It's so hard to say goodbye!....Final Post

Once again this class has just flown by for me. And yet, I have learned so much in such a short amount of time. I would like to highlight just a few of my favorite learning experiences from this course. First, from Rose, I learned how exciting these web2.0 resources can be to a tech-newbie. I loved her enthusiasm for the tools and it renewed my enthusiasm for many of the tools, but especially readwritethink.org. From Karen, I learned who was behind Chacha! I was so excited to learn that students are working behind the scenes. What a great summer job for them. How 21st Century to be using your cell phone for business! From Melissa, I learned that Google Maps is a great place for creating virtual tours (even when students cannot go to the actual places, they can create a travel-brochure type tour). I love this idea! Colleen really blew me away with all of the wonderful applications for Kindergarten as well as introducing me to Schoolrack for creating easy and friendly websites. I have added it to my delicious bookmarks. Cheryl's idea of using random pictures to develop a creative story for her voicethread was fabulous! It is like scrap booking a story. I think students could really get into this idea (give them 5 pictures and ask them to write a story). Heather showed me how to finally use Pursued Star, and I love it! I have already thought of some new applications for it with my preservice teachers. Lisa was such a quick study and learner. I love the story she shared with us about cell phones and the teachers (the ones who could not retrieve the messages) in her school. It reminded me how important it is for all of us to stay abreast of new technologies in student culture so that we can communicate with them and more importantly monitor their communication!

Thank you all! Please stay in touch. I really enjoy hearing from all of you and I am happy to be a resource in the future if you are in need.

Liz