Reflection

As I think about the different internet tools I have worked with over the last month, I need to think about which tools I will try to carry over to my classroom this next school year, and library next year!  

The tool that was the most scary to me turned out to be much easier to use than I ever would have thought...Screencasting!  This will be a favorite tool for me, I just have to make myself take the time to use it! I would like to use screencasting for lessons throughout the year so that I can be more mobile and able to move around the classroom more.  

Podcasts could be used for the same benefit when we are reading passages in class.  Whether I record them, a coworker, or a student, this would, again, make it easier for me to move around the classroom as the podcast is playing.  

Blogging was something I never thought I would do.  (What was I thinking?  I'm going to be a librarian!) However, now that I have found it to be so simple to do, I would like to start a blog just for my classroom for this next year.  I think this could be a great tool for parents and students to keep informed on what is going on in class.  

All of the tools I worked with could be beneficial for students in some way, me being more mobile in the classroom, parents and students staying informed, etc., but which tools will the students get the most excited about, creating interest and immersion (more benefits)?  Videos, Vines, QR codes, Instagram and Twitter! The more I can incorporate these into my lessons, the more engagement and learning I will see!

Finally, I would like to get students, especially the avid readers, to join an online book community.  I think they would find this a fun and useful use of the internet.  And, they would never have to ask, "What's a good book I can read next?"  :) 

The Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing and How Writing is Taught in Schools

 I was especially interested in reading this report because I teach an English class.  This was a rather lengthy article about teaching writing skills and how using digital tools impact the teaching, learning and writing.  So, I'll try to just touch on the main points that I found the most significant.  The survey responses came from 2,462 middle and high school Advanced Placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) teachers and were based on their 2011-2012 school year.

• Even though I often hear from my students that they "hate writing," the report indicates that students are writing more than ever because of digital devices, social media, texting, etc.  (They just don't realize it!)
• Using the digital tools allows students to share work to larger and more diverse audiences.  They are also collaborating with others more and getting more creative.  Super!
• Teachers are finding that writing is becoming less formal and that students want to rush through their writing, possibly due to "instant internet information" and the short, quick texting and posting they are used to doing.  Grammar and vocabulary skills are also diminishing.
• Organization of their writing is overall rated pretty high, but coming in at the bottom are issues with plagiarism, copyright and citation.
• Teaching with digital tools has caused a realization that students must be taught the digital devices are not just toys, but are learning and working tools.
• Publishing student work online tends to cause students to become more engaged and invested in their writing, and to think more about the audience they are writing for. I like that!
• I thought this table was particularly interesting.

And finally, do teachers feel that using digital tools help teach students to write better?

228/150 pages

The Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing and How Writing is Taught in Schools. (n.d.). Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS. Retrieved July 28, 2014, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/07/16/the-impact-of-digital-tools-on-student-writing-and-how-writing-is-taught-in-schools/

Millenials and Libraries

This report by Lee Rainie initially includes some of the same data reported in my last blog posting, "13 Things to Know about Teens and Technology," but then focuses on teen use of the library and librarians.  I was surprised at some of the findings.

I was surprised that the numbers are as high as they are in the younger readers group.  Yay!

I was surprised that cell phone and computer use was so high for young readers reading e-books.  Awesome!!

Young readers also had the highest numbers in using the library at 72% and getting help from a librarian at 43%.  Super!!

Unfortunately, the young readers had the lowest number on the resulting impact on their community of their local library closing...the data below again looks great!!

Finally, the report stresses that teachers and the public strongly support a leading role for libraries in providing resources for teaching digital literacy for our youth.




114/150 pages

Millennials and Libraries. (n.d.). Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS. Retrieved July 28, 2014, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/04/09/millennials-and-libraries/

13 Things to Know About Teens and Technology

This report from the 29th Annual ACT Enrollment Planners Conference from July 23, 2014, has up-to-date information regarding teens and technology.  Lee Rainie "highlight[s] some critical ways digital tools are changing not only how teens communicate, but also how they gather information about the world and present themselves to others."  

Most teens have immediate access to technology and the internet through smart phones, computers and tablets.  Teens are in constant contact with friends and the world through social media. Information is immediate.  



By "PictureYouth" (Flickr: Young girl with smart phone) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons


While they have great access for researching, teachers report students also expect immediate research findings, which leads to frustration at times.  Also due to today's technology, teachers report students have shorter attention spans.  Teens are led to an array of resources when researching on the internet, but this is also limiting the types of resources they are using which leads to issues in supporting an argument using multiple resources. Data also shows teens are having problems judging online material for quality, accuracy and bias.  I think these issues will all improve as teachers become increasingly aware on specifics that need to be taught according to challenges today and what we see in the future as things continue to change.  

The report goes on to report on how the "hyperconnected Millenials" will live.  Will the teens of 2020 be positively or negatively impacted by today's technology?  I can see both sides to the argument, but I lean more to the positive outcomes in the visual below.



























Finally, the report discusses the 6 media zones- stacks, signals, snacks, streams, socials and synthesized spaces- how they work and what that means for the message makers now and in the future.  


74/150 pages

13 Things to Know About Teens and Technology. (n.d.). Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS. Retrieved July 29, 2014, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/07/23/13-things-to-know-about-teens-and-technology/

Instagram and Vine in the Classroom and Library

How can we use Instagram and Vine in the classroom and library??  Because our students are all about using Instagram and Vine, we should be figuring out how to apply the apps to our classrooms and libraries. #Keeping kids interested...

Instagram
I would love to have a classroom or library account and have students add pictures of their favorite books throughout the year.  Besides getting them more into reading, their pictures could give ideas to others about books they might like to read.








Instagram could also be used to highlight student projects.



Vine
Warning...Vine videos sometimes have offensive material.  Setting up a private classroom account and monitoring will be essential.

I could probably get some pretty good intros from kids and learn more about them if I encouraged Vine videos. By the second day of school, I bet I could get to know quite a bit about many of my students!

A Vine to introduce my puppies to my students!

 


Vine could also be used for quick examples or instructions by teachers, or student work.

Spine Poetry!

Cartoons and Comics for the Classroom and Library

Pixton
Pixton was easy to use for a quick comic strip, but it was rather limited in what you can do with a free account.  Also, when I tried to use the embed code, it did not work for my blog.  So, below is a picture of the first picture in the comic strip and a link to the full strip.  Students would be able to use this easily.
http://Pixton.com/ic:cxundgpd

ToonDoo
ToonDoo was a more complicated for me to figure out how to use and save, but it had quite a more features with the free account and was more fun to use once I figured it out.  However, hours later, it still says the image is processing.  I went back and created a second one, and this time I used my snipping tool to get a copy of the image before losing it again.  This is what it should look like if the image finishes processing.

Makebeliefscomix
Using Makebeliefscomix was relatively easy.  The site provides a lot of help tips right on the screen you are working on.  There is also guidance for ideas on what to add to each slide that works well for ELA projects. I wasn't that excited about the characters they offer for use.  I also didn't like how the dialogue boxes worked.  I couldn't resize or move my text in the boxes.  Also, you cannot save your comic strip.  You have to print and/or email.

All in all, I liked using ToonDoo the most, but not if isn't going to work in the end!  It was the most fun to work with.  Pixton was easy but pretty basic.  It would be good for students to create a quick comic strip and not get lost in too many other features. Makebeliefscomix would be a good ELA teaching tool, especially for the ideas and lesson plans included.  I would definitely like to try using ToonDoo with ideas from Makebeliefscomix, such as analyzing characters and plots.  (Lesson plans: "If X was a Y" and "SWBS 4" from http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/How-to-Play/Lesson-Plans/)

Scary Screencasts

Tackling screencasts was scary for me.  I finally jumped in a gave it a shot.  I tried several screencast options and it was actually much easier than I thought it would be.

First, I created a screencast explaining how to use the app, Aurasma, in the library and to create your own "auras."  Aurasma uses images like QR codes to link to other things.  I liked the idea of creating shelf markers for the library and linking books to book trailers, author talks, book reviews, etc.  For this screencast, I used Jing. It was pretty easy to use, but there were more steps required. You have to use Jing in conjunction with Screencast.  And, when I tried to embed the video, it only embedded a simple link. Click on the "Using Aurasma" link below to view the video.  It might take a few seconds to start.

Using Aurasma



Next, I used Screenr to create a screencast on how to create a book trailer using Animoto.  I have seen plenty of book trailers created this way, but I had never taken the time to try it myself.  I found that using Animoto is very simple.  The hard part is finding pictures to use that don't infringe on copyright laws.  That's another lesson!  Screenr, also, was very simple to use and embed.



Finally, I created a screencast for teachers!  I have always wanted to find a way to keep up with my classroom library collection. So, I started looking at apps   I found the Classroom Organizer by Booksource.  The following video, created by Screencast-o-matic, gives an intro to the Classroom Organizer.  Screencast-o-matic was also very simple to use, as was the Classroom Organizer website and app.
 



I thought Screenr and Screencast-o-matic were both easy to learn to use,and both allowed publishing the videos to YouTube easily.  Jing shares videos to Screencast, which is not as convenient.