Options Off The Traditional Bookshelf

 

Image taken from http://pixabay.com/p-67049/?no_redirect

    It is the end of February, and I wanted to wrap up Black History Month with a great book that I could do some close reading of with my 4th grade group.  I also felt I needed try someone else's example of close reading and compare it to how I have been doing close reading with my students.  Also, I craved something that I haven't read before and I needed more than 1 copy.  Where can I get more than 1 copy of a book that I haven't read or the students haven't read from my school's Book Room?  There are many options.
    To start, I went to readworks.org to view some of the book lesson units that they have provided on the website.  There are a variety of lesson units for each grade level.  I chose a grade level lower than what my students are at because my students are reading at a 3rd grade reading levels.  As, I was going through the list of lesson units, I noticed I didn't have most of the books that were listed.  I decided I would start browsing the digital world for the books that were listed.  I hopped over to one of my favorite websites called wegivebooks.org.  We Give Books has a splendid amount of books to choose from that parents, teachers, and students can read for free online.  I have use this website in the past do read books as a whole group with a large class and a small group with my students with learning disabilities.  I have read the book from the Promethean Board to reading books from iPads with the students.  We Give Books also has lessons and activities to go with some of their books.  A book that interested me from ReadWorks lesson units was The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind By William Kamkwamba.  I got lucky because We Give Books had that on their bookshelf.  Yay!
    To help students saffold before reading the book, I will be using Padlet for students to reflect on what they think life would be like without electricity and running clean water.  That question was apart of step 1 in the lesson from ReadWorks.  I thought it would be a great way for students to be engaged with the book and reflect at the end of the book on what they thought before reading and how they felt about it now.
    Now, I had a plan, a lesson and a book that my students would find interested.  My students and I will be reading a great book this week to wrap up Black History Month.  The students really enjoy the change of reading books on digitally on the iPad.

DTL- Thing #3 Reflection- Google Docs

Image taken from https://www.flickr.com/people/mrsdkrebs/

    Google has taken charge of the world in many ways. They have a wide variety of tools to use in and outside the classroom.  Some of the most amazing tools that Google has created is their collaboration tools.  Google docs offers so many options with their collaboration tools.  You can make slides, documents, and sheets very easily.  Once created, you can invite others to work on those documents with you.

    Google Doc Templates have made my life more professionally productive by allowing me to collaborate with my co-teachers on documents and work with other staff to organize school events.  Preparing for co-teaching or school events have become more of a team task, not a division of who is doing what task.  An example of using Google Docs in my classroom is using Google Docs for conferencing notes with my students.

    Google docs could change working in the classroom by allowing my students to collaborate on projects and me joining them to see what they have completed.  It also allows to know who exactly is doing what by presenting their name and a color associated to their name on where they are inputting information.  I could also use these tools for students to show their completed project and allowing their peers to comment on their project right on the Google Drive.  Another positive note of Google Docs is that students can work on a document from anywhere. Students would have the option of working together, without being together.  

    No matter what way you look at it Google Docs are one of the best collaboration tools available.  It is free, easy to access, and easy to learn.  There are so many options of different types of docs and templates available to make you feel satisfied with all the options provided. 

DTL- Cloud Initiation- Reflect

Image taken from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/catspyjamasnz/5205995052/

                                                             Create a PLN and share your cloud with them.

  There are many ways and sites to create a professional learning network(PLN) on.  Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, and Google are just a few options.  PLNs provide each other with ideas, new information, professional development opportunities, and collaboration on ideas on how to make education better for students, and so much more.  Another great option on how to create a PLN is by connecting with other professionals in cloud-based websites such as Diigo.  The groups on Diigo provide professionals the opportunity to collaborate why sharing documents and links on their clouds.

There are many advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing.  

Advantages

• Well organized resources.
• Capability to tag your resources to easily search them on most clouds
• Upload capability of videos, documents and more on most clouds.
• Bookmarking websites is easy.
• The ability to access documents saved, on the go.
• Tools available to organize media on the clouds in many different ways.
• Ability to share most cloud with others.

Disadvantages

• Some clouds won't let you upload documents in different formats(such as word documents).
• More passwords and usernames to remember for most clouds.  I have too many as it is.  :)
• I have a fear of the cloud I am using to be obsolete someday, and I will loose all the documents and links I saved.
• Can't cross clouds.   It would be nice to save 1 site on 2 different clouds.  For example, if I wanted to share a website in my personal cloud and my classroom cloud, I would have to upload them seperately.

DTL- Cloud Computing and You Reflection

https://www.flickr.com/photos/linhngan/2580325511/
Find the rainbow in the clouds.

  Cloud computing is a outstanding way to organize documents, pictures, websites, videos, music, and more.  Cloud computing is a useful tool for students to use inside and outside the classroom.  Students can save links to your favorite pictures, searches, and stories.  On several clouds, user are able to upload their own documents and media files.  This would be a great place for students that enjoy doing art, photography, and creating things to store pictures of their completed work or even the process of completing their work.

    Students can be more efficient using the cloud in many ways.  One of my favorite clouds that I use is Dropbox.  I have been using Dropbox recently for students to pool the stories we have read in class, images of their Word Their Way studies that they did using Padlet, and documents that they have created that they want to share with me or others.  Dropbox can also be used for students to save worksheets they completed digitally on their iPads or tablets.  The other great thing about Dropbox is that is so easy for students to access.  Students and teachers can access their Dropbox or a shared Dropbox through the website or through applications on the PCs, smartphones, and tablets.

    A cloud computing tool that I use will use personally is Diigo.  I love this cloud because I can add documents, links, and images on this cloud.  I think this would be one of the easiest ways to share professional journals, activities I have done in and outside the classroom, and so much more with others.  To share information, I would just give them the link to my Diigo page.  The other great thing about Diigo is the wide variety of groups you can join to learn more about topics that interest with you.  Who doesn't want to having a bigger personal learning network?  Diigo is just another was to connect with other educators.  Diigo would be a great tool for anyone, personally or professionally.
    I have just started using Dropbox to help me share documents with students.  I will continue using Dropbox to share books that I am reading with my students.  I also would like to get some applications on the iPads for students to complete their worksheets from their iPads and drop their completed worksheets back into the dropbox.  I also would like my students to be able to create videos on their iPads to show what they have learned and share them on Dropbox with each other.

DTL Reflection- Diigo and Symbaloo Reflection

Picture from http://pixabay.com/en/users/ikuki-98708/
So many clouds!

   People are always on the go and need tools that will support them in organizing their favorite websites and documents.  Many people use clouds to store their documents, pictures, and videos on the go.  Websites are as important too for people to be able to access on the go.  People sometimes attach their favorite websites to their Google account or even e-mail web address to themselves.  There are more organized options to access your websites on the go.
    Diigo and Symbaloo are key resources to organize your favorite websites.  Below is a comparison of the two websites.

Diigo

Pros:

• It is professional looking.
• Capability to tag your resources to easily search them.
• Upload images, documents, and notes.
• Bookmarking websites is easy.
• Diigo application available for easier access.
• Diigo Google app to bookmark websites easily.
• Option to join groups of people that share interests.
• Tools available to organize notes, documents, images, and websites by date, type of file, unread, and public or private posts.
• Able to share Diigo bookmarks.

Cons:

• Not very kid friendly.
• Can seem very wordy for students that have difficulty reading.

Symbaloo

Pros:

• Easy for students to use.
• Use of pictures to connect to websites.
• Able to make a variety of Symbaloo pages to organize bookmarked websites.
• Can share and search other user bookmarked pages.

Cons:

• Not able to upload images, documents, and notes.
• Not an option to join groups of people interested in the same thing.
  

    When I think about which website I prefer, it depends on the purpose of the bookmark site.  If I am bookmarking sites for myself or to share with other professionals I would use Diigo.  It looks more professional and it is more organized.  It is also helpful that you can upload pictures and documents to this website.  I would prefer to use Symbaloo with my students because pictures represent websites and it looks more fun.  I could see my students not feeling swamped with all the text that is on the Diigo website.

DTL- Reflect- PLN

    I have been a fan of developing my PLN online for almost a year now.  I have met many people and been in contact with companies and organization through the use of my PLN.  I think having a PLN is one of the most valuable resources for a teacher.  
    I can contribute many great skills to organizations such as MACUL and NASET.  I am an educator that loves being apart of a community and enjoys learning.  I am a teacher that loves co-teaching, which has become a big trend in education, and I love to use technology with my classroom and when teaching my co-workers on how to use tech to reach students in the classroom.  I also can contribute my creative thinking skills on how to manage and track behavior of students of the general education and special education classroom through the use of technology.  I also can contribute to these organizations by enjoying sharing my experiences in the classroom with other teachers.  I love helping teachers become better educators because that is how I become a better educator, though connecting with others on and offline.

Image from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PLN.png
Expand your PLN

    There are many ways social media and educational organizations can help me grow professionally.  The most important thing social media has has helped me grow is by allow me to connect with other educators that are like minded or have different minded, that encourage a growth mindset.  Many of the teachers I connected with are not even around me.  I have met many teachers in far away places, such as asia, that I have collaborated with online.  People in my PLN have inspired me to try new things and articles from educational organizations have given me new tools to help students learn in the classroom.  The second way social media has helped me is by helping me gain access to educational resources and activities that are either free or discounted to use in the classroom.
    There are many pros and cons to using Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ to become a better educator inside and outside the classroom.  It is also important to note the purpose of these resources.  The purpose of these resources is for educator to connect and gain new ideas to support them in the classroom.

Pros of Social Media and Social Networking

• Collaboration with others on topics you want to talk about or learn more about in chats.
• Lots of inspiration for yourself, teaching, and classroom activities.
• Views outside of your own to promote growth mindset.
• Sharing project and ideas with others.
• Access to documents and resources when you miss a conference.
• Collaborating with other educators while at a conference.
• Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration!  :)
• Access to information about upcoming PDs and conferences.
• Abundant amount of resources.

Cons of Social Media and Social Networking

• Time consuming.
• Sometimes too much information and resources.

DTL Review- Start Building Your PLN- Twitter

 Picture from https://www.flickr.com/photos/30032901@N04/3275031724/
Twitter makes me feel like I can travel the world to gain any new information.

    What can I say?  Twitter has amazed me.  Not even a year ago I had a inactive Twitter account.  I didn't think that I would ever use it because I didn't know anyone that used it and I thought it would be a waste of my time.  Boy, was I wrong.
    Since I have joined Twitter, I have gained an outstanding amount of resources.  People share all kinds of resources on Twitter.  I have meet so many people that are willing to help me with trying new things in my classroom.  I have found the Twitter discussion to be very helpful.  Teachers share their experiences and give ideas on how to improve experiences in the classroom.  I have learned about a variety of tools to assist me in my classroom, and in my life, through many of the Twitter discussion.
    I have also realized the more I am involved in Twitter, the less I feel like I am feeling alone at trying new things in my school.  I have many people to turn to on Twitter that will reflect with me on how I am using the new tool.  I especially feel this way because I am a new teacher trying to implement a flipped classroom into my special education resource room.  I have learned about a variety of great tools to use in my classroom.
    Twitter has also inspired me to be apart of groups that I normally wouldn't be apart of due to my busy schedule.  I have now joined a book club(#TbookC) for teachers.  In this club, I have met other great educators that read inspiring books that help teachers be a better teacher and a better person.  Reviewing the book with the book club members have helped me pull out all the important information from the text and see how others are applying what they learned from the book to their life.

Image from http://creativecommons.org/tag/online-course
Instead of educators collaborating in person, teachers are now collaborating acrossing the internet.

    Another thing I have gained from having a PLN on Twitter is access to different professional developments and conferences around Michigan and online.  Since I have joined Twitter, I have been to two conferences I heard about online.  I have also been able to meet some of the #Miched educators I have talked to online at these conferences.  This is a great place to put faces to the names of people I saw on Twitter and to discuss our experiences in the classroom more in-depth.  Sometimes I feel like I am meeting a celebrity because of all the resources and inspiration they have shared on Twitter.  Another positive of building a PLN is that I can attend a conference without being at a conference.  Recently, I missed a conference due to being sick but I was still able to get most of the resources and important content from the conference.
    I would suggest Twitter to any educator.  It has a rich amount of resources.  There are many hashtags I follow.  A great tool to use when you have twitter is the Tweet Deck.  You will be able to organize all your favorite hashtags in one place.  You will find great educators, organizations and people affiliated to helping and educating children to get a lot of useful information from.

Some of my favorite hashtags are:

• #Spedchat- chat for special education teacher
• #TbookC- book club for teacher.
• #BFC530- chat for early risers to be inspired before heading off to work.
• #Sunchat- chat for educators to talk about a topic on Sundays.
• #Satchat- chat for educators to talk about specific topics on Saturday
• #SlowchatED- one question a day chat.
• #edtech- place for educators to share educational technology.
• #edchat- place for educators to discuss education.
• #edtechchat- chat about educational technology.
• #Miched- a place for michigan educators to collaborate.
• #SPEDchat- chat for special education teachers and people that work with students with disabilities.
• #flipclass- a great place to hear about how others are flipping their classroom and discuss better ways to flip the classroom.
• #nt2t- chat for new teachers to Twitter.
• #sblchat- place for people talk about student based learning.
• #COLchat- a discussion for people to talk about the culture of learning.
• #TMchat- weekly chat about a specific topic using thinking maps to organize it.
• #tlap- Teach Like a Pirate related posts.
• #nbtchat- No Box Thinking chat, where discussion of had about having students think outside the box.
• #Edtechbridge- Great chat on connecting education and tech together.

DTL Reflection- Search Strategies

Research can be overwhelming for students

    When I think about search strategies my students are using, I am reflecting on that I am not doing much research I have done with my students.  My students in my classroom are not good at evaluating information they find online.  We have not done a lot of informational text research, since I focus more on giving them support on decoding and comprehending text and math in the classroom.  I think if I were a general education classroom teacher, my students would spend some extra time in the classroom exploring the web and doing research.  Also, in the elementary grades students don't do as much research online as they do in middle school and high school since they are developing more skills they need to be successful in high school and middle school.  My students are lacking exposure to researching information online.

 
    When students start doing research online, I will have them use a citation maker.  I think that a citation maker website will make it very easy for students cite their resources.  Citing sources can be very difficult, especially for elementary students, but it is important for students to understand the purpose of citing and practice citing at a young age.  This will help student be more prepared to write research papers when they are in middle and high school.  They will be adequately exposed to what citing is, why we cite our sources, and how to do it.  Students with learning disabilities usually need extra practice to understand how to do things correctly, having them start citing their sources in 3rd and 4th grade using a citation maker will give them the practice they need.

This is kind of what my brain looks like when I web search.
Taken from https://www.flickr.com/photos/toprankblog/2757847443/

    Education databases are very important for my students to use when they are researching.  Kids, and adults, are relying on Google too much when they are doing research.  I think people are starting to forget that there are education databases that give you more concrete, accurate and credible information.  Students also have trouble with focusing.  I think Google can easily become a distraction for students because there is so much information and one link, links to another link, and before you know it...you forgot what you were looking up.  I know this because I have done it(many times).  :)  Education databases are less cluttered and focus on the topic better.  Students will be less likely to get distracted by the other information that comes up from a web search.

DTL Reflection- Guidelines for Web Evaluation

For Evaluating Websites

Here are some guidelines for evaluating if websites are credible to use for research:

1. What type of web address is it?
• .gov, .edu, .org are more reliable than .com websites.
2. Does the website look well organized?
• Does it look cluttered?
• Are the pictures, articles and text on the page aligned?  
3. Are there any errors in grammar or spelling?
4. Did the author on the website cite their resources?
• Did they tell you what kind of research they have to back up their information?
• Did they reference other cites they got their information from?
5. Do links of the website work?
• If the links do not work, it may mean they were fake links or they have not updated their website recently.
6. Does the pictures support what the author is trying to convey?
• If the picture/s do not enhance what you are trying to learn about from their article, then it may be not be a credible resource.

Guidelines taken from 21ThingsforTeachers.net powerpoint at http://www.21things4teachers.net/downloads/search_strategies/bogus_websites_20140508_143242_26.pdf

DTL Reflection- MeL Resources for Students- Focusing on Students with Disabilities Needs

Large library are not only physically available, but also digitally.
Picture of the Inside of the George Peabody Library

   When students are working on projects they need a lot of different avenues to give them options of ways to collect resources such as videos, articles, books, and pictures.  When students with disabilities, and struggling students, work on projects they need differentiation and accommodations  of the text and ways to obtain their information.  MeL or Michigan eLibrary, offers a variety of resources for students at many different reading and technology use levels.  MeL provides a connection to sites that provide information on kid-friendly websites.
    I choose to review sites based off their accessibility features for students:

Scholastic BookFlix-  This site has their large selection of fiction and non-fiction text and video format.  For every topic that it covers(for example, owls), it had a story to watch, which was Owl Moon, and a non-fiction story to read online.  Something that my students would really like is the ability to read along with the story that they found.  Each book that they can read has an option to Read-Along.  The website will highlight each word that is read to them.  Another great feature is that, each book has vocabulary words highlighted in them.  If you hover your curser over the highlighted word, a bubble will pop up telling you the definition of the word and let you listen to the word.

Plus side for teacher- there are lessons for any topic you wish to teach your students about in the classroom based off the resources provided.


Kids InfoBits-  This website has a very calming look to it.  I could see my students finding this website very pleasing to look at because of the contrasting colors they use on the website.  On Kids InfoBits students can look up images, magazines, news, and books.  When students want to read magazine, news, and book articles they found on this website, it will give them the option to listen to what is on the page.  While they are listening the students can track what is being read to them because it is being highlighted.  The website also gives students the capability to download what they found in an audio format, which I would find very empowering for students with reading disabilities and visual impairments.
    The other positive thing that this research site offers for kids is it gives them an idea of how difficult the reading will be through a "Content Level" symbol.  They do this by placing colored symbols that mean "basic", "intermediate", or "advanced."  I think this tool would make it easy for students to find resources close to their reading level.  They wouldn't feel like they have to sift through a lot of content that is too difficult for them.
      Kids InfoBits also offers citation tools, options for highlighting information, advanced search options, and a dictionary for students.  I would highly suggest this website for students.


eLibrary Elementary-  I love all the resources on this website.  When searching for something you can search pictures, maps, audio/videos, transcripts, books, magazines, and newspapers.  I really liked the option to search maps.  I haven't seen the option to search for maps on a kids research website before.  I could see eLibrary Elementary making my students feel anxious because the way it lists resources when searching a topic and the website is a very bright white.
    This website has the same option Kids InfoBits by reading text and highlighting text that is being read to them.  You can also download text into an audio format.  This site does separate the resources collected better by having each type of media found(i.e., pictures vs. magazine articles) on their own page.  Students will not easily get distracted by pictures or videos being automatically in their search results.
    Another great feature of this website is that it places a reading level on all the text by rating them by number.  It does not explain what each number means, so the teacher would have to spend some time talking to the students about what each number represents when looking at reading levels.

Do your research

   These are just a few resources available through MeL.  There are several more webpages that students can use in the classroom.  It is always helpful to do your research on which research tool would be more appropriate for your students before they start their projects.  You don't want your students to feel overwhelmed when doing research, which in turn would create more work for you(the teacher).  Empower them by giving them tools that will be easy to use.:)

DTL- Be Legal, Be Fair Copyright Reflection

Your students writing is copyrighted

   Before this module, I didn't think too much about copyright.  When I was in college, I often took a phrase or a quote out of a book that I was using for a report and changed a few of the words to make sure I wasn't plagiarizing but I have not realized that is not enough.  Doing this still can be plagiarism because it still may resemble what the original author posted too closely.  If I didn't understand something or didn't know how to put it in my own words, I should have done more research before finishing my report
   I often took pictures right off of websites and Google images.  I wasn't ever sure if it was okay, since I was a teacher, but now I understand the laws better.  I now know that there are MANY resources on the internet to get media to support what you would like to to do for free.  Since reading about copyright, I have went back into some of my previous blogs and removed pictures and added images I found through the Creative Commons website.
    Now when I post images to my blogs, I make sure I go to Creative Commons website to obtain pictures to use in my blog.  I don't want to infringe on anyones work.
    I am thinking about using plagiarism checkers with my students when we read informational text and do a writing prompt on what we read.  They often take words right out of the book or passage that we read when trying to write what they learned.  I will have to teach them what they are doing when they do they, show them how the authors writing compares to what they wrote, and why we should change it.  I think the plagiarism checker tools may be more useful for my students in 4th and 5th grade since they do more research projects in those grade levels and beyond