TIS Journey Thus Far

Well where to begin??? My TIS Journey has been an exciting and insightful experience. I have enjoyed working with all grade levels and teachers. Knowing that I more than likely will not be  a TIS next year has made me use my job this year as a learning experience for what I will and will not do in my future classroom. I have learned alot from collegues that I plan to use in my classroom next year. TIS wise, I have learned about troubleshooting, and multiple programs students and teachers are expected to use in their classrooms. My favorite part about being a TIS, is collaboratively working with classroom teachers to enchance projects and get students excited about technology. My school does not have alot of technology, and the 5th graders had never heard of powerpoint. When I showed them what they could do with powerpoint they could not wait to work on classroom projects. Hearing students say how much fun they had and how cool it was rather than making a poster was exciting for me. Next year, I am going to miss being a TIS, but the skills and knowledge I have gained this year I will take with me into my classroom.

After visiting fellow TIS blogs I decided to comment on Patti's, I really like reading her Blog entries and she has awonderful idea about having teachers create 23 Things blogs.

Share, Remix, Reuse... LEGALLY

Creative Common License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Global Ed Conference/ Flat Stanley Goes Digital

I have been watching several webinars over the past couple weeks, trying to get some hours for my TIS Certification. This week especially I have been watching alot because of the Global Ed Confernce. Yesterday, I participated in a webinar entitled Flat Stanely Goes Digital by Lisa Thurman. I have been interested in the Flat Stanley Project since I heard about it several years ago, but I have never had the chance to partipate. In this webinar I was able to gain many new ideas about how to use the Flat Stanley Project and integrate technology into the classroom. My favorite idea was using Google Earth to create  digital map about where FLat Stanley had travelled, either around the United States, in WV, or around the World. I am looking forward to doing something like this in the future.

Skype

Skype has an unlimited amount of uses in the classroom. I am currently taking a WV Learns class about Virtual Field Trips so immediately using Skype for this comes to mind. In the classroom students can visit a zoo and then Skype in with Zookeepers to learn more about what they do. There are also several websites that you can set up a meeting and Skype with an author. I also have read in blogs where classroom around the world connect with one another and collaborate on a project. I am looking forward to using Skype in my VFT course.

AUP

Wood County Employee AUP https://www.edline.net/files/_2WAJZ_/aceb965e0c43e4bb3745a49013852ec4/AcceptableUse_employee_generic.pdf
Wood County Student AUP
https://www.edline.net/files/_2WAJq_/782a4e54f7dd8b6b3745a49013852ec4/AcceptableUse_student_generic.pdf

At the beginning of the year every employee and student is required to sign an AUP. Teachers do not bring students to the lab until every student has signed a copy of the AUP.
Wood Countys AUP was revised over the summer to include Web 2.0 tools so it is current.
Once AUP's are signed the are put into each student and employee file

Web 2.0

I learned about Story Bird today. WOW... this website is amazing and it would be great for students to create their own stories. I think it would be great to have student transfer their Young Authors stories into this and then share them with the class. I had heard other people mention this but I had never checked into it before. I am super excited about this and cant wait to share it with my teachers.

www.storybird.com

Virtual Field Trips

I watched a video on SchoolTube about a virtual field trip to a Zoo. I choose this topic because I am taking a WV Learns course about creating virtual field trips. I enjoyed this video because it included skype to communicate between the zookeepers and the students in the classroom. SchoolTube and TeacherTube would be great ways for teachers to show educational videos and examples to students with having t search the Internet or YouTube. It is easy for teachers to navigate and find what they are looking for in a timely manner.

 The WV CSO I felt this video aligned with was

SC.O.2.2.5

compare and contrast simple models of different kinds of habitats, including a forest and a stream.

The MOM Podcast

I listened to the MOM podcast about what to do when students struggle to learn. I picked this podcast because often people jump to conclusions about students saying things " like they need medication" "they just cant concentrate", "they have ADHD". Everyone has heard teachers, parents, etc say these things about kids. This podcast gives simple solutions to why students cant learn. Sometimes its as simple at a trip to the eye doctor to correct these issues.  The link to this podcast is http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mom-podcast/id367377959

I think this would be very useful teachers. When I was searching for a podcast to listen to I ran across several books and audio about many different topics teachers would love to use in the classroom. I will use the Audio books in my classroom , because students would enjoy listening to someone other than me read. http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=94571049

Thing 8 Reflection

Digital Image with Special Effect

This is a picture of our fish pond in our back yard. I used the soft focus feature around the edges of the picture so it would add emphasis on the flowers in the pond. 

Twitter in the classroom

There are so many ideas out there for using Twitter in the classroom it was hard to just pick one that I might use. I am really busy and many teachers are so sitting down and finding the time to create Twitter scavenger hunts, and collaborative stories are great ideas but would take some time to prepare for. The easiest and quickest idea I found for using Twitter was posting a daily word game to change students and build vocabulary. The teacher would post a word scrambled up and students would have to unscramble the word and figure out its definition. This would be easy to tie to any content area and students would enjoy using technology to figure out the answer.

RSS FEED

RSS feeds are an easy way to access all of your favorite sites at the same time.

Blog, Blogs, and Blogging OH MY!

I have recently started reading teacher blogs. I have already been inspired by several and follow them on twitter. (which I am also a newbie tweeter) It have found it comforting that there are other teachers out there that have the same issues I do but lives hundreds of miles away in cities and towns across the country and around the world for that matter. One fellow blogger that I am now following is the Cool Cat Teacher. I enjoy this blog because she uses humor to lighten the mood on difficult subjects we face in schools. I also really like the appearance of her blog because it isnt too clutter and it is easy to navigate. The link to the Cool Cat Teacher Blog is http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6673572.html

This is the QR Code to my webpage at my school....

Wordle

WallWisher

Write something on my Wall Wisher

Twitter

My Very First Tweet!!!
I also found a ton of other TIS's in other states when I searched for Technology Integration Specialist. To find my 5 Technology/Educational leaders I searched for Technology in the Classroom. I found way more than 5 people to follow and I am looking forward to finding new Ideas and inspirations from the tweets.

Welcome

Hello, and welcome to my first blog. I am trying to become a technology "goddess" for my new job as a Technology Integration Specialist for Wood County schools. I am looking forward to learning about new and old but new to me (such as blogging) technology. If anyone reading this knows of any good educational based technology websites or just excellent educational websites or anything that might help me become the "tech goddess" I want to be...please let me know about them.