My thoughts have definitely changed during the course of this class.  I have learned so much that I can use in my personal life and professional life.  My favorite part of this class was the module with productivity.  I am always for searching for ways to be more productive and ways for my students to be more productive.  I did find myself a bit envious at times of my classmates that teach secondary students.  With my students being 6 and 7 sometimes it is complicated to explain how to utilize certain apps.  I will say, however, that my students surprise me more and more every day with what they are capable of.   Sometimes I even find myself learning from them!

I have thoroughly enjoyed this class and have taken away so much.  It is great to “take a look” into other teacher classrooms and see how they have utilized technology.   I have so many ideas I want to integrate next year.   I thought all of topics were appropriate and unfolded at a great pace.  I was able to read all of my colleagues post and explore the apps that were interesting to me.  At times I felt overwhelmed by the information that was being shared.  Every app I read about, I was sure I needed to download and try.  I realized this was not possible, but did make a plan to use the apps that would enhance my instruction and the ability to plan meaningful instruction.  Thank you for the opportunities!  

Wow!  I can’t believe we are in a place in education where our students are using mobile apps to enrich, support, or enhance their learning.  It is unbelievable!  Being a first grade teacher the thought of this frightened me a little.  How am I going to get 20 first graders using an app at once, finding the app, knowing what to do with the app, etc?  I was really surprised the first time I tried.  Students are so much more experienced with this than I thought and really help the others who are not.  They have a way of explaining it so much better than I could in kid friendly terms.

I have used apps in the classroom for a variety of reasons and I am discovering more everyday!  I have used them to support an English language learner, to support our Everyday Math Curriculum, to differentiate instruction, as interventions in the classroom, and as a reward for students working towards a certain goal. 

Eventually, I could see all students having or bringing their own devices to school and learning on them quite a bit daily.  I think this will start at the older grade levels and I am sure have a trickling down effect.  In which case, I will probably need another course on how to utilize these apps and devices to the maximum effectiveness in the classroom.  Until then, I am creating interactive flip charts utilizing the promethean board and using apps where I see it appropriate to enhance my students learning. 

Being Productive

When I first read this week’s module about productivity, I got nervous.  I didn’t think I used any productivity apps.  After reading all of the apps we discovered and what Dr. McCullough mentioned, I realized I was using many of them.  We have all of this technology to help us to be more productive and I think that is the important thing to keep in mind when trying to find apps that are productive for you.  Some of the apps I tried using were more steps or additional steps than what I was originally using to begin with.

Some of the apps I have been using have helped me to save time and manage my time more wisely.  I use an app with my daycare provider daily to keep track of my daughter’s feedings, diaper changes, medical changes, naps, and activities.  It helps my husband and I to drop her off and not need to recap when she last ate or slept and so on.  It links to all of our phones so we can stay connected. I honestly do not know what I would do without it!   As much as I originally didn’t want a smart phone or the availability to be available all the time, I don’t know what we did before them.

I have not found a place for productivity with my students; however I utilize apps that help me to become a better teacher, which in turns directly affects them.  My productivity apps allow me schedule meetings, keep up on emails and important notifications, determine meeting possibilities for many team members, and so much more.  This helps to free up some of my time, that I can use to plan more for my students.  The only thing I worry about is, sometimes we depend so much on these apps (a little too much).  If our phone breaks or computer we are left in the dark about many things going on in our lives and it is hard to function!

Tech Savy

I have already learned so much about camera, apps, and editing just from our first week!  Other than I am a new mom and have exhausted my space on my iphone already, I do not know anything about camera apps.  I have downloaded the instagram app (mainly because everyone else I know uses it), however I have not done anything with it.

I am weary of using photo hosting sites.  I recently have been trying to figure out a way to “back-up” all of my photos.  It seemed through my research, I need a portable hard drive.  Now I am looking into the photo hosting site.  I have used shutter-fly, but it takes forever to upload photos.  That is a drawback for me, I do not have a lot of times.  Is there a way for this to happen automatically, I take a picture and it is automatically backed up.  I am also nervous because what happens if these photo hosting sites go away?  Can that happen?  I guess I don’t understand this process at all.  I need someone to walk me through this step by step!

Mobile presentations I have no experience with either.  I have started to make interactive flip charts through Active Inspire.  Does that count?  Other than that I have a lot to learn.  I considered myself “tech savy” and I am starting to realize I am having trouble keeping up!  I would love for my students to be able to create presentations in the classroom and I know they would love this.  It is something I will make a goal to somehow provide my students with experience with this, even if it is in a whole group setting!  

Who Am I?
Hello Bloggers!  My name is Melissa O'Shell.  I teach first grade at Pleasant Gap Elementary and this is my fifth year of teaching.  I love first grade and couldn't imagine teaching another grade.  I am excited to learn about mobile apps and explore different resources with all of you!  I swore I would never own a smart phone and now I don't know what I did before I had one.  I married my husband David, four years ago.  Last year we welcomed our first daughter, SaBella Marie.  She is so much fun and I love to watch her learn and grow!  I have been seeing a ton of apps to help her learn as well, I am just not quite sure how I feel about that yet.  This is the last class I need to complete my Mater's, and I am very excited about that.  I have taken one of Dr. McCullough's classes before.  It was very informative and useful to me as an educator, so I am truly looking forward to this one!  Nice to meet all of you!