Thing #13

These things are just F-U-N! I've spent way too long playing with these things the last couple of days. I made a couple of images with the sign maker and added them to my facebook page.

I can see using these things in class to spark interest on a topic or use as a reminder of an upcoming event or deadline. Students could use the comic strip generator to write the dialogue on a comic.

The Flickr tools could be used to make a mosiac of pictures on a specific topic.

Thing #12

Landform Slideshow

Landform Comicstrip

Ohhhhhh!!!!!!! I've used animoto before with pictures I've taken of my students doing various activities. I found that the quick little slideshows are a great way to fill a few extra minutes and review content at the same time. I found a website (I'll have to search for it again) that has songs about science concepts that I would play while the slideshows about our electricity or animal or whatever was playing. The kids would sing along and shout out what was going to happen in the experiments as the pictures went by. They really enjoyed the videos.

Aren't the slideshows and comic strips fun ways to teach or review content. Students are so entrenched in the technical age, that they are much more apt to watch a slideshow with constantly changing images rather than look with any depth at their textbooks.

Thing #11

Looking for me? Try Santorini Island, Greece. Although I have had the great experiences to travel a good many places, I have not been to Greece. Thanks to gbastistini for the use of his picture from Flickr.

I am just IN LOVE with Flickr. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I think I am very good about stopping a lesson to find a picture or video to support my students understanding of vocabulary or concepts we are working on. Flickr simply provides this teacher with an unlimited source of images to help promote student learning.

I chose to search for pictures on landforms. Students have difficulty understanding some of the landforms that they only see drawing of in their social studies books. I am always trying to find actual pictures that show the landforms in a natural setting-not the contrived settings from students' textbooks.

I LOVE the idea of using pictures from Flickr to reiterate the meanings of vocabulary words. We learn four new words a week, and I make up the flipchart with the words for the gradelevel. So, now I will start including pictures and videos from Flickr or CC in the flipcharts.

Can't wait to use Flickr more. On a negative note, I did come across (quite accidentally) a few pictures with topless women. I was innocently searching for pictures of Greece, and some of those pictures came up. Moral of the lesson--don't search for pictures in front of the class. Prepare before class starts.

Thing #10

One area in which I excel as a teacher (if I can pat my own back a moment) is that I am always stopping at the point where comprehension breaks down for my students and looking up images or videos on the internet to bridge that gap in my students' learning. I spend a good deal of time typing storyteller dolls, funnel, delta, or a variety of words into the internet to find a picture or video that will explain the concept in a much more meaningful way than I can from just my own description. Using Creative Commons seems to be just right up my alley. I am excited about the idea of having a ready source of materials to help my students learn about concepts which are not easy to understand from reading about them in a textbook or TAKS passage. Once I learn to better wade through the website, I definitely see myself using Creative Commons with my students and in my teaching.

Thing #9

Wiki Sandbox. I think wikis. As I said in an earlier post, this is not my first experience with wikis. I do think that they can quickly become a little cumbersome to use if I try to get too fancy with them. Students probably wouldn't have this trouble since they are fearless of technology, and most of the time have longer to sit and figure things out than adults do. I tried to add a Voki, but I couldn't get it to work right. I messed up my wiki page with all these code boxes that didn't work. Other than that, I like the wiki page. I would love do have a class wiki where every student can have their own page about themselves. Visit my wiki if you like: McFadden's Memo.

Thing #8

Wikis. I love them. I learned about them two summers ago during Intel training. We created our own wikis for that class, and I immediately showed my mother how do create one. She made one for each side of our family to post pictures, news and events.

I like the Room 15 Wiki!. It is one wiki with many different concepts: homework, parent help, student blogs, news and events, etc. What a great way to collect everything related to your classroom in one space. Can't you see the end of bombarding parents with hardcopies of classroom newsletters, notes, and such? What a beautiful thing!

Another wiki that really caught my attention was Salute to Seuss. Being a fourth grade class, I always read through the Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing series by Judy Blume. Every year the students are completely enamored with the characters and the author. Many of the students will search out Ms. Blume's other books and read them through out the course of the year. I really like the idea of a wiki based on an author's study. We could all post to the wiki about the books we're reading in class, and students could post on their own about her other books they read on their own. Love the idea!

There were two math wikis that caught my attention: Math 12V Outcomes Portfolio and Primary Math. What a terrific way to know that students thoroughly understand their math concepts. I think students would have a real sense of urgency in learning their math if they knew they have to prove their learning to post to the wiki.

Thing #7

Commenting on blogs. Not my favorite things. I fall utterly and completely into the category of "lurkers" on the web who read but never comment. I prefer to fly under the radar.

Students, though, will be disappointed if people don't respond to their blogs, so I think going over the guidelines mentioned in 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog with students would be a good idea.

Darren Rowse writes in his blog article ProBlogger Comments Policy, "My advice to those commenting on blogs (not just mine) is that in a sense you’re visiting someone else’s home when you leave a comment. Comments have the ability to build up our tear down your reputation. They are a permanent record of who you are and what you stand for - so take care - be gracious - make sure they add value."

Thing #6

Cheryl Oakes wrote a blog on techlearning.com where she mentioned using SKYPE in the classroom. She said her school SKYPES in parents for conferences and students who are medically incapable of attending class. SKYPE--what an awesome tool for the classroom. Since SKYPE is free (and what principal doesn't like that price?)from SKYPE to SKYPE, think of the endless possibilities for an elementary school! We could bring in guest speakers live from their own offices or workplaces. We could use this for anything from science experiments to a study on careers. My mind boggles at the ideas. No permission slips. No bus schedules. No leaving the classroom. Instead, the world could be piped into to us live!

Thing #5

"I just don't like technology." How many times have we heard that from our colleagues? Not to step on any toes, and I am no spring chicken myself, but generally this is the kind of grumbling heard from our more "experienced" colleagues who did not grow up with with computers as a part of their everyday lives. "Young" teachers don't remember a time when they didn't have computers in their homes or schools. A school day for them without a computer would be the equivalent of an "experienced" teacher surviving the same school day without a chair. Technology has become just that fundamental to peoples' everyday lives.

Lisa Thumann makes the comment in her blog that we all expect our doctor's be to up-to-date on the latest trends, techniques, and practices for their practices. Shouldn't we expect the same for teachers, especially when we are the teachers?

Ms. Thumann quotes a student from a video entitled No Future in Left Behind by Marianne Malstrom and Peggy Sheehy. The student says, "I can't create my future with the tools of your past". Doesn't that just say it all?? Anybody want to move into a house with last century's latest innovations? Anybody want a doctor prescribing treatment that was breakthrough technology in 1950?

This is where subscribing to educational blogs on a reader can be helpful. We can have the latest and greatest practices for technology in education dropped right into our reader. No searching or surfing involved. Let those techsavy youngesters and innovators feed their tried and true strategies for using technology right into your Google account.

I am very interested in the techlearning website and blogs. I like using Google reader to shotput techlearning's newest ideas right to the forefront of my reader page.



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Thing #4

A blog about blogging. I am completely onboard with allowing students to read blogs during SSR/DEAR time. I think that by allowing students to rotate through the computers in my classroom as we have independent reading time, the use of the computers themselves would be a selling feature for students who might not be as initially "in" to the idea of reading blogs. Once students got into reading them, I'm sure they would be completely engaged. I hope the time is coming in the near future to allow students the capability to respond to blogs. Blogs, by they very nature, call out for a response from the reader, don't they? Allowing students to read and comment would quickly imbed so many of the literacy skills teachers preach and pout about everyday. Students would, in my opinion, be drawn to the natural, friendly, conversational style of blogs. Without the constraints of formal writing, students would be more free to express their thoughts and ideas. I think students are often reluctant to put their true thoughts down on a paper to be handed in to the teacher for a grade. When everything students write is scrutinized and read by the teacher who "gives" the grades and communicates with parents, students just parrot back what the teacher wants instead of taking a risk. Risk might not always equal the grade they want or need. Blogs are free from all those restraints.