Web 2.0 Resources

This week's assignment included creating another concept map using Bubbl.us, creating a glog using Glogster.com, creating a video using Animoto.com, and a free choice activity.    
 Overall, I liked using Glogster and Animoto. My free choice activity was Blabberize. I enjoyed using each tool, but I did find them a bit frustrating at first. I chose "The Five Senses" as my theme for creating these projects. The five senses is part of the kindergarten science course of study.
      I had created a glog a few years ago as part of my undergraduate coursework, but I had forgotten some of the tricks to using Glogster. I can see how Glogster could be an important classroom tool, but a glog does require a good bit of time to create. My "Five Senses" glog is a general overview of the five senses, and it is meant to be used during whole group instruction.
     The second tool that I used was Animoto to create a  video about the sense of touch. I took my own pictures of items with different textures or characteristics (rough, smooth, soft, hard, wet, dry, hot, and cold). Animoto was fairly easy to use. The only problem that I had with Animoto was that many of my pictures were too large for Animoto (my files were too large). I shot my pictures using a Canon T3i. I think that if I create another Animoto video, I may use a camera that takes smaller pictures (smaller files).
     For my free choice, I chose to use Blabberize.com to create "blabbers". During some of my undergraduate fieldwork, I observed another teacher using blabbers in her first grade classroom. I chose to create blabbers using a picture of my dog. My blabbers ask short questions about the sense of touch. My blabbers use short questions and sentences since they were designed for use with kindergarten students.
     I liked the Web 2.0 resources, even though they were a bit time consuming. However, as teachers we must always work to integrate new technology to engage and motivate our students. Creating the glogs, videos, blabbers, etc. correctly one year can lead to many years of effective instruction. 

Here are links to my creations and my concept map of the five senses:

Glogster-Mrs. Davis's 5 Senses Glog



Animoto- Mrs. Davis's Sense of Touch Video



Blabberize- Palmer and the Sense of Touch Blabber




     Another Blabber with Palmer about the Sense of Touch


      One More Blabber with Palmer about the Sense of Touch