i could not get this photo story to load using the movie insert button on the toolbar, so i used teacher tube to embed it.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
thing 21 part 1
Thursday, June 19, 2008
thing 20 recap
this one was easy for me. i used youtube this past year to share the school house rock videos with my students. we used them in social studies, mainly with the american revolution. my kids LOVED this! at first they were skeptical with the animation looking very old, but once we covered the material and then listened to them over and over, they realized that it really made sense and was helpful...not just a video to watch.
as for teacher tube, i found some good stuff on it. the video i chose to post was one that one of my kids made. we uploaded them to teacher tube, so we could embed them onto our civil war wiki.
thing 19
i had fun looking through some of the sites listed on http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/short.
i looked at the cocktail builder and the hair mixer. i am thinking i can not use them in the classroom, but it was fun to look around on them.
i have a facebook, it was listed on the awards list. i have reconnected with some old friends that have scattered across the country and some all over the world.
i would like to explore this site more to see which ones i can use with students.
thing 18
i do not like to download things to my computer, so i chose to explore google docs.
an advantage would be that you could view your docs from anywhere. a disadvantage would be that anyone could view your docs and possibly make changes.
i would possibly use google docs to store helpsheets for teachers to use with different technolgy applications and software.
thing 17
in rollyo, i typed in tennis drills. i amm currently teaching tennis at a girls camp in tennessee, and we are looking for new drills to do. it took me a little bit of searching to find what i was looking for. i have decided that i am going to use this search for the next couple of days so that i can become more comfortable with it. i am a google fan.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
thing 16
i LOVE wiki! i have used one in my classroom for the last 3 years. i had 2 going this year.
one was for my kids to interact on daily, https://markham.wikispaces.com. it had homework assignments, weekly adgendas, resources, etc.
the second one i started was during our civil war unit in social studies, https://markhamcivilwarmagazine.wikispaces.com/. my kids amazed me with this one. i taught a regular 5th grade class and a gt 5th grade class. my regular students did more of a biography project (either on a general or a battle) and made a photostory. we uploaded the "videos" to teacher tube and then embeded them onto their own page. my gt students wrote a fiction and a nonfiction article on any topic they wanted. they also made a podcast using audacity, the podcast was an advertisement for a product or a service.
i think wikis could be used for any classroom or project.. they are easily updated and maintained.
thing 15
for this thing, i read Away from the “icebergs”. (well i skimmed them all but this was the one that caught my attention)
to me, library 2.0 means getting the technology out in the classrooms and schools, and into the hands of every student. i have heard for a couple of years in my previois district that soon the taks test and textbooks will all be online or on mp3 players/pda. i think this is a fantastic idea, especially the textbooks. they could be updated more often. the american history book that i taught from this past school year ended in 2000, although we talked about what has happened in our country since then, it would have been nice to have a guide to show the highlights.
when i did research with my kids this year (and for the past couple of years) i always brought in books, encylopedias, magainzes, and newspapers for the kids to use. but 90% of my kids used the websites provided to aquire their knowledge. i did strongly suggest, ha, that they use at least one book or encylopedia for their research. but they found it easier to locate information online. we took all our notes and cited our information all on the comptuer. i found that the more techonolgy we used, the more excited and engaged they were.
i feel like i am rambling and not really covering the topic i am suppose to. :)
libraries in the future are going to have to be more than books on shelves. the kids want the technology to be there. they use it at home. it should be carried over into the school setting as well.
it will be interesting to see how fast changes happen and where libraries will be in the near future.
Monday, June 16, 2008
thing 14 part 2
i added a page element for the technorati. it was pretty easy, i used the html page element. i was happy that it worked, i am having trouble adding html links in my blog. i am sure it is user error.
thing 13
i could see this being used for research, maybe upper level. as with anything, it would need to be screened before kids use it. i wish i would have known about it before last school year. i found some good stuff i could have used while teaching american history to my 5th graders. i plan on going back closer to school starting and seeing what i can find that would help the teachers i will be working with.
thing 12
blog 1: mcgraw family blog, this is my friend in nashville. she just had a baby in april and has blogged about her preganacy and now life with baby number 1. it is great to be able to watch sweet cora grow and change, as well as her momma, ann.
blog 2: confessions of a cf husband, i am not sure how i stumbled across this blog. it is the life and tribulations of a man who is married to a woman with cystic fibrosis, they are also new parents. it is very interesting to read to see what they are going through. i am amazed by the strength that he shows.
thing 11
this was an easy one, but it could take up a bunch of time to load all of my books in it. it would be nice to have all my books cataloged in the system, but i dont have that kind of time at the moment. to me, this would be a good way to find other books that are similiar to my favorites. as for the groups, i looked around a little bit but did not join.. i tend to join things then never do anything with them.
thing 10 part 2
this was frustrating to me. i could not get any of the tools that i tried to work. i tried the fake magazine cover, the comic book creator and the scrapbook creator. i spent about 30 minutes on it. i am now giving up on this one.. although i will come back to it at some point. i have the perfect photo in mind!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
thing 9
Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?
Google reader was easier, but i dont really like it. i prefer the news stories and blogs that i want to read come to my RSS feeder on my desktop.
Which Search tool was the easiest for you?
google reader was easier. it was more user friendly to me.
Which was more confusing?
none were confusing to me, i just dont like to have to go to a website to find what i want to read. i guess i am already set in my ways when it comes to finding information that is interesting to me.
What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?
i found a couple of sites on fitness and good recipes to try. i am going to keep looking to see what else i can find that would be helpful in my personal life as well as helpful for my job.
What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?
i have searched for some things to add to my rss feed/blogroll but typically if it is a site that i frequent and the feed button is clickable in my toolbar, then i subscribe to it.
thing 8
What do you like about RSS and newsreaders?
i like that i can see what sites have been updated with out going to them. i have vista, and there is a sidebar feature that had an RSS feed. i use it for my favorite stites but also news updates when i dont get to watch the news.
How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your school or personal life?
i would love to find some educational tech sites with information i could share with teachers at my school. i need to spend some time looking for those this summer.
How can libraries use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?
i would think author sites or publisher sites would use this to keep readers up to date on what is coming out. kid friendly news sites could be intergrated into lessons.
thing 7
i have used some of the mentioned google applications.
google calendar: i am looking at this for the upcoming year as a way for teachers to schedule time for me to meet with them or help in their class. i am thinking about putting it on a wiki.. I HEART WIKI!! but i am not sure that is the most user friendly way... need more thinking time.
google earth... my students used this last year to look at places that we talked about in social studies. they also used it when we did our holiday campaing trail. another way we used it was to plan our dream vacations.
picasa webs.. i use this at home to see the pictures of friends and their growing children.
google scholar: this would have been nice in college or if i ever decide to go back to school.
google docs... this might be a great way to share help sheets on tech applictions with the staff at my school. again, i had planned on using wiki, but i will have to look and see if this would be a better way to share.
google docs update.. i uploaded a document but i am not seeing how to put a link on here to my document.
thing 6 part 2
this was quite frustrating for me. the picture i originally wanted to use was too big. i tried to resize it, once it was small enough it was too pixelated.
this was picture 2. i think i "cheated" to get this posted here. i used photobucket instead of flikr.
i would have loved to have known about this last year. i would have had my kids do this as part of their 20th century project.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
thing 3
i had previously created an avatar, so i made some minor adjustments. putting the avatar on my page might have been a bit easier had i READ the directions on how to do it, and not skimmed them.
thing 2
the easiest thing for me is habit 7 1/2....playing. i tend to remember more when i have spent time "playing", especially when it comes to technology. i can hear something ten times, but until i get my hands on the equipment or software, i does not stick.
the hardest thing for me would have to be creating my own learning tool box, habit 5. not so much creating my toolbox, but remembering what is in it and when to pull that tool out. it seems after a lesson was taught, whether it would be 3 days later or almost immediately... something would come out of left field and i realized that would have made my lesson 10 times better.
thing 1
i am really excited about this! i was actually introduced to this while teaching in cy fair, but never really took the time to explore it and complete it. i am glad now that i did wait!
i am ready to learn new things!
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