1. What are your favorite tools you now have in your personal technology toolbox? Briefly describe a particular activity that you will plan for your students using at least one of these new tools.
My favorite tool from this experience has been the blog in general. I can't wait to see the students write about their favorite books and comment on each other's thoughts. Hopefully this will make them eager to keep on reading so they can write on their blog.
Another tool I'm excited about using is the I-Touches. I've seen my students play general games on them during their library time. I look forward to getting some of the apps I looked at download onto them. This way they can continue learning while playing on the I-Touches.
A third tool I plan on using this next year is Wiki/Google Documents. This will make a great tool to use in collaborative writing. The students can write together without always having to be together. I think a great introduction to this application would be a continuous story on the document. I could start with one sentence "There once was a boy named Doug." The students would then get to take turns during their time to go to the computer to add to the story. Different groups would come up with different tales. I think the students would really enjoy seeing how each story turned out differently.
2. How have you transformed your thinking about the learning that will take place in your classroom?
After this experience I've really come around to realizing that technology can easily be incorporated into my lessons. When I first started this experience I didn't think I would find any use for these tools. Now, I know that I can use these tools to help grab and keep my students attention. They will make the lessons more enjoyable and help them become familiar with technology.
3. Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
The only unexpected outcome from this program was the amount of time it took to complete. Some tools came easily (Google documents, Google reader, Avatar), but others took a long time for me to get familiar enough with to understand how to complete the task being assigned (Jing, Wiki, Imagine Generators, PhotoStory).
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