Discussion+Question+Module+2+Links

=Module 2 Links from EDT 658 Appleton 12 Cohort= __[| http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech148.shtml]__ This link includes an interesting article from a director of technology for a district in North Dakota talking about how digital cameras are used in all levels, K-12. However the best part of the article is a supplementary list at the end which has two dozen suggested activities for utilizing digital cameras in the classroom. Although almost none of the are applicable to my high school age students some of the ideas would be so fun for an elementary classroom. I love the suggestion about going around taking pictures of objects in the school that are squares, triangles, parallel lines, obtuse angles, etc.

__[]__ More of an essay/report, this link was much more age appropriate for my students and introduced some interesting topics to cover concerning digital images for a high school teacher. It links to two images from the 1920s – one showing Trotsky with Lenin, the other with Trotsky removed. It introduces the topic of photo manipulation, something that has obviously been attempted for decades but is now quite easy and widely used by some media sources. Students need to be aware of how misleading pictures can be and through learning the process of photo manipulation by studying propaganda posters and the like they can see how easy the process is and will learn to be more critical of these sources in the future.

__[]__ A neat website called “1001Uses for a Digital Camera” and its broken up into links for different subject areas. It has a link to submit a lesson plan so I think the goal is to eventually get 1001 uses but right now its only like 20…! Social studies has only one that applies to the upper levels but it is a neat idea – students would take pictures of things around school and put together a booklet for new students. A great idea for a school as large and convoluted as Hortonville… seriously our building is a maze to newcomers!

__[]__ PicLits.com is a site that has digital photos with which you can add your own words on top of the photos and then share them with others. I like that the photos are scrolling along the top of the screen to allow you to drag and drop the one you want. The words underneath the pictures are categorized by parts of speech and can also be dragged onto the photo. You can also just add words on your own with Freestyle. Once you have created your PicLit, you can save it, share it or email it. It looks like soon you will be able to print your photos too. This is a great way to be creative, inspirational and build vocabulary using digital photography.

__[]__ / Fotobabble.com is a really neat idea and it’s free. You upload a photo and then record a message to go with your photo. It was very easy to do. I did have to sign up for an account with a username, password and email. After you have created a fotobabble, you can share it in many different ways and you can also copy the embed code and put it on your blog or wiki.

__[]__ This site is so much fun. You upload a photo and fill in some information. Then the site will create a Wanted Poster for you. I made a poster of my son Robert and put it on my wiki. Check it out!

__[]__ This website offers 13 steps to teaching children about photography. The steps use common-sense advice and are easy to understand. Too often we just give kids the camera and expect them to know what to do. This site gets them started and thinking about what to do to get a great picture. Some of the lessons talk about how to hold the camera, check out your backgrounds, and take pictures from different angles.

__[]__ This site gives a number of ways to use digital photos in the classroom. Not only does it give ideas for most subject areas, it also discusses ways the school can use photos for new students.

__[]__ This site tops them all. It is actually to difficult to describe what it all has to offer. You simply need to go to this site and see for yourself.

__[]__ This is an actual article I found in regards to the use of digital cameras and the impact it plays on student achievement.

__[]__ The Wacona Elementary School in Georgia has a great page put together by the Technology Instructor. This page contains information focusing on the following questions: Why Use a Digital Camera?, Is There Anything I Should Be Concerned About?, and Where Do I Start?. Also included are lesson ideas and a section with online references and links.

__[]__ This site gives links for many different topics related to the digital camera. There are links that will help you choose a camera, FAQ (frequently asked questions regarding digital cameras), and many ideas for using digital photography and cameras in the classroom (most are broken down by subject area or grade level). One negative is that some links no longer work.

__[]__ This article shares a few examples of how digital photography is used in a North Dakota school district (kindergartners through high school). For example, students made movies about big events in the area and attached them to a website while others created a webpage about the area’s history. The article also contains 24 activities that incorporate the use of digital cameras in the classroom.

__[]__ They show different examples of how to use digital photos with math, writing prompts, using classroom pictures to make slide shows, and using them in a blog. They also talk about how great Flickr is for organizing pictures.

__[]__ This is actually a PDF file that has many uses for digital images in the classroom. A few examples are a class or school paper, personalized name or desk name tags, student portfolio’s, record projects and assignments for open house or conferences, and demonstrating activities or exercises for PE.

__[]__ The third site I found was using digital story telling in the classroom and how well it works for students.

__[]__ This has the basics of how to do it. It is very interesting and something I am considering using in my class.

__[]__ Using Digital Cameras in the Classroom is a great website that addresses some reasons why teachers should use digital photography in the classroom. This site also addresses what the main concerns are when utilizing digital photography in the classroom. This site helps teachers who haven’t used digital photography in the classroom get started! It also gives lots of great ideas for lesson plans and lists some good sources as well.

__[]__ Using A Digital Camera in the Classroom is another site that I found useful. This site lists ideas for using digital photography that are categorized by topic or curriculum area. It was really easy for me to find a way for me to find how other special education teachers utilized digital photography in the classroom by going straight to “Special Education!” I was also happy to see that I am doing some of the same things other special education teachers are doing!

__[]__ At the Creative Uses for Digital Cameras in the Classroom website, you will find more great uses for utilizing digital photography in the classroom. The one idea I liked best was taking pictures of students modeling what should be happening at each learning center. This is a great way for students to visually comprehend what their responsibility is going to be when they get to that learning center. I am going to try and incorporate this strategy into our Daily 5 program that is going to be new for teachers in 3rd grade this year!

__[]__ This site gives ideas for lessons and lesson plans that use digital photographs to increase student learning. It breaks down the lessons into subject areas. There are some pretty good ideas for math and science here especially for the secondary level.

__[]__ For those of you that use the computer all the time this site might not be that new but for me it was the first time that I came across it. This site has royalty free pictures from seemingly endless topics that you could use in your classroom.

__[]__ This site gives 52 different ideas on how to use digital photography in your classroom.

[|__http://www.misterteacher.com/digitalphotography/digitalcameras.html__] This was a great site that gave ideas how to use photography in the classroom. It provided sites to find digital photography for student projects and offered great ways to incorporate them into the classroom. I liked how this site organized lesson ideas for the different subjects.

__[]__ This was a blog in which individuals posted the reasons why to incorporate digital photography in the classroom. There were also a variety of sites that suggested ways to use digital photography. I liked how it provided so many resources and direct links to these resources so it was easily assessable.