Integrating Technology in the classroom

Read Aloud
Critical Attributes: Book at Instructional or frustrational level-student wouldn't be able to read on their own. Teaching fluency-proxity-how to phrasing, pauses etc.
Motivate students to enjoy literature, opening world of books to students
Print concepts
Helps them to focus on context-comprehension

Technology integration: Book Trailer
Elmo
Author studies-google earth
Websites like Peter and the dragon (show how illustrations were made)
Story board about author or concept taught or other books the author
Wrote for author studies

Google Virtual Tours

There are so many ideas on how to use Google Earth to create virtual tours for your students to go on. I have learned so many good ideas for my classroom by watching the virtual tours of some of my classmates. I watched Sarah Kidd’s; she had the idea of going on a tour of different physical land forms. This is a great way for you to show your students what kinds of things are around the world and show them the different areas they are located in. I also watched Devin’s Volcano’s tour. This is a great idea for students because instead of just describing where a volcano is located, you can go on a tour of where they are in the world. This would get kids even more interested in the different subjects you travel to by using Google earth virtual tours.

Architecture through the years virtual tour

For my virtual tour I did architecture through the years. This was based on a sixth grade curriculum of exploring architecture as well as many other things through the years. We start with the Caves in France, then to Pyramids in Egypt, then to Greece, Rome, back to Paris, France for the Notre Dame Cathedral and then finishing with the modern architecture of the tallest skyscraper in the world Taipei 101 located in Taipei, Taiwan.

I can use this virtual tour for a sixth grade class to introduce a unit on architecture through the years. By using my virtual tour to travel around the world and look at how the architecture has dramatically changed over the years all over the world.

Google Earth and KMZ files

Today in class we learned about how to implement Google earth into the classroom. I have learned that using Google earth you can take your class to so many places all over the world. They can not only see the land formations, but they can see the cities and towns where people live. In my classroom I could use Google earth to show different places that we would be studying as well as different weather formations.
The website I found included many kmz files that showed different landscapes and formations. This was a really cool website because you can see different places in the world with different pictures. The website is http:www.kmzlinks.com/ I clicked on the link that said WeirdThingsAndBeautifulSandFormations.kmz. I looked at the link that showed a desert with different sand formations. The images are very interesting and make it seem like you are really there. I could use this in my classroom to show my class the different ecosystems around the world.

Digital Storyboard application and refection

After looking at several digital storyboards done by my classmates, I was very impressed at the creativity and quality of these stories. I got so many new ideas for how I can use these storyboards in my classroom. Some of the differing things I saw were raps about fairy tales, poems adapted to a familiar tune, and stories told through the lyrics of songs. This goes to show how many possibilities there are out there with using digital storyboards.

As I am hoping to teach 3rd or 4th grade, I saw that I could use the digital storyboard tool with these students. I could easily use this tool for a unit on poetry. I would start by having created my own poem through a digital storyboard. Then, I would show this to my students and help them in creating their own. First my students would prepare the text for their poems, using such things like rhyme, symbolism, alliteration, etc. Then they would find or take pictures to help represent the poem. I can anticipate the students loving this activity, especially when they get to show their finished product to their classmates.

Boa Constrictor-Digital Storytelling

Check out our Digital Storytelling Project!

Digital Storytelling

This week we learned about Digital storytelling. This is one of the most useful things I have seen to make storytelling even more fun. In our group we decided to do our interpretation of a poem. We choose to do Boa Constrictor by Shel Silverstein. We are going to use clay formations to tell this poem.
There are so many things you can do with digital storytelling. I have learned that this tool you can use with almost any grade level. It is a quick, easy project for your students to do and they will have so much fun doing it. It is amazing to me some of the things that we watched that younger grades did with storytelling. I also learned that you don’t only have to use it to retell a story; you can use it to make an ABC Storybook, Circle Story, Fractured fairy tale, Adventure Story, Poetry Interpretation, Book Trailer, Public Service Announcement, or Mini Documentary. Your students will love digital storytelling.