February+ISTE+Video+Reflections

=60 Web Tools in 60 Minutes: Brandon Lutz= Reflection: Once I finally got this presentation to download, it was worth it. While a lot of it was review of sites that we have covered in class, I still found myself madly writing notes on different sites I had either forgotten about or hadn't seen before. There are a few that are fairly new that are definitely worth mentioning.

The first "new find" was www.engrade.com. This a free online grade book and lesson plan book. It seems really easy to use and is "share-able". Considering our 1:1 environment next year, this might be an ideal addition to our teacher toolbox. Secondly, I found timetoast.com, which does what a lot of other timeline creators do, but having another good option is nice. I, then, came across http://phet.colorado.edu. This site about made me jump for joy. One of my biggest challenges next year is going to be getting a semi-tech-reluctant science teacher on-board with our 1:1 initiative. This site was a virtual treasure chest of interactive simulations from chemistry to physics. It was really exciting to see this put together by a group of educators and scientists. Finally, and probably most selfishly, I was giddy to find www.cueprompter.com. It is not really a mandatory tech-tool, but it sure does add an awesome realistic element to my TV news unit, as this site functions as an online teleprompter. It has multiple settings that my students will find intriguing and very useful as they prepare their stories and the video plan for their TV news program.

The really nice thing about this presentation was that it came with a wiki address to support it (so some of my note-taking was unnecessary). This would also be a great tool to pass along to staff. Why re-invent the wheel!

=Web Tools that Work in a Real-Life Classroom: David Clough= Reflection: I was a little nervous, as I got started and saw the disco ball and mohawk and heard him say that he was an elementary teacher, that he was going to have irrelevant information for me. That turned out to be completely opposite! I liked his fresh style, his update demeanor (even with "technical difficulties" he had) and the fact that he took the "The brain remembers what is different" quote to heart with his appearance and mnemonics throughout his presentation.

The first tool that I saw that really seemed to be pertinent to me was weebly. I had heard of it before, but had never tried it. As I saw his presentation material pulled up on this seemingly easy site, I began to wonder if there would be an easy way to transfer our teacher websites to such an easy-to-use site, rather than our SchoolCenter site that is quite difficult for some to use.

Many of the sites were again repeats of what we've done in class, but I liked that he provided real-life examples and tips and tricks for doing them effectively in an elementary setting with students as young as kindergarten. Glogtser, GoogleDocs, VoiceThread, and Voki were some of the main ones that were interesting to see in a new light.

There were also a few sites that were mentioned that were newer to me. Scribblar (mural creator), ZooBurst, and Tikatok were all neat sites that had potential to be quite functional in an elementary setting for sure. I can see Scribblar being used in art and in the middle school, as well. He made sure to mention that things were standards-based and not merely a tool that looked cool, but served no purpose. His fresh perspective as an educational technology leader with littler kids gave me a clue as to how to possibly approach our elementary staff as we send our computers down to them upon starting our MS/HS 1:1 program. This was another hour of time well-spent.