Looking at Liz Kolb's blog is it a little bit overwhelming because there are so many different resources and ways that a teacher can incorporate cell phones into the classroom.  I have always had a hard time trying to envision using cell phones in the classroom.  I always thought that cell phones would be distracting due to texting and the internet but there are so many bonuses to having cell phones in the classroom that my views are changing.  Liz shows many that cell phones are helpful and useful in the classroom. 

ClassPager is a way to communicating with students and allowing them to answer a question directly to the question that you have asked.  I would envision using this with the parents in my classroom.  I am hoping to teach elementary school and so this would be a tool to communicate with the parents and allow them to ask questions or answer ones that I have asked them.  I can see this working if I needed help in the classroom or needed for the parents to send something with their child the following day. 

TextClues is a app where you can text directions to your students or anyone for that matter and then once they find the first clue then you can text them the next clue.  I can see myself using this app for when we are trying to do something outside or when I want my students to find something on their own.  I can give them clues as they get closer or when they find the things that I am wanting them to find I can give them clues to the next item.  I think this would be a fun way to interact as a class and get to explore the world outside. 

Remind101 is an app that we have been using in ECMP355 and it has been such an effective way to communicate with students and parents.  I really like the idea of having this way of communicating with different parents, classes or even colleagues.  I like that the people who you are texting cannot get your cell phone number with.  I think it has been effective way of communicating with us in this class and I would totally use it in my classroom.  I think I could probably even use it when we are in class maybe during silent time and I need to communicate something with the students.  I could text them if some more instructions needed to be passed on and I didn't want to interrupt the whole class.  I could even maybe send them to individual students.

The list of apps that I could use in the classroom from the blog and the session could go on and on because there are so many great apps out there.  These are just the couple that I saw and thought that there was some way that I could incorporate them in a realistic way. 

For the second part of this tech task I chose to do daily creates.  The first daily create that I chose to do was in the photography section and it was #487 -- Take a picture of something that represents your favourite season! The link to my picture is here but this is my actual picture that I posted:

Can you guess what my favorite season is? :)

The second daily create that I did was in the writing section and it was number 484.  It asked to google your favourite color and then write a three line poem about the first option.  Of course the first option that came up for me was Wikipedia! Here is the link to my poem and then the poem itself:

Somewhere in between red and blue,
A deep, rich shade that is so true,
Worn by Romans and Bishops and means royalty and piety.

The last daily challenge that I picked was a audio one and it was challenge 253.  It asked to play a song in reverse or a clip of it and then play it the regular way and see if people can guess what song it is! For this one I got to use SoundCloud which is a really cool website.  Here is the link to my song!

Can you guess which song it is?!

For the first task I chose to create two different 5 card stories!  The first story that I did was actually about technology! I saw the different pictures and they fit perfectly :)

The second story that I made was about the beauty of the things around us :)

Even since I started elementary school in 1995 things have changed so much.  When I started school we didn't have computers in our classrooms, there was a scheduled time once a week where we were able to go to the computer lab.  Our assignments were to be hand written instead of typed.  There was an emphasis on exploring our world and going being okay with being uncomfortable with what we were learning.  We had spelling tests weekly and when we did not have spelling tests it was a week off.  We went to music, gym and library class which were some of my favorite subjects.  By the time I hit high school (2005) school had already changed so much.  Teachers were using computers, powerpoints, and different types of multimedia in order to present the information to us.  The thing I remember most about my grade school experience was that the teachers cared.  They were excited to have us in their classrooms and they let us learn in a way that is most suited to us.

One thing that I would want to change about schooling is allowing students to learn in a way that is best suited for them.  Some students learn best by using a computer or iPad, looking up words as the class is going on or typing up their essays.  There are other students who would rather write out assignment or cannot pay attention when they have devices in front of them so they need another way of taking down notes or information so that they get the most out of it.  There are so many different ways that students can learn, it is not just about a blackboard and paper any more.  There are many different devices, programs and sites that can HELP students learn.  Many teachers believe that technology is going to ruin the classroom.  I can see where they come from.  Bringing technology into the classroom is a difficult thing for me because I have grown up in a era that did not have this in the classroom.  I think although technology plays a crucial role in the classroom.  There are so many different things that you can do in the classroom because of technology and it is necessary to allow students and yourself to explore those options.

I want to be a teacher that provides the best possible learning space for my students as they are the reason why I am going to be a teacher.  It may be a space where technology is really present for many student but it may be a space where there is other sources of things for students to learn from.  There are so many different sites, programs, apps and information due to technology that it is necessary to have it in your classroom.  It is the world we are living in now and sometimes you just have to jump on the train and learn how it can make you a better teacher and how it can help students learn more effectively. 

Books books and more books! I love books, I love reading them for classes, for pleasure and I am so excited to have my own classroom library one day! The Google component or tool that I am going to be exploring is Google books.  I knew that you could look for books through the search engine.  Mostly I used it for finding a author name or for different things like that when I need it for a bibliography.  BUT there are so many other things that you can do with it that I never knew about.  For one things there are FREE e-books. Yahoo! I don't know if any of them are good but I am sure that there are a couple that are okay.  I think that I would use this tool to books for books that I may want to read or for getting resources for papers or if I need for information for another reasons. 

Another feature that I would love to use in my classroom is the library aspect of Google books.  I don't know how to work it all yet but I think it would be so cool to build up a library and have the students be able to see the different books that they are able to check out or read when they are in the classroom.  I think that it could also be a way of keeping track of the books that I have in the classroom and even potentially which ones the students have out.  I have seen different sites where the students can check out different books and you can see which students have which books out.  I would like to use Google books because it would be convenient and because I would be able to keep track of everything on one account. 

Yay for Google!
Carlee

My name is Carlee Quiring and I am originally from Winnipeg, MB but moved to Saskatchewan in 2008 to go to Briercrest College to play volleyball.  Last April I graduated from Briercrest with my bachelor of arts in humanities and now I am going into my third year of Education! In 2011 I got married to a wonderful guy and we currently live in Caronport with our 6 month old puppy :)
   
Some things I really enjoy doing are being outside, being active, scrapbooking, knitting and anything volleyball.  My favorite subjects in school are English and History which is what I majored in throughout my arts degree.

I am really nervous about this course because I am not really good with technology but I am really looking forward to learning more about what is out there and how it can be used in the classroom!

Have a wonderful day!
Carlee