Day 1 -- lots of new technologies

July 5th, 2016

First day of class! We started with an online survey; very straightforward and easy to use. I liked the idea that we can use surveys like this in the classroom, for those of our students who may not be willing or able to speak out loud in class. it would also be a great way to do an introductory survey with a new class, or as a tool for brainstorming ideas. I will be teaching Integrated French again this year, and I know that sometimes students are reluctant to take risks, orally, in their second language.  While I do focus on encouraging oral communication, this would be a great icebreaker to develop their confidence and willingness to contribute. Reminded me a bit of Plickers:

https://plickers.com/

I used Plickers in my classroom as an introductory activity with my students. It was great in theory; sadly, the wireless at my school is less than perfect, so we often got kicked off in the middle of doing our surveys. If you have a good wireless connection, or data on  your phone, I suggest checking out the Plickers site and giving it a try!

I've never been very technologically-savvy, so this whole course is new to me. I'm honestly a little nervous to be moving so far outside of my comfort zone! It will be interesting to see everyone else's blogs (or at least five, I suppose) -- I like the idea of sharing what we learn and building on each others' understandings.

Currently using Chomp App (http://www.wired.com/2016/01/chomp-is-a-whimsical-app-that-uses-your-face-to-bring-doodles-to-life/) to define "disruptive technologies". Here's our short video on the subject:

Yay!! We are movie stars.

We Googled our definition of disruptive technologies,and then spent a lot of time playing on Chomp App to figure out how it worked. It was pretty self-explanatory (there were clear icons to click to find the different pictures, as well as to record the videos), and I think most students would easily be able to understand and apply this app to their work. The only thing we struggled with was transferring our video from the iPad to our Showbie accounts, though the problem may have been the size of the file rather than any incompatibilities in the technologies. Something to be aware of when using this technology in my classroom . . .

It was great to learn about other technologies in the presentations. I particularly liked the iMovie app and the videoscribe app.I am absolutely going to use them in my classes (as an alternative to PowerPoint, as well as for my students to present their learning).

This is a great book, and I wanted to include it because I think it's very relevant to us when we think about how assistive technology can be a life-changer for our students. Here's a selection of the review from Wikipedia: "Melody Brooks is an eleven-year-old girl who was born with cerebral palsy. Her parents have done everything they can to help her live a normal life, but life is often frustrating for Melody, since she cannot speak, move, or communicate her wishes. As a result, Melody has to fight to get her wishes . . . When Melody enters fifth grade, she gets a communication device that allows her to talk with other people. At school, her new teacher starts an inclusion program that allows the special needs students to participate in the normal classes. Melody also gets an aide, Catherine, to help her. Melody enjoys her classes, but dislikes the way other students assume that she is stupid." I just wanted to put this in here as a personal reminder;I found this book incredibly eye-opening and moving, and it has so many links to this class and to our teaching.

Whew! I was trying to record my impressions and learnings as fast as I could this class. Lots to think about . . . and lots of great stuff to play around with when I get home!