Digital Story

View my digital story in which Preppy the Mouse plays with a box and teaches about prepositions at the same time.
Enjoy!
https://voicethread.com/share/11069484/

Response to Article: Week 6

As mentioned in the article, Voice Thread is a tool which can benefit many individual students. This ICT is one which can enable differentiation and can support many different kinds of learners. The article gives examples of a student who has ADHD, another with a learning disability and describes how they benefit from using Voice Thread in the classroom. VoiceThread is an engaging and easily adaptable tool. Teachers can create individual presentations for each student or for different groups of students. VoiceThread is easy for students to navigate and they can work on their own at a computer.
VoiceThread also helps students and teachers communicate. Teachers can use it to critique students' work or to start them off on a topic.
I think that the greatest feature of this tool is the flexibility in the many ways it can be used and in the way it can be tweaked to accommodate individual students' needs.

Voice Thread

This tool is easy to use and can be utilized for many aspects of ELA instruction.
I present how I used it to give over a lesson in descriptive writing in which students are encouraged to "show vs. tell".
https://voicethread.com/share/11063243/
Another way it can be used is to revise students' writings and offer critique.

Glogster

I would create a glog for ELA instruction which had lots of background information on a text the class would be starting to read. I am a big believer in engaging students and in helping their comprehension by building their knowledge in a specific topic before reading a narrative or informative text. This also gives students a way to connect personally and build upon what they know to learn more. So for example, if I was beginning to read a historical fiction with a class, I would use glog to show images, videos, links with informative texts or newspaper articles regarding the time period that the story takes place in. This way, students would understand the broader setting of the book and be able to understand and appreciate the story at a greater level. Glog also can be used when there is a range of students at different levels. If a student finishes the assigned reading for the day, he or she would be able to continue exploring and building knowledge on the topic at hand.

Another way for Glog to be used in ELA instruction is to have students create a book review on Glogster. Students would practice their technological skills by designing a digital poster and could present key points of their idea while expanding their knowledge through searching the Internet for relevant information to include.

Affordances of this ICT include student based learning and collaboration. It includes web search and design. Glogster is accessible to all students who have internet access and can be used for each student at his or her academic and technological level. Glogster can be used with any form of web based material and calls upon students' creativity and thorough research to enhance their posters.

Keystone

Below is the link to all the documents of my keystone assignment:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mxf8sqvtwd2qul2/AADaUXbuoHMG5KethC017U4za?dl=0

Week 5 Response to Article

Research was done to determine the effects of digital reading on students' performance and motivation. Studies found that students' motivation was higher when reading tasks were digital. Additional, results suggested that students' reading engagement and critical thinking skills improved from using digital reading tools such as e-books, emails, chats, discussion boards and specifically blogs.

One point that the article mentions is that students who are usually introverted can gain from online forums for sharing their views and getting involved in discussions.

I think that the key to mastering digital technology tools as well as to gaining new literacies is to give students the opportunities to use them. I know from my experience in NYIT, that I learned how to use many new digital tools that I had not been introduced to before include Blogger. If these tools are incorporated in education and students have sufficient access and opportunity to explore and use them, they will become more proficient in using the tools and in gaining from them.

Second Life

I chose an Avatar that I felt suited me and the setting that I chose was the college town.
Second Life can be used in education as a well for students to actually interact with each other in a social forum and a real-life experience.
Teachers can create activities for students to follow through on this Virtual Life simulation experience and have clear goals for them to reach.
Students can visit educational centers in this virtual world and create settings that can teach them scientific and psychological concepts.