Thing #12

My slideshow has four pictures showing the different ways that students use technology.  The only bad part is the quality of the pictures are bad.  I really do not know what I did to make them look like that.  If you have any ideas please let me know.   You can view my photos at my wiki sight LH Sandbox.

Thing #11

I had heard about Flickr but never searched through the website to see what it was really about.  It was more complex than I thought.  I thought that it was just a sight where you could share your photos with your friends.

I read the blog on different ways that Flickr could be used in school.  I really enjoyed reading the blog about using Flickr for vocabulary.  What a unique way to learn vocabulary words.  

"Youth using Technology" was the theme for the selection of pictures.  I wanted to show different ways that children are using technology.

Thing #10

I was not familiar with CC at all, although we discuss copyright every year and we teach copyright laws to our students as well as our teachers.  Creative Commons has never been mentioned. 

We as educators like to share our work to help others teach.  That is just our nature, to give what we have created to help others learn. CC would be a great advantage in doing that.  

I think that it would be great for our students, they enjoy helping and contributing.  It is a great feeling when someone enjoys your work so much that they want to use it to help themselves succeed or accomplish their goal.

Thing #9

I had teachers at school who wanted to create Wikis.  I was not familiar with them so I had created one in the summer to see how it works.  I still was not truly understanding the full concept of a Wiki until this lesson showed me how it works and ways to utilize it.  This discovery activity helped me out a lot.  

Several steps were taking to create a Wiki.  Adding the content and linking to sites was fairly easy.  Although, I did have a little trouble with the Table of Contents. Trying to figure out the layout that I wanted took me some time and I am still not happy with it.   I want it to look neat and inviting, so I had to look at other Wiki's to get ideas.  It still is not what I want, but it will get there one day.

It took some time finding a picture or embedding media into my Sandbox.  It should be a lot faster once I get use to the process.  I really enjoyed the generator samples.  Those were really exciting, I did not realize there were so many of those out there.  I can't wait to have a little more time to explore those.

Overall, the experience was great and I felt excited knowing that our students could enjoy this just as much as we do creating it. 

Thing #8

Holocaust Wiki Project

The AP World History class used the wiki for a final review.  They will then use it for a review guide for the final AP exam.  Each group gets a topic and they have to research and write an article or outline on their specific World History topic.  

There was also another class on this wiki that researched families in the Holocaust.  It is a branching simulation where you can choose your own adventure.  It reflects their research on a family in the Holocaust and the decision points, and pros and cons/consequences of their decisions.  It is very interesting and I am not real sure how it all works.  It really gets the students thinking about how hard it was to make a decision because you were not sure if it was going to be the correct one.  They used many links to different student groups to help with the branching simulation.

I would have liked for this sight to be set up a little different, maybe more inviting to catch my attention.  

Grazing for Digital Natives

This wiki contained professional resources for teachers, administration, and staff development. The content will help to integrate technology into the schools.  The very first thing that you see is a woman that speaks to you about the wiki.  This is called Voki.  Way cool!

She has some amazing information on this site. There are many resource such as: informational technology blogs, sites used frequently on the network,  professional resources, and class resources.  This wiki is very friendly and easy to get around.  She has the main menu on the right, so you can get to anything quickly on her front page.  Everything to the left of her page deals with staff development and life long learning.

Schools in the Past

Cute and simple wiki that had 1st graders interview their parents and grandparents to discuss how schools have changed.  The class compiled a list of their findings on the wiki.  It was really interesting to read what they discovered from their family members.  There was also a spot for parents/grandparents to post comments if they would like.

Ideas

I would like to have a wiki at my school where teachers could collaborate on different ways that they use technology in their classroom.  Have it set up by subjects, they can then comment about what lesson that they taught and the technology tools that they used with that lesson. Maybe what worked and what did not, set up links to different sites that they have used.  Then other teachers could read the wiki, and get ideas and add on.

We are getting Promethean Slates and if we could have a wiki that kind of relates to my first idea, where the teachers add on to new ideas and ways to use the Promethean Slates.  Even collaborate with other schools.

Thing #7

I really do not know if I enjoy commenting.  I always second guess myself on what I write.  Do they really care... does it sound good.... how can I contribute to the conversation.  It takes a lot of energy for me to figure out exactly how I want to respond.  

Commenting is important, I do realize this, because it reflects your views and opens up a whole new realm of questions and answers.  It allows for people to interact and broaden the topic with new ideas.  I just seem to put way to much thought into it instead of just letting it flow.  

Blogging to me is OK, it is just commenting that I am having a hard time with.  Anyone else having this problem?

Thing #6

This activity started off very slow, because I had to learn what to look for.  It took me over an hour to really get going.  After I got to the very end of the lesson, I had blogs in my reader that I was interested in, and I was very excited.  I know have the blogs that I enjoy to read, especially Great New Books that Are a Must Read.  If you love to read books, this site gives you many books to choose from and a book review.

I am also putting together a daily workout routine at my school.  I am planning on getting ideas from Workout Routine Blog.  It is a health sight for women, which gives workout routines, diet suggestions, video recommendations, and many more answers to health issues.

I wanted to blog on non-school items because sometimes we just need a break to enjoy and read things that make us happy.  Not that my job does not make me happy, but I put so much effort into it everyday that it is relaxing making my mind wonder elsewhere.

Thing #5

Google Reader is great, I love having access to the important information that I enjoy reading.  I found a site "Seven blogs news tracker compared".  It list sites that track the latest, and best blog posts.  Sites such as Techmeme, Blogrunner, Google Blog Search, and Technorati.

Blog Search - organizes the biggest news

Techmeme - figures out which stories are hot and orders them accordingly

Blogrunner - new tracking service owned by The New York Times

Technorati - lists the hottest stories by topic

They all have the same idea but each one brings something a little different.  If you have time, check it out.