Final Reflection

Wow!!!  I did it!!!  Originally I wasn't going to take this course because I heard it was took too much  time.  I will agree that it did take some time, but I enjoyed it and learned a ton.  I surprised myself every week because everything was easier to create than I thought and I had fun using the web tools.
It seem that the most difficult part for me was finding the HTML code to embed. 

I liked the blog format for continuous updating.  I could see using a blog in my classroom to let the parents know what we are doing and to share pictures or videos of what is happening.  I could see myself embedding songs that we sign and activities that we do.  I did spend quite a bit of time creating a new web page for my free choice so I plan to keep that.  I will keep the web page as a source of information for my families and add a tab to the classroom blog for more current events in our classroom.  

I will use many of the web tools in my classroom.  Digital story telling would be a great way for our class to write stories together.  I could then embed the story on our classroom blog to share it with the student's parents.  Tagxedo could be used to list words that describe a subject that we have just finished learning about.  For example, in October we do a unit on pumpkins.  For a final activity our class could brainstorm describing words for a pumpkins and create a Tagxedo with the words.  I think kindergarten students would love this activity.  I might even create a sign for my door with words to describe kindergarten and what we will learn this year.  I can see myself using Spicynode quite frequently.  We create a lot of webs during class discussions.  I like how Spicynode takes webs to the next level and extends each part out for more information.  Polling could be hard to use with each individual student, but maybe I could put a poll on the blog for families to answer.  During our Thanksgiving unit, we could poll what are you most thankful for and look the results each day with the students.  I am excited to use cloud computing to share our classroom calendar with our families.  The kindergarten specialist teacher even added in our specialist rotation.  This will be a quick easy way for parents to know what is happening in kindergarten each day.    Wow, I can't believe how much I learned this summer.  And I can't wait to implement it into my day.