'     My objective for using gaming in my classroom would be for students to have a fun way to learn and practice the concepts I teach them. We currently have 2 Game-based Learning tools we use at our site for the primary grades. One for Language Arts and one for Math. I would like to bring in a brand new addition that they have never seen before that has more Gamification characteristics. I come across many students that don't enjoy or are not as successful as othe r what I offer so I think having other options is beneficial to expand on their digital literacy.
       I personally am not a gamer(I don't have the leisure time, but I do enjoy Trivia games). However many of my students immediately get on their gaming device when they get picked up from school or in the morning before they come to school. Unfortun
       The games I introduce will be games that offer more review and that I can even make competitive where students can be placed on teams. It's not really common for 1st graders to have tests on influential people, moments in history or math equations like upper grades because the majority of what we do is foundational and there aren't many heavy loaded assessments but I would like to develop something similar for my little learners.

     The web tool sites I picked to create an account with were Screencastify and Flipgrid. I don't have any apple software so I immediately had to  ex out a few of them. I've heard of both of them before so they grabbed my interest. I really liked being able to see yourself and present various things on your screen at the same time with Screencastify and in our 1st 702 class session using Flipgrid the wheels started turning on how I could apply it in my classroom. For my instructional video I used Voicethread because the tutorial presented it in a way that seemed very simplistic and I felt very straight forward.
       My main concern is all the wonderful tools I have been introduced to and learned about being great resources to expand my teaching I will not be able to access on the district iPads given to my classroom for use every year. I won't even know exactly what I will and will not be able to download and be able to show them and explore with until about the 2nd month of school.
          All three of the articles were a great read. Prior to I had never heard of flipped classroom and I am now a super fan of the idea. The "In Class Flip" that Caitlin Tucker discussed and the video Jennifer Gonzales made to explain in-depth how and what a rotation could look like is something I would like to implement. My students already are very familiar with rotation stations and I'm used to that teaching strategy so adding that component would not take a lot of extra work. I could see how this idea could be used with math rotations and it syncing in with Bridges, our adopted curriculum.

     Some ideas I came up with on how to use Google Forms in my practice are as a beginning of the year survey to parents at Back to School for availability of field trip chaperones, pre and post assessments and exit tickets for my students. Unfortunately because most of my students are not fluent readers until about February all forms would need to be completed whole group and not individually.
    For my Touro action-research/capstone project I thought I could use Google Forms to ask students about their feelings when it comes to their learning when other students distract them. I could then take that information and examine it to make changes my teaching practice or in seating assignments or even help with class placements for the next year by not putting certain students together.
       Currently I have not used Google Forms in my classroom but now that I see it's benefits I plan on exploring the document more.  

     I believe social media can be a very useful tool for educators to develop and get better in their profession. By following and friending other educators you can access abundance of information about workshops, get ideas, get questions answered, networking opportunities, job opportunities. You can mentor or be mentored and help others. It's a great way to communicate with others that maybe are across the country and will never have the opportunity to meet face to face.
        Personal social media and work social media should be separated period. Any page created where you are dealing with professional matters should be just that. Do not follow any friends or acquaintances unless they are in education. Do not post anything personal like vacations or opinions having to do with your family. Keep it related to your job and less problems will follow.
         If I were to come across an inappropriate post from a student and it was not posted at school or from a school account having no relation or connection to my school site at all I would still notify my principal because she can contact the parents. I totally agree with Patrick Larkin's approach to the situation. Our kids are still our kids even when they are not in school and i'ts our job to teach them about the dangers of the world with the support of their parents. It takes a village. The goal would not be to get the student in trouble but a "teachable moment" for them to understand the risks and potential consequences of their actions. My suggestion would be after the principal contacted the parents for the school to host some sort of an assembly to prevent and educate other students from doing the same thing.

     The best way to teach digital literacy to 1st graders would be at the beginning of the school year during the first few weeks when all the other protocols and rules are being established. The students need to know that technology a big part of the school's motto of being Kind, Respectful, Responsible and Safe. Before the students are even allowed to touch an ipad or chrome book the teacher would model appropriate digital citizen behavior. Scaffolding strategies would be an essential part of all lessons. 
     After the lessons were taught I would put them in partners and they get the opportunity to record each other following the correct way of the kind, respectful, responsible or safe lesson of their choice. This way they would get the chance to practice and have a little fun with it.
      Lastly I would revisit the lesson after long breaks away from school like Winter recess and when a new student joined the class.

     I'm not exactly sure if the tool I picked to discuss is really considered a web tool but it's really the only technology I use that is not required curriculum through my district/school site.
      Mystery Science is a website that you need a subscription to access. Because we don't have a "true" science curriculum this works and an awesome supplement . You can search the site for specific lessons and experiments on whatever unit your class is learning. My favorite component of Mystery Science is Mystery Doug. Doug is a teacher that lives in San Francisco who answers student's questions about science.  Every week he has new science videos that are kid friendly and are on topics that can also be found in the standards or very closely related. At the end of each video he offers fun, strange and unusual facts about the same topic. My students love it!
       The only con would be the materials you need for the science experiments are not provided so you have to go out and find them yourself and that can get expensive and/or time consuming.

     ​Because I work with 6 year old students, the lessons on digital citizenship are going to look very different from high school and middle school lessons that are needed.. At this age setting the foundation of care with technology are the skills these students would need to have so when they do get to the upper grades these things will already have been taught. It would be totally inappropriate for a 1st grader to have any social media accounts and any researching that would take place would be under direct supervision of a teacher due to the content/curriculum and their inability to read such information.
       I would focus on ways to be a Kind, Respectful, Responsible and Safe digital citizen. A Kind lesson would include: how to plug in/out headphones/chargers, handle equipment gently, and to tidy up when finished. A Respectful lesson would include: staying on task so that you and your neighbor can complete your best work, raise a quiet hand if you need help. A Responsible lesson would include: getting right to work, following the teacher's directions and signing in/out of programs correctly. A Safe lesson would include: keep your hands clean and out o your mouth, not touching any power cords, and not going to any websites your teacher did not approve.
         Being Kind, Respectful, Responsible and Safe is a school wide philosophy that my students practice everyday so they internalize its components and have ownership over what it looks like and sounds like. Students recite a pledge and earn certificates and prizes based on their ability to demonstrate these skills so it's very personal most take it seriously. Due to these reasons it's very easy for it to carry over in other areas and be applied to digital citizenship.

        The role of Competency based Learning and Personalized learning is becoming more and more recognized as being essential in the way we teach our 21st century learners. The idea of giving students more of a say so over their own learning along with giving them ownership and responsibility are the skills they will need in the workforce we are supposed to prepare them for. However, how wonderful and innovative the idea sounds it is still in the beginning stages and its definition would need to be clearly defined to its users but until more research is done educators remain to experiment.
      I teach 1st grade therefore this "mindset" would look different in the primary grades. Because at this age children are still learning "what school is" and the "how to's" a lot of structure is still necessary. Someways I can try to incorporate into my teaching practice are:
1. During Daily 5 rotations allow students to pick what they want to do as their word work activity instead of one being assigned to them so they can decide how they want learn/study their spelling words.
2. During iReads, silent reading, or partner reading students can choose where they want to learn in the classroom. Some options could be in the library, on the colorful carpet or even under their desks following the guidelines.
​3. For a comprehension assignment students can have the choice to summarize a story by using paper and pencil or by orally presenting in front of the class. 
          One way I see how technology might play a part is for students to use an ipad for their word work selection by going to the Benchmark Universe(Lang. Arts curriculum) app and using that as one of their options.
              Teaching the primary grades has opportunity for individualized learning. Interventions are one way educators try to close the achievement gap among students who don't necessarily get concepts the first time around. ELD interventions, after/before school intervention, small group intervention and math interventions are specifically made to meet the needs and modified or their success.