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!!