What immediately comes to mind when I think about the Web 2.0: overwhelming, well planned, way too much info, eye-opening, exciting, fun…..I could go on and on. Sometimes I enjoyed this course, and sometimes I was completely frustrated. But I ALWAYS learned something new, every single week. I thought that Shelley did an incredible job of organizing the course, creating help videos and making the tasks and expectations clear. I have wonderful colleagues who helped me so that when I got stuck, I got help. About halfway through the course, I was wishing that I had waited until the summer to begin the course. But now, I am glad that I took the course and now I will have the summer to play with all the fun things I’ve learned. in fact, I think I will “audit” the course again and this time, go a bit deeper than I did the first time. I am committed to using what I’ve learned in my teaching and professional career. Thank you to Jose, because if it weren’t for him I would not have taken the course, and thank you to Sarah, who would not let me quit!!! Thank you to Shelley for this course. I truly enjoyed it.
I found Classroom 2.0 much easier to use than Ning Education. Both websites had so much information that it was difficult for me to even begin to know where to go, but I had a bit more luck with Classroom2.0 . I found a nifty thread on Classroom with some Kindergarten teachers and how they are using Web 2.0. I posted it to my del.icio.us page so that I can go back and refer to it. Ning Education was just way too busy for me and it was really wordy and I could not find anything useful for me. That is not to say that there is not anything useful, it was just a difficult site for me to navigate. Regular old Ning was much more user friendly and fun. I typed in several search terms and it was fun to see the groups that were already formed. The funny part was when I clicked to check out the groups, many of them only had 1 member!!! Social networking is one of those things that you could literally spend hours at a time exploring. And I will, once I have more time………
Pageflakes was overwhelming. It may well be that I am exhausted after a full day of teaching and caring for three kids. Or, it could be that my eyes are beginning to blur because it is way past my bedtime. I believe; however, that Pageflakes is overwhelming because we have taken in so much information in such a little time that it is hard for me to remember (much less differentiate) between one “thing” from another. It was helpful to have the K12learning20 template to begin with, but I had trouble adding pages and then figuring out how to get the info onto those pages. I am also unsure about when or why I would want to make this page available to the public. One possible Pageflakes use: sometimes the kids want to use the computer and there are some online games that are great for them to play. Maybe I could create a Pageflakes page for them to utilize that quickly links them to the sites that I’d like them to use. to I am really interested in how others would use Pageflakes with early elementary students, if at all. My Pageflakes page continues to be a work in progress.
I’ve used Google Docs a few times this year with my level team. It has worked very well for us. I am not sure how I would use the presentation tools just yet, although I did explore what is available and it looks like it could be useful some how. I would love to hear how others use these tools (especially elementary teachers!) Here are my three ideas for using Google Docs: 1. Important Dates and Tasks - This is a document that my colleague created for this week’s assignment. It allows us to streamline all of the important dates and tasks that we have to remember all year long, year after year. This is the first year we’ve done this, but from here on out, we will be able to collaboratively refine and make edits as necessary.2. weekly check-in with tutor. We have a few students each year who see a tutor during school time. Unfortunately, we do not always have time to check-in about a kid. A Google Doc would provide an opportunity to keep up-to date progress by both teacher and tutor.3. At the end of every year we write very detailed narrative evaluations for each student. If my teaching partner and I have a Google Spreadsheet, we can continuously (and collaboratively) take notes on a kid all year long. These notes would then assist us in writing thoughtful evaluations and preparing for parent conferences.
Youtube was a lot of fun. I have played around with it before, but this time, because of the Web course, I didn’t have to feel guilty about using it because it was this week’s assignment. It is amazing that you can type in virtually anything, and get a video about it. For the “how to” clip, I looked up “how to change a flat tire”, (my way to change a flat tire is to call AAA) and I found a really easy to follow video about how to do it! Coolness. My fun, nostalgic videos kind of meshed with my classroom teaching videos. First, I wanted to see if there were any vintage Sesame Street videos out there. of course there were hundreds of them and I spent most of my evening last night oohing and aahing and saying. “Omigosh, I remember that!” Then I remembered how much I loved Electric Company and I did a search for that. Wow! What a blast from the past! Last week, Jose sent me a clip from a current PBS show entitled,”Between the Lions”, and showed me how he used that to teach a reading skill. As I perused the Electric Company’s clips, I realized how well done that show was (especially for its time) and I found some really good clips that I can and will use to reinforce reading skills in my classroom. Here is one of my favorites: I am not sure about how I would use a You Tube video that I had produced for classroom use. I feel funny about the idea of including kids on the internet in a way that displays their identity. I am really curious to hear what ideas other people have.
Okay, I finally figured out how to embed my podcast (thank you Sarah!) Evoca was really easy to use, and I often have trouble with new technology!!! It was really fun!
I liked Thing 17 because it forced me to check out some podcasts, which I have been meaning to do for some time. I have an iPhone, and I already subscribe to iTunes, so it was easy for me to search for and download podcasts. I looked though many of the podcast directories and two useful ones were NPR and PBS because the descriptions were very good and these sites made it easy to find out quickly if a podcast was of interest. The least helpful directory was probably the Learn Out Loud Network. I didn’t find much on the way of early childhood education and what I did find did not seem to be free. My absolute favortie was iTunes. My friend (and colleague) Jose taught me that once I knew what podcast I wanted, I could go into iTunes and search in the directory for it. It had everything I was looking for and it was so easy to subscribe to. In terms of incorporating existing podcasts into my classroom, two ideas have come to mind. I downloaded a podcast called StoryNory, which are audio recordings of children’s stories. This is something we would use during lunchtime, as our kids enjoy listening to a story while they eat lunch. I might also use Dragonfly TV, which teaches kids about science. If I were to use this podcast, I would preview it and use an episode that was relevant. Most of my postcast listening will be for my own personal growth. I am currently enjoying the Oprah podcast entitled, “A New Earth”, where a book (of the same name) is discussed Oprah and by author Eckhart Tolle. I also like NPR’s Talk of the Nation, Car Talk, and Webster’s Word of the Day.
I love this entire series about social tagging. I just love it. 43 Things is cool, but I am not sure if I would want to share my entire list with everyone. When I began Weight Watchers in November, I really didn’t want anyone to know (in case I failed) As I began to lose weight, I realized that I didn’t mind people knowing that I was losing weight. The fear of failing kept me from wanting to share my goal. As I began to share this goal with others, I began to see that many people had the same goals. I know at least three people who have started to change their eating habits because I shared my story with them. It may not seem like a lot, but it is very empowering for me. In addition, we have continued to support each other and keep each other committed to our goals. I wonder if 43 Things would work like this or if it would seem to impersonal. Since I love lists, I am going to give it a try, if I can remember my password and id. Is there a website for that?????
Coolness. Library Thing is so very cool. I love being led to sites that allow me to feed my burning desire to create and maintain lists! The other thing I love is that I can get suggestions of books to read based on what I already know I like. I love this for the possibilities of finding great read alouds for my class. I also really appreciate that there is nothing for sale. How refreshing. This is a wonderful site.
Del.icio.us is really scrumptious. I just want to devour it! It is so much fun to search for sites and create tags. Here is a look at my teeny, tiny delicious list. I can’t wait to keep adding sites to it. I also really want to go through my (too) long list of unorganized bookmarks and tag them all and add them to delicious. I would love some kind of rating system. What I have done instead is look at how many people have bookmarked a site as a jumping point. If five thousand people have saved a site, then it must be a site at least worth checking out, right? I can see all sorts of ways that I can (and will) use delicious in my professional practice. One way that comes immediately to mind is ideas with lesson planning. I am always looking for different ways to teach reading and math. I love hearing about what other teachers do and I am beginning to feel challenged to share what I do with others. What I really loved about del.icio.us is how easy it is to use. My frustration-o-meter was very low with this task and I really appreciate that!
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