Thing 23

Oops, Just realized that I forgot to blog on Thing 23. Thought I was finished, but I guess I got a little ahead of myself.
First, sharing what I've learned. This is a tought one. To share what I've learned, from my experience, only works for people who are interested in the learning. I will be happy to share any information or insight I have gathered with anyone who is interested. I find that trying to force the issue doesn't work in any way, shape, or form.

I know I began this class with a bit of a negative attitude and I'm leaving feeling inspired and optomistic. I'm hoping to continue to explore Web 2.0 and with the encouragement of the other teachers who took this class with me, I think that will happen. I'm also hoping to look for some technology grants. I'd like to get a smart board, if possible, and maybe even someone to come into the classroom for professional development. I've never written a grant before, but I know that I will be exploring this option over the winter break. I'm a little excited thinking about this. And, I've just thought, that perhaps I can use the message/help board for help in the grant writing process. Suddenly, possiblilites seem to have opened up. I'll be exploring some of these over the break to see if connecting over the internet really works. We'll see.

Thing 22

I will definately participate in PD courses on-line although I do have to say that I was fortunate to share this PD experience with other teachers in my building. We helped each other when something was confusing and we didn't quite understand how or what we were doing, which is one of the advantages and disadvantages of taking a PD class on-line. I enjoy the personal interaction when I'm trying to figure out how to solve a problem which isn't necessarily available when taking an on-line class. I like the convenience of working on-line at my own pace whenever and wherever I am. Whether or not I'll continue to blog is another question. Right now, I don't thing I will continue to share my thoughts. I didn't see the advantage of blogging from this experience. People aren't interacting with the blogs. As far as this class went, I'm finding that I enjoyed it more than I thought I was going to when I first began this experience. In the beginning, I thought it was confusing, too much work, too many user names and passwords to remember. I didn't understand that everything was under the umbrella of google and that I would only need the one user name and password. I learned much more than I realized. Perhaps it was the wikis, podcasts, and vodcasts that struck a cord. It was exciting to download the video to show to the student who didn't understand what the reading was about. I told my students today that if the books they were creating came out good, they could create a podcast so that their parents or relatives could hear them read their stories over the internet. They were so excited! I'm hoping this will encourage them to put their best effort into their work and they will create something of substance. I would never have thought of doing something like that before taking this class. If someone told me to do it, I would have thought of it as one more thing to add to my impossibly long list of things to do at school.

I do have to say however, that I'm not sure I would have been as optomistic about this class had it not been for the teachers I worked with and collaborated with. It helped make the class more fun and interesting especially when we began sharing ideas. Bottom line, I would recommend this class to others and I'm looking forward to 23Things Part 2.

Thing 21

I am very excited about using videos in the classroom and I have started using them already. I was reading with a student a story about sheep shearing and weaving. I asked her if she knew what it meant to shear a sheep or if she knew what weaving was. When she said no to both questions, I told her I would show her. I went to youtube and downloaded sheep shearing and Navajo weaving. Not only was she excited, but the rest of the class wanted to know what we were doing and also became excited watching the videos. The only problem I have is that I have to show these videos over a monitor which means a small group can comfortably view them at one time.

Thing 20

I'm sure my students would enjoy listening to some podcasts. They would enjoy the storytelling and music podcasts. I'm also sure they would enjoy creating podcasts. They like listening to themselves read so I'm sure anything that would have them reading a story would work well. I also think it would be great to have them podcast a "How To" when explaining how they got an answer to a math problem.
Podcasts that I listened to were Earth and Sky for Kids, www.earthsky.org/kids, Colonial Williamburg, http://history.org/media/podcasts.cfm. This I believe, http://www.pbs.org/podcasts/ and Robert Munsch http://www.robertmunsch.com/booklist.cfm.


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Thing 12

Oops!
I created my flickr picture but I forgot to reflect on how I might use this in the classroom or share with other teachers.
I suppose I could use it if I took pictures during field trips and uploaded them to my computer at school. Then, the students could label the pictures. We could then present the slideshow during Open House for parents to view, or students could share their slideshow with family and friends from other schools or cities that have internet capability.

Thing 21

Thing 19

WOW! I had no idea there were so many podcasts on the web, or out in the cloud. I listened to, This I Believe, Colonial Williamsberg, EarthSky, and Robert Munsch. I like This I Believe, but I also like listening to it on NPR when I'm in the car driving around. It's insightful and thought provoking.
Podcasts are ok. I find them a little difficult to listen to especially when the speaker is a bit dry. I would prefer a video, otherwise known as vodcast so I can have a visual along with the audio.
I think podcasts and vodcasts would work great in the classroom setting for science and social studies. I love the idea of watching then recreating a science experiment in the classroom especially when most of my science experiments seem to flop and I don't know why. I can also use an explanation as to what is happening behind the science. For example, I know how to create volcanoes, I just don't know why putting baking soda and vinegar together create an explosion. I love the idea of letting students visit a living history museum via vodcasts. The downsize is having the available technology in the classroom to access these sites. The other is the overabundance and wealth of information. One podcast or vodcast links to other podcasts which link to more podcasts and the list is unending. I find myself getting too overwhelmed with this gigantic sea of information until I feel like I'm drowning.

Thing 12

Thing 18

Thing 17

Wikis!
Lots of fun - lots to manage - fun to share.
Totally different than blogging, I think. If I'm understanding all of this, blogging is like journaling. I express my thoughts, someone replies or doesn't reply. It's like having an open diary out in the "cloud". I can respond to anyone else's thoughts by posting to their blog. They can respond back or not. Wikis offer much more. It seems that Wikis cover just about everything and anything. However, I'm not sure I'm totally understanding them. I've been working on our state report. I've tried to edit, sometimtes it works the way I want, sometimes it doesn't. I created another page to link to my wiki report but can't tell if it worked. I've tried uploading images, haven't been too successful. I've put lots of time into trying to figure it out and not making too much headway. I've looked at other wikis and I am impressed. I wonder how long it took some of those people to compose their wiki. Did they have help? Did the whole wiki idea come to them easier than it has come to me? How long did it take them to create their wiki? How often do they update their wiki? What happens to a wiki when you're finished with it?
I'd like to understand the wiki because I think they're a lot of fun and would be a great teaching tool if I had a whiteboard or a smartboard in my room.

Thing 13

This was definately fun. My problem with this is that I don't take very many pictures that I would upload to the computer. It would be great though, if the students were doing reports and were able to upload pictures to those reports. I tried creating Power Point demonstrations with my students last year. They enjoyed them very much and they are a lot of fun for the students to create, however, it was extremely time consuming trying to explain all the procedures involved. Emphasis on the words time consuming! Other than that, I can't think how I would use this in my classroom. If any out there has any ideas, I'm all ears.

Thing 11

This was fun. I also thought creating Power Point demonstrations were fun when I first learned about them, but right now, I can take it or leave it - Slideshare. As an elementary teacher of third grade students, I wouldn't use this program to create a power point demonstration or to put my student's powerpoint demonstrations on the web. Perhaps if I had a Smartboard in my room, I would feel differently. Is there anyone out there who would be willing to help me write a grant for a Smartboard?

embedding a slideshare

Cleverwood Mobile Monday1108

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: mobile content)

delicious

Ever since delicious has installed itself on my computer I am receiving error messages from internet explorer and it keeps shutting down. This is very inconvenient. Anyone have any suggesstions on how I can resolve this conflict?

Thing 8 and Thing 10

I've set up my delicious account. It was way too easy and too quick. I like the idea of being able to access my favorites from wherever I am regardless of whose computer I may be using, but I am having trouble managing my delicious account. First, all of my bookmarks transferred over which was not my intention. I tried deleting some, but see that they haven't deleted. I've tried setting up tags and I've spent a couple of hours now working on that, but for some reason I can't seem to get a tag to register. I'm not sure I want delicious on my home computer yet, but there it is, and I don't know how to get it off. A couple of my coworkers have expressed the simplicity of delicious, so I'm feeling rather intimidated with less than average intelligence at the moment. I also tried creating a document on google docs, but don't understand how that one works either even though my fellow teacher and classmate raved about the ease of google docs and how much she loved it! So, there here I sit, trying to manipulate these programs, going round and round, going nowhere. If I had a smartboard at work, I might be a bit more excited about these programs. Anyone out there willing to help me out with a grant for one?

Thing 5

I just completed the section on Web 2.0 and it's effects on the future of education. Honestly, I don't really understand how it's used and I'm sure when I get with my "group mates" we will discuss it and I may then have a better understanding. However, when I read, A Day in the Life..., I was not impressed. I think technology, like anything else, has it's pros and cons. It seems like a sterile environment where people are communicating via computers and sharing ideas, but not enhancing, creating, developing life skills. I'd like to see more trade schools, where people learn practical and useful skills. In that sense, I can see how sharing information over the web would be useful. I think it's nice that people can reach out across the universe, but I'd also like to see people reach out to each other outside their doors. Maybe I'm just not understanding all of this. But, when we get to that place where everything is done on computer only and no verbal and visual communication is taking place, I will probably not be teaching anymore. So, enlighten me, please!

Thing4

According to 23 Things and Thing4, we're suppose to reflect on the changes in education and teaching in general over time. As far as teaching goes, from what I've experienced, we're headed in the right direction trying to make learning more enjoyable for students and trying to create more active and responsible learners. Many people think technology is the answer. Personally, I think technology is just another tool like books, videos, and cameras. Sometimes, I think technology is overrated and overused. If we truly want to engage learners of all learning styles, we need to restructure schools which enable and encourage these various learning styles. Schools are still very linear and becoming more so with the stress on testing. What would be truly exciting to see in schools, in my opinion, and what the "Brain Based" people promote is Susan Kovalik's style of teaching. Susan Kovalik's ideology, from what I understand is similar to the quote,
"Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have
fed him for a lifetime”—Author unknown

Teachers should work as a team within their individual strengths designing lessons that engage all learners in all art forms. Bring in a bicycle. Tear apart the bicycle. Research bicycles. Rebuild the bicycle. Ride the bicycle. Race the bicycle. Build a better bicycle. Not just for 40 minutes a day, but for the whole day until the project is completed before moving onto another project.

Just some thoughts and one idea.

Thing 3

Right now I'm not too excited about blogging. I guess I need someone to convince me of the benefits of blogging and sharing my world with everyone.