Thing #17

I previewed The Tech Teachers.  The podcast was created by two teachers who enjoy using technology in the classroom.  Each week they podcast some of their ideas, such as new technology (iPhone) and ways to use technology for school.  They explain technology terminology as well as give reviews on certain Web 2.0 sites and technology resources.  

The podcast directories that I stuck with were the ones that discussed technology uses in the classroom.  I found quite a few on iTunes, I downloaded about 5 different podcast over that topic.  I also wanted to learn different uses for an iPod, so I downloaded Learning at Hand: iPod.  

Podcasts would be good for tutorials on special technology uses.  For example:  How to set up a wiki or blog.  You can talk them through the entire process.

The Spanish teacher at my school, creates a PowerPoint for his students and he puts them on the iPod.  They can then listen to it as well as read it and follow along as they are reviewing over a new concept.

Thing #16

There were several things that I enjoyed about LibraryThing. Recommendations of books gave me great ideas for my next read. I really liked the Zeitgeist Overview. I could find a top author and look at the books that they have written. I could also look at the top book list, to help me find a book. The star ratings is a great tool to use, because I don't want to waste my time with a horrible book. This sight is going to save me a lot of time at the library.

LibraryThing would allow students to read a novel and blog about it or even rate it. It would give them an opportunity to get new ideas for their next read. If they enjoy reading Harry Potter stories then they can get recommendations for other books that are similar. You can use covers to make posters or a photomosaic.

Thing #15

My delicious bookmarking page has tagged sites for technology lessons, music, and audio books. This is a much easier way to search for sights that you need in a hurry.  My bookmarks get so big and unorganized that it takes me forever to find what I am looking for.  I also enjoy that you can write notes that will remind you about the content in the site.

I have teachers ask me all the time for lessons for the computer lab.  Now, I have a place to save resources where I can easily get to them.  This goes for anything. All I have to do is search a keyword and all of those sites will pop up.  

I am ready to import all of my bookmarks into delicious!

Thing #7b

I subscribe to Tipline - Gates' Computer Tips.  I read a blog about a teacher using Goggle Earth to teach a math lesson.  The students were directed to a tall building by zooming in and looking at the top of the building with a view down toward the grown.  The questions was "How tall is the building?".  They couldn't cheat because it wasn't a famous building, so they could not use the Internet to look it up.  All they had was the shadow to figure it out.  

I thought that blog was a very innovative way to teach a math lesson.  The blog also gives a site that has math lessons using the real world.

Thing #14

I looked at everyone of the tools for Thing #14.  I spent 20 minutes on Jigzone, putting a puzzle together.  That was my break time from actually doing my lesson.  I also want to use Mixbook

at some point to create a photo book of my family's vacations.  I have realized that I need to take more pictures so I can download them into all of these great websites. This lesson has been very enjoyable, because I have now bookmarked lots of sights to share with my teachers.

PollDaddy would be a very useful site for teachers to add surveys or take a poll on their website or blog.    You can add text, pictures, and video to your polls.  It can be used to ask students questions on what they are learning or students can use it to create their own surveys for a class project.  It is very quick and easy to get results very fast.  Results are also graphed to get you a better view of your data.

Thing #13

The beach picture came from Image Chef.  All you have to do is type what you want to write in the sand and it does it for you. Then you can drag it to your desktop.  There were many more great ideas on this site, this picture just caught my attention right.  

The Happy Face Generator is very unique.  You can create smiley face logos, signs, and comic strips.  You have to choose your specific smiley face character and type what you would the sign to say.  Then, drag it to your desktop.

It took me a long time to get this assignment completed because I played around so much.  I finally was running out of time so I had to make myself finally narrow it down and choose something.  There are so many different Image Generators that I wanted to see all of them.

Image Generators are a really fantastic ways to make presentations unique.  You can use them on the school website, newsletter, and newspaper. The image generators can be used to create a story for your class.  It can be a great way to create a biography for a certain character or famous person.  There are endless opportunities to gather unique images to tell a story or get a point across.

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.