Thing 10

I'm officially a Tweeter...don't know how often I'll use this site, but we'll see as time goes on....less complicated than Facebook...which is more blogging and photo uploading! I guess if you want to just give a quick message of some sort or learn a quick something about someone else, it works. In the site's description, it claims that through tweets you learn something you might not catch about someoone in a blog or email??

The site I feel was valuable to me is TripIt...since I travel a lot....this site would organize a total itinerary for me....flight info, rental car, hotel, etc onto one page. It can be sent to an Iphone, computer, etc. also for my convenience...pretty handy and cool! In addition itt will give me maps and weather reports.

Visuword seems like a great site for academics. It is a Thesauras reimagined as a toy. You type in a word that you want to investigate, and it creates a spinning, rotating, flipping action of related words. The students would find this a fun way to work with vocabulary, spelling and in their wrtten work...creating more colorful, varied and different words.

Thing 9

Wow! What an informative, interesting learning experience with Thing #9! I think we all realize as educators that our learners and a lot of the world are in a Digital World, and we need to be right there with them both. To quote from the Horizon Report, "The Gap between students' perception of technology and that of faculty continues to widen!" This is a problem I would definitely say! I totally agree with this statement as it relates to where we are with digital learning/teaching in Newington.

No doubt technology is improving every day and students and lay people are using it more and more for a just about everything they do in life. While I do see it replacing the traditional ways of teaching/learning in the future, I'm not so sure we'll get there as quickly as we need to. I base this belief on the following. Newington hasn't yet adjusted for the Digital World in our most recent curriculum over hauls for teaching/learning. Our assessments both common and Mastery Test based are still very traditional. Lastly, professional development is lagging behind in this area...teachers need more training!!! This opportunity is right on!!!

To quote again from the Horizon Report, "Fluency in information, visual, and technological literacy is of vital importance, yet these literacies are not formallly taught to most students? The challenge remains to develop curricula and assessment rubrics that teach how to apply standard competencies to other forms of communication such as short digital videos, blogs, and photo essays."

Thing 8-Favorite Music Video

I chose this video because I absolutely just love this song by the artist Pink...inspirational to me! I thought I'd share the song and beautiful video....Happy viewing and listening ladies and gents!

Thing 7

It was fun to look through the YouTube site.....My first video I ever viewed just this past spring was Pink's Grammy performance with her song "Glitter in the Air." I know the students go to this site quite a bit.. and on special school occasions, we have played some of their favorite songs using the smartboard sreen...they love this! I spent quite a bit of time checking out TeacherTube....I posted comments on some of them. I liked some of the math and science instructional videos because I felt they could be useful for me in my 5th grade classroom. I saved them for near future use. It would be cool to have the students create subject appropriate videos to post. It could work with all the subjects. More thought on my part is needed for this. I think some of the more creative and independent learners would like this option as a way of demonstrating learning. They would have a lot of fun with it!!!

Thing 6

I enjoyed learning how to post my personal pictures to Flickr. I found it very simple and easy. I chose some recent photos of my trip this past spring to Paris and France. One of the posted photos is included above. I hope the others can be found under Newington 23.

I think there are endless possibilities for the use of Flickr within the classroom. I particular enjoyed looking at the more creative uses for Flickr such as the Badge Maker activity....I know the students would enjoy creating a name and picture badge...they love this kind of thing. Of course they would also enjoy creating a Pop Art Poster and the Magazine Cover...all these activities would be good to use at the beginning of the year when we are getting to know each other. The Mosaic Maker would be useful for collage creations..either about themselves, a country in social studies, topic in science or math.,etc.

One issue for this would be for the students who don't have personal pictures of themselves available on computer...their choice would be limited here, but they could search Flickr for other pics.

Thing 5

I enjoyed learning about Flickr and all it has to offer. I believe it is so valuable in providing a back up storage area for all valuable photos...the more storage bins one has, the safer! Also, the possibilities for classroom use is infinite. I immediate thought about how I could use Flickr for math, science and social studies assignment.

I chose a photo of the Lake Como area of Italy as a pic post. My family and I are traveling to Italy at the end of the month, so this was appropriate for us. Also, I just love the coastline in any area...it is so relaxing and peaceful!

Thing 4

I chose Netvibes as my homepage service. I reviewed Google and this..they seemed pretty much the same, and I viewed the help video provided by Netvibes, and it was helpful, so this finalized my choice.

I chose items to include on my homepage that would help me now and in the near future. Some of my items are my GMail, my Yahoo email, Weather, News, Online Shopping, Travel sites such as Expedia, Orbitz, Social Networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter.

I have been trying to review other widgets I could add to help enhance classroom instruction. I'm confused about this. Would I need to search a site and then add it to my homepage, or could I do it directlly from a widget category...help!!!

Thing 3

Hi! It was interesting to review the different ways teachers are using blogs. I am thinking that I can start using blogging in my classroom with students and parents by setting up a blog that posts currrent and upcoming classroom happenings. This would keep students and parents up to date with topics we are covering and what important events are ahead. It could be a bi-weeklly or monthly blog. In addition to being an informational piece about classroom assignments and happenings, I could also use it as an evaluative tool..letting students/parents know in general, what things are going well, and areas that need improvement(ex. 90% of students completing homework, 75% of students prepared with supplies on a daily basis, etc.) Also, I like the idea of setting up a blog for students to respond to books they have read...I would provide them with a format to follow, and I could respond to them and evaluate accordingly.

I'll start small..continue my learning, and expand on blogging options in the future. Speaking to my colleagues and collaborating on this topic will be helpful too. I'd love to collaborate with Lori Baylock, computer teacher, about how we can work together in this area.

Things 1 and 2 again

Oh boy....just the fact that I began this experience 3 weeks ago and have to begin again shows how behind/awkward I am in the technology world. I went ahead so enthusiastically initially, and neglected to read directions thoroughly, so I blogged into another account other than blog spot, and of course wasn't quite sure how to copy and send to blog spot, so here it is again.

Well, I signed up for this course because I knew I was lagging behind in technological skills. Also, each day in the classroom lately, I feel more and more uncomfortable with the fact that students are so high tech in so many ways, and they enjoy and prefer learning in this manner. I know that in order to be an effective teacher, I need to get closer to where my students are coming from these days. So here I am, ready to learn!

After viewing the first video, I have to say that I was more engaged in the learning process due to the fact that the information was presented in an interesting, visual way...in a video format. so of course, I understand where my students are coming from these days.

As a teacher, I have always felt that every child learns differently, and that traditional reading and writing isn't the only way to instruct students. I have always allowed students to show what they've learned in what I used to think were more unconventional ways, power points, informational video productions, etc. But now I know, however, that this is conventional learning, 21st century skills. pretty cool...I've been ahead of the game with what I've allowed my students to do, but I need to get up to these skills with my own instruction. I will get there!

As far as blogging and sharing ideas with others, I think it is great! I am not afraid to be honest with my thoughts, because I know that this is truly how you learn. I welcome comments and honest feedback, and am very nonjudgemental to others' thoughts. I guess knowing that my thoughts are no longer private on a blog, gets me to think more carefully and thoughtfully about what I say. I think, "Is this really what I want to share with others?"