Tool #11

I really have a lot that I'm excited about.  Two that I am going to start at the beginning of the year is Padlet and Edmodo.  I really like Padlet because there are many writing assignments that can be done on that.  An activity that I thought of is before we start a new unit, have them write what they think about that subject, such as poetry.  I found a good video that I could post that I hope would excite them, and then have them comment after they watched the video.  They could then post poems that they liked as we work through the unit or post original poems to share with everyone.  Another tool I will set up right away is Edmodo.  I would like to set up different activities on that for them to complete throughout the week to reinforce what they are learning in class. One more that I really liked was Story Creator.  That is a great one to use.  I think students would get excited about writing when they can actually see their writing in print.

My vision really has changed for my classroom.  I see better now how technology can be used to enhance.  I think the focus has to be on creating great readers and writers, but I see how technology can be used to generate excitement for them to want to do this.  I hope to use technology to generate that excitement for them to want to read and write better.  I'm hoping that my students will see that by reading and writing better, they will be able to use technology more.    
I will be trying to create technology objectives now along with my other objectives.  I will look for ways to incorporate it in useful ways.

I think the most unexpected outcome was how much I enjoyed it.  I was really dreading this because I am not very good beyond basic technology.  Going through this has encouraged me that I can do it and that there are many ways that it can be useful in the classroom to enhance learning.  I was very excited when I learned something, so hopefully I can share that excitement with my students and we can continue to learn together.  I'm very glad for this experience.