ThingLink: Consumer and Community Health

     I used ThingLink in order to explore several healthcare services within the community. On each building or vehicle, I defined their purpose and an instance in which their service would be used. I decided to include some of the better known services since those would be the ones that my students would be more familiar with. I can show this to my class as an initial introduction to health services. Then, if I want to, I can have each of them create a ThingLink for a variety of assignments. They can either create one to talk about some less common services within the community or to go more in depth on one of the services that I covered. A student might create a ThingLink that has a picture of a hospital room and then explain what some of the different medical supplies are for.
     I liked the easy accessibility of the information. Instead of having to click on a link that would take me to a different page, I could roll my mouse over a link and learn about the health service. I like that it is a kind of interactive learning and I think that will help some of my students in the future. I liked how easy it was to add pictures and text to the links. I did not like that it took quite a bit of time to put together all of the links and the information to go with them. It will have to be something that I use when I have a bit more time to plan it out.
      My students can use this tool to describe environments (as a science standard), including labeling the living and nonliving organisms within it. They can either draw pictures and upload them (as I did), or download pictures from the internet to create the project on. They can also use this tool to explore the classroom during the summer, before class has started.

Standards:
ISTE: Knowledge Constructor. "I critically select, evaluate and synthesize digital resources into a collection that reflects my learning and builds my knowledge".
EdTech: Standard 8, "Use technology resources (e.g., calculators, data collection probes, videos, educational software) for problem-solving, self-directed learning, an extended learning activities. (5, 6)".
UEN Content: Health Education--Standard 7 Objective 3, "Summarize the role of health services in the community. a. List various health services. b. Define the role of each service. c. Identify situations in which the health services can or should be accessed."

Pinterest: Reading Comprehension

     I used my Pinterest Board to gather pins to teach reading comprehension to a third grade class. I included pins which had activities to practice and teach comprehension as well as how to assess comprehension. I can use Pinterest in my classroom as a place to gather creative ideas which will develop a more engaged classroom when I am teaching. It is also a place where I can post my own ideas and share them with fellow teachers or parents who homeschool. My students can use Pinterest for different projects. For example, if we read a book as a class I can have my students put together a Pinterest board that includes quotes that describe their favorite character(s). They can also make a board with pictures that describe different settings that were in the book. This would assess their comprehension of the book because they are required to find descriptions within the book in order to build their Pinterest board.
     I liked using Pinterest. I really liked that I could see ideas from teachers all over the country and the world in one place. It is a nice tool for organizing ideas into different subjects, especially since you can break them into even smaller categories. For example, I can have a science board and I can also have a biology board, chemistry board, etc. It can even have boards for lessons about cells, photosynthesis, and more narrow lessons. A small downside is seeing the same pins over and over again while searching for ideas, but this is a minor inconvenience and not a reason to avoid the tool.
     My students can use this resource to gather information about books or other subjects that we are learning in class (history, science, etc). They can use it as a way to gather inspiration for projects, or as a project itself, just creating boards with pins relevant to their subject. They can also use it as an introduction project, meaning that they pin things which they like/dislike (including whether or not they like it), or things they are interested in learning about.

Standards:
ISTE: Knowledge Constructor: "I critically select, evaluate and synthesize digital resources into a collection that reflects my learning and builds my knowledge."
EdTech: Standard 5, "Use technology tools (e.g., multimedia authoring, presentation, web tools, digital cameras, scanners) for individual and collaborative writing, communication, and publishing activities to create knowledge products for audiences inside and outside the classroom. (3, 4)".
UEN Content: Reading--Literature Standard 1, "Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers"

Pinterest Board: 3rd Grade Reading Standard 1

Additional Sources (Some favorite teachers' blogs with additional ideas):
Totally Terrific in Texas
Who's Who and Who's New