I cannot believe I made it this far!!! I am ecstatic right now!
1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I had several favorites - the most recent would have to be the Second Life. I surprisingly really enjoyed playing around with a few of the different features and I look forward to learning more about it. I also liked the Image Generators - I had fun with that as well. Animoto would probably have to be my all time favorite because I have discovered a new way to keep up with all of my online photos!
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
It has reminded me of all the technology that is out there that I am so unfamiliar with and that I need to stay updated for the sake of my students and my own young children. I don't want to get left behind and it is so valuable to stay on top of the latest technologies even if they take me completely out of my comfort zone.
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
After completing the 23 Things last summer - I knew that I would have another great experience. I think that it is such a wonderful opportunity to have this offered and I look forward to completing something similar next summer!
4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Extend the time if possible...I know that isn't really feasible, but this felt like a lot of work in a short amount of time. It was great though!
Thank you!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Thing # 11 - Digital Citizenship
Well, my initial first impression of Digital Citizenship is that it is a form of online etiquette. I hope that is correct. I would want to teach my students the following:
1) Danger associated with online social networking sites - their identity can be traced - school computers are the property of the school and anything inappropriate they may be looking at can come back to them.
2) Online bullying or written threats of any kind can get a student into a lot of trouble, possibly even legal trouble.
3) Plagiarism is illegal and will earn them a zero on an assignment - anything that is copy and pasted must be documented.
4) Learn to distinguish reliable sources versus unreliable sources - don't always use the first site you find. Check the credibility of the site.
5) The internet is a vast resource - use it wisely.
1) Danger associated with online social networking sites - their identity can be traced - school computers are the property of the school and anything inappropriate they may be looking at can come back to them.
2) Online bullying or written threats of any kind can get a student into a lot of trouble, possibly even legal trouble.
3) Plagiarism is illegal and will earn them a zero on an assignment - anything that is copy and pasted must be documented.
4) Learn to distinguish reliable sources versus unreliable sources - don't always use the first site you find. Check the credibility of the site.
5) The internet is a vast resource - use it wisely.
Thing # 10 - Virtual Worlds
So, this is my first time hearing of this and when I first read the directions, I felt totally overwhelmed! What the heck is this? Very interesting. After playing around with it - I had a lot of fun. One downside, I feel like I would have to have some serious extra time on my hands to fully explore what all the Second Life has to offer. For the short amount of time that I played around with it, I had fun creating my new persona. I dare not tell my husband about this site - he would become addicted! There seem to be some really cool things that you could use it for. I love the idea of a virtual classroom - I would really like to try this out with my students, but I have quite a bit of learning to do before I venture out on that idea.
Thing # 9 - Slideshare
This was interesting - I think that as a classroom teacher there is a great desire to have shared powerpoints; I don't know that kids would find it quite as useful or interesting. After reading Stephen's Lighthouse, it looks as though there are other web based sharing sites that might work better than Slideshare. 280 Slides would be excellent for those that do not have access to PowerPoint...as many of our students may not at home.
This one on advertising would be great to use in the classroom for a persuasive writing assignment - it was interesting to watch.
As for the students using it, I suppose one could create a useful assignment to get the kids involved...I'll have to think on this one. I would love to be able to use it in the classroom though.
This one on advertising would be great to use in the classroom for a persuasive writing assignment - it was interesting to watch.
Advertising stunts and ideas Q1|2008
View more presentations from Ayman Sarhan.
As for the students using it, I suppose one could create a useful assignment to get the kids involved...I'll have to think on this one. I would love to be able to use it in the classroom though.
Thing # 8 - Screencast
I used Screencast-o-matic because it didn't require me to upload anything to my computer and it was super easy to use.
I will be teaching the novel Montana 1948, so I chose to do a screen shot of an essay about racism against the Native Americans in the novel - students could go here and read the essay and make comments that could lead to a very useful classroom discussion.
I will be teaching the novel Montana 1948, so I chose to do a screen shot of an essay about racism against the Native Americans in the novel - students could go here and read the essay and make comments that could lead to a very useful classroom discussion.
Thing # 7 - Video Resources
I had no idea there were so many great video resources out there for free! I browsed through several of the sites, but I have to admit that I'm not a big online video fan. Nonetheless, I did find some useful videos that could be used in the classroom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpfY8kh5lUw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgR2Buke5MQ
These videos about the Great Depression could be used if you were teaching anything from that time period for an English class; it would certainly fit well within a history class. They were excellent videos. If you could find one for the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression it would work well as an introduction to the novel Out of the Dust.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpfY8kh5lUw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgR2Buke5MQ
These videos about the Great Depression could be used if you were teaching anything from that time period for an English class; it would certainly fit well within a history class. They were excellent videos. If you could find one for the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression it would work well as an introduction to the novel Out of the Dust.
Thing # 6 - I-Touch Apps
Pretty cool phone! I have an Eternity touch phone, but it doesn't compare to the possibilities this one has. There were lots of neat apps to play around with, but all at a cost...that I would prefer not to spend! I could see how kids could really get into the different features and spend a lot of time using the various applications. As far as using it in school for instructional purposes, I think there might be problems monitoring what the kids are navigating. If on their own they would use it to create calendars, set up reminders, do the math games and the reader apps; it would have lots of educational potential.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Thing # 5 - Microblogging
I've personally been a fan of Facebook for awhile now - it has allowed me to reconnect with old high school and college friends, and even keep up with former students. The way I see it being used in the classroom would be to allow the teacher to post assignments, have students comment or ask questions, etc. I don't really care for the "What are you doing now?" - as I could really care less if someone is about to do laundry or they're laughing at an inside joke! Nonetheless, I think it definitely could be advantageous if used with more of a purpose in mind. As for Tweeter, not really feeling it. It seems so limiting in that the amount of text you can type in at one time is so confining. I have yet to figure out a real purpose for it. I checked out the post on some reasons teachers should consider using it, and I still didn't find a real purpose. Back-channeling seems pretty neat if you are lecturing to a large group and they all have access- that would be a challege in the typical classroom, and again I don't know how you would regulate it.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Thing # 4 - Video Hosting
There clearly would be numerous advantages to having access to teaching videos at our disposal to share with the students. Depending on what you are teaching, videos are an excellent resource. I also think that putting student work on the web is a great way to validate their efforts. Additionally it would allow a way to share their work with other classes - I think that students always enjoy seeing what others have created. I had trouble uploading my video to YouTube, so I just pasted it directly from animoto.
My personal video: http://animoto.com/play/CxkaR3xcgr1lsusdspjYYg
My personal video: http://animoto.com/play/CxkaR3xcgr1lsusdspjYYg
Thing # 3 - Like Skype
I had no clue that this type of technology was out there! Of course, I felt that way about most of the things that I learned last summer with 23 Things! Interesting. I'm not sure that this is something that I would ever personally use; it is a little out of my comfort zone. Saying that, I honestly don't know if it is something I would even want to take on in my classroom. I think that it has many benefits - especially if you were able to connect with another class and discuss something, but I have to wonder how effectively those conversations could be monitored within a class full of students. This might be something that the librarian could have set up in the library for a small number of trustworthy students to experiment with...I'm just not sure about it.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Thing # 2 - Image Generators 2
Wordle is really fun! I think that my students could find a lot of creative use for it - especially with a piece of literature we are reading. They could pull descriptive words for a character, quotes, all kinds of stuff. It would make it more interactive for the kids to do something like this online.
http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/930357/life
Glogster - equally as fun to play around with.
Again, this would work very well for a piece of literature - maybe it could be our project for the summer reading activity! I would guess that students could be a lot more creative using this in lieu of a posterboard. The possibilities are absolutely endless as is the creativity. Many students feel inadequate when we ask them to draw something because they are not good artists - this puts everyone on equal turf. As far as the thinking being different, I feel that it would open the door for more opportunity to think outside of the box.
I came across this one and thought it was pretty neat:
http://horse14rider.glogster.com/Body-Peace-Treaty-Seventeen-Mag/
Voki - way entertaining - a little weird though! I played around with the applications and did the Trek Yourself. I think that if someone received this through email it would definitely send a different message than text alone.
http://www.trekyourself.com/?mId=30307340.3
Bookr - this is by far my personal favorite! What a neat way to store photos and tell a story - I have tried keeping up with my kids scrapbooks, but this would be so much easier. I'm not sure how I would use it in the classroom, unless I had the kids narrate a story. Maybe after writing their personal narrative, they could use pictures to narrate it. That would be kind of interesting, but I'm not real sure - I'd love to get other people's ideas on how to use it in a high school English classroom.
http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/930357/life
Glogster - equally as fun to play around with.
Again, this would work very well for a piece of literature - maybe it could be our project for the summer reading activity! I would guess that students could be a lot more creative using this in lieu of a posterboard. The possibilities are absolutely endless as is the creativity. Many students feel inadequate when we ask them to draw something because they are not good artists - this puts everyone on equal turf. As far as the thinking being different, I feel that it would open the door for more opportunity to think outside of the box.
I came across this one and thought it was pretty neat:
http://horse14rider.glogster.com/Body-Peace-Treaty-Seventeen-Mag/
Voki - way entertaining - a little weird though! I played around with the applications and did the Trek Yourself. I think that if someone received this through email it would definitely send a different message than text alone.
http://www.trekyourself.com/?mId=30307340.3
Bookr - this is by far my personal favorite! What a neat way to store photos and tell a story - I have tried keeping up with my kids scrapbooks, but this would be so much easier. I'm not sure how I would use it in the classroom, unless I had the kids narrate a story. Maybe after writing their personal narrative, they could use pictures to narrate it. That would be kind of interesting, but I'm not real sure - I'd love to get other people's ideas on how to use it in a high school English classroom.
Thing # 1 - The Networked Student
I think that although many teachers are outsmarted by the students advancement in technology, this clearly demonstrates that education through alternative methods is growing. I would love to become more tech savvy to be able to keep up with the interests of my students and to be able to reach them at their interest level. There are so many fascinating tools that are within our reach if we can just figure them out! I personally struggle with it. Just watching the video was a nightmare - it kept buffering; which finally after searching to see what exactly that meant, I was able to pause the video and let it load and eventually get through it. I'm sure one of my students would have had some code to bypass that!
I think that the teacher is showing the use of being a facilitator, which is what teachers are supposed to be. I see many benefits of this because it directly puts the learning back into the student's hands and gives him/her more ownership over their own learning.
I think that the teacher is showing the use of being a facilitator, which is what teachers are supposed to be. I see many benefits of this because it directly puts the learning back into the student's hands and gives him/her more ownership over their own learning.
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