Throughout my technology course I have been keeping a list of my favorite technology tools and website to use with my students. This really helped me to select my favorite resources to evaluate for future use in the classroom.
I chose four areas of criteria to evaluate: Accessibility at School, Assignments Can Align to Standards, Interactive for Students/Teacher, Instructional for Age Group, and Promotes Social Networking. Most of the tools I chose we already have access to at my school. If I find problems with student access I can send a request to our technology department. I believe all of the resource tools I chose are age appropriate after students have received some basic instructions. Many of the technology tools will be interactive between the students and myself. This will be very beneficial so that I can keep records of student work and give appropriate, immediate feedback. Aligning these tools to standards is such an important question. I believe using my own creativity along with students’ ideas we will be able to incorporate these tools with our standards successfully.
When creating this evaluation rubric, I was thinking of my own fourth grade class and the entire grade level. As a grade level we do research with each of our classes and I know my team would be more than willing to explore some of the technology tools I have chosen. I believe some of the tools will be incorporated into our Science and Writing curriculums easily. I have simple ideas for class note taking using the type with me tool and class presentations using powerpoint or voicethread. I know my students and they will love using these tools individually and as a whole group. I am excited to share these ideas with my team of teachers.
We do research across the curriculum and I would love to incorporate so much more with these resources. I recently received an email about technology summer training and hope to be able to attend. I know my team of teachers will be pleased to see how I will be using some or all of these new technology tools. I have ideas, but would love to open up the discussion at a team or even a staff meeting to brainstorm more ideas. Technology must be part of our daily instruction so students will be prepared. Using technology tools, such as those I have identified and evaluated, would be a great place for teachers beginning to incorporate technology. Once a teacher begins to explore with these tools, I am sure they will be pleased with how simple they will be for the class.
I honestly had not heard of many of these before taking the W-531 class. Although each week I find myself extremely intimidated when reading the instructions for the week’s activities, in the end I have found that the activities and projects weren’t as difficult as I had thought. Looking at my classmates’ blog pages and weekly projects, it is very obvious that I still have so much to learn as I see very impressive, even professional-looking work. I am pleased with what I have learned so far and am excited to see what my students will be able to so with these technology resources.
Please view the Technology Tools I have chosen and my evaluation of each tool.
Technology Tools Rubric
Criteria Evaluated | |||||
Technology Tool | Accessibility At School | Assignments Can Align to Standards | Interactive for Students/Teacher | Instructional for Age Group | Promotes Social Networking |
3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | |
3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | |
2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | |
3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | |
3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | |
3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | |
powerpoint | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |
3: Excellent
2: Very Good
1: Good
0: Poor/None
Creating a rubric like this is a really great idea! You chose great criteria to evaluate each of the resources. It's great to be able to see how each of the resources stands up based on your criteria. According to your rubric, typewith.me, Wikispaces, and Google Docs are all excellent resources across the board. I have to agree!
ReplyDeleteI too love many of the tools you highlighted here. I often struggle with how to incorporate some of these types of social media and services into a Kindergarten classroom. I know you teach 4th grade, but in your experiences with these types of sites, have you come across any great ideas for incorporating them at the primary level? I loved the Xtranormal video project we did, but I think this may be too daunting for my little guys. I would love to hear your thoughts since you have actually used these tools with students.
ReplyDeleteI have only used powerpoint with my students at this time. I am on leave right now but am really excited about using these new-to-me technology tools with my students when I return in the fall.
DeleteI, too, am intimidated every week by the assignments presented to us and find that they are so interesting and educational and not nearly as difficult as they sound from the beginning. I am glad that I am not the only one who feels this way! You did a very nice job on your graphic.
ReplyDeleteI, too, like how you created the rubric - like you're grading these websites. As for the Accessibility At School section, I would not be able to access half of those websites. All blogs, wikis, facebook, and social networking sites are blocked on our computers (even for teachers).
ReplyDelete