Thoughts on Tools Covered in Class

Blogs

A tool I intend to use in the classroom is a blog. I will use it, not only for my benefit, but for my students and their parents. This will give me another means of communication with my students’ parents and my students. I will be able to provide information about me, information about the school, information on student work, and student projects. I can post a calendar of events and homework assignments so parents will always know what is happening. The options are endless when it comes to blogging and would be very beneficial in the classroom.

Spreadsheets

I will be able to use spreadsheets for a variety of tasks in the classroom. I can use it to store my student’s data regarding many areas, to create multiplication tables, or currency tables. Knowing the formulas will reduce the amount of time in creating the tables and will ensure accuracy.

Google Tools

I feel Google tools would be very useful to me as a teacher, as well as my students. There are many tools available that I would use for everyday classroom duties such as the documents tool, form builder, spreadsheets, and presentation creator. Google tools can be accessed anywhere there is an internet connection. I would allow my students to use their creativity to produce presentations using the presentation creator. They would also be able to use the documents tool to create a story, a poem, write a letter, etc. The students would be able to save their work so it doesn’t get lost and share their work with the teacher or anyone else they wish. Google tools is something new to me, but now that I am using it, I have found it to be a wonderful resource that I will continue to use.

Picasa

Picasa is something I will use as a teacher in creating presentations such as powerpoints, as well as other projects that will involve my students. My students will also be able to use Picasa for their presentations. This again will allow them to use their creativity. There are many tools available for editing photos and enhancing them.

ALEX

ALEX will be a very useful tool to me when I start teaching in many ways. There are several features that I know I will use often. The lesson plan feature will be very helpful and time saving. This will allow more time to devote to carrying out the plan effectively. The personal workspace feature will allow me to store and organize my lesson plans as well as submit them to be considered for adding to the ALEX lesson plans. The professional learning feature will be one of the most useful tools. The areas on this feature are very motivating to me as a teacher to be the best that I can be and to know that there is always room for improvement. ALEX is an awesome tool for educators and students allowing them more opportunities to expand learning and is something that I look forward to using.

ACCESS

ACCESS stands for Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide. This is a web-based program that allows students to take advanced placement courses, electives, or other courses that are not offered at their school. ACCESS Distance Learning provides every student an equal opportunity to achieve their goals no matter what their limitations are at the school they attend. Students will get instruction from highly qualified teachers who are provided with multimedia and technology tools for effective teaching. Not only will students interact with teachers, they will be able to interact with other students. ACCESS offers web-based courses as well as interactive video conferencing courses. The online courses can be synchronous or asynchronous. Using ACCESS will allow students to reach for the stars.

ITunes

I feel iTunes would be a very helpful tool to me as a teacher in many ways. If I need supplemental information on a particular subject, I could put in my key words in the search tool and within seconds have many tools to choose from. Another great feature is that you can be anywhere to access it. You can access it through your IPod, phone, Mac, or PC. This would be a great way to maximize your time while in the car or in an airplane. There are great organizational tools available as well. You can organize your tracks in folders for easy access. I know how crazy and full my days are, but knowing I can go to a specific folder and find everything I need in one place makes for a better day.

Podcasts

I will definitely use podcasts as a teaching and learning tool for my students. I could do my own podcast on a particular subject and let my students listen to them in a listening center and have some sort of task assigned with it for my students to complete. I would also have my students create their own podcast. This would allow them to not only learn about the particular subject they will be speaking on, but show their creativeness and have fun along the way. This would be another option besides a pencil and paper test.

Delicious

I have found Delicious to be a great social bookmarking tool to have available to me. This is a great way to organize websites that I visit often for easy access. There is also a link to see the list of the most popular bookmarks. By adding my friends and my family members to my network, I can view their interesting bookmarks.