I am a librarian at a 6th-8th grade campus. Our students are always using technology. They come in to work on Prezi, PPT, research, post projects on Edmodo, you name it. I am so impressed with their work. They are so into their technology projects that they come in at all hours, in the morning, at lunch, and even when they are done with their work. I'm so glad I'm taking these courses because I have learned so much and I can help students when they need it.

I think you all have great ideas, and I have one more. I think that many times we go at it alone. We need to work in teams. Each teacher in the team can teach one tech app, or Web 2.0 tool really well. Then your students can become experts with 4 different tools/apps that can be used in all classes. After a while, each teacher can teach one more.

Since I am a librarian, I want to figure out how I can use Edmodo because I think it is a great tool. I showed some teachers how to use it, and they love it. However, with 1200 students, I haven't figured out how to incorporate it into the library. My favorite tool right now is jing. I have been creating jing videos for our students. I keep telling them that I want them to become independent library users. Not that I don't want to help them, but that I want them to be able to do it without me. So I have created videos for using the online catalog, requesting books from me online, and I even have one for accessing the DISD student e-mail. I show students where to find the videos so that if I'm working with another student or I am teaching a class, they can find it. I keep a list of questions students ask me, so whenever I get a chance, I create a video for it. I also have jing videos for teachers.

I thought this article was really interesting. My unprofessional opinion is that there is a good probablity that the tablets will replace PCs. I'm not talking about tomorrow, but they are so powerful already. I remember when the "bag phone" first came about. It was huge! Now we have tiny cell phones that are used for way more than just talking. I think that if they can improve cell phone technology, they can improve on tablets.

As a librarian, I'm always helping students with their research for reports, PPT presentations, Prezi's, etc. I find that the majority of them go straight to google or another search engine. There's nothing wrong with that, but as a district, we pay for some terrific online resources that are much more academic and are really underused. I know that if teachers would use these online resources and see the value, they would require students to use them. I use EBSCO for all of my graduate assignments. So it is my mission to get the word out about EBSCO, World Book, and Encyclopedia Britannica.

If you work for Donna ISD, ask your librarian for your school's passwords, find an article that will help you with either an assignment or one you could use in your classroom. Then write about your experience. You can find the link to the databases at http://destiny.donnaisd.net/
Click on your school and look for the online resource you want to try out. (The reason I would like for you to use your school's passwords is because then you can share them with your students.)

If you do not work for the district, or you weren't able to get passwords from your librarian, UTB also has online resources. (Way more than Donna ISD) You have the same task, but you will go to the UTB homepage, click on Library under Academics, then Databases A-Z. I would suggest you use EBSCO because most school libraries subscribe to this resource. To login, use the same username and password for Blackboard.

I'm sure many of you have seen these before, and I hope you continue to use them regularly.

This video was awesome! Some of the concepts seem so far-fetched, but I believe anything is possible. I remember watching the "Jetsons" when I was little. I loved that they could talk to each other via the TV. Well, now we have Skype and Facetime and others in which we can do just that. I remember watching Mission Impossible years ago and being fascinated by the glass in which they manipulated all sorts of information. Then here comes the iPhone, iTouch, iPad that you navigate in the same way. I agree with Josie, we need to stay on top of all this technology, because ready or not, it is here and it is not going to slow down for us!

I also liked this article, it is so interesting to read about things that are going well. It is true that students know so much more technology than we give them credit for. I read a post in a librarians' group that a school started a BYOT (bring your own technology). They are working out the kinks, but it has taken students and teachers by a storm. They are working using their phones, kindles, nooks, iPads, laptops and the level of engagement has gone through the roof. So when I read this article, it made me think about how lucky we are to have so much technology at our campus. Right now, my assistant and I are getting laptop carts ready for checkout. Now it is time to get everyone on board so that the students can make huge gains in achievement.

Esther,
This was a very interesting article. I agree with Ms. Starr whole-heartedly. In my opinion, her statement about modeling was the most important of all. I really believe that "actions speak louder than words". If an administrator is expecting his/her staff to integrate technology into their lessons, then he/she should be integrating technology into every say life. The teachers would be more optimistic about it too! I think that as we all become MTTs, we need to work with our administrators to ensure all teachers become more "tech savvy" so that true integration can be the norm.

I have been out of the classroom for a while, so I decided to research the topic. I found this great article in EBSCO, "Using Technology to Support Expository Reading and Writing in Science Classes". It discusses the text structures in expository text such as cause and effect and problem/solution. Then the author wrote 2 examples of how you can use a "sentence completion task" to help students organize their thoughts after they read. One way is to use Word to create the task and another is to create a webpage. Since you use Edmodo, it could be something you create and post on there. Another option is to use Wix, the website creator I used to create the Online Book Request Form, to create the task. If you read the article and you want to plan something out, just let me know. The link to the article is below. (Anyone can access it, you just need to get the username and password for EBSCO from your librarian.)


Montelongo, J. J. (2010). Using Technology to Support Expository Reading and Writing in Science Classes. Science Activities, 47(3), 89-102.
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I don't think I fit into any category. I'm definitely in the iGeneration for some things. We have an iPad at home and we use it all the time. For example, if we are watching a movie and we can't ting of an actor's name, we look it up. We want to try a recipe, we look it up, and we don't even think about how it was like before we had an iPad. The only thing that really keeps me from being totally in iGeneration, I think, is that I refuse to get on facebook. I have too many things to do and don't have time for it.

I also fit into the Net Generation because I do lots of things online. I can remember back in the day when we were barely getting Internet in the classrooms (yes, I'm old), I would learn something new and I couldn't wait to share it with my students. I would gather them around the one computer I had in the classroom and show them what to do. Then we would have to wait until our scheduled computer lab time so they could practice what I taught them. We've come a long way since then and I cannot even begin to imagine what it is going to be like in a few more years.

Maria, this was a very interesting article. I was astonished by #2 "There are just too many tools. The go2web20 site lists approximately 2700 applications and tools." I knew there were lots of tools out there, but I had no idea! I think that Web 2.0 is too overwhelming. Teachers should focus on being really good at a handful of them. If you are in the secondary level, you could get together with your team and everyone could become an expert at one tool and teach it to all of the students. Then teachers could create assignments using the different tools without having to master all of them.

This is the 13th year that I've been out of the classroom. As a librarian, I figured that by using the online catalog to look for books was enough. Now after taking these courses, I have realized that there is so much more out there. I don't feel like I've done enough integration because there are so many things I have to do in the library, but I'm working on it. I think my library wiki is a good start. I also think that helping train teachers with some of the Web 2.0 tools is helping too. I get students in the library working on Prezi's and they come to me for help and I can actually help them. I hope that as teachers continue to require students to complete their performance assessments using Web 2.0 tools, I will be able to help out more. I have an online book request form in which students ask me for books they want when they can't make it to the library. I also plan to have students submit book reviews using Prezi and other online tools and post them on the wiki. So am I doing enough tech integration right now? No, not yet, but I'm getting there and these classes have sure made a difference!

Thanks Shannon for this website. I had never heard of it before! I really want to try out the Wii Remote for a SMART board. I watched several videos online before I found this one that really made an impact on me:

http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html

It is an Educational Scientist named Sugata Mitra. He has been running educational experiments with students, focusing on Child Centered Education. He has proven some claims that I know we all know are true, such as "If children have interest, then education happens." Another one is "Children will learn to do what they want to learn to do."

He ran experiments all over, in places such as India, South Africa and Italy. Here's an example of one. He put a computer in a wall with high speed Internet in a small village. Children had never seen a computer before. After two months, he went back and found that students could use the computer to search for information easily. He had lots more examples of the experiments he tried out. They are very eye-opening. If students can do those things by themselves, can you imagine what they could do with a little guidance?