Week 7

Top 10 Tech Tools I Can’t Live Without

Throughout this course I have found many tech tools that I am very excited to use in my classroom. By combining these tools and a few I already use, I have my Top 10 Tech Tools I Can’t Live Without!

iPad- I got AN iPad for my classroom last year. This year, we will have a classroom set! Of course it’s for the entire school, but I have found some great apps that I know my students will love.
Wiki Classroom- I plan to create a Wiki Classroom for my students this year. With our new “Bring Your Own Device” initiative, this should be a great way to communicate information to students in a new and different way. Allowing them to use their own device to access videos, assignments and due dates will be great. I may start with my upper level classes and see how it goes.

Twitter- Another great way to communicate with my students! I plan to create a class twitter account and invite all my students to follow on the first day of school. I have also enjoyed the communication between other ED505 students.

Animoto- The first thing I thought when I saw the Animoto website was, “ My students will be pumped about this!” I am planning to use Animoto to jazz up lectures and notes as well as letting the students create their own.

Diigo- I needed this tech tool! It is a great way to organize websites that I may only use once a year or sites that I use on a weekly basis.

Prezi- I learned about Prezi last year but never used it. I enjoyed using it for ED505 and it is a nice change from PowerPoint. The animation will keep student’s attention and it would be good to offer as a choice for projects along with PowerPoint.

Bubbl.us- I loved using bubble.us as a thought organizer. It will be great for me or my students to use while brainstorming and organizing ideas for a big project.

Pinterest- I have been using Pinterest for a few years now. I do use it for personal reasons but I have also  found an endless amount of information for my students and my classroom. My students use it to find recipes and sewing projects as well.

Glogster- Glogster and I got off to a rocky start but I grew to like it and I think my students will enjoy making a Glog. The animation, bright colors, and general “funkiness” of  Glogster will definitely appeal to my students.

Rubistar- I have never used a rubric maker and I, honestly, haven’t used rubrics much. I hope to change that this school year. We do a lot of big projects and I think offering a rubric will help keep my students on track throughout the assignment. A rubric will also make it easier to grade those big projects.

Week 6

There are tons of apps available for use in the Family and Consumer Sciences classroom.  I have chosen four apps that go along with the core classes taught in most FACS programs. Those core courses are Parenting/ Child Development, Fashion, Foods and Nutrition and Housing/Interior Design.

The first app is for Parenting and Child Development. The app Parenting Ages and Stages for iPhone and iPad allows students to track the various developmental stages from pregnancy through childhood. The app also offers information on milestones and other topics like nutrition for both mom and child. This would be a welcome change from the developmental stages found in the textbooks. Also, this app would offer more updated information.

The second app I have chosen is for Foods and Nutrition. Epicurious is an app designed for finding recipes and creating shopping lists. This app would allow students to find and save recipes, as well as, creating a shopping list from chosen recipes. You can also use the app while cooking due to its easy to read feature. Although, I doubt I will let my sweet teenagers take new iPads in the kitchen. I often have my students use cookbooks to look up recipes and they would enjoy using iPads or their own devices instead.

Home Design Story is the third app I have chosen. Obviously, this app would be great for Housing and Interior Design. The app would allow students to design their own dream home from the landscaping outdoors to each individual room inside. Students can choose furniture, wall colors and make other important design decisions. This app is a game, but that would be a plus for my students. They always enjoy competition. I would use this as an ongoing assignment. For example, when we discuss color schemes, they could create a color scheme within a room in their dream house.

The last app I have chosen relates to Fashion. Most of you have probably heard of Polyvore. This app allows students to create an outfit collage using clothing, shoes and accessories. They can also search for fashion trends and price clothing. This app would be great for students to identify clothing styles or the elements of design within clothing. Students could create outfits based on a color scheme or find clothing that works within a set budget. Many of my students already use this app and I think they would be surprised (in a good way) to see it used as a learning tool.