Glogster--Technology Tool

    
     For my graduate Technology in Education course, I was asked to plan a classroom lesson/project utilizing technology web 2.0 tools.  In the following blog, I will discuss my lesson which utilizes the technology 2.0 tool Glogster.  I will discuss my lesson/project idea, my personal views on using the web 2.0 tool Glogster, and provide an example of a glogster that I have created.

Glogster

 

 

      I chose to create a create a classroom glogster lesson/project for an elementary classroom ( fifth-sixth grade).  I thought it would be fun for students to create an "All About Me" glog.This would most likely be a project that I would implement in the classroom towards the beginning of the school year.  In order to model for the students how to create a glogster, we would create one as a class.  During the students creation of their own glogsters, I would allow for them to be as creative as they wanted to be.  Its their personal glogster, therefore I feel it should look however they want it to look.  This is something I want the kids to take pride in, take ownership of, and be proud to display.  As the students will be presenting their glogsters to the class, I would inform them that  whatever they do put on it should be able to be viewed by everyone.

 

     While creating my own glogster, I did enjoy navigating around the site--glogster.com.  I felt the site was very user friendly.  It was fairly easy to utilize the different glogster options, especially after taking some time and testing out how things worked on the site.  i was very impressed with how easy it was to upload and embed a video onto the glogster.  I definitely feel that glogster is a web 2.0 tool that I will implement into my classroom curriculum.  it is pretty fun to create a glog, and I feel that students will enjoy making them.  Further, the end product looks pretty cool.

 

     I do work with special ed. students, so my students would probably require a lot of teacher assistance in creating a glog, but I am certain that they would enjoy the process none the less.  For all students, glogsters provide another very cool way to present information.  It is a far cry from reading a report or creating a power point, but as long as any required information is present we as educators should allow students the freedom to present however they desire.  By allowing students this simple freedom, we are creating a stronger, healthier learning environment.  We are creating an environment where students can find fun in learning.  I feel that is what it is all about.  I don't know about you, but I want my students who are in school for 6.5 hours a day, five days a week to enjoy doing their work.

 

Please take a look at a Glogster that I have created!

http://www.glogster.com/beth123456789/resume-glog-by-beth123456789/g-6l5gpnpkr7sva81s83h8ea0

Yodio--Technology Tool

     For my graduate Technology in Education course, I was asked to pick a web 2.0 tool and create a lesson/project utilizing the tool.   In the following blog I will discuss a lesson/project utilizing the web 2.0 tool Yodio, as well as provide a Yodio example for your viewing.

Yodio



     For my Yodio lesson/project, I thought it would be fun for students to utilize the technology tool in order to present a book report.  Students would simply choose a book at their current reading level and discuss it using Yodio.  The students would then present their yodio to the class.  I feel that using Yodio is a great choice for students who feel intimidated or nervous about speaking in front of the class.  For some students, public speaking causes a great deal of stress and anxiety.  I feel as educators we need to be cognizant of this and provide other options for students.  In my opinion, Yodio is a great option.  The student still will have to complete the book report, and they still have to present it to the class.  The only difference is they are able to record it in a more comfortable environment without feeling intimidated.  I feel this will only lead to a much BETTER presentation for the student.  In regards to students who do not have a problem with public speaking, yodio will provide a different kind of avenue to take with presentations.
    
     In regards to how user friendly I feel Yodio is--I had difficulty with it at first..  For me, Yodio was a bit difficult to really get figured out.  Even after I watched the provided tutorials I had difficulty with the tool.  I imagine if I had trouble with the tool, students may also find it difficult to use.  I do feel using yodio would benefit many students, but I am not quite satisfied with the yodio site yet.  You can bet I will keep trying to figure it out.
Please check out my Yodio below.



Blabberize--Technology Tool

     For my graduate Technology in Education course, I was asked to plan a classroom lesson/project utilizing a web 2.0 tool.  In the following blog, I will discuss my lesson which utilizes the web 2.0 tool Blabberize.  I will also provide an example of the blabber I have created to go along with my lesson.  In conclusion, I will provide a brief discussion regarding my views on utilizing Blabberize within the classroom. 

Blabberize

 

 

     I chose to create a classroom lesson utilizing the technology tool Blabberize.  blabberize can be implemented into many different classroom curriculum's.  For my lesson, I would use Blabberize in an elementary science curriculum when discussing animal habitats.  After discussing animal habitats with the students in class, I would ask the students to create a blabber as an end of the unit project.  The students would choose an animal (any that they want is truly fine), and create a blabber utilizing their animal choice.  For the blabber, the students would be asked to describe the habitat the animal typically lives in.  The students would be encouraged to provide any additional information that they found interesting, either about the animal itself or the habitat.  For example the students could provide information on the characteristics of the animal, they could provide information on the daily life of the animal, or they could provide information regarding other animal species that may be found in the habitat.  The students would then be asked to present their blabbers to the class.

    

      I feel that using Blabberize is a super fun way for students to present information that they have learned.  In my opinion you can not help but have a good time when creating a blabber.  During my experience of making a blabber, I was truly giggling the whole time I was creating it.  It just made me laugh, and who doesn't want to laugh when doing a class project!  Another upside of having students utilize Blabberize is it is a super easy technology tool to use.  It literally takes minutes to create a blabber.  There are just a few simple steps involved in a blabber creation; you download a picture to use, you form a mouth that will open and close, you then pick a voice recording option, last you record your voice which is very simple to do--that is it, your done.  The web 2.0 tool Blabberize is an extremely user friendly web tool.  I am confident that any one who engages in making a blabber will enjoy doing it, I am further confident that they will be hooked on the tool.  I feel that classrooms of all grade levels would enjoy creating blabbers for class projects.  The tool is free of charge, however you do need to have a user name and password to create a blabber.  Please take a look at the blabber I have created, your sure to giggle!

     

 

 



Wordle--Technology Tool

     For my graduate Technology in Education course, I was asked to pick a web 2.0 tool and create a lesson/ project utilizing the tool.  In the following blog I will explain the web 2.0 tool Wordle.  I would like to note that my Wordle lesson and project was created for and implemented into the curriculum of a second--fourth grade ED/BD classroom.  I hope you enjoy learning about the Wordle lesson that I have created.  Further, I hope it sparks an interest within you to try out the web 2.0 tool yourself (if you are not already familiar with it).

    Wordle

 

    In the classroom in which I work, we do a lot of team building activities.  In fact we try to implement classroom team building activities at least once into our daily routine.  Wordle proved to be an amazing tool to use not only for a classroom team building activity, but also to put a positive spin on keyboard typing.  The students in my classroom typically groan about typing, however with this activity they were excited and could not wait to type up their individual wordle's.

     For the wordle team building activity, each student should first write their name on a piece of paper.  The name sheets should then be circulated around the classroom.  Each student should write at least one (more if they want), nice, encouraging words or phrases about the other students on the papers.  For assistance, the teachers can write a word bank on the board for the students to look to for ideas to write down.  Teachers also should circulate around the room ensuring all name sheets make it around the class of students, teachers also can aid students in thinking of words or statements to write if students feel stumped.  The students should also be made aware that they can repeat words or phrases that other students may have already written down on the name paper.

    Once all the name sheets have completely circulated around the room, each student should be given their personal name sheet.  I have to say that when I did this activity with students in my class, they  were all in their glory when they saw all the nice encouraging words and phrases their peers had wrote about them!  The next step of the project is to actually have the students create their personal wordle.  In order for the students to create their wordle, teachers should log the students onto wordle.net.  The students first start by typing in their name.  Students should be encouraged to type in their name 8 to 10 times, this will ensure their name appears nice and big on their personal wordle.  Students then will start typing in all the words and phrases that peers wrote down about them.  When students complete this step, they should be encouraged to play around with their wordle until they are 100% happy with the way it looks.  In order to do this, teachers can assist the students in going through the wordle tools.  For example, students can change the colors of their wordle, students can change the font style and size, students can also change how the words are arranged on the paper.  Again during creation of the wordle, teacher assistance may very well be required.  I feel it really all depends on the age, grade, and functioning level of the students.  For my class of students, teacher assistance was required, but it had nothing to do with the technology tool itself.  Assistance was required to keep the students from straying onto other pages or clicking on things too many times, etc.  Once all wordles are completed, teachers can display them around the classroom. 

   

    I am very pleased with how well utilizing wordle in my classroom went.  It proved to be a very user friendly, fun, engaging technology tool.  As I have previously stated, I used Wordle in a second--fourth grade ED/BD classroom for a team building activity, however I can see myself utilizing Wordle in classrooms of all grade levels as well as all ability levels. Wordle is definitely a tool I will be implementing into classroom curriculum.  The bottom line is, Wordle is just a really fun tool.
Please see the attachment for a Wordle example.



http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5967447/J