Audacity

My students are very familiar with using Audacity. They record themselves every 2 weeks for fluency check. They are able to listen to their own reading and listen to how much they are improving. My English Language Learners get really motivated when they listen to themselves because they realize how much their English reading is improving. I am also able to listen to their audio files because each one of my students have their own H-Drive. I am able to pull their drives up from my computer and keep electronic portfolios for each students.I like to conference with my students and sit down with them to set their reading goals.

Another way that I use Audacity in my classroom is for writing. After students draft their writing, thye log on to Audacity and record their own stories. Then, they go back and listen to their stories to listen for fluency writing. I have noticed that when students are editing their own writing without Audacity, they tend to read right through their syntax errors. With Audacity, they are able to go back and replay their sentences to ensure they are revising correctly.

I love Audacity and it's a great resource to have in the classroom!

First Animation

I was feeling overwhelmed just knowing that I had to create my first animation, but after reading Richardson's book, listening to the tutorials on atomic learning, and Alice I started to feel more at ease. I did try to use Alice to create an animation, but then a colleague of mine recommend another site; goanimate.com.

Goanimate.com is a very friendly user site and it's free! This is a great site to use with your students that are not very technology savvy. It was very easy to create characters and maneuver them around. I was able to easily add captions, and include music as well. One thing that I really liked about it was how I could keep previewing and editing it. It did take me a while to finally finish it, but I really think it was due to it being my first time playing around with it. The only problems that I had was downloading into my computer, and keeping it 5-10 seconds. I finally was able to do it after many trials and errors.

I plan on integrating animation into my reading and writing lessons. I know my students are really going to enjoy it! I

Atomic Learning Lessons

I was finally able to view Lesson Accelerators on Atomic Learning! The first one I viewed was Language Arts 3rd-5th grade Kid Pix titled Shape Poem. This is a fun activity that my students can do in a center. It's all about creating poems with the integration of graphics. Students can add many colorful graphics to their poem and even record their voice. The text can be shaped to what the poem is talking about. Students create a slide show as their final product. This is a fun and unique way to get kids motivated on writing poetry.

The second one I viewed was titled a Picture Perfect Slide show and was also Language Arts 3rd-5th grade. The lesson gave an example of a Picture Perfect Alphabet using Comic Life and Photo Story application. It even gave you a tip on how to download a resource packet that can be imported directly into Photo Story. Even though this project covered ELA, it could easily be modified for other subject areas.

First Jing!

One my reading centers consists of student listening to stories on tumblebooks.com. It is a great site for students, but my students were taking too long on fiding a book to read. Jing came to my mind immediately! I went on Tumblebooks.com and captured exactly where my students had to go on to find their reading level. This will help them log on, and get started immediately!

EDU 6486 FIRST FACE TO FACE!

WOW! After Saturday's first face to face meeting I left feeling still a little overwhelmed, but at the same time feeling like I am really going to become a pro at these new programs that I have been wanting to explore!
I just downloaded Jing, and I am still playing around with it to get the hang of it. I can really see my students enjoying it, but at the same time I'm not sure how I can integrate into one of my lessons. I'm hoping that after I get the hang of it, it will come to me!
The most exciting part is knowing that I will soon be creating my own website. This is something that I have been wanting to do, and now I will have to make the time for it. My students and their parents will really benefit from it. I think it will create a stronger connection between my class and their home.
Overall, I am looking forward to learning all the new technology programs, and becoming an expert at them!