Tool 9: "jing's so swell, jing's so swell, jinging all the way..."

I have really enjoyed using Jing and Screencast to take pictures of my screen.  Jing took pictures of the different sites I visited, adding visuals to my posts.  This tool will be beneficial in the classroom when making a video or a print-out with pictorial directions for an activity students need to complete on the computer.  In addition, it will make the assessment of online participation easier since students can "jing" their score screen at the end of an assignment, activity or quiz.

I personally use Skype daily to talk to my parents, who are currently overseas.  It's been wonderful to video chat with them - see and hear them live (and for FREE!!).  It also allowed me to get a glimpse of where they live as they moved the camera around to capture their surroundings.  For the most part, the connection is good and the image and sound clear.  Although we're worlds apart, it's prevented distance from hindering our communication!

Skype can have a similar effect in the classroom.  Students have the opportunity to broaden their horizons by "traveling" to a new place or "meeting" a new person from a different part of the district, state, country or world.  They would be able to see and hear things that they might not otherwise have had a chance to experience.  Read-alouds, interviews, collaborative learning and research, mentoring, online pen pals or buddy reading are some of the other ways Skype could be utilized to enhance education.  Oh, the possibilities!

Tool 1: becoming a blogger!

Hi everyone,

So I have decided to revamp my whole blog.  I had started a personal blog a while back and was planning on using it for this course.  Well, I've changed my mind and created one solely for educational purposes.  If you've been following this blog or commented already, my apologies. :)

I can now say that I've spent lots of time creating this blog.  Don't get me wrong, I've actually enjoyed choosing all the different design elements: the templates, background, font, colors and layout.  There are also a number of gadgets (the sub titles/sections on the side of the posts) to choose from and you can arrange them however you'd like.  I found the process quite addicting!

For those of you who are just starting, don't be intimidated.  I don't know much about blogs, but it wasn't hard.  You just have to explore and play with the different tabs.  Besides blogger.com offers step-by-step directions, as well as video tutorials to help you get started.

Creating an avatar, which is like a digital paper doll, was interesting.  It was fun choosing the different features for my character, and adding my own voice to it.  I can see how avatars are used to protect a person's identity online, but personally, I could do without it.

As an intervention teacher, I can incorporate blogs as reflective or assessment pieces at the beginning and end of lessons.  It will give me great insight to know what previous knowledge my students had of a particular subject, as well as what they were able to take away from the lesson.  Blogs will also give students a chance to solidify their learning, as they put into words their understanding of what was learned.