"Thing 23" Thoughts on Program

Honestly, I was a little apprehensive at first about taking this class. I am a very hands on learner and like someone to show me things first. Since this class was to be done from home, I was a little scared I would not be able to handle it. But... I learned SO MUCH! I really took charge of my own learning and found that online tutorials are really great. I learned about so many new programs and technology that I want to use with my students this year and share with other teachers. This was a perfect class for the summer because I am now loaded with tons of new ideas for the year. I would advise anyone considering to take this course. Thank you so much for offering this!

"Thing 22" Nings

Another great tool for the classroom. I love that Ning is private, easy to monitor and fun for the students. I used Ning at summer school this year as a way for students to journal about what they had learned that day. I was able to reply to their post much easier than taking home twenty journals each night. It also let the students share their thoughts with their peers, share pictures and videos of their research. I love Ning!

"Thing 21" PhotoStory

First off, I have to start by saying that I love Photo Story. I created a Photo Story with my summer school class and they loved it. I have attached the video I made of them because I don't have Internet on my laptop right now and am working from my home computer which I can not figure out how to record.

"Thing 20" Teacher Tube"

I found a video for LA with the different genres and it even had games the students could play. I didn't know there was a teacher tube. I am glad that I know about it now because last year I could never get on UTube.

"Thing 19": Web 2.0 Awards List

The site I picked front the web 2.0 awards list was "Im Cooked". "Im Cooked" is a web community for video reipe sharing. It is special because anyone, anywhere can upload videos of their recipes. This would be useful at school for cooking teachers or even in a LA classroom were the students are working on a how to project. They could create a recipe and upload their video to show the class. Also, I taught SWAP (after school) program for quick meals my students can cook at home. We could upload the video recipes and they could pull them up from home.

I would use this personally to get new recipes. I love cooking and videos make it that much easier.

"Thing 18" Productivity Tools

The productivity tool that I used was open office. I used open office's version of power point this summer teaching pbl. The benefits of using open office is that it is almost identical to Microsoft and FREE! It also has some features that Microsoft doesn't. I think it is great that we have switched to these tools.

"Thing 17"

I created a rollyo search engine with the websites my student used in PbL summer school. The site is a FEMA site for kids. This is a great way to limit what students can search for. The tutorial video is so true, google has way too much information for our kids. Below is the link to my Rollyo site.


http://rollyo.com/asmiller/miller-pbl/

"Thing 16"- Wiki

I love Wiki~

First off, I know I could use this in my personal life when planning trips with my in-laws, ha. But on a more serious note.

I have an idea to use wiki in my classroom by using it to compile list of books by genre or author. I love teaching the students about the different genres and what better way compile a list of book we have in our classroom.

Thing 15

Ok, have so much to say about this. First off, the video "A Vision of Students Today" was really an eye opener. To see how much time students are spending on the Internet and not learning a thing! Wow, this is why technology has to be a bigger part of learning.

I for one, love the way the libraries have evolved over the last two decades. I remember when the library was a place that I dreaded. I thought to myself, I can't talk, it is boring, I don't know where to find anything. These days, the library is a fun place..at least at my school. My librarian creates an inviting environment where learning is always taking place. She makes it a point to find new applications that the students can use hands. She loves to teach new technology and applications to the students. She even shares ideas with the teachers on how to incorporate into their lessons.

Where I feel their is a disconnect, is the teachers who are reluctant to evolve. I feel it is a disservice to our students when we are unwilling to out in the time and effort to stay on top of the changes in technology.

"Thing 14" Technorati

My thoughts on Technorati and how it's features can benifit me, is that it basically helps you find people that are interested in the same things as you. You can find teacher blogs, blogs on cooking, really anything.

Thing 13- Tagging/Delicious

My experience with tagging was very impressive. I have bookmarked so many sites on my laptop that it is overwhelming. This is a great day to organize lesson plans found online, sites for student research projects, site with educational game and reading list. I also think this is great for teacher collaboration. Teachers can share good sites that they find with each other.

"Thing 12"

On Commenting-

Reading about this really brought me back to one of the m PBL summer school experiences. We set the students up on the Ning for journaling of their PBL experience each day. The students were suppose to blog to their teacher and others about what they had learned that day. This brings me to the important point of "writing something meaningful". We had to keep reminding the students to write something meaningful. This is so true. If you are going to comment on someones blog, put something meaningful!

I also liked the part about sharing something about yourself. Make it personal, it makes it more interesting!

"Thing 11"

Ok, love this site!

My initial though was ok, this is cool. My class could keep a catalog of the books that we have read, maybe even have a competition within my different class periods. But than once I went to the group section, I had a ton more ideas. I read the Twilight Series along with some of my students and when I went to the group page it had a link to websites, other books like this one, ect. This would be a great tool to keep my students reading. They could find other books of this genre, talk to other students who have read the book, book clubs, the list goes on and on. I am hooked. Defiantly plan to use this next year. I even found a ning, which I have attached the link below.

http://thetwilightsagecommunity.ning.com

"Thing 10"

The image generator that I found was on mywebface.com. You can create a cartoon like image of yourself. It is similar to avatar but you can make it look more graphic.

I would have my students use this to create their own comic book. This would be great in LA, when you are teaching about the different types of books, for example graphic novels.

"Thing 9"

The search tool that was easiest for me was the Google blog search. I found a lot of sites and most of them had the easy link to subscribe.

I didn't find any of them to be really confusing, I just thought the Google one was very user friendly.

The most useful feed I found was a blog with running tips from a marathon runner. I am training for a 1/2 marathon so I found that information very helpful. I didn't really find anything unusual but I found some things that I didn't know existed. They had some blogs for mom stroller runners, basically it is a running group for moms trying to stay fit and they can bring their kids. I thought this was great. I don't have children yet but when I do it is nice to know that I can keep running and have support.

"Thing 8"

What I like about RSS and Readers is that I can information that I am actually interested in and skip all the stuff that I am not.

I can use this technology in my personal life because I am training for a 1/2 marathon. I subscribe to several sites that have running tips, ect. In school we could use it for research projects. Students could subscribe to related blog sites on their topic.

Librarians, teachers and administrators can use readers to find out about new technology by following others blogs sites. We can share with other educators around the world and learn so much from each other.

"Thing 7" cont.

The two google tools that I explored were Google Calender and Google Earth.

I posted my Google Calender on my previous post, very cool. I like to stay organized so I see myself using this for school and personal. This could easily be used at school on a project that had several deadlines.

Google Earth could be used in so many ways. I thought of looking up places where authors of books lived since I am a LA teacher but SS and Sc is unlimited!

Loved them both!

"Thing 7" Google Calander

Thing # 6

"Thing 5"

Flickr turned out to be really cool. I teach Language Arts so I searched poems. I found this poem made of separate words that is really neat. I can't wait to use this is my classroom!

Thing 3: Set up Blog & Creating my avatar

I really enjoyed creating my avatar! My avatar is a proud teacher holding up a report card from one of her students. I am in the library because that is where my summer school classroom is located. I could play around with that forever!

"Thing 3"

Ok, setting up the blog was easy but navigating was different. It looks like I have set up two different blogs because when I came back in, I could not find the original one I get up. I also was not sure what my link was to send for registering but I think I figured that out.

I had so much fun making my avatar. My avatar is holding a report card and hanging out in the library. My class for PBL summer school is located in the library so it reminded me of the great experience I had there.

"Thing 2"

A few pointers I got from the article were the 7 habits of highly effective people. Habit 1 & 2 where the ones that I could relate to. Habit 1 is being productive, I always look to find solutions rather than complaining about the problem. Complaining about the problem doesn't solve anything. I have found technology to be a great way to find solutions for struggling students. I have used different types of software that really help my special needs students. The other habit that I find very important is habit 2 (begin with the end in mind). I think sometimes we start things without thinking about where we want it to end. Many times I have started a lesson and it ended so much different than I thought because I didn't start with the end in mind. The most important part of being a life longer is being willing to try new things and step out of the box...even if it is not very comfortable.

Getting ready

Today was the set up day for PBL Summer School. I am so excited to start the day tomorrow. We plan to start out with some warm up activities, go over the routines, and get the kids set up on Ning. We are going to use Ning as a place for the students to do journal responses from what they learned that day. I will let you know tomorrow how day one went.

M