This document provides an overview of ways to integrate technology into the elementary classroom through inexpensive and engaging methods. It discusses using free online tools like Kahoot, Glogster, and Voicethread to enhance lessons. Specific ideas are presented for using timers, online storage, avatars, and graphic organizers in the classroom. The document also reviews creating movies, flashcards, quizzes, and surveys as digital tools to support teaching and learning.

1. Technology
Integration in
the elementary
classroom
Presented by
Patti Wyatt ESC 15
San Felipe Del Rio
CISD
October 26, 2011

2. Introduction to
the Digital Kids

3. Inexpensive Ways to
Integrate Technology to
Enhance Curriculum
. . . or, how to connect
with your students on
a consistent basis.

4. Gaming
Pageantry of Gadgetry
What is your favorite piece of educational technology?
4

5. Why Integrate Technology?
• Digital Native Map
• Students learn best when they are engaged with what they are
studying, when they are making decisions, when they are thinking
critically—(technology in any classroom encourages this).
• ―Preparing our students not only to be digitally savvy, but
leveraging these technologies to help them create, communicate,
connect and collaborate will prepare them to be contributing
citizens to their future.‖ The Super Book of Web Tools for
Educators
• ―Your students are going to use this technology either because of
you, or in spite of you.‖ The Super Book of Web Tools for
Educators 5

6. Technology in the Classroom
Consider the following points as you plan to
incorporate technology into a classroom or school:
Technology. . .
• is a tool, not an end in and of itself.
• can be an advantage or an abused.
• is a channel for accessing information.
• reaches student’s learning styles.
• provides amazing new channels for communications.
• can be fun; sometimes it is edutainment.
AND
• is a heavy investment of capital outlay dollars and requires
substantial cost to upgrade and to keep operational.
• is extremely difficult to justify if it lies unused or becomes
outmoded.

7. Focus for Today
1. To give you ideas for integration
2. To share free websites and tools that can
enhance curriculum
3. To motivate you to use technology in your
lessons
7

8. The Hat
Classroom Applications
• Who should I call on??? Let the Hat determine. Keeps
students ready with an answer. . .
• Creates attentiveness
• Random selection of pairs
http://download.cnet.com/The-Hat/3000-2132_4-
10074565.html?tag=recommendedDownloads
(Avoid installing the Harmony Hollow Toolbar)
Show ―The Hat‖
8

9. Cool Timer
Classroom application:
• Teacher at beginning of hour puts up three review
questions from the previous day’s learning, students must
answer the questions with or without help from fellow
students before the timer ends. Gets students to the
room and ready to learn.
• Time students as they work on a project
• Time student s to come back together to start a new
activity
http://download.cnet.com/Cool-Timer/3000-2350_4-
10062255.html
(Avoid installing the Harmony Hollow Toolbar)
Show Cool Timer
9

10. Website Online Storage
Site for easily storing, accessing and sharing all of your
favorite sites.
Classroom Applications:
• Save and organize sites for a unit or topic
• Students could use a previewed hotlist of resources
• Share curricular sites with colleagues
Diigo: http://www.diigo.com (furl absorbed by Diigo)
Copy and organize anything
(bookmarks, highlights, notes, screenshots, pictures, articles, bibliographie
s), access anywhere, share with others.
Diigo tutorial: http://www.slideshare.net/cliotech/diigo-tutorial-presentation
De.lici.ous: http://delicious.com/
I Keep Bookmarks: http://www.ikeepbookmarks.com/
10

11. Diigo Educator Features
• Create student accounts for an
entire class with just a few clicks
• Students of the same class are automatically set
up as a Diigo group, such as group bookmarks
and annotations.
• Privacy settings of student accounts are pre-set
so that only teachers and classmates can
communicate with them.
• Examples…Debate, foreign language

12. Bloom’s Taxonomy of Web 2.0
Bloom’s Taxonomy Blooms Digitally-- http://kathyschrock.net/g
http://techlearning.com/article/8670 oogleblooms/

13. VoiceThread
Classroom Applications:
• Share images and create
conversations
• Communicate on line
• Use of online audio
communication
www.voicethread.com
Example
13

14. Integration ideas
Classroom Applications:
• Post presentations online for
students to view later
• Save class time
Brain Shark
https://my.brainshark.com
Example
Slide Share http://www.slideshare.net

15. Avatars
Classroom Applications:
• Creative announcements or messages
• Used for student presentations
Voki http://www.voki.com/ (Recorded voice)
Example 1 Example 2
Xtranormal http://www.xtranormal.com/
(text to speech) Example
15

16. Creating Books Online
Classroom Applications:
• Creative writing
• Summaries or reviews
• Publishing and sharing ideas
ToonDoo http://www.toondoo.com/ Example
Tikatok http://www.tikatok.com/
Comic Creator
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic
Bookr www.pimpampum.net/bookr (all pictures must be in flickr)
16

17. Online Scrapbooks
• Glogster – www.glogster.com
• Example
• http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/
• Tagxedo – www.tagxedo.com
• word cloud with shape, can even add photos
(Must download Microsoft Silverlight)
• Wordle - www.wordle.net
• Image Chef -
http://www.imagechef.com/ic/word_mosaic/

18. Timeline Generators
Classroom Applications:
• Brainstorm an idea with individual or class
• Organize thoughts
• Capture ideas
• Historical events
TimeGlider: http://timeglider.com/ Example
Student Interactive Timeline:
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-
interactives/timeline-30007.html
Excel Timeline:
http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/timeline.html
Links to many timeline generators: http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-
make-a-timeline 18

19. Podcasting/Vodcasting
Classroom Applications:
• Assist auditory learners
• Facilitate material review
• Deliver online lectures
• Provide supplementary content
Audacity: a free, open source software for recording and editing sounds.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Lame encoder allows Audacity to export MP3 files.
http://lame.sourceforge.net/download.php
Audacity tutorial http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/17-audacity-tutorial.htm
Itunes u – Emerging Technologies in the Classroom
Examples: Book Reviews, Campaign Videos, This I Believe
19

20. Webcams
Classroom Applications:
• Interact with the community – webcam from location
to a classroom
• Communicate with your class when you are gone
• Interact with students on homebound
• Communicate with other schools during PLC
• Interact (talk using microphone, chat free with anyone – even
internationally)
www.skype.com (2 video participants, 24 audio participants)
me.tokbox.com (up to 20 participants)
www.dimdim.com (collaborate, share documents, white board, even
record session)
www.stickam.com (stream live video on the internet)
20

21. Graphic Organizers
Classroom Applications:
• Brainstorm an idea with individual or class
• Organize thoughts
• Capture ideas
Webspiration:
http://www.mywebspiration.com/
Example
Mindmeister: http://www.mindmeister.com/
Bubble.us: http://bubbl.us
21

22. Flashcards
Classroom Applications:
• Class Review
• Individual Review
• Create Flashcards
Quizlet: http://quizlet.com/math-and-science
Flash Card Exchange http://www.flashcardexchange.com/index.php
22
Flash Card Machine http://www.flashcardmachine.com/

23. Quizzes
Classroom Applications:
• Provides interactive and collaborative review sessions
• Allows individual practice and drill in a non-threatening
environment
• Allows another avenue of review and study for various learning
styles
• Allows anywhere/anytime review if activities are online
Quizstar: http://quizstar.4teachers.org/
Quiz Revolutions: http://www.mystudiyo.com/
Other quiz programs: http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/31494
23

24. Templates of All Kinds
Templates of all kinds
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/TemplateGallery/
Recognize student work with pre-designed certificates
http://www.123certificates.com/
http://www.dyetub.com/certificates/traditional/
24

25. Survey & Polls (Free)
Classroom Applications:
• Source for survey data
• Lesson plan on graphing
• Source for gathering opinions on current events or curricular issues
• Interdisciplinary projects involving a group of teachers
• Pretests
• Brainstorming prior to reading
www.surveykey.com (100 people, 10 questions, up to 30 days)
www.zoomerang.com (100 people, up to 10 days)
www.surveymonkey.com (100 people, 10 questions)
www.polleverywhere.com (audience response system that uses
mobile phones, twitter, and the web)
GoogleDoc Forms – must create account, no restrictions, results in
spreadsheet or graph form. Example
25

26. Creating Movies
Classroom Applications:
• Create a video presentation for any curricular area
• Explain or demonstrate concepts
MovieMaker – http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker-get-
started With Windows Live Movie Maker, you can quickly turn your
photos and videos into polished movies. Add special effects,
transitions, sound, and captions to help tell your story. And sharing
with friends and family is easy—whether on the web, a computer, TV,
mobile device, or a DVD.*
Animoto www.animoto.com Takes photos, video clips and music and
automatically creates completely unique video slideshows. Example
26

27. Rubrics
Classroom Applications:
• Evaluate student projects
• Student evaluation/rubric
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php a free tool to help the teacher
who wants to use quality rubrics but does not have the time to
develop them from scratch.
http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/general/ Contains
numerous rubrics that are linked by categories and concepts.
http://myt4l.com/index.php?v=pl&page_ac=view&type=tools site to
create rubrics and more
27

28. Thinkfinity: Great Classroom
Resource
Access to high-quality, standards-based lesson plans, student
activities, reviewed websites and other resources
Classroom Applications:
• Teacher tool used to create reviews for standardized testing and higher-
level thinking applications
• Lesson plan library
• Resources for online and traditional research
• Previewed (by teachers) Internet resources
Thinkfinity Lesson Plans and Interactive Resources
http://www.thinkfinity.org/
28

29. Ideas for Halloween
www.thinkfinity.org/bump-in-
the-night
Carve a virtual pumpkin!
http://www.theoworlds.com/
halloween/

30. MSOffice Productivity
Classroom Applications
• Teacher/peer editing
• Grading projects created in Word documents
Comments (Word) – Under the Review Tab
2007-2010- http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/insert-or-delete-
a-comment-HA001219010.aspx
30

31. Other Resources
Other good technology sites:
• Lee’s Summit Technology
http://its.leesummit.k12.mo.us/
• Olathe
http://online.olatheschools.com/depts/irc/
• Cool Tools for Teachers
http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/
• Discovery Education Web 20.11
http://web2011.discoveryeducation.com/
• Go 2 Web 2.0
http://www.go2web20.net/

32. Recognizing Obstacles
Why don’t teachers integrate technology:
• Time--it takes too much time
• Fear - students will know more than I do
• Money
• Equipment
― The greater the stress associated with the activity,
the smaller the cadre of teachers willing to give such
activities a try.‖ Jamie McKenzie, Nov. FNO
(http://fno.org)
Don’t let this be YOU!!!
32

34. Your Challenge
1. Use one thing you learned today in
the next week.
2. Share what you learned today with
your colleagues (become a
technology leader).
34