KristineWeiss

Kristina Weiss Crestwood Local Schools Crestwood Primary School Second Grade Intervention Specialist Preschool Intervention Specialist
 * [[image:CIMG0464.JPG width="175" height="127"]]

​ Email**: weiss@crestwood.sparcc.org - work email tistina83@yahoo.com - personal email

[|www.missweiss.wikispaces.com] __www.missweissroom.weebly.com__
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 * New Webpage:**

kristinaweiss83
 * Skype:**

=My favorite personal/professional use of technology=

Personal: I use email, digital pics, the internet, Snapfish and Facebook.
====Professional: Boardmaker, Writing with Symbols, Digital Photography, Snapfish, SMART Board, and lots of emailing. ====

 The most frustrating aspect of using "technology "
I am most frustrated when the "technology" doesn't work; meaning when the internet is down or when the tech staff is working on the computers/programs. Our tech department does a great job of trying to stay up-to-date, though keeping up with all the changes makes it difficult to keep the system running at all times.

**Vision Statement:** I will create and implement technology into my daily language arts lesson to provide hands-on, visually and auditory stimulating activities in order to increase academic performance based on the Early Childhood Content Standards.

Before the last class my assistant or I took all of the pictures within the classroom. We used the pictures for different activities and documentation of student progress; we also uploaded them to Snapfish so that the parents could view them at home. Since the last class, I have allowed the students to use the camera. The students were so excited the first time they were allowed to use it and were so careful to make sure they were taking a picture of what they created or what their friends were doing. Many of the student moved to get a better angle of the subject, they told the other classmates to smile, took the time to tell the classmates where to stand or look, critiqued their picture and then took another one if it wasn’t “good enough”…I was seeing what they see when I am taking pictures. It was a mirrored image of my comments, actions and thoughts about digital photography. The students LOVED it and I was able to learn from their world what is important to them through a picture.
 * How are you currently engaging students through the use of technology? **

Photo documentation provides teacher, parents and students with a “whole” picture. The photographs provide documentation of student’s participation, process of creation, and the interaction of the student. What were one or two strategies/tips presented in the chapter that you think everyone should be aware of? ** The idea of using the pictures to communicate with parents their child’s progress; pictures really do show all. Pictures provide parents with concrete documentation of how their child interacts, participates and produces in the classroom. Take one idea shared in the chapter you read and try it out in your classroom before next week. Please bring the copies or examples of what you or the children created. ** We took pictures of the children at the beginning of the quarter writing and then again at the end of the quarter…what a difference! They have developed their writing skills and are excited about the process. We will show the parents in the end of the year portfolio the progress they have made. Obviously the parents can see through the papers we send home that their child is making progress but what they don’t see is the process of their development from holding their markers correctly, sitting up, interacting with their peers, searching the board for letters/words to write….all the little things !
 * March 26, 2010: Chapter 4 **
 * What were the big ideas presented in the chapter? **

=April 23, 2010= This year I have learned so much about using technology daily in life and teaching. Before this class, technology was something that took lots of time and was difficult to put together...so I thought. Over the last three years I have used many different types of technology in my teaching, from boardmaker to Smartboards, but it was always something that took a lot of time. This year I have learned that technology, when used daily, for the most basic tasks like data collection (using digital photography) to more in-dept projects such as webpages, blogs and video recording is very important and does get easier with practice. For my final project, I have put together a book of my process through web designs. Choosing and designing a website has been my goal for last few years, though all the sites I tried were either too expensive or not appealing to the eye. I wanted a website that would offer me lots of choices in designing, possibly free or minimal cost, allow me to make changes quickly, be easy for parents to navigate through and offer options in blogging or comment sections. I tried a few this year and have finally decided on "weebly" after seeing the presentation in class and navigating myself through the website, I believe this will provide exactly what I need and want. I have started to put together my pages and did publish it to the web, though I have not presented it to parents yet. I was using wikispaces earlier this year, which is what my parents were use to...so I have decided to work some more on creating a site that is just what I want and then let the parents know next year! My website is missweissroom.weebly.com; take a look and keep checking back as I am constantly making changes and adding more content. It is a work in progress, but something I look forward to sharing.