I survived 23 Things!!
I had several favorite things.
My all time favorite was blogging. I have big plans for a family blog, a classroom blog, and whatever else I can find to blog about. Blogging was something that I always wanted to try but never really had the time. 23 Things taught me that it is very easy to do. I also liked all the little picture things. I think those will be fun to use in the computer lab with my students. I really liked Wordle and the Flickr spelling too.
Lifelong Learner?
I think that I was a little timid about technology before. I also was in survival mode this past year. It was my first year and there were so many things thrown at me all at once. I am hoping this year that I can use many of the tools that I learned from this class and incorporate them into my classroom. I also think that I need to take the time to just explore what is out there. Many of these Things that I learned are right there on the internet and I just had no idea.
Unexpected Outcomes -
There were many times when I wondered why I even bothered taking this class and thought that I should just drop it. About that time, I would learn a new Thing and I would be ready to plow ahead again. One thing that did surprise me so to speak was the time that I put into this class. There are some things that I whipped right through and others that I would 3-4 hours on. Looking back tonight, I am glad that I finished!!
Would I do this again.....hummmm?
I think that I would. I learned a lot and can't wait to use it all in my classroom. =)
Web 2.0
The most effective way to stay knowledgeable is to use it daily. I plan on doing that in my classroom as well as depend on my Google Reader. I also subscribed to several technology blogs on Classroom 2.0 & Ning.
My own final thoughts-
I would recommend this class to other district employees. I will say that this class is very time consuming. I am glad that I did it during the summer when I didn't have other school things to worry about. Four weeks seemed like a long time but really it wasn't especially when you can only do one or two a day and you spend 2-3 hours on each Thing.
I will say that my facilitator was very helpful as well as the others. She was very quick to help out and answer questions. Thanks Tracey!!
I think that it would be helpful if past Thingsters could be notified if they add new things to the class. Like little mini refreshers. Just a thought!!
Overall this class had been a great experience and I am glad that I did it.
Countdown
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Thing 23....Whoohoo!!
Well, you know what they say about first impressions...When I first started reading about the other social networks, I was thinking that I didn't have time to keep up with any thing else. I actually proved myself wrong!! I ended up joining Classroom 2.0 AND tagged some of the blogs to my Google reader.
I found some very interesting groups to join. I liked how you could do a search on a topic that interest you. I also liked the fact that I could read the latest stories on the home page to see if any of those were interesting. I found a group for elementary teachers that focus on reading. I also found several groups that focus on technology in th elementary classroom.
I think that social networking from both Classroom 2.0 and Ning have a lot to offer. They could be a valuable resource for information on just about anything that you would want to know about. I appreciated the fact that they were all educators and were coming from the same place that I am.
Thing 21
Google fun!
I very quickly made this movie from photos on Picasa 3. If seemed very easy! Picasa was very easy to down load and then it retrieved all the photos from my computer with one click. It left them in the groups or albums that they were listed under in my files. It did take some getting used to.
This would be a great tool to use for end of year scrap books. It was very easy to edit so you could add photos to it through out the year. There are also many other things you can do with Picasa besides movies. You can crop, edit, add captions, watermarks, and lots more to photos from this Google application.
My other favorite tool was Google-411. I did not know that this exisited. What was even more surprising was that you can send a text message to Google 411 with a search, such as Joe's Pizza & Pasta, Mesquite, and it will send you the message back in a text. It will give phone number and address. Super cool! I think that Google has many useful tools available. It just takes a little time to sit down and explore them all.
Thing 20
Google comes up with the most amazing tools! I really liked the Google Doc. application. I created a newsletter and a spread sheet to use in my classroom. I think many times we put the same information in too many places. Google Doc is great way to minimize that.
Three ideas:
1. Our grade level does one newsletter and then each add what we would like it to say. Who ever is in charge of the newsletter could type it on Google Docs and then the other three team mates could add any additional information. This would eliminate the back and forth between the classrooms and copies that we do now.
2. Acceleration groups in the spreadsheet - we have kids that come in and go out or move and we add another student to their slot. This would be a great tool for the entire team to collaborate with the acceleration teacher.
3. I think that this is a great way to collaborate with student teams. They can work online from home on projects and then set meeting times to work together. This would also allow the teacher to monitor progress of the group.
Overall I think that Google Doc. is a great way to share information. It is just like anything that you do on the internet, you would want to be sensitive about what you are putting out there.
Three ideas:
1. Our grade level does one newsletter and then each add what we would like it to say. Who ever is in charge of the newsletter could type it on Google Docs and then the other three team mates could add any additional information. This would eliminate the back and forth between the classrooms and copies that we do now.
2. Acceleration groups in the spreadsheet - we have kids that come in and go out or move and we add another student to their slot. This would be a great tool for the entire team to collaborate with the acceleration teacher.
3. I think that this is a great way to collaborate with student teams. They can work online from home on projects and then set meeting times to work together. This would also allow the teacher to monitor progress of the group.
Overall I think that Google Doc. is a great way to share information. It is just like anything that you do on the internet, you would want to be sensitive about what you are putting out there.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Thing 22
Who would have thought that Facebook (FB) would have been one of the 23 Things?? I think that it is very important for educators and parents to know what their children are doing on the internet. If you are aware of what they are doing on the internet, the less likely they are going to be doing inappropriate behaviors.
I personally love FB. I have had my account for almost a year now and have reconnected with many people. I can communicate daily with family members that I otherwise would not if it weren't for FB.
I also have/had a MySpace page. I didn't ever really get into it though. It seemed like a lot of work to keep the page up.
I think that FB is much easier to update and keep current. I like the fact that I can update it very easily. It is very user friendly.
I do not really see an educational use for FB. It is called a social network. As an educator, I am very careful about what I put on FB. I may say that I have had a bad day but do not ever put anything about students or incidents that may have happened. I also struggle a little about not having parents of my students on my FB. I do not accept friend requests from them. I also try to closely monitor photos that go out on FB.
My philosophy is you never know who is friends with who, so if you wouldn't want your mom, principal, Dr. Henrie, or fellow teachers to see it or read it, don't put it on FB.
I think that best part of FB is the ability to reconnect with those you love on a daily basis. It is a fun way to keep up with those you might now see everyday and even those that you do.
I personally love FB. I have had my account for almost a year now and have reconnected with many people. I can communicate daily with family members that I otherwise would not if it weren't for FB.
I also have/had a MySpace page. I didn't ever really get into it though. It seemed like a lot of work to keep the page up.
I think that FB is much easier to update and keep current. I like the fact that I can update it very easily. It is very user friendly.
I do not really see an educational use for FB. It is called a social network. As an educator, I am very careful about what I put on FB. I may say that I have had a bad day but do not ever put anything about students or incidents that may have happened. I also struggle a little about not having parents of my students on my FB. I do not accept friend requests from them. I also try to closely monitor photos that go out on FB.
My philosophy is you never know who is friends with who, so if you wouldn't want your mom, principal, Dr. Henrie, or fellow teachers to see it or read it, don't put it on FB.
I think that best part of FB is the ability to reconnect with those you love on a daily basis. It is a fun way to keep up with those you might now see everyday and even those that you do.
7b
As I read my google reader, I came across this blog that I thought was appropriate for back to school. This article, Money Saving Tips in the Classroom,offers ideas for teachers to use to save money in their classroom. It also allows you to submit your own ideas to her and she will post them on the site. I also liked this link because as you read to the bottom, it gave additional links for you to read such as How to help your students keep their desks clean.
This blog link has been one of my favorites to read. They have many meaningful articles for teachers. They also have a search if you are searching for a specific topic. I am learning to add to the google reader as well as take away the ones that are not as good as I thought. This is definitely a tool that I will continue to use after this course concludes.
This blog link has been one of my favorites to read. They have many meaningful articles for teachers. They also have a search if you are searching for a specific topic. I am learning to add to the google reader as well as take away the ones that are not as good as I thought. This is definitely a tool that I will continue to use after this course concludes.
Thing 19
Voice Thread is really exciting. I thought of many ways that I could use this in my classroom. So the easiest way to explain this concept was to come up with something for each subject.
Reading - Favorite Author Study - we could post a picture of our favorite author or the one that we are studying. The students could tell on a voice thread their favorite book by the author.
Math - I think the best way to learn something is to teach it. The students could explain a math concept or sing our favorite song that we learn two digit subtraction.
Science - Insect Unit - I think it would be a great way to tell about the life cycles that we observe in our Foss Kits. We could show pictures of our habitats or roller coasters that they build and then they could explain what they did.
Social Studies - Free Enterprise Day - use voice thread to make commercials for their business.
These are just a few of the ideas that I came up with. I think that there are endless possibilities when it comes to this Thing!
Reading - Favorite Author Study - we could post a picture of our favorite author or the one that we are studying. The students could tell on a voice thread their favorite book by the author.
Math - I think the best way to learn something is to teach it. The students could explain a math concept or sing our favorite song that we learn two digit subtraction.
Science - Insect Unit - I think it would be a great way to tell about the life cycles that we observe in our Foss Kits. We could show pictures of our habitats or roller coasters that they build and then they could explain what they did.
Social Studies - Free Enterprise Day - use voice thread to make commercials for their business.
These are just a few of the ideas that I came up with. I think that there are endless possibilities when it comes to this Thing!
Thing 18
YouTube is a time sucker!! No really it is! I should have listened to the warnings and set a timer. I wasted a whole afternoon just watching crazy videos on YouTube. I have several favorites to share with you.
I am always looking for ways to make my guided reading better. So, that is where I began my search. Much to my surprise, the first video to come up was Candice Bookman from Lawrence Elementary. It was a great video about how she has her guided reading groups set up and how she manages those.
The next search was for kids reading. I found a great link of students reading a story by Gilad Shalit.
He wrote this story when he was a young boy. It tells of a fish and a shark who at first are enemies. The shark wants to eat the young fish but the fish talked him into being his friend. Their parents say that they can't be friends because they are enemies. They finally talk to their parents and they allow them to be friends. The unusual thing about this story is that it is about peace and getting along with others. Several years after publishing this book, he was kidnapped outside of Gaza and has remained a prisoner. This would be an excellent book to study during our author study in reading or in social studies.
For my how to video, I looked up how to use a Kindle 2. I found all kinds of videos that were reviews and informational about the Kindle.
I think that YouTube has endless amount of educational uses. I will think more about searching YouTube when I am teaching a specific content area. I think that it will be very helpful with science and social studies.
I am always looking for ways to make my guided reading better. So, that is where I began my search. Much to my surprise, the first video to come up was Candice Bookman from Lawrence Elementary. It was a great video about how she has her guided reading groups set up and how she manages those.
The next search was for kids reading. I found a great link of students reading a story by Gilad Shalit.
He wrote this story when he was a young boy. It tells of a fish and a shark who at first are enemies. The shark wants to eat the young fish but the fish talked him into being his friend. Their parents say that they can't be friends because they are enemies. They finally talk to their parents and they allow them to be friends. The unusual thing about this story is that it is about peace and getting along with others. Several years after publishing this book, he was kidnapped outside of Gaza and has remained a prisoner. This would be an excellent book to study during our author study in reading or in social studies.
For my how to video, I looked up how to use a Kindle 2. I found all kinds of videos that were reviews and informational about the Kindle.
I think that YouTube has endless amount of educational uses. I will think more about searching YouTube when I am teaching a specific content area. I think that it will be very helpful with science and social studies.
Thing 17
Podcasting....
I have a very minimal history with podcasting. I like to download sermons from our church to listen to when we miss on a Sunday. I never really knew that I could subscribe to it! I quickly added that to my reader. It is sure faster than searching for it every time!!
I listened to several podcasts. The one that I subscribed to was The Tech Teachers. I liked several things about their podcasts. 1. They were very easy and entertaining to listen to. 2. They talked about technology that interest me. I'm thinking about buying a Kindle and while scanning their blog, I found a podcast that they talked about Kindle 1 & 2. They talked about all kinds of technology that could be useful.
Another one of the podcasts that I listened to was Our City Podcast. I have been thinking of ways to use podcasting in my classroom and I loved this site. It is a place where students all over the world do a podcast about the city they live in. In 2nd grade we learn about out community and I thought this would be a great extension exercise. We could take all of the information that we learn about Mesquite and create a podcast to add to this site. Fun!!
When I began searching for podcasts, I became a little overwhelmed by all the information. I think that I need to narrow down my search to eliminate some of this. For example I searched for guided reading. It gave me a ton of stuff that did not really apply. I was really thinking I would get something about how to led guided reading groups.
I have a very minimal history with podcasting. I like to download sermons from our church to listen to when we miss on a Sunday. I never really knew that I could subscribe to it! I quickly added that to my reader. It is sure faster than searching for it every time!!
I listened to several podcasts. The one that I subscribed to was The Tech Teachers. I liked several things about their podcasts. 1. They were very easy and entertaining to listen to. 2. They talked about technology that interest me. I'm thinking about buying a Kindle and while scanning their blog, I found a podcast that they talked about Kindle 1 & 2. They talked about all kinds of technology that could be useful.
Another one of the podcasts that I listened to was Our City Podcast. I have been thinking of ways to use podcasting in my classroom and I loved this site. It is a place where students all over the world do a podcast about the city they live in. In 2nd grade we learn about out community and I thought this would be a great extension exercise. We could take all of the information that we learn about Mesquite and create a podcast to add to this site. Fun!!
When I began searching for podcasts, I became a little overwhelmed by all the information. I think that I need to narrow down my search to eliminate some of this. For example I searched for guided reading. It gave me a ton of stuff that did not really apply. I was really thinking I would get something about how to led guided reading groups.
Thing 15
The Wiki is interesting. It took me some time to figure out how to manage changes and imports but I finally figured it out. I'm not exactly sure what the difference is between this and the Blog are. All of these Things are beginning to run together.
I was trying to think of a way to use this and I thought it would be fun for the teachers at our school to use. There could be a sandbox for the school and then each teacher could have a page in the sandbox. We could post celebrations, challenges, quesitons, etc. on the page. If everyone listed their page like we did, it would be very easy to track grade levels, specific teachers, acceleration, etc. I would like to spend some more time exploring around the sandbox and what all it can do for me. I am not sure how I would use it in my classroom.
I was trying to think of a way to use this and I thought it would be fun for the teachers at our school to use. There could be a sandbox for the school and then each teacher could have a page in the sandbox. We could post celebrations, challenges, quesitons, etc. on the page. If everyone listed their page like we did, it would be very easy to track grade levels, specific teachers, acceleration, etc. I would like to spend some more time exploring around the sandbox and what all it can do for me. I am not sure how I would use it in my classroom.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Thing 16
Library Thing is interesting. I read through some of the information on the site. It seems like a great place for people to catalog personal libraries. I kind of have mixed feelings about it. I would think that it would be great for those people who have tons of books. The hard part would be going through and adding them all into the on-line library. I do not have a very large classroom library so it would be easy for me to put all of mine on Library Thing and then just add the new ones. It seems like it is a bit time consuming but would be worth it once you had all the books cataloged.
I loved (I used this word in every post - sorry =) ) the 50 Book Challenge Club. I think this would be a great tool to use in my classroom to get my second graders reading. I was thinking that we could set a goal for the year and then see if we could make it. I don't know, we will see!!
I loved (I used this word in every post - sorry =) ) the 50 Book Challenge Club. I think this would be a great tool to use in my classroom to get my second graders reading. I was thinking that we could set a goal for the year and then see if we could make it. I don't know, we will see!!
Thing 14
Wild about Wikis! I think as with anything, we are always scared to start something. Just like Vicki Davis' blog. Our students will be so excited to try anything new that we throw at them! With each wiki that I read, I thought of some way I could use it in my classroom.
One of my favorites was the Schools in the Past wiki. I thought a great way to incorporate this in my classroom would be our community projects. In second grade we use Social Studies Alive to learn about our community. I was thinking that we could post different locations in Mesquite and have community members comment on them and what they remember about Mesquite the way it used to be. There is a lot of history here in our city and sometimes I think that we forget to look back at the very people who got us where we are today.
I also liked the kindergarten counting book. I thought this was a great way to count up to the 100th day of school. I thought we could use second graders in our school and then add additional grade levels if needed to count to 100 students.
Code blue was also a very interesting wiki. I enjoyed reading about what kind of doctor they were. I also went on to read about their patients. They were obviously given a disease to study and they have to research that disease and determine what causes it, treatment, cure, side affects, etc. I think these students learned a tremendous amount in this activity. It is also very evident that they had to learn to work together.
I also read several of the group writing wikis. I think this is a great way to get older students to collaborate with others on their writing ideas. I thought it was cool that they had added clocks for the different time zones that each school was in. I also thought this would be a fun way to do our Flat Stanley project this next year if I could find a school somewhere that would want to link on-line with us.
I get really excited about technology when I am reading all of the really neat things that students are doing all over our world! It is amazing!
One of my favorites was the Schools in the Past wiki. I thought a great way to incorporate this in my classroom would be our community projects. In second grade we use Social Studies Alive to learn about our community. I was thinking that we could post different locations in Mesquite and have community members comment on them and what they remember about Mesquite the way it used to be. There is a lot of history here in our city and sometimes I think that we forget to look back at the very people who got us where we are today.
I also liked the kindergarten counting book. I thought this was a great way to count up to the 100th day of school. I thought we could use second graders in our school and then add additional grade levels if needed to count to 100 students.
Code blue was also a very interesting wiki. I enjoyed reading about what kind of doctor they were. I also went on to read about their patients. They were obviously given a disease to study and they have to research that disease and determine what causes it, treatment, cure, side affects, etc. I think these students learned a tremendous amount in this activity. It is also very evident that they had to learn to work together.
I also read several of the group writing wikis. I think this is a great way to get older students to collaborate with others on their writing ideas. I thought it was cool that they had added clocks for the different time zones that each school was in. I also thought this would be a fun way to do our Flat Stanley project this next year if I could find a school somewhere that would want to link on-line with us.
I get really excited about technology when I am reading all of the really neat things that students are doing all over our world! It is amazing!
Thing 13 (or 15)
Delicious! That's what I think about Delicious. It is a great new tool that I had never heard about before. I spend hours looking at things on the internet for my class and just bookmark away. What ends up happening is I have all these bookmarks and then can't remember where I found what. As I used Delicious, I tried to come up with a minimum of 3 tags per site. Some I had way more. I found that if I tagged specifiably what I liked along with general tags, I will be able to find them quicker. For example, I found a readers theatre site. I tagged it 'readerstheatre' and then I tagged specific titles that I would like to use.
I think that Delicious will definitely fit right in to my handy dandy new tool box as one of my favorites!
I think that Delicious will definitely fit right in to my handy dandy new tool box as one of my favorites!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Thing 7a
Wow! I feel like that I am maybe half way there. I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and I don't think that it is a freight train anymore!!
I have several blogs that I am following. One of my favorite blogs to follow is my friend battling cancer. She is amazing and love how easy it is to see if she has any new posts.
I also have several blogs of fellow classmates that I am following. I like to follow 23 things in her blogging. She has a really cool slide show that you should check out. I want to go back when I get everything finished and figure out these cool things that you can do. I love all the different backgrounds that I see too. I want to figure out where to find those online.
I also like the Teacher Resource Center blog. I like to read the daily blogs that they post of fun ideas to use in the classroom I tried to copy link but there is too much recursion (don't know what that means). They also will give classroom set up tips, how to avoid the lounge gossip, etc. You can also search by topic to find something specific that you might be looking for.
Oh, any my other very favorite blog is Yahoo sports. I found out today that Tom Hicks wants to sell the Rangers. I would have never know had I not read my google reader today!
I have several blogs that I am following. One of my favorite blogs to follow is my friend battling cancer. She is amazing and love how easy it is to see if she has any new posts.
I also have several blogs of fellow classmates that I am following. I like to follow 23 things in her blogging. She has a really cool slide show that you should check out. I want to go back when I get everything finished and figure out these cool things that you can do. I love all the different backgrounds that I see too. I want to figure out where to find those online.
I also like the Teacher Resource Center blog. I like to read the daily blogs that they post of fun ideas to use in the classroom I tried to copy link but there is too much recursion (don't know what that means). They also will give classroom set up tips, how to avoid the lounge gossip, etc. You can also search by topic to find something specific that you might be looking for.
Oh, any my other very favorite blog is Yahoo sports. I found out today that Tom Hicks wants to sell the Rangers. I would have never know had I not read my google reader today!
Thing 12 (or 14)
I love Wordle! I used it really fast and created a list of all the teachers at my school. I thought this would be fun to put all of my student's names on at the beginning of the school year. I also thought this would be a fun application for spelling words. I could type in all the new words of the week and place in the Word Work Center. The students could then use paper and create their own Wordle on paper. I can also see using this for vocabulary or even word wall words. So much fun...or even a list of all our favorite things, books, etc.
I also liked the jigzone. I thought it would be fun to have the student of the weeks picture on the blog and the kids could figure out who it was. This would also be a fun spot to go to in the computer lab when they are finished working on their lab assignment.
These are all very fun tools. There were very few that I could not think of an application to use them for in the classroom for my grade level.
I also liked the jigzone. I thought it would be fun to have the student of the weeks picture on the blog and the kids could figure out who it was. This would also be a fun spot to go to in the computer lab when they are finished working on their lab assignment.
These are all very fun tools. There were very few that I could not think of an application to use them for in the classroom for my grade level.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Thing 11
This was a fun Thing to play with. I used camp photos that my husband took this summer and put some of them into Flickr and then used Mosaic Maker to create the application piece. It was very easy. The most time consuming part was getting the photos onto Flickr. I definitely need to spend a lot of time uploading photos to someplace off of my computer. I could not find a place to upload them straight from my computer. I'm sure there is a way, but hey, this worked!
I usually make pictures of my kids on the first day of school. This application would be fun to put all the students pictures on our class blog. I also thought that it would be fun to use the puzzle maker for the kids to figure out who our student of the week would be.
These are just two ideas that I came up with. I know that there are lots of ways to use this in the classroom. I need to go and read every ones blogs to see how they are going to utilize it.
Thing 10
Wow! I think that this Thing has taken me the least amount of time. It was very quick and easy. I think that having the photos already in a file made it easy to access them for the slide show. I would like to go back and explore the music a little more to see what songs are available. In the classroom, I would like to use this to retell the story The Scarecrow's Hat. It is one of my favorite books to read in the fall for sequencing and retelling. I think that it would be fun to get real pictures to do it with.
I will defineatley use this for personal photos. I already have a ton of ideas going in my head. I just have to finish this class first before I can start all of these fun things!!
I keep hitting walls today when it comes to posting. I am doing something wrong when it comes to getting applications to appear in the blog. I can get it on the blog itself but cannot get them embedded in the post. I will keep working at it....
Photo credit:
Rural Idyll by Rob W.
Gang Activity in Suburban Areas by Zack Korb
A Rural Road by Swainboat
New Residential Urban Area, Hanor (Vietnam) by E8club
City Market Bus Stop - Organized Chaos by A. Bhelke
I will defineatley use this for personal photos. I already have a ton of ideas going in my head. I just have to finish this class first before I can start all of these fun things!!
I keep hitting walls today when it comes to posting. I am doing something wrong when it comes to getting applications to appear in the blog. I can get it on the blog itself but cannot get them embedded in the post. I will keep working at it....
Photo credit:
Rural Idyll by Rob W.
Gang Activity in Suburban Areas by Zack Korb
A Rural Road by Swainboat
New Residential Urban Area, Hanor (Vietnam) by E8club
City Market Bus Stop - Organized Chaos by A. Bhelke
Thing 9
Flickr is very interesting to play with. I could and did spend hours looking through all the pictures. It was fun to click on random tags and see what photos came up. I think that Flickr is an excellent tool to utilize in the classroom. I also think that it is a great tool to use for personal purposes. I did learn that it is a great place to backup photos.
I decided to use our social studies curriculum when looking. We study about rural, suburban, and urban locations. I thought it would be interesting to find different photos that were made in the U.S. as well as other countries. If I had more time to research specific cities, I would copy them into my file so that the students could see different cities around the country. This photo is made in Philadelphia. Another idea would be to have the students research a rural, urban, and suburban area and find pictures that could be added to our slide show.
Photographer - http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonythemisfit/2443746612/
I decided to use our social studies curriculum when looking. We study about rural, suburban, and urban locations. I thought it would be interesting to find different photos that were made in the U.S. as well as other countries. If I had more time to research specific cities, I would copy them into my file so that the students could see different cities around the country. This photo is made in Philadelphia. Another idea would be to have the students research a rural, urban, and suburban area and find pictures that could be added to our slide show.
Photographer - http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonythemisfit/2443746612/
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