Thing 11.5

Evaluation

1. Favorite discoveries. There were many! My all time favorite was the Voki! I have already turned several people on to them. Wordle, wordsift and bookr are all things I will use in my class. Skype- LOVE IT!! Jing, I'm looking for a microphone and anxious to try. And of course as soon as school starts I'm ordering an itouch. Really can't wait for that one. There were lots of "things" in this program that I really hooked on to.
2. How has this class affected my lifelong learning goal. Well, I went to the petting zoo class last week because I was motivated to continue my quest to learn about technology. My teenage children are so involved in it and I don't want to have my head in the sand, besides, it's really fun! I look forward to more exploration on my computer. I still don't consider myself very good with technology but I feel more confident and more motivated to continue learningand using technology. I'm not a dinosaur yet!
3. Any surprises? Yes- Second life was one. I still have my reservations but see the advantages and opportunities it has. I also see how it brings digital citizenship into play. I was walking around a make believe place but so were all kinds of other kids at the same time and I could see them and chat with them if I wanted to. This gave me much to think about. New perspective.
4. Improvements or differences? I liked the number of things this time. It was much more manageable. I think I'll have lots of fun new "things" to start the year with. This was a great set of new things. I look forward to the next one. Thanks!

Thing 11

This one was rather interesting and made me think about the BIG picture. I did not know what digital citizenship was and It took a little reading for me to get the idea. I frind it rather interesting to consider myself and my students as worldwide citizens with others on the web. Being an elementary teacher of special needs children, I think the year should begin with some tech training (even though most of our lessons are guided by me). Verifying and having several sources for information is key. Being respectful of others that we encounter is key as well. I think each computer lesson as we go along should come with some ettiquete right from the start. I have a totally new perspective on our "citizenship" in the great world ( it gets smaller all the time) of the web, and as my training continues so does my responsibility.

Thing 10

OK, this thing was one that really puzzled me. I have mixed emotions about this one. I read a lot of the blogs, introductions and links about the second life and it really kind of scared me a bit. First off, I am a little fearful of being online with other people"live". I was a bit concerned about the whole Linden dollar stuff. I am always a bit skeptical of spending money for a game. I DO see how it can be educational, I read about the space, planet study, book clubs, money management, social skills, ect. So, I decided to take an easy route, and I signed up for one of the kids places. I got on and it was intimidating at first but really fun! It took me awhile to figure out how to move and go to the different places and it was rather fun to see other avatars and know they were live on the game as well. Maybe I'll get up the courage to get on second life. I signed up, we'll see if I can get on and move around. Let's just step out of that comfort zone, shall we?

Thing 9

Video slide production is pretty cool but I really had to work at this one. I made a small slide show about the uses of the flip camera in the classroom. I put a video of a student in there and so I had to make the use Private. The link is below. This would be a great tool to have teaching powerpoints available to many. Once again I am thinking about my special needs kids that need repetition and again, here is another cool way to offer that. I used slideshare and it was fairly easy, even though I had to enlist a lttle help from my teenage daughter. I read the reviews on the others, slideboom, 280 slides ( I signed up for) and Authorstream. They all looked interesting but slideshare seemed most user friendly to a newbie at this! This would be another "thing" that I'll dig deeper into next year!
http://www.slideshare.net/secret/onob4EhQ19BcS

Thing 8

After downloading Jing and Goview I realized I did not have a microphone. So My big planned production will have to wait a few weeks until I get into the library at school and get a microphone. I just learned last week about photo story and I made one. I was planning to make one and describe how to do it. I would love to see my students able to make a photostory and this would be perfect. They could have a screencast tutorial on how to make it. I think they would love it. I felt like Jing and Goview looked the most user friendly. I love the idea of being able to watch a tutorial with each computer screen. Those are MY favorites. I really feel like I can watch at my own pace and really understand the material. I'm looking forward to my "Photostory Guide" when school gets going.

Thing 7

I really enjoyed this one. I watched the video for Creative Commons Liscensing and it looks like we are pretty free most of the time, Yippee. I found several things that I really love and will mark as favorites on my computer.
1. National Archives- I found some fun articles and did some searches for Amelia Earhart, she was a favorite of several of my students. I found some clips of documentaries that I know the kids could use. Did you know this sumeer is the anniversary of her birth and they are restoring her house ? She would be 103 I believe. The mystery of her dissappearance continues. I also saw a trailer for a movie coming out about her, Fun!
2. Blinx- Too cool, once again , Amelia was a search and I found several things I'd use. This one I think I like better. Loads there.
3. TotLol- My personal favorite. I signed up and am in love with it. Even my older kids would get a kick out of it, I think. I have some SpEd kids with huge comprehension issues and the video of the duck returning to the lemonade stand looking for grapes every day might be a hit! The story was sung, the words rhymed and I know the kids would remember more , stay engaged and increase comprehension. I'm all over that one!
4. Hulu- OK, but I like the others a bit better.
5. PBS Kids- I really like that one as well and another favorite on the list! Lots to choose from.
Thanks for some new favorites!

Revisit Thing 4

Here is the short video I made with the flip camera. A short visit to the Alamo was wonderful and a great learning experience with a flip!!

Thing 6

Now I am really looking forward to getting an itouch for my classroom. I know where my money will go this year! There were so many apps I liked , it is difficult to know where to begin. Games- they had lots of free games that I could see using with the kids. Word games, similar to boggle, were a plenty. Toobz was another game that you had to fit the tubes together to make a maze. Good thinking skills would work on this game. I went into the education section and was overwhelmed, sight word flashcards, reading and number games a plenty. I can see a few of my students glued to the itouch and doing a "READING" activity. Cool. There was also one that you punch in the restaurant, pull up the menu, choose an item and it brings up the calories and nutritional value. I think it is very important for our kids to be aware of what they are eating. Good nutrition is a big factor in good education, there's my soapbox for the day! I also liked the free app for time around the world, it would tell you what time it was anywhere in the world, how fun to think about when you are studying different parts of the globe. On that note google earth was an app that was fun to see. If I'm studying the Boston Tea Party, I could punch in the place and get an arial view of where it really happened. Let's just make learning a little more personal, a little more real. I could get into that! Look out itouch, a few more weeks to go and you are MINE!!

Thing 5

Facebook. I signed up for that in late spring because a co-workers daughter was ill and this was the main way of recieving information about her. I did not do much with it until I saw it on the list here. I began to play more with it while I was out of town and visiting family. I looked up a lomg lost wonderful college roommate and found her. We met for coffee while I was in Ohio. I am also keeping up with family and co workers. I have to now say, I am hooked. I keep thinking of people to look up. We are all talking my dad ( he's 87) into getting a facebook as well.
Twitter. I signed up and have enjoyed looking around. I am not proficient yet but slowly working up to it. I think these two are things you need to work on a regular basis to get the feel for them and learn the uses. I am getting there. I think it would be a great way to keep posted on your students. Developing a personal relationship with students and understanding them is to learn how to reach, teach them. I look forward to plenty of time on facebook. More to come!

Thing 4

I really like this one,,,well,,,I like them all. I have a flip video camera and I made a short movie of the Alamo last week when I was there. I loaded it on Utube and it was so easy. I know the kids could make a video and share without any trouble. They could do a video project and post it. The rest of the class could then watch and post a comment. The teacher could then easily watch and view comments of the other students and even grade. There could be so many things to do video projects with. Current events, history events, book reports, live math problems and solutions, social circumstances, and on and on..I think it would be fun to see a group of class videos. They could even do plays of certain historical events, then the kids could watch them all and use it as a live study guide..Ready...Set.....Action!!

thing 3

Oh Skype!! I love it. My father who is 87 is my tech hero! He is on the computer and always interested in technology. I sent him an itunes gift card for his 87th birthday! He sent me a webcam for Christmas. My parents are in Ohio so we "skype" every Sunday and I get to "see" them and what they are doing. My only request from them is to make the conference calls for video. The family can all get on and talk but we can't see each other. You just gotta love it!

Thing 2 Again

Oh, I just couldn't resist. I think I see Amelia Earhart on the Voki screen! What fun we could have making our famous person and making them speak. I think the kids would know their famous person after designing them and giving them speech! I love it! I see some famous people coming my way!!

Thing 2

OK, I am really hooked. Wordle...I am a special ed teacher so I am always looking for different ways to present things. One way I could use it.. Have the student type in some sight words they are struggling with. It displays the words in all directions which separated them in different ways, it also makes the words different colors. It would be a great way for the student to play and manipulate the words, become familiar with them, and see them repeatedly in different positions. Loved it. Wordsift...Again, thinking of the special needs of my students, I pasted in some info on a bird (we have a bird unit) I think this format will give greater understanding and create more interaction for the student and the information. Sometimes the information itself becomes overwhelming for the student. Pesented in small bits in wordsift might keep them engaged for longer periods of time and learning more about their topic. Finally, Bookr...Great way to present information. I'm thinking about a "What I did this summer" book with some summer pictures of places, people and things, maybe even a graduation book for the recent graduate. So many uses...so little time. I didn't even choose these first two. I just looked at them to see what they were and immediatly got hooked and saw how I could use them. I'll have to get back to the others.

Thing 1 next series 11.5 things

This movie was quite interesting. First of all, the format of showing the pictures and telling a story over them would be a great use for project presentation using the Flip cameras. This would be something great for my special needs students. So, on to the actual content of the video. First of all, I love the idea of the teacher being the facilitator for student led research. It really puts a total new role and picture of the teacher. It changes the face of the teacher, which will be an interesting transition. The teacher will go from the lecture, educator to guiding the self propelled student. It is going to be fun to see the change, I just hope it is quickly embraced. I know at my school our librarian is a great technology resource so it would be appropriate for her to lead the charge in this student led technology research. I am sure the students will eagerly follow! I know I would!