myself using this in math, when completing our Circle of Books cards (short summaries of books due weekly) and when completing independent biography and whale projects.  The ability to walk students and parents through the project expectations eliminates some of the confusion that can occur between home and school.  The screen recording can be referred back to as many times as needed.  This added resource helps to create another link to strengthen our students learning. 

Flickr in the Classroom

During the upcoming year I plan to use Flickr to document our year’s activities.  At the end of each year I like to create a slideshow for the kids to take home to remember all the learning and fun we had in second grade together.  Flickr will help organize our pictures, making the slideshow easier to produce.

I also plan on inviting parents to log on and view the pictures throughout the year.  Some of the best pictures I have of my own son have come from his teacher’s Shutterfly account.  I would love to be able to share our pictures with parents. 

Finally, as I collect photos from this year, I plan on using the photos in coming years as visual aids. (With permission from the students of course!) We have several activities which require students to dress up or create projects according to specific guidelines.  By having photos of previous students available to me, I can share examples of past costumes/projects so current students have a visual example of what is expected of them.   

YouTube in the Classroom

YouTube videos are a great way to connect students to concepts they may not be familiar with.  It allows students to witness animals, foreign lands or events they would otherwise only be able to read about.  It brings the learning units to life. Here are a few videos I intend to use this year in my classroom to enrich my students’ learning experiences.   

Felicity’s Tour of Williamsburg, Virginia-During our unit on Williamsburg, we read Meet Felicity: An American Girl: 1774.  At the end of the unit, the class watches the movie version of Meet Felicity.  In this video, the young actress that plays Felicity in the movie gives viewers a tour of Colonial Williamsburg.

A Day at Colonial Williamsburg- A musical adventure through Colonial Williamsburg would be a great introduction to our Williamsburg unit.   

Humpback Whale: Hunting Technique- During our unit on whales, students learn about the different hunting habits of various whales.  This video shows the humpback whale using the “bubble net feeding” technique.  

Blue Whale-Blue Planet-This video explores the massive size of the Blue whale while following a blue whale through the ocean.

Poland: An Amazing and Beautiful Dream-Last year we decided to add a unit on the country of Poland. Since Fort Wayne has a sister city in Poland, we felt this unique connection would allow our students to learn about and appreciate another country/culture halfway around the world.  This is a great video to introduce them to the architecture and geography of Poland.

Polish 101-Numbers and Days-While this video is not the most exciting, it does teach you how to say the days of the week and how to count to ten in Polish.  This would be a great way for the students to hear the spoken language of Polish and learn some basic words. 

Podcasts in the Classroom

   
My mind is swimming with all of the possibilities for using podcasts in the classroom.  As I look forward to this upcoming school year I see two ways in which I would like to incorporate podcasts into the classroom.  I know that I could do many more activities, but I want to do this well, so I intend to start with two types of activities. 
    Being a second grade teacher, one of the major goals in reading is to improve reading comprehension.  Reading fluency plays a major role in increasing reading comprehension.  In Kathy Cothran's article,  The Connection Between Podcasting and Reading Fluency, she offers several different activities that improve reading fluency through the use of podcasts.  Creating podcasts to edit writing pieces, interviewing one another, or just reading a story offer students different ways to improve reading fluency.  This article also contains a link to several kid-created podcasts for you to listen to.  Cothran wrote another article titled, Turn Book Reports into Podcasts.  Cothran not only gives ideas on how to create a group podcast, but also gives a link to rubrics and planning sheets to use with your students.  With almost everything already done for you, there is no excuse to not use podcasts to improve reading fluency and comprehension.
    Another idea I had for podcasting was to provide students and parents with more detailed information regarding specific assignments completed each year.  It seems that the same questions pop up year after year and although they are addressed in paper form, those papers are not always handy.  In my school we have many students who are on traveling sports teams or have other after school commitments that require them to be in the car a lot.  How wonderful it would be to create assignment podcasts that students could access from anywhere. No more papers left behind!  The podcasts could offer detailed instructions that address common concerns from past years.  On a larger scale, I have had several students in past years that have traveled abroad during the school year and have asked for assignments to work on while traveling. Creating podcasts would alleviate the anxiety of traveling with assignments.   
     My final thought on podcasting is that it can be addicting.  I have spent way too many hours listening to different podcasts on the web.  Here are a couple of my favorites:
WillowWeb- This was mentioned in one of the videos we watched.
ColeyCast- This is a classroom teacher who uses podcasts in several aspects of his classroom. I love the Literature Circle podcasts!

Blocking Blogs

Does my school block blogs or social networking sites? That is a very good question. While I have not specifically searched for blogs or social networking sites while working with my students, we do have filters in place to try to eliminate the students from being exposed to inappropriate material. Luckily, we have such a small school that if there is a specific site that has been filtered but it is educationally beneficial, we can ask that it be allowed to be viewed. In addition, because I teach second grade we don't really touch upon the whole social networking scene so it has never really been an issue.


When compared to surrounding school districts I feel that my school has a bit of a different attitude toward technology. Just as many districts encourage the use of technology, our administrators do the same but go one step further. They trust and encourage the teachers and staff to use new and innovative ways to bring the technology to the students and teach them how to use it responsibly. We do not have any specific person monitoring what site is being used, when and by whom. So if I was to make a case to utilize a blog for educational purposes, enhancing student learning, it would be embraced.

Internet Safety

My view on Internet safety has changed over the past few weeks. In the past I have assumed that the amount of questionable users far exceeded similar people of character that you may meet walking down the street. I have recently completed another technology course where we had several discussions on the actual amount of online criminals compared to those found on the street. I realized through these discussions and after reading several articles that while I do need to be vigilant about Internet safety, the level of activity is not disproportionate to similar activity happening on the streets each day.

I do feel extremely fortunate that I have not had any encounters with my own personal Internet safety. My seven year old son has started playing some online games, but just like when he is playing outside, I monitor what he is doing and am not far from where he is.