Becky's+FInal



 Although I teach 2nd graders and they usually are quite motivated by the curriculum our school has, there are the occasional students who may complain or push back when facing new material and content. It is these few that I am hoping to reach by using new technologies to teach and review the material that may not excite them using traditional methods. From the very beginning of this year, I have had a couple kids who complain about almost every assignment- even if they end up loving it, they feel the need to complain just because they think it's the "cool" thing to do. However, these 2-3 kids seemed to take to the technology the quickest and have continued using the technology options whenever it is a choice for them.  Even though I know that these few students genuinely do enjoy the curriculum with the rest of the class, they do feel the need to complain unless they feel the assignment is generally considered "cool" or even entertaining. Since I know they have tv's, computers, and many video game consoles at home, I knew that technology would be the way to reach them. With the introduction of online homework, these students jumped on the chance to skip the regular written homework and complete their assignment on our wiki each week. Also, these were the students who HAD to have a front row seat for the skyping session with Scott about the igneous rocks of Hawaii. They told me they skype with their relatives at home so "they knew what to do." They seem to be this way with all of the ways we've been using technology in the classroom. I was just glad to see that they were excited about learning in this new way.



Click HERE to visit the BRISTOL21 wiki! Here's the rubric used to determine who has been using the wiki to the best of their ability.



= Web 2.0 Tools = *JING media type="file" key="jing adding.swf" width="360" height="270" I have used Jing many times to help remind the kids (and parents!) about new strategies or content gone over at school. I will link to the Jing videos on our classroom website for use at home!

*LOVELYCHARTS and SKYPE Since I couldn't use Facebook or other popular socail networking tools with 2nd graders, I used this LovelyCharts to compare the learning climate when using traditional materials for teaching about igneous rocks vs skyping with my cousin in Hawaii. The kids were much more engaged and motivated by listening to an "expert" about the subject! We will be doing a lot more skyping in the future- even just for our Friday "Mystery Readers."

*STUDYJAMS Click HERE to check out another great web 2.0 resource I used during geometry class. We were discussing angles, shapes, and area, and these interactive pages were perfect for some extra practice for the kids in my math group. They loved it and I was able to see how well they knew the material.

*ACTIVOTE Click here to see an ActiVote flipchart used in the middle of our ENERGY science unit. This formative assessment tool allows me to pinpoint each student's strengths and weaknesses. Following the activote session, I can create lessons to meet each student's need on a more individual basis.

*PODCAST media type="file" key="writingbreakfast1011.m4a" width="300" height="50" Or click HERE to view the video podcast on our class website. I used a podcast to collect all of the students' best work that they chose and are proud of to display during a recent parent breakfast. Knowing their work would be displaying digitally, I feel like the kids put a lot more effort into their work. The parents enjoyed the "show" and were excited about being able to share the podcast with their family over the holidays.

STUDENT REFLECTIONS (I recently asked the students to share their thoughts with me on the different uses of technology that we have done this year. Below are some excerpts from what they said.)

*My favorite part of using technology was the writing podcast. I liked showing it to my grandparents on Christmas because they know my dog and my story is about my dog. I did not like how my voice sounded! **I like practicing my challenge words on the reading wiki. It gives me ideas to use for our sentences on our test on Fridays. ***I LOVED skyping with Mr. Scott. He was funny and I really liked his stories about people having bad luck with the volcano rocks. It was cool to see the volcano rocks float, too! ****I liked the podcast because I liked seeing my cover page up on the activboard. It looked really cool so big. I colored a lot of details and they looked awesome up there! *****I like doing my homework on the wiki. It is a lot easier than our normal homework and I like using my new computer.