Exit Experience

Tonight we talked about the Exit Experience. I can't believe how much we learned over the past 18 months. Wendy, Shannon and I have gone through such a transformation. The lessons that were created and the information that we learned is amazing.

The end is near

As the end of this experience approaches I have to reflect on what I have learned. There has been so much. I have thoroughly enjoyed this final semester. I wish that it could have been longer. There is so much cool stuff out there. I think that it would have been nice to have been able to delve into it more.

Podcasting Advocacy

Our podcasting/audio file turned out fabulous. I learned some new parts to audacity that I had not used before. It was pretty cool. We were able to merge several tracks together to create a fabulous file. I think it is very exciting.

I had an opportunity yesterday to read the Richardson book. I am enjoying his reflections on his own use in the classroom. Using this technology in the classroom opens the doors to some very exciting times.

Advocacy PSA

It was so much fun creating our PSA. I don't think that I have laughed liked that in a long time. I really needed it. Our PSA focused on parenting skills and referring to the manual. I think many times parents need some outside guidance and don't know where to go to find it. I also enjoyed having the opportunity to talk to RJ. He is so adorable. He and I really enjoyed talking to each other. Thank you Cathy for sharing RJ and allowing me to have that opportunity.

Again

Today we had a 2 hour DWPD for Angel. The enthusiasm of the teachers was exciting to see. We watched the video again on Web2.0. It was even more impressive the second time around. I enjoyed watching the intense looks on the faces of the teachers in the room. They were totally engaged. But as I g;anced around the room, I could see the light bulbs going off. They were excited where this new adventure was going to take them. They could see the possibilities for the next school year. They were thinking about ways to make their normal lessons more engaging and exciting for their new batch of digital natives in the fall.

Wikis

Wikis are so cool! I really enjoyed creating the wiki for my school. It was exciting to see the transformation of the entry. Absolutely amazing.

Leadership Class

I have really enjoyed the information that is being presented in the leadership class. It is interesting. These articles definitely apply to my role as an ITRT.

RSS Aggregator and Blogs

It was nice to see the tools that are out there to use with this technology. It was also great to see the different ways blogs could be used. I have used blogs with 2 5th grade classrooms but would like to expand it next year. It is a great medium and the kids love it. I also liked the idea of having a staff blog. It would be an added tool for the teachers. I can't wait to get started.

Other Blogs

It has been so nice to go through and read and comment on other blogs. It seems that there is a concensus to feeling overwhelmed. But we are almost there. The graduation experience put everything into perspective. I am so glad that I decided to attend. I had such a feeling of accomplishment.

Blogging in 5th grade

Mary Hefner and I wrote a Ntier grant titled, Pods and Blogs. Her school created podcasts for my school to listen to and my school wrote journal entries for her school to respond to. We had some technical difficulties but overall it was an enjoyable experience. Eventually, we were both doing blogs. We would post a question and the students would have to respond. Our content focused on History. We would post a question ~ List the events leading to the Revolutionary War and describe them. The students would go in to gaggle.net and post their responses. It was very simplistic but it was a different medium for assessing the student's understanding of the content.

Our first class

Last night was our first class. We got an overview of what will be expected and where we are going. I enjoyed watching the video. It was fast paced. It kind of correlates with how fast technology is changing and growing. I have never used Wikipedia, so I am very excited to learn about it. I have worked with blogs. In the fall, I had 2 classes of 5th graders using blogs to review the History SOLs. They loved it. I think I am going to learn alot in this final semester!