My Journey from Technophobe to Technophile
Before
Professional Growth Highlights:
- Prior to enrolling in this program, I was just beginning how to use a Ben-Q projector, had 4 computers in my classroom, and used my personal camera to record classroom events. I knew the basics of using power points, uploading pictures, and thought when I used an interactive game on the projector it was an amazing lesson. I had always wanted to have a classroom website but always doubted myself that I would be able to accomplish this goal.
- During my two years in the NLGL program, I was exposed to a vast variety of web 2.0 tools and unique ways to incorporate technology into daily lessons. Throughout my courses, I'd learn a new tool, sign up for a membership and experiment using it in the classroom with my students. I often asked the students for ideas of how we could use the new web 2.0 tool during our literacy stations! Some are more age appropriate than others, however all of the tools led me in the direction of answering my compelling question. Under the page "NLGL Courses" I have a page for each of the courses I took. Included in these pages is all of the technology that I learned, links to the tools, and how I utilized it in the classroom.
- Here is a link to my classroom website that I decided to create to build a better home connection with my students: Ms. Ricketts 1st Grade
Professional Growth Highlights:
- Due to my enthusiasm for integrating technology, I was recently selected to become a representative for my school to be part of the Discovery Education Teacher Leader Corps in Wake County. I am attending five full day training's this year and presenting the information to my staff! I will also conduct learning labs in my classroom for other teachers to come and observe how to integrate Discovery Eduation into the classroom.
- This year our school has become a STEM school. We have a STEM coach that will be coming into our rooms to teach us how to integrate even collaborative technology lessons that correlate with the Common Core Standards!
- VoiceThread: I'd like to teach student's to use this web 2.0 tool on I-pads during Daily 5. Taking pictures of tricky words in their texts, the students can made a VoiceThread explaining the strategies they used to decode the unfamiliar word.
- Power Point: I'd like to teach my student's how to make a simple power point to display their research findings on informational topics. I am going to model how to browse for clip art, add a sentence to the picture, and most importantly how to save their work.
- Storybird: I'd like to learn how to create an account on Storybird for all of my students. Currently, I just sign onto my account and allow them to create a Storybird after reading.
- e-Pals: I signed up for an e-Pal account which will allow my students to have pen pals in all areas of the world. I am still exploring the website, however I intend to have my students participate in this web 2.0 tool during global studies this school year.
- iPads: My school just received funding to give each grade level an iPad cart! I will be able to include five iPads into my classroom lessons daily. I have begun to research different ideas for integrating these into our literacy block. I want to have the students create songs and riddles that correlate with the reading strategies or comprehension skills that we are learning!
- Twitter: I would love to teach my student's how to use Twitter and connect with other 1st grade classrooms in the county. Ideally, I would set aside 5 minutes at the end of the day to tweet about what we learned that day!