11.5 - thing 10 (virtual worlds)

as much as i like to be online and explore sites, i dont get the virtual world stuff. a couple of months ago while at a meeting, someone mentioned second life. i went home and decided to check it out. i wish i would have had some of these help sites that are listed on the library to play site, i might have tried a little harder to understand it all. i probably gave up too soon, maybe i will try it again now that i have some direction.

i am not sure how this would fit into elementary curriculum.

11.15 - thing 9 (sharing)

i saw blogs on slide share in the spring but really did not see what it is about. i think our students could use these this year as the laptops we are getting for the power to learn grant are not coming with the microsoft programs. i will look more into these sites when we return to school to see how easy they would be for students to use.

i did checkout the white house on slideshare. it was interesting to see what documents they put up for all to see.

i sent the 280 slides to my plt teachers.

11.5 - thing 8 (screen capture)

I chose to use the freescreencast as it said no downloads. however after creating my account, it asked me to download the software to create my screencast. i am using someone else's computer to do the rest of my assignments while on vacation-so i am not downloading this. i will look at this once school starts.

i have done this type of thing before. at fwe we have some document cameras. the doc cam that we purchased allows us to do this exact thing. using it to record lessons and then posting them on a wiki or website allows students to use the video clips as a reteach or a review.

11.5 - thing 7 (tv sourcecs, hulu)

i wish i would have known about these when i was still in the classroom!

the first site i checked out was the national archives video collection. these videos would have added a lot to my lessons in social studies.

this video (i tried to convert it on zamzar but it keeps telling me that i have no file extension??) talks about the great depression. i think more students would grasp concepts if they could see primary source examples and not just read about it in a text book.

i also watched the tornado video on blip.tv. it was interesting to see how a tornado is formed. however the video had a very adult ad at the bottom, not sure i would use this in a classroom for fear that another one would show up.

11.5 - thing 6 (itouch)

fwe bought one in the spring and i have enjoyed playing on the itouch.... i know i have a lot to learn, i just dont really know where to start-other than playing games. i keep thinking there is something that i am missing out on.....

i have tried to stick with dowloading free educational apps, but a few fun ones have snuck on....

pop math lite, lemonade stand, tangrams, math dr lite, states and capitals, planets, stars... just to name a few of the apps that i have downloaded.

with the power to learn grant that we received, our students will be using itouches. our hope is for them to take them home and use them for homework. we are still not sure of the logistics. our original vision was for students to communicate using their classroom wiki, as well as possibly using education apps.

i am trying to find some of the apps that are listed in the top 100 free apps, but it is telling me that i need to update my ipod software...but i cant find where to do that. any help???

11.5-thing 5 (microblogging)

facebook! i love it. i have a mixture of different friends on there-camp, grade school, family, former and current coworkers, and former students and parents. i have not used it for work, just for personal connections.

twitter....i signed up for twitter back in the winter some time... just because i kept getting invites from my friends.... i didnt really use it.... then i was doing some research for our power to learn grant and i came across a bunch of educators that use it to post ideas and articles they have written or come across. i have asked techy questions and gotten help from a bunch of different people. i have posted some things about what i am doing but i mainly read it to see what info i come across. lately i have been getting a lot of adult content profiles asking to follow....i just signed on for the first time in over a week and there were 23 of them wanting approval. i know this can and does happen with email and other sites like this but if i were asking children to have an account, this would be an issue....


i dont know how using facebook/twitter in the elementary setting work. i was talking with a tech friend who asked why we dont use twitter for our school. i am not sure how that would work or go over. i am pretty sure if we used it, i would be the one responsible for posting and updating and i am not sure i want to take that responsibility on at the moment. its hard enough keeping our website up to date. as far as facebook, i think it could be used like a wiki. i know when i taught 5ht grade, even 3rd grade, the majority of my students had myspace profiles.... i know some have facebook now also... i just dont know how that could be monitored for class use since a lot of them spend so much time on it at home....maybe if a class group was set up?? my kids were wiki pros and i liked the control that i had over that... i just dont see that happening with facebook....

i dont think i really answered the question here.. ha

11.5-thing 4 (video hosting)

i have used teacher tube in the classroom numerous times. i find that it is quite easy and usually quick. when i taught 5h grade, my students made photostories when doing research on the civil war .


each student uploaded their video to my teacher tube account and then embeded it onto our civil war magazine wiki.
i plan on uploading one of these, but i cannot access my teacher tube account at the moment.


i have uploaded personal videos to youtube, but i do not think i would put student work up there.



i have used youtube videos in the classroom, thanks to the help of zamzar.

schooltube-i was introduced to this at tcea this year. i have done some searching and watching on the site, but prefer to use teachertube or youtube. they seem to be more user friendly.

What would be some advantages of having teaching/learning videos available on online at sites like these?
absent students or students needing a reteach or a review could access lessons online from anywhere with an internet connection. work uploaded on line could also could be viewed by parents/relatives to see what is being taught/created in class.

What about student created work -- would there be advantages to having it uploaded? uploading student work could be used as a test review or for students who missed lessons.

11.5-thing 3 (like skype)

i am a big fan of skype! i use it to talk with my parents and sisters. i love that i can talk with them for free, but i REALLY love that i can see them with a webcam....that was my christmas gift for everyone things year....

in the spring we applied for and received the power to learn grant. part of our grant includes skyping with classes in and out of the district. we hope to poll our parents and get a pool of experts that we can skype with to enhance our lessons.

while doing research for the power to learn grant, i came across 2 blogs that sparked a bunch of ideas: http://mrcsclassblog.blogspot.com and http://mcclungsblog.blogspot.com. both of these teachers use the ustream feature in your classroom. i watched one class learn about the parts of different bugs. i am not sure of all of the features of this website, but i am interested to find out more. i am curious to know if what you are "filming" could be recorded and then embeded in a wiki or a blog.

i see many uses for these things and cant wait to see how they work next year.

once i get to a place where i have better luck with wireless connectivity, i want to dive deeper into the 50 ways to use skpye in the classroom.

11.5-thing 2 (bookr)

bookr

i am having difficulty with this. i am sure i am missing something totally easy, but i can not figure out how to add pictures to the pages in my book. i am also missing how to put my book on this entry.

i would have students use this instead of ppt or word when creating stories or vocabulary books.

any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

11.5-thing 2 (animoto)

animoto



this animoto was created and shared during our veterans day morning annoucement broadcast. i taught my teachers during the 0809 school year about animoto. my 4th grade teachers and some students created animotos on the different texas indian tribes that they studied.

11.5 - thing 2 (glogster)

glogster



glogster would be a fun way to explain understanding in any academic area. i think science or social studies would be easiest. tying in our power to learn grant- the students could use this to make a poster about going green or during the bird unit.

11.5-thing 2 ( wordle)

wordle



i used wordle to create a word cloud about a place that means a lot to me....camp nakanawa. i was first introduced to it in 1988 by my aunt who spent many years as a counselor. i spent the next 7 summers having the time of my life, meeting lifelong friends, and becoming a better person. being a teacher keeps my summers free and 3 years ago i came back to be a counselor. my wordle reflects things about camp that i keep close to me no matter where i am.

if i were doing this with a class, i might have them choose a character or events in a story they are reading and have them create a word cloud. i would have liked to use this when i taught 5th grade social studies, maybe using the characteristics of our 20th century proejct, or our study of the presidents or colonies.

11.5-Thing 1: Registration

Got my blog registered for the 11.5 things a while back. Using the same blog-http://techtalkamy.blogspot.com/

Hopefully I can get these things done before the due date!