wikiGoogltelling

Well, my head is buzzing from everything we learned today!  There's so much I want to remember!  I feel like I need to be using these tools right now to fully grasp them.  I know that using the tools makes you more familiar and comfortable with them.  But I don't feel like any of these are hard.  I am actually so excited to get my hands dirty and start trying these things out (Google everything, PhotoStory, even Diigo) and am really just concerned that after class I won't have the time to sit at a computer for more then 20 minutes at a time anymore!  (Children make life very fragmented, yes?!)  I have been jotting down lots of ways to use these tools in the classroom (see below).  For myself, I have a very specific place in mind because there's a very specific job that I applied for and would very specifically like to get!  So I think having that context is making it easier to generate these ideas.  I am also thinking of the ways my kids would love using some of this stuff and plan on making them my guinea pigs.  My mother and good friend are also chomping at the bit to have me teach them what I'm learning here; my mom's a teacher librarian in the Jericho district (where they would loove this "fancy" stuff!) and my friend just finished her special education degree.  This is my PLN, right?


Today I come away feeling slightly dizzy and giddy and enthusiastic and ready!  Let's get started indeed!


Some ideas:
Google docs:
--Students can work together in groups on a graphic organizer, i.e., Venn Diagram, each adding their own input at the same time.
--Icebreakers: make a form (survey) for students to fill out with questions about themselves, likes, dislikes, etc, then share results with class.  The oral and visual presentation covers differentiation for different types of learners.  (Hitting a few standards here!)  Also, sharing the results anonymously would make students who don't want to speak up in class feel more comfortable but still be participating.
Also the collaborative story is a fun way to get kids loosened up and feeling familiar with each other.  Can be done in small teams to perhaps make the most sense.
--Loooved the idea of collaborative poetry in a Google doc!
--Use survey form for collection development; ask teachers, administration, students what they would like to see in the library.  Can give them choices (so much flexibility in what format questions can be in!)


Photostory & Voicethread: :
(From class today and some new ideas...)
--Book trailer!  This is the new "book talk" (P)
--Create your own folktales (P)
--Family history (P)
--Can be used with a DBQ as another way to answer questions about an image.  You could actually hear what the student is thinking. (P, V)
--Also can be used to explore point of view, i.e. in a RAFT activity.  Students could answer questions in this way instead of a written presentation.  Or create their own images (letters, drawings, etc.) (V)