One More "Thing"

I cannot believe I actually worked my way through these "23 Things".  I am actually sad.  Now I can take the time to go back and dig deeper into each thing and discover even more.  Although I got bogged down with a couple of 'things' I realize the struggle was a process I had to go through to learn how to learn in this tech savvy world.  I'm just glad I could go at my pace.  Whew!   Now that I am familiar with these things, I am by no means finished learning.  I can see so many applications for my teachers and students and I will share the ideas I have in hopes of sparking interest and ideas beyond my own understanding to enhance learning.

Some of my favorite discoveries were Delicious.com, Wiki's, Image Generator, Podcasts,

 Google Docs, and Google Reader and RSS feeds.  I learned to embed video and photos inside a blog post and a document.  I have a little more understanding of the digital tech talk and can carry on a decent conversation with those who talk tech.  I like that.

The only thing I was disappointed in was that no one read or commented on my blog posts during the course.  I had about 5 total comments but that's all.  There was no interaction from any of the "teachers" of this course.  I was a little confused about that.  I did feel as though I was totally on my own except for the emails from Mary Woodard.  Maybe that is the way we were supposed to feel, I'm not sure.

I am hoping there are more "things" to discover and when they become available MISD will continue this course with a Wiki to learn about these new things.

Since I have worked my way through all of these things I intend to go back to each one and continue my discovery about them.  I want to be sure I have done all of the activities in each thing and learn more about how I can apply them in our classrooms.  My Google Reader and RSS feeds will be a great way to keep up with new ideas and technology.  I'll continue to scan and read those feeds.

I will be continuing my blog but it will branch out in a different direction.  My blog will become a way for my teachers to learn how to use the various ideas I discovered on "23Things".  I want to reach out to them and help them incorporate these tools in their classrooms. I will be posting this blog url into my email when I actually create a friendly "Try this" post.  I want to support them in their journey of using technology, not burden them with too much to do.  I want to share with them the idea that when we use the technology we motivate our students and they learn in different, better ways then our traditional ways of teaching.  The internet and social interaction is the only way we can plug in to our kids and have them want to learn.

This has been the best staff development class I've ever taken.  The possibilities only as limited as our imagination!

Thing #23 Beyond Facebook - Other Social Networks

I had no idea there were other social networking sites besides Facebook and MySpace.  I guess I just never thought about it.  As I went through this learning activity I discovered Ning.  I had heard about this from some friends but had just never taken time to check it out.

Classroom 2.0 is a motivating tool for teachers and students.  There are technical glossaries on various online applications and science projects.  These make me think of  the books  Internet for Dummies and other similar books.  In one video I watched, someone uploaded a portion of Oprah on “Waiting for Superman” a movie about public education w/comments by Bill Gates.  What a controversial piece of video.

Classroom 2.0 has a forum section.  You can read comments, questions, and ideas about most any topic.  The forum allows you to interact with the person who is posting.  I looked around at members to find out who in my district was a member.  I was surprised to find that not many join the site.  I answered a few questions some of the forum posters had and read a few to learn more about the site.  Teachers from all over the world can network and discuss topics, ask questions, and share ideas and audio, video assignments.

The Latest Activity area allows you to see what the latest tools and posts are.  It is fun to see what people are thinking about.

After learning more about Twitter, I am still not sold on the site.  Time is the issue there.  My life is fast paced enough, I don't have time to check the posts often.  I did however, find a great use for Twitter in a History class.  Teachers could have students comment on a post they made such as a comment about a historical figure.  For example, if I typed in George Washington I would have students make comments that George might have made.  Twitter also has a way to survey, Twtpoll.com.  This tool might be a very fast way to survey.  

Thing #22 Social Networking

My husband and I created a MySpace account years ago when our kids became interested in the social networking site.  We allowed them to create one as well but we had to sit with them as they were online and we required them to let us set the password and not share that with them.  In those days laptops weren't readily available at a price we could afford so they were sitting at a desk with a desktop and us watching over their shoulders.  We found that the MySpace account was a little juvenile for our interests.  I logged onto it today for the first time in, oh, probably 2 or 3 years.  It looks markedly different.  Our account was in the name of MajaFaja (that's what our kids and grandkids call us sometimes).  MySpace is more suited for younger children.  It's jazzier and more upbeat. If I had kids today they would NOT have an account there.  I do think Facebook is a much more positive place.

My facebook account allows me to keep up with and enjoy the friends I have added over time.  I created the account before my kids moved away and it is how I see photos and share in their lives.  Two of my three children live out of town.  Facebook makes it easy to communicate.  Now that you can get to it on cell phones via internet, life is mobile.

Facebook and MySpace are one of the most important aspects of student life now.  We have an obligation to teach them responsible use of them.  Social networking is no longer a futuristic idea.  It is here and they are excellent at the task.  With these social networking sites come issues and problems due to their immaturity and inability to realize they cannot control who is out there in the cyberworld.  Kids today want to hear music, any and all of it and any way they can get it.  They share it on Facebook and MySpace.  They take photos with their digital devices and upload them to these social networking sites.  This is how they grow and find themselves and become accepted.  They now have a need to be a part of the community of social networking.  Many of these kids have made it global, not just local.  They also learn from children that are from areas other than their own.  They like to know how they are like other kids in all parts of the world.

I am not a fan of MySpace.  In my opinion it is difficult to use.  The codes and design areas are complicated and take code.  The HELP button isn't that helpful.  It's too busy and decorative for me.  I realize children like this feature but I don't.  Facebook has so many fun things to do.  They have games, calendars, events, applications and interactive activities.  Facebookers can share causes, professional organizations, games, photos, news feeds, posts, messages, and see friends list of other friends.  We can find out who knows who we know, how they are related, wish a friend happy birthday, console those who have lost a love one, spread the word needed to be spread (positively) quickly, help someone in need for anything imaginable by simply posting something.

My experiences on Facebook have been and continue to provide me with hours of fun and entertainment.  When I can't sleep at night I can always jump online and chat with someone who shares my insomnia.

Thing #7b A thought from my Google Reader

In my Google Reader I found an article from What's Hot in Google entitled "We're Running Out of Chocolate".  The article states that according to the Cocoa Research Association we are consuming more chocolate than we are producing cocoa.  Yikes, this is not acceptable.  I couldn't live without chocolate.  I'm addicted.  The article goes on to state that Snicker's may one day soon cost $11.  They also say that Hershey and Mars have sequenced the cacao genome which will mean more resillient trees in the future.

I've been reading the fun, interesting info in my Reader lately.  I also catch up on the horoscopes and some jazz music.  I find the music to be soothing as I am coming down off my day.  The horoscopes are fun to read and they make me think.

I'm addicted to Google Reader and can't wait to learn more about it all.

Thing #21 Google's Not Just for Searching Anymore

I played around with the Google applications listed on the 21st things.  Even though I had used some of them before apparently I didn't dig deep enough to discover new things.  Google Book Search has some full texts online you can read.  I did a search for Math and found The Grapes of Math by Greg Tang.  Instead of having to have the book to share with students, my Math teachers can pull this up on Google Book Search and have students work in groups to solve the situations in the book.  They could also use Voicethread to have students post answers to the situations and share thoughts, strategies, and processes with each other.  Teachers could play these voicethreads back in class to assess the understanding of the class.  Our students can use the Google Book Search as anchor activities to read after they complete their work.  This way they won't need to leave the classroom.  They can simply jump online.

Google Earth is fun to play around in.  My son used this site when he went to Philmont Scout Ranch to hike.  He was able to know a great deal about the terrain as he looked around Google Earth to identify hills, mountains, and difficult areas to hike through.  Although they used topographical maps to hike from station to station, the Google Earth application was helpful in getting an overall picture of their hiking area.  My grandchildren use this to discover different places they want to visit all over the world.

I set up 3 alerts in Google Alerts.  I want to know when Mesquite ISD makes the news.  I also want to know when TEA updates anything.  My 3rd alert was about musician Rod Stewart.  If he publishes new music or is in the news, I want to know.  This is a great tool to keep updated on anything.

I'm playing around with Google Calendar.  The jury is still out on this one but I will continue to post appointments there and share it with various family members and colleagues.  It seems simple so I may stick to this calendar instead of the one in my phone.

I've used IGoogle for a while.  I enjoy having a personal homepage that shows me the temp and current time as I am searching for other information.  I'm wondering if I can get my calendar on the front page.  Hmmmm.   Students should be introduced to this site so they can learn all about what it offers.  Perhaps they could type in their homework assignments and projects.

I did post some photos to my Picasa Web Albums but I think I prefer Flickr.  By using the TAGS in this site, you can find a photo of most anything.

Thing #20 Google Docs

I'm the Instructional Specialist for Math and Science at McDonald so Google Docs is an essential tool for me that allows collaboration.  I've used this all year to share Science supply lists so I can go buy the items for labs with our students for each teacher.  My Science teachers get to the spreadsheet and fill in the numbers of each item they need for labs.  They can add items I might have left off or that they feel they need for the students for any labs.  As they complete them magically I have a list to take to Wal-Mart with me.  All I had to do was set up the spredsheet from our curriculum by lab and add them as editors.  I email them weekly so that they can look over the curriculum and update their list.  After the list is complete I do a Wal-Mart run.

I use the spreadsheet feature to keep track of target students and their Milestone and TAKS scores for teachers.  I update these lists after each Milestone and show how their scores changed each Milestone.  We have a TAKS prep class in Math and Science so I monitor those students as well.  This helps the teachers know which students need to have mandatory tutoring.

I use the Word document to create tests, use with my book study, and share teaching strategies I find.  As I do this teachers can perfect the document for their own use.

Thing #19 Voicethreads

Everytime I think I've discovered the next great thing, another "thing" is discovered.  Voicethread is a fantastic tool to use for just about anything you can imagine.  As an Instructional Specialist I will use this tool to work with  my teachers on the book study we are learning from.  I'll model for them how they can use it in class by posing questions to them on a Voicethread.  The next book study session will be on Voicethread and their assignment will be to make a comment on the video about the section we will be working on. I can also use this site to video a snipit of a great lesson they are teaching or video a snipit of a teacher who displays great classroom management.  When they are able to view the snipit and comment or ask questions this will encourage them to try this type of learning with their students.

I found a great math Voicethread where the teacher asked the students questions through the videotaping of another teacher who was shooting hoops.  She used this idea to have them tell her how they could find the number of baskets he could shoot in 3 hours if he shot 1 basket in 10 seconds.  What a cool idea.  My Math teachers will take off on this and come up with all kinds of ideas to utilize the website.

I shared this site with my son who is in the Business school at UT.  He is going to use it to make one of his class presentations.  He is quite impressed with the technology I've been learning.

I'd love to find penpals from around the world who would work with my Social Studies teachers to share Voicethread.  They could see how each other lives day to day and learn about each other's histories and cultures.  I thought it might be nice if some of our students were to visit historical places and videotape them and explain some things about the sites to share with students in other states and countries.

My Science teachers can use this site to have students videotape their labs  and post them so that other students could view and comment on them.  This would help those students that were absent and didn't get to participate in the labs.

Teachers could use this site to videotape themselves and share their teaching with other teachers on our campus and across the district or with other states.  Their evaluator could view these and give them constructive criticism to help them improve their craft.

The possibilities are endless!!!