And I saw my reflection in a snow covered hill...

We talk so frequently about reflections in class.  We're told to reflect about everything to think about and try to understand why we do things the way we do.  After class on Friday, I realized I do have some serious reflecting to do because I have definite thoughts about what we're doing, why we've done it, and why.  

I remember being a little kid and being told just because we don't like something or don't understand something doesn't mean that's necessarily bad.  It's just different to us.  And with that, welcome to Abby's personal philosophy on teaching with technology.  Every single idea introduced to us this semester has true and specific merit.  To someone in the class, it may be that defining piece of technology.  I don't have to like it or use it, but I need to understand it and respect it.  Something else may be my thing and it may totally puzzle the person sitting next to me.  I preach keeping an open mind on things so much--really to the point that it probably annoys everyone--but I have to step back and make sure I'm doing that myself.

That being said, Friday was a very productive class for me.  I learned about some online organizational tools I wasn't too familiar with, learned more about some, and found one I love.  Let's go into them a little, shall we?

Skype

I am a Skype girl.  I have been for a few years.  My best friend lives in Minneapolis and Skyping Jessica is more therapeutic then just calling her.  There's something about a face to face connection that you can never doubt.  It makes things seem more real and more genuine.  Last year, my kindergarten kiddos had "pen pals" at a school in Chicago where a friend from undergrad taught a K/1 split class.  Since kids that little tend to not have the best writing skills yet, we had Skype conversations with them a few times a month, as well as sending letters.  It was actually really cool to see how the kids interacted with each other via computer.  They acted like they were in the same room together.  It was adorable trying to see a bunch of five year olds all get some face time.  I think Skype has some significant classroom potential--tutoring and practice come to mind, as well as activities like having a partner class at a school in a different state or country.  I also like the idea of teaching my students about Skype because if they're not familiar with it when they get to me, they need to know the role it plays in the world.  Starting in the fall, I'm teaching 11th grade.  My kids will be 2 years away from college.  Skype your parents.  They miss you.  They'll hear me saying that.

Dropbox

I first started using Dropbox in 2010.  I love it.  It makes life easier on so many levels...I use it to share files with friends and family, I use it to back up files, and as a way to not worry about losing things.  I can almost guarantee that I'll be using Dropbox or another cloud service like it when I begin teaching.  I want my kids to know about the importance of backing up things for common sense reasons (nobody wants to lose things that are important to them!), but also as a way of keeping track of things that can help them for the future.  A great essay they write junior year and want to show in a portfolio senior year is still going to be available to them if they get a new computer over the summer if the file is backed up on something like Dropbox.  And because I am a tree hugger at heart, anything that's paperless is A-OK to me.  I can see myself making a folder on dropbox open for my kids to turn things and using that as a way for me to access their work.  Or if the kids are working on a group project, Dropbox can be used to share research.

Evernote 

Evernote was the program I studied.  I'm fairly familiar with it. I used it when I worked in museum admin without much success.  We never fully clicked with it.  I've never really bought entirely into Evernote.  I think it has some really strong points--like the voice note feature, for example.  The ability to record something and be able to annotate if later is awesome.  But I remember the good old days of when OneNote when was king.  Like when I got my first master's.  We swore by OneNote.  Evernote does much of the same thing, but to me, it has this clunkiness to it.  I don't know why I feel that way, but I do.  I like how you can you the synchronization feature on it be able to access things from any computer, but my like for it ends just about their.  I don't like having to download extra programs onto my computer or a special toolbar for something unless it's crucial...Evernote doesn't feel as crucial to me as other things. 

Diigo

I was fairly familiar with Diigo before this assignment, but I'm now a 100%, full fledged Diigo lover.  It's powerful.  It's portable.  It has what I want and need.  I thought Delicious was cool, but Diigo takes the cake.  I like Diigo because it's incredibly clean: I can have it an app from the Google store for Chrome or as part of a toolbar.  What I like the most about Diigo is how easily accessible everything is.  Things are located in clear and obvious libraries.  I can make note of a specific line within a website or clip an entire website on.  I can get a picture saved forever.  I can make my bookmarks and take them everywhere I go.  What I like most is the annotation ability.  I like that I can bookmark a site, make comments and notes about it, and then share it.  How sweet is that?  I like something and to share it with others who might find it useful is hit a button.  Cake.  Complete and utter cake.  

In the end, I think we all have to evaluate all the options around us to find what technology really works for us.  As a social studies teacher, my technology needs are going to be different from a math teacher, who has different needs then a French teacher.  But we're all going to have one thing we find great.  And that's what a big part of this class is: finding the one thing that works for us and implementing it.

So, let's end with something relevant, okay?  How about something from the Olympics?  Okay?  A recap of opening ceremonies?  I'm down with that.  I'm proud of my British roots.  Though George was my favorite Beatle, I dig Paul.  And I dig 60,000 person sing-alongs.