Blog Post #12

4Teachers is a useful link that elementary teachers use. Go to this site and watch the first video Cyber Summit on 21st Century Skills and write a response of what the video was about and your opinion of the program. Browse the site. Also in your post include three tools you found on this website that will help you in your career as a teacher and explain what each tool could help with. Success Stories is a link listed on the 4Teachers site. Go to this link and choose one story from a teacher or a student and explain what was discussed in the testimony. Then be sure to look for teacher or student on Twitter and send them a thank you tweet for their testimony. Remember to save this to your PLN it can be very beneficial!

My Assignment
Cyber Summit on 21st Century Skills video makes a good point by discussing when adding technology teachers need to keep the ball rolling. I think this is important because if we have time for bumps in the road then that opens time for people to realize things are changing and lets face it change is intimidating. When working with younger students introducing them to new technology daily will help them become motivated. As the teacher, Kim Herron, says in the video "I don't think learning should be inside four walls and in one textbook." I stand by this one statement. This teacher allows her students to create a virtual museum to study about civilizations. The students were able to work together and learn new exciting things. Each student was given a specific task that suited them. This is almost like a field trip. Everything is hands on with the students completing the work so that the information sinks in and the cost is almost free!Technology also gives struggling students a new window to learning. It gives them advantages of collaborating with their classmates and working together. I love the thought of this. If only everyone could build from the positive factors of technology the world could be such a more productive and better place.
When looking over the site I actually created my own classroom (Of course for the free 30 day trial period). I included all of my children as my students, by doing so I have got to play teacher a little through online games with my children for homework. This site allows me to post their individual assignments in which they log in under their name to see and it keeps up with their progress. My Son has problems with spelling so I had him play some games for spelling. One of my favorites for spelling was Kitten Hop. The computer calls a word out and you have to select the ball that contains the correct letters to spell them. All of my children enjoyed Jet Ski typing, Jet Ski Race and Frogs. Jet Ski typing comes in handy especially with my second grader. They have changes their spelling test from paper to computer. I saw a tremendous drop in his grades when this happened because he was spending so much time looking for the right keys that he would forget what he was typing. He actually enjoys playing this game because he is competitive and it give you the option to play with children around the world while saving his progress.


Kathy Gathers testimony discusses different ways to teach children keyboarding techniques. She has started her first graders off with keyboarding by having them practice five minutes a day. I feel that this will help the children tremendously. It goes along with the video. Baby steps will keep the ball rolling but also have the students comfortable and not overwhelmed to learn. She uses a visual technique by having a picture of hands with the fingers numbered so that when a child gets frustrated she can easily say right finger number three to help them locate the keys. She list many sites and tools elementary teachers would value for daily routines. She will definitely be added to my Twitter Account! Unfortunately the only aspect that I didn't like about this site is that the last time it was updated was in 2001. The sites and testimonies are beneficial but so many things have changes since then.