Digging Deeper

As educators, we are constantly researching new sites and ways to enhance learning and engage our students. I feel that I am pretty tech savvy, but there are new sites being created daily. So many that it is often hard to keep up. I love that this assignment is forcing me to look more into sites that I see regularly and research how they would work in the classroom.

Curation
Let's start with the site Symbaloo. Symbaloo is a very simple site to use and navigate, which I love. There is nothing more frustrating when looking into a new site than struggling to figure out how to navigate it. Basically, Symbaloo is a visual way to set up bookmarks. Creating an account was a breeze and took less than a minute, I verified my account, and I was ready to go. Symbaloo sets up a quick start board for you when you create your account with many well known sites already in it. However, I wanted to create a board just for sixth grade, so I clicked the plus sign at the top. Bam! New board. To add a tile all I had to do was click on the tile. There are two ways to go about setting up a tile. You can either copy and paste the URL, or search for the site you want to add. This was my favorite part. There were SO many sites already in there! My board was set up in no time. In the past, I have taken the time to set up a class website and include links to all the sites I use throughout the year. This is WAY easier! Plus, I know for a fact that my district is going to be offering a PD day this summer on using Symbaloo. I know many educators use it for quick links, which is how I would use it. However, I think it would be great for administrators to use for their staff, and Instructional Coaches to use for their fellow teachers.

Creative
In the creative sense of technology, a site that I've never had much luck with, but know many others that have, is VoiceThread. The basic idea is to create a slideshow that can be narrated over. Simply upload your images, record your audio, and create your thread. Once you have created, share the link with others who can view your thread and leave comments that are either typed or spoken. A teacher friend of mine uses this all the time with her third graders. One project I love that she does is a report on the Venus Fly Trap. Students create pictures of the plant. The teacher scans them and saves them to a designated location that the students can access. The students then upload the photos and verbally talk about the plant after they have researched it and written a script that they read. Their projects are always really great! Personally, I had to use VoiceThread for a Wilkes course. I muddled my way through it, but was always afraid of recording my voice. I think the best part of using this with students would have to be the speaking part of it. Many students are like I am when it comes to recording themselves. Knowing they have to speak in order to share their information forces them to have to practice the information before sharing it.

Social
Twitter is a unique "monster" when it comes to education. Many of our students have Twitter accounts and tweet multiple times a day. To them, it's a basic way to share what they are doing. However, move Twitter to the educational setting, and it's a whole new ballgame! At the beginning of the year, my principal asked me to present to staff how to use Twitter in education. So, I mustered up my courage (I didn't use Twitter at the time), created an account, and started exploring. Personally, I use it to follow fellow educators and education users. If I post something it is education related. This is not a site I use on a personal level. For the classroom, however, I wanted to create a class account that I could post updates of what was going on in our classroom and share important dates with students and parents. Many educators do this! I also know of districts that use Twitter to post updates about what is going on in that district, including sporting events, construction updates, snow days, and graduations. Even though Twitter was intended to be used personally, many educators are branching out and using it in ways that benefit their class.