AHA Moments

These past eight weeks have gone by very quickly. I have been introduced to many new Web 2.0 tools that I was not familiar with in the past. My AHA moment was when I realized how using these technology tools can make your lessons so much more interactive and user friendly. I use all of the technological "gadgets" in my classroom such as document cameras, wireless keyboards, and interactive white boards but I had never incorporated Web 2.0 technologies because our district blocks so many of them. By doing some research for this class I have found many technologies out there that our district does not block and some others that are blocked that I am going to ask the district to unblock. I would like to play some more with sites such as Animoto and create some more podcasts using Jing. Even though my students are only in First Grade they are still capable of using many of these technologies that I had always considered to be for the older students. I will now use the computer lab for more than just pre-installed computer programs and actually let my students get on the Internet and use some of these cool tools....with appropriate supervision-of course!