Thing #23

I was exposed to many new concepts. I have been shocked and amazed at the information available via a computer. The vastness of information sometimes made it overwhelming. It has greatly expanded my knowledge and given me ideas for my classroom. ( I will need more instruction or time to implement the ideas. I hope that SBISD continues to provide education in this area.)

Some of the things or steps within the "things" need more instruction - those of us who are technologically challenged need more step by step directions. It did take much more than 18 hours of my time - probably 45 hours. I don't mind since I gained so much from this experience but it would have helped me schedule my time better if I realized that from the start.

I like that it was self paced and during the summer. It has been one of the best professional development workshops that I have attended. I hope that I am able to implement some of these ideas into my classroom (Do you have a system in place for questions as they arise?)
I have taken other online classes and like that I can fit them into my schedule. easier. I'm open to more on line classes. I especially liked the use of the blog because you were connected to other people and their thoughts.

One more thing, thanks for helping me connect with my students and their generation.

Thing #22

I found one site that I thought was particularly interesting. education.ning.com/

Another interesting sites for moms is : mombloggers.ning.com/

As you know if you have been following my blog, I need step by step instructions. I found this site that was helpful help.ning.com/

Thing #21

HELP! I'm real interested in photostory however, I can't seem to locate it on my computer. I tried to download it again. I pulled up a music screen but was unable to pull up a screen for downloading the pictures or creating a slide show. Obviously, I'm technologically challenged. I did find a beginner's guide to photostory on the web. I want to either take a class or pair up with someone with more technological savy than me. I have ideas.

Thing #20

I had technical difficulties with my sound but enjoyed surfing through the Teacher Tube sight. I found several that I want to review and possibly use in my classroom. I also likes the messages in CARS and 3 steps.

I couldn't find navigate my way throught the global schoolhouse website but I plan to spend more time learning about Friendship through education friendshipthrougheducation.org/ and epals.com/ both sound like they would be a great asset to my classroom.

I tried to embed the 3 steps video in this blog but was unsuccessful. Here is the link; I hope you enjoy it.

teachertube.com/view_video.phpviewkey=d29b62a286909165517b&page=1&viewtype=&category=tf

Thing # 19

WOW! I could spend all day on the computer with the Web 2.0 list. I was already quite familiar with cragslist, monster, google maps and google earth.

I've been experimenting recently with different photo sites so I downloaded Picasa since it was google related. My concern with the photos is security - yes, I'm an overprotected mom. I tried to put a password on my collections but couldn't figure out how to have a different password for different photos so that I could email to different sets of friends. I assisted a friend this weekend make a scrapbook to order with a different online site so now I want to change all of the photos to digital so I can make the kids different scrapbooks ( I didn't say when I get it done.)

I also looked at writeboard.com I need to play with it more and want to use it in my classroom. (I NEED MORE COMPUTERS) I also liked the tutorials available on thinkfree.com/

My kids would like zango.com/ I will need to see if there is anything there that I could use for the classroom too.

We don't go out to eat often but I will use this site when we do for new suggestions www.urbanspoon.com/c/8/Houston-restaurants.html Also, I'm always surfing the net for new recipe ideas for this site is a big plus for me. imcooked.com

I'm learning to take care of me too. I'm good at eating healthy but now I want to implement exercise and become more proactive for good future health so I found www.revolutionhealth.com interesting.

SO MUCH TO LEARN... We need more time. Can our inservices be centered around technology and sharing ideas on how to incorporate it into our classes this year??

Thing #18

I was real excited when I read about Open Office. I downloaded it and had visions of creating masterpieces. However, I could access my existing docs but couldn't create a new one. So, I downloaded Open Office again thinking that I missed something. I still couldn't figure it out. Once again, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation but it was frustrating without more specific instructions.

It took me a while tinkering on Google docs but I could figure that one out so it wins my vote for now.

Thing #17

I found parts of Rollyo confusing. I'm sure that if I had more clear directions or an onsite expert; the confusion could have been quickly resolved. I added Firefox to my computer and tried a couple of searches and setting up my personalized searchroll. The FAQ page was helpful.

I want to tell you about another search engine that I played around with today. Its http://www.cuil.com/
I like its layout. It seems less cluttered so it is visually appealing to me. I'm thinking of my ESL students who start to feel overwhelmed when there is too much print on a page or those with dyslexia or other reading challenges. This might be a good option for them.

At this time, I want to also say how much I am enjoying using del.icio.us.

Thing #16

I enjoyed reading http://teacherlibrarianwiki.pbwiki.com/Must+Have+Graphic+Novels+Secondary
I hope I will be able to get some of those graphic novels for my classroom.

I'm planning on using http://teacherlibrarianwiki.pbwiki.com/Cool+free+tools
in my personal and professional life. I hope to share these with my students too.

I wonder if as a school we could do something similiar to http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/Princeton%20Public%20Library. Maybe we could make it a contest between grades.

I'm thinking this would be a great option for our advisory period. How could we make it work? We could use the computer lab for two advisory classes and then rotate the classes out each month. http://www.gcflearnfree.org/

I'm wondering if the students would like this website. Would they be more motivated to take a quiz on line? Would it help prepare them for other testings that are experimenting with online testings and scoring? http://www.classmarker.com/

I think it would be awesome if our school had a wiki site. I think the students would enjoy it and it would be a good way to keep the parents informed too. I don't completely understand how to set it up ; I wish they had step by step directions somewhere for us technologically challenged but interested. I like d looking at this sample http://westwood.wikispaces.com/

In the sandbox, I heard about this interesting website. I went on it and created a hero. I'm thinking that it could be intergrated into a writing assignment. However, I couldn't figure out how to save or print it. http://www.ugo.com/channels/comics/heromachine/classic.asp

Thing #15

I think technology has changed the world and its hard for me to imagine what life will be like when my students and kids are my age. I think it is important to keep up with technology but I don't think we should throw away everything from the past. Generations learn from each other.
I wonder if the drop in library circulations are solely due to increase of web information and activity or if less people are reading.

I do believe that technology instruction needs to be available for all people of all ages and the library would be a good place to make that happen. Libraries have changed so much during my life time. When I grew up it was a place of silence and thinking unless the librarian was reading a book to children. Now, libraries are fulled with much more activity.

I really like the idea of digital downloads of books and the ability for readings to tag and share their reviews and comments. However, I still think there is a need for books in print too.

Thing #14

Wow! I've enjoyed my searched on Technorati. The searches didn't also lead me to where I expected but I found many interesting sites.

Here is a blog created by students: guysread.typepad.com/theblurb

Math tutorials that are always accessible. What a neat idea mathactivity.blogspot.com


I thought that this one would create alot of thinking and discussion mytko.org/random

I also liked the teacher tips on middle-school-teacher.blogspot.com

I'm having sound difficulties but this site seemed like it would be helpful to my ESL students: esl-lab.com/

I found several classroom blogs that I would like to gather ideas from and hopefully create one for my classes. mrblacknbc.blogspot.com, robertdouglas.edublogs.org, ralphrdowney156.vox.com


Last but not least, I found one about making blogs & the internet in general easier for students with dyslexia to read. OMG.. I never thought about that. I think it is a definate read for all teachers. Web Designing For Dyslexia
hobo-web.co.uk/tips/100.htm

Thing #13

Great ... Finally something that I completely understood. I created my delicious account and found quite a few articles and blogs to tag about ESL and Dyslexia.

I feel more organized. Now, if only I could organize the papers on my desk that easily.
I wonder if you could use this to teach students how to organize thoughts for a paper.

If I keep brainstorming on how I can use this in my classroom, I'm going to end up needing more computers for the class. How can I make all of this work?

I'm just so thrilled that I found yet another thing that I feel confident to implement it immediately in both my personal and professional life.

Thing # 12

Several concepts that I agree with and want to post.

One: People will disagree, they need to discuss issues. It is important to model for children the right way to disagree on a topic and to show that we can do it while remaining civil and not attacking the other's right to their opinion. This is not only true for blogging but also for real life conversations. If we would all start our conversations by a genuine compliment. Wouldn't the world be better place. Point out each area of disagreement and why in a brief, calm, professional manner.NEVER: Be sarcastic, rant prolifically, curse, or personally attack a person. Always criticize kindly. Just think of the power of these sentences for marriages,too.

Two: If you died today and don't share "your secret," it will die with you and you will miss the chance to share your thoughts and leave a legacy.

Three: By commenting you are contibuting in a meaningful way to the merging global conversation. I never thought about blogging & commenting in that perspective before - something to think about.

Four: hyperlink your comments to your blog. I think this is a great idea. I'm still not sure how to do it even though I looked at severall explanations. I still find myself not understanding the procedure well enough to be comfortable and confident.

Although I looked at several links. I think most of these concepts I saw first on cool cat teacher.

Thing #11

Setting up the account was relatively easy. The usernames that I thought of were popular so it took a few tries. Once again, the time flew as I surfed through the contents.

I found three groups that I thought were interesting: Children's Fiction, Children's literature and Books that made me think. I also found several reading groups for teens that were "private". It would be cool to create one for our middle school and have students post their comments on different books.

Thing #10

As you can tell from my happy face, I'm having trouble copying them in the correct place. I need more instruction on the moving of content from the web to my blog.



I could use me using Image Chef within an email... if I could figure that out or in a seperate kids sports blog. Some of my students may be interested in using these images too. I'm still trying to figure out what would be the objective for the lesson.



I enjoyed the Happy Face Generator too. I could see me using that in the classroom for story starters or to improve vocabulary or to illustrate character feelings in story.



I was overwhelmed with the comic strip cartoons. I will need to go back when I have more free time to learn and explore. This would be a great lesson for kids though, I see so many language and reading possibilities. I need a seperate class on this so that I can implement it at the beginning of the year as a "hook" for learning.



I saw some sites that would make good gifts ( ie. personalized jigsaws, calendars, magazines etc.). I would consider using those in my personal life but haven't yet thought of how I could apply them in my classroom.

Thing #9

I'm starting to feel a little addicted to the computer. I spent about four hours combing through blogs and news feeds. I almost felt guilty that I was spending so much time in front of the computer just perusing through blogs. I am amazed at all the topics and so called experts. I think you need to be real careful because I could see how young minds could accidently become a "follower" but at the same time the blogs can create a good discussion . I thought the google blog, topix, syndic 8 and technorati were the easiest to use. The edublog winners were interesting but I couldn't figure out if the winner was just decided by a popular vote or other criteria were included also. Some of the blogs I tried to attach to my google reader and they got lost somewhere out in cyberspace. A couple were very easy to attach because they asked you a series of questions. I'm not very comfortable about commenting on blogs yet however, I do feel like I am beginning to be more educated about all the possibilities of blogs and computers.

Thing #8

Well, I've spent a couple of hours on goodle reader and looking at blogs and RSS feeds. I'm still not sure that I completely understand it. It is overwhelming and intriguing at the same time.

I can see that if you are researching a topic, it would be great to find the perfect site and automatically receive the updates - boy do I wish I had that in graduate school, it would have saved a lot of time. I also see that the students have access to so much more information so much more quickly that we ever did.

I will need to come back to play with it some more to productively use it in my classroom or personal life on a regular basis.