Goodi's Blog

Thing 19

2012-01-30T11:45:00.000-08:00

Even though the story nory podcast is for much younger students I really liked the idea of it and the fact that they had the words on the page so students can follow along. Especially with some of our lower level readers and even the students that are ELL they could benefit from these podcasts by chosing a story and following along.
http://storynory.com/

Also the professional development podcasts are helpful because you do not necessarily have to be present you can just listen and it can be at home or get the info when it's convienent for you!
http://www.lmsd.org/staff/techmentor/podcast/LMSDPodologue.htm

Thing 18

2012-01-30T11:03:00.000-08:00

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2011

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2011

View more presentations from Jane Hart

I searched geometry and this happened to be one of the power points, so I thought why not...

It's a long power point but it has a lot of useful links, some I use, most I do not but I would like to explore.

This reminds me of searching on all the other sites like flickr, and even for prezi's...you never know what might come up. Again what someone might tag or label as one thing might not be the same as another person would.

Thing 17

2012-01-30T10:45:00.000-08:00

I explored the flash cards...how do I get this on my blog! (Forgot which thing we had to explore blogs but I found one that had flash cards, so when I saw this tool I could not resist.)

It's amazing...you put in the words and definitions, then you can click on study, review, or quiz. The flash card shows the word, after you click on show answer it asks if you were correct or incorrect...can't wait to use this!

Thing 16

2012-01-30T10:30:00.000-08:00

I just realized that from my Google Reader I can click on documents on the left and it took me right to my google docs!

Ok so Google Docs I am familiar, obviously, I have to be by now. I do not use it personally however we use it for work all the time, it's the first thing I open when I get into work in the morning.

I can't wait for the students to have their own accounts so we can start using these, no more worries about losing zip drives and lost papers! Yahoo!

Thing 15

2012-01-30T10:13:00.000-08:00

I find RSS beneficial. I have not been through to read any of them...oops. But I did find a great feed through delicious about migrains, and I will be sure to check that one often. When I was trying to go back and organize I forgot how to put my feeds in folders so I had to go back to thing 5 and relearn but I won't forget again!

Thing 13

2012-01-30T09:23:00.000-08:00

I think tagging is useful, it's familiar since I use it in facebook and then when I was introduced to flickr. And now with social bookmarking.

I don't know that there are any disadvantages, it doesn't seem to take up much time (ok maybe a minute to add extra info), but it's definitally worth the organization that tagging has to offer.

Just like the tagging with flickr, tagging on websites may have some of the same issues where one person may tag a website for a specific reason but another people may find tag differently. I guess that would be the only thing I would consider first, but since I haven't done it yet I can't really say much more.

Thing 12

2012-01-22T12:48:00.000-08:00

This Day in Historygreat free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

Embedding codes is easy, for this one I tried to copy it myself and instead I needed to hit the copy button that was in the widget, other than that I'm good!

I have facebook, I do not think it's as meaningful as face to face relationships but I don't meet people on facebook, I know all my facebook friends. Other sites I can't necessarily say the same for because I'm not a part of them, I know people who have met online and are now married, several couples actually, and those relationships are just as meaningful.

I think sites like facebook are so popular with kids because they are not speaking face to face, it's easy to express yourself online with exactly what you want to say to someone, and that can be dangerous sometimes.

Thing 11

2012-01-22T12:09:00.000-08:00

After reading how you should and should not leave comments I was kind of nervous to leave a comment actually. I would type something then re-type, man blog etiquette is exhausting! I like receiving comments, it keeps the conversation going, I'm not sure how I would feel if I'd feel getting a negative comment (probably delete my blog and call it a day), kidding.

For students sharing their writing online I think it would make me more nervous actually when I think about it, because a kid is more likely the be brave with what they write online than what they might say to someones face...this could be a good thing or a very bad thing. So before having students utilize a classroom blog I think the blog etiquette thing is important to discuss.

Thing 10

2012-01-15T08:15:00.000-08:00

Can you find the mistake?

I've used this video in the past when I first started my classroom blog. Students watch it and post their comments on what is false about any information given in the video (except for the obvious of course).

I was not given the same 2 downloading options on keepvid and pwnyoutube. I was able to download the video on pwnytube but right clicked on one of the several options (mp4) and saved it that way.

At the end of the tutorial for the keepvid and pwnyoutube it was mentioned that you're not allowed to post these videos on your blog...so is it ok to have this video on my blog or not?

Thing 9

2012-01-15T07:30:00.000-08:00

You Tube is great, I use it often at home and at school. The only thing I do not like about it is the videos that show up along the side (the ones that are inappropriate that you have to look out for and quickly close out of). Also there are random pop-ups that I'd rather my students not see especially when projected on the SMART board. But overall, I can type in almost anything I need and find a quick clip to show my students.

I commented on the Ma and Pa Math video. How funny and I think it could be used for a pretty good debate in my classroom, especially bringing in a persuasive essay of some kind, where students have to prove their side using at least 3 examples.

Thing 8

2012-01-03T12:10:00.000-08:00

I'm surpised I never knew about all of these tools! I had fun trying some of them out. I couldn't get the suduko going, not sure if anyone else experienced the same problem but it just never loaded. Other than that I thought the Flickr mashups were pretty easy to use. I didn't try all the image generators, obviously that would take too much time. Some of them I tried and couldn't get the hang of so I stopped...but if I spent more time with them I'm sure I'd be able to figure it out.

I'd use a lot of these on a personal level, they are fun to put in family photos and mess around with. But I also think within the classroom the students could use some of these as ways of displaying their work, inputing edited images into presentations (prezi's, powerpoint, or even just printing out and putting on a posterboard).

Took me a while to figure out how to get this picture in but I did it! So I'm pretty proud of myself...I copied the html (it's in the box a little below the word you spell), and it's long. Then I pasted it in Edit Html of this box, you know it says Compose or Edit HTML)

I also figured out that when you're in Spell with Flickr and after your word shows up you can click on a specific letter and it will change that letter for you.

Thing 7

2012-01-02T12:34:00.000-08:00

At work I can use Flickr to find pictures for my lessons, social studies related and math (in searching geometry I had a lot of ideas come to mind after looking through the pictures). I can use the pictures at the beginning of a lesson to start a discussion or at the end as an assessment to see what students can tell me about what they learned. The pictures can be used in prezi's or power points, anywhere I can incorporate pictures I can use flickr!

It can be time consuming looking through all the pictures, I may not find exactly what I'm looking for or if I find what I'm looking for I may not be able to use it how I want to because of the rights. Also not all pictures are tagged how I would necessarily tag them so I may not find what I'm looking for because I'm searching for the wrong interpretation.

Thing 6

2011-12-31T11:05:00.000-08:00

I noticed a picture of an old photo on the flickr homepage so I searched old photos, I found a lot that were wonderful then realized they were all rights reserved. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to search 'The Commons' photos. I didn't realize at first it was in the drop down menu under the word search!

Anyway, I started searching old photos and came across this one (sorry so small, I tried to make it bigger but it got fuzzy), of a cathedral...it reminds me of the cathedral my husband and I got married in (awww, I know) with the tall ceilings and arches, but it's gorgeous and historical and I'm sure even more breathtaking in person.

Thing 5

2011-12-31T09:57:00.000-08:00

So the way I thought subscribing was easiest from Thing 4 post has now changed!

I don't think that RSS is difficult to grasp but I did spend a lot of time trying to find blogs, too much time and of that time I think I found two great blogs I want to follow. I know I'll find more as I continue my search but I didn't want to subscribe to every blog, it was a big overwhelming.

Organizing the blogs was fine, I honestly don't think that I'll have that many blogs on my google reader where I need the folders, however...I'm sure if I spend time away and do not check them often the folders will help me to remember what the blogs were about in the first place.

As far as handling information overload...sucks to admit this but I'll ignore things or throw things away (on in this case, delete things). My top priorities stay top priorities and things I haven't dealt with or think I won't deal with get forgotten (which is too bad because they eventully come in handy).

In one of the blogs I found there is a cool suggestion for a wordfoto app (which I'm sure we've been told about, but it's one of those things, info overload that I put aside) http://speakingofhistory.blogspot.com/ I haven't tried it yet but I'm interested.

Thing 4

2011-12-13T16:10:00.000-08:00

RSS is a great tool. I barely find time to go online and check my facebook so using it for personal purposes will probably be during breaks for news and entertainment. Professionally...if my students had blogs I think this would be a great tool to use. I think I could even use this for my own classroom blog if students wrote comments and I wanted to stay updated (right?) without checking my blog or e-mail every 15/30 minutes.

All methods of subscribing made sense to me. I thought the subscribe button was easiest at first but then you can't really see the actual blog unless you click on the link after seaching so I didn't like that as much. I guess the more practice I have using RSS the more comfortable I'll become with one method or another.

Thing 3

2011-12-11T12:29:00.000-08:00

I think a blog would be beneficial to reinforce concepts taught in my classoom, to offer support to students, and to act as another form of communication between home and school (or even used within the school).

I created a classroom blog a few years ago and used it with my students, some of them really got into it and the response was great. However not all my students had access to the internet, some of the parents wouldn't allow their children to have their own google account (I tried to convince them to have the parents use their own accounts but it wasn't very successful). So some of my students used the blog and commented but it wasn't something I used for my entire class since the majority couldn't participate.

Now more parents might be willing or more students probably have their own accounts (next year arn't we giving students google accounts anyways?). I'm excited to revamp my blog and get it going again.

There was a vocabulary gadget (not sure what it's called) that I saw on one of the blog examples I looked through and am pumped to get that on mine!

I do worry that some of my students still don't have access to a computer at home and am not sure they have someone to take them somewhere to use a computer. So I just worry they might feel left out.

Thing 1 and Thing 2!

2011-12-10T12:47:00.000-08:00

I've known about this "digital natives" thing for a while. When I was an undergrad I remember reading an article about it, but I guess I didn't realize the extent of it. I try to incorportate technology when I'm able to, but I definitlaly don't have the creative technology gene!

It's interesting how much technology children are exposed to at such young ages now, to think of it my daughter (2 in January) plays on my husbands tablet already...I'd certainly hope that her classroom incorportates technology....I feel like I'm not doing enough after only reading through the first couple "things."

As far as podcasts go and wiki pages, I'm going to have to take baby steps. And how true is it that when we were in school we had to research to find information, now students don't really have to search (everything is out there), they just have to figure out which info is the good stuff and which is false or just opinions?

I too will be looking at my students differently, it's a huge shift in the way we teach but it's necessary and the longer we wait the more frustrating teaching my become.