Tool #11 Reflection

1.  One of my favorite tools would have to be the blogger tool.  I like the fact that students have a another tool that allows them to ask questions, provide answers, or even reflect.  Students often feel inhibited in a normal setting, but being able to do it in a virtual environment could be beneficial for some students.  I like some of the media tools, such as Photostory and I-movie. 
2.  I am happy to see that a lot of the technology needed to take advantage of the electronic tools are being provided for us. 
3.  I was dreading trying attacking some of the media tools, but thanks to the tutorials, it wasn't as dificult as I was expecting.

Tool #11 Digital Citizenship

I think that this is one of the most important tools in my toolbox.  I know too many adults that quote way too many things that they learned on the Internet, and for the most part I am dubious about the veracity of said quotes.  It is easy to accept information based on the look of a website.  In my own experience I quite often turn to blogs when trying to diagnose automotive troubles.  Many of the bloggers that I run into claim to be professional mechanics and yet they often contradict each other.  If most adults have a hard time with digital literacy, then our students are going to have the same problem.  We need to stress to our students that they need to check their resources.  Currently we do this by limiting their searches to websites that we trust, but we don't often share why we consider certain sites to be trustworthy.
The legal consequences facing our youth is a great concern to me.  We have to make it clear, especially to our fifth graders, that they are responsible for any inappropriate behavior online. 
There's no going back to analog at this point.

Tool #10 Exploring mobile technologies and apps

I liked Pop Math- It is an interesting game that students could use to develop math facts proficiency.
I can see the potential for using many of the reading apps- I particularly enjoyed the audible app which would work great for ESL students.
Many of the free apps available make using the i-touch a more exciting and engaging for the students.

Tool #9 Jing, Screencast and Skype

I like how Skype can actually help you communicate with anyone around the world for FREE. I can see how this can be used for a career day activity, college day or talk to an expert when doing a research project or experiment.
Jing offers one more resource for students to beef up their videos, or photo books and make them more interesting. I particularly like the narration feature.

Tool #8 Video Resources

Video recources a a good tool for students to include in a powerpoint presentation or a wiki site.  Sometimes it is good to see how to do something first hand, rather than to read a set of directions.

http://www.gamequarium.org/cgi-bin/search/linfo.cgi?id=7539

Tool #7 Digital Stroytelling

Students could use a set of pictures taken during an experiment, field trip, vacation, etc. to develop a story based on those pictures.
Check out my Photostory about a lunar eclipse that I photographed in 2003.

Tool #6 Wikis

A teacher could set up a wiki for his class, and the students and their parents could use it as a resource for keeping up with assignments, or if they are looking for help in completing a particular assignement.  Google sites seems to make it easy for you to set up a wiki using their site.