Teacher Mommy

Thing #11.5: Evaluation

2009-08-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I really enjoyed the lesson here on image generators. It was fun to play with Wordle and think of ways it could be useful in a classroom setting.

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? I learned about things I didn't know where out there. I am not one to go exploring various sites on my own and this gives me a great reason to educate myself on new things that are out there.

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? Second Life was a total surprise to me. I never knew such existed or that it was used in an educational way.

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? I don't know of any changes. The program is interesting and relevant. I'm thankful to be able to participate in the summers! Thank you!

Thing #11: Digital Citizenship

2009-08-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

There is a whole new world out there that wasn't even there (like it is now at least) when I was in high school. Educators must stay on top of technology as it is ever changing but a daily party of every one's life. Part of the educators responsibility is to teach children about digital citizenship. I like one of the articles I read that said how we teach our students math and reading; digital citizenship should be no different. There are some things that students need to be taught. Teachers need to present this information at the beginning of the year but continue to remind students of these principles all year long.

First, students need to know the importance of online safety. I don't think this can be stressed enough to our young people. They need to be careful. We teach them not to talk to strangers in real life or go to dangerous places. We need to teach them about being safe online as well.

Second, students need to know how to use the information they find online legally. They need to know what they can use and for what purposes.

Third, students need to realize the value of being lifelong learners. This involves technology. The teacher needs to show how he is a lifelong learner and work with students to show them the value of this in their own lives. One way for the teacher and student to relate would be through technology.

Fourth, students need to learn how to find reliable, accurate information on the Internet. Teachers need to give students resources and model this before expecting them to do it on their own and just automatically know how to do it.

Finally, students need to be aware of teacher expectations regarding technology. What ways will technology be used in the coming school year? What things are not permitted in the classroom?

This was a valuable "thing" and good reminder for teachers.

Thing #10: Virtual Worlds

2009-08-03T17:18:00.000-07:00

I created my avatar and walked around a bit in Second Life. I think my computer was too slow to get a full effect, but I got the idea. It was odd to see other people walking around I thought! I went back another time and talked to a girl and played around with changing my appearance. Today when I went I saw the feature to make me sit down.

It is interesting that there are educational happenings in this virtual world. As a parent and teacher it would concern me for students to just be open to explore this, even the teen edition because it couldn't really be controlled who they came into contact with. I can't imagine people really having lots of time to spend here though and make connections! That just puzzles me!

Thing #9: Slideshare

2009-08-01T17:35:00.000-07:00

I think Slideshare is a good option for students to learn. It would be beneficial for them to be familiar with this. They could use it for their presentations. It seems this would be a helpful learning tool in the classroom as well. Teachers could show students presentations that were good or not so good to help them improve their own presentations. Plus there are so many already made teachers could use these instead of creating a new one of her own if it fits the material she wants her students to learn.

Thing #8: Screencasts

2009-07-27T18:54:00.001-07:00

There are many options available if you want to create and use screencasts in your classroom. I can see this being a beneficial teaching tool for older students especially. The teacher can instruct them on a new skill. Then later once the students have mastered the concept they can create their own screencasts to teach others. This would also be a good way for the teacher to test student mastery as well.

I made a screencast using Screencast-o-matic. I showed how to leave comments on a blog. I could not get it saved though onto my computer. (The link did work for me though when I tested it the first time.) It was very easy to create and I liked that I didn't have to download anything to use it. I told my husband I thought this would be a beneficial tool for him to use in presentations for his work as well.

Thing #7: Video resources

2009-07-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

There are so many video resources available on the Internet.

Here is one i found on TeacherTube. I thought this would be cute to show a class of students learning the letter sounds. Kids this age would enjoy seeing other children perform and then they could create a video of themselves after they learn it.

Another is called Why does the moon look like it changes? from neok12 site. This would be good to use with a science lesson on the phases of the moon. The class could then make up their own questions to "ask an astronomer." I really liked all the categories on this site and it was fun to look around here.

Thing #6: iTouch Apps

2009-07-23T16:44:00.001-07:00

My husband surprised me with an iPod Touch this past Christmas. I had no idea there was such a thing until about Thanksgiving prior to that. I had no idea how much I would use or enjoy my iPod Touch. We both have actually. He originally got it for me to store recipes. I continue to find new uses.

I found some interesting apps while looking through these articles and videos. One was a mileage counter, something so practical yet something I'd never really think about "needing." The graphing calculator is one that will be helpful to students. Teachers or librarians can use the iTouch to share "words of the day" or "today in history" facts with students. Students can use it to access the Internet or watch videos besides the apps they'll want to add. The weather information and the maps are also convenient to have available with the touch of a screen.

Here is a video on how to add apps to your iPod Touch.

Thing #5: Microblogging

2009-07-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

I am a member of Facebook and have been for the past year. I've found it to be a great way to reconnect with old friends and have found some former teachers as well. I love how groups can be formed about any common goal or interest. I made one for my classmates so when it's time to plan a reunion we will have a place where we are all in one place.

I've heard about Twitter and its growing popularity but haven't really been interested until reading some of the material presented in this lesson. I didn't realize all it's uses as far as following businesses, educational news, celebrities, or current events.

I like the idea of using back-channeling to get the listeners active and participating during lectures or conferences. Some people learn better by being able to be interactive, and this would be a new teaching tool to get learners involved rather than only listening.

Students are using these and I feel they will continue to in the future. Teachers need to be aware and find ways to use these in the classroom. It will get students interested, and the teacher will establish a connection with the students that would otherwise not happen.

Thing #4: Video Hosting (YouTube)

2009-07-18T09:24:00.001-07:00

Here is a video I put on YouTube. It is made with Animoto using the same pictures from our trip but a different song.

I've used YouTube often to watch videos. I don't make many videos so I have uploaded only a couple to the site. Videos online can be helpful to teachers for them to learn new ways to teach a concept in the classroom. They can gain ideas from other teachers of things that have worked. Students would enjoy creating and posting their work online as well for others to view. This would be a convenient place for students to upload their work for the teacher to look at every one's projects in the same place.

Thing #3: Like Skype

2009-07-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

I have never used Skype myself but have heard of it and know people who use it. This could be a great tool to use in the classroom or library. There were many ideas I liked in the article 50 Awesome Ways to use Skype in the Classroom. One idea I liked was to have talks with authors of books that the class has studied. Another good idea is to share the class field trips with others. One more I liked was to use Skype to have parents give presentations to the class. There are many ways that learning experiences for students can be enhanced through the use of technology such as Skype.

Thing #2: Image Generators 2

2009-07-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

This lesson was full of new sites and information for me!

I enjoyed using Wordle. I actually had looked at Thing 2 a few days ago. Then after that I heard someone on the radio talking about Wordle and was glad I knew what it was! I submitted the URL for my other blog (Have You Read With Your Child Today?) several different times. It was fun to see what would come up. I liked changing the font, color, and layout as well. It is very easy to use. A teacher could use this to help students review concepts for a test. She could enter vocabulary words and have the students define the words in the word cloud. It would be more interesting to see words displayed like this that just a black and white list. The students could make their own as a way to study also. The teacher could have the students choose the important words they think they need to know from a chapter. The students' could then compare their creations, decide which words everyone in the class thought were important and make a class cloud together with all their important words.

above cloud made with http://www.wordle.net/

I looked at WordSift for a minute too and can see it would be beneficial in a classroom as it links to other websites, like Google images, related to the words in the cloud.

I have never heard of Glogster. Wow, what a change from the days of cutting and pasting posters together for class projects! It reminded me of my days in college. This is much more advanced of course than anything we did (even though it wasn't THAT many years ago I was in my education classes at college!). I love that it is interactive and students get to be creative. If they've researched a particular topic, this would be a creative way to display what they've learned to all of their classmates. It seems like it would need more thinking for a student to present information here than on a cardboard poster. A student would need to determine what was most important and if that information could be turned into some audio, animation, or video where as on a cardboard poster you don't have to plan this.

I had to try an Animoto also because I've never heard of it either. It was easy to upload the pictures from my own images and use some of theirs as well. I made a couple videos and emailed one to myself. I tried embedding one through the "edit html" feature here but my internet shut down two times when I pasted it in. I was able to make a video in a new post though (seen below). This was a video I made with some scenery pictures from a trip we took earlier this year. I liked scrolling through the music selections they offered; they have a good variety. This could be used in the classroom to make fun slide shows to remember projects or field trips. Also, teachers could create lessons set to music for the students. For example, if the class was learning about the various regions of the state of Texas, she could use real pictures of the regions, add text before each region to identify the region, and then put it to fun music. This would give the students visual examples of what they'd find in each region rather than just reading the description from the text of a book. The teacher could even have groups of students come up with their own videos using pictures on a topic she assigns.

My son and I played with Voki together. It was so much fun! I could play with this for a long time!

Finally, I looked at Bookr (another one I've never heard of). It is very easy to use and learn. Children could make their own books, even using their own photos. Teachers could make books for their students to read. I see many possibilities for classroom use.

What a great lesson! I learned so much!

Animoto.com

2009-07-15T13:43:00.001-07:00

New avatar

2009-06-26T08:59:00.000-07:00

I changed my avatar. This year my son thought I should be a builder instead of a fire fighter! It's fun to play with the various appearances to create an avatar.

Thing #1: Introduction

2009-06-25T18:12:00.000-07:00

I watched The Networked Student. It is amazing to me to think of the vast ways that students can learn now compared to just a few years ago when I was a student in college. The video touched on a small sampling of ways for a student to connect with others for learning purposes. The teacher's role is a facilitator and modeler. She can direct the student to new areas of information to help him through the learning process to help him be successful. I think librarians can help in this regard. The librarians can be the source of information for the teachers as well as the students. The librarians need to be the "experts" so they can teach the teachers how to use the various online resources to pass on to the students.

Learning some More Things...

2009-06-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to be learning new things this summer once again. I look forward to the 11.5 More Things I will learn this year.

Thing #23

2008-07-30T13:51:00.000-07:00

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? I enjoyed so many aspects of this journey. As I mentioned in my blog posts, I was unfamiliar with many of these sites before beginning. I really liked the Google tools. I've been using Google Reader and found it very helpful. I also enjoyed reading the various posts about commenting. There were some great points made there. Podcasts and Nings were my other favorites. I want to explore more with these two things.

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? I have always enjoyed learning. This program helped me think about my goals as a lifelong learner and what I can do to continue to learn throughout my life.

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I did not know just how many fun, exciting websites I had no clue existed. I never knew you could do so much with Google, for example.

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? I cannot think of anything I would change. I liked that it was self-paced.

5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate? DEFINITELY. I want to keep going and learn more!

6. How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities? 23 Things exposed me to many new and exciting applications that I can use in my life and also with students.

7. Now go and comment on some of the other Players' blogs? I did like how you separated the graduates from the other players' blogs so I could easily find help when I had questions about certain "things."

My personal/family blog is Raindrops & Rainbows.

Thing #22

2008-07-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

I had never heard of Nings either. I looked at all three of the listed nings and found them all quite interesting. I would be most likely to use Ning for Teachers. There is just so much information available. In my opinion it is healthy and wise as a teacher to get information from other teachers. Isn't that what being a teacher is all about...sharing your ideas and learning new ideas from others? I loved the message boards and the lesson plans included here. I look forward to reading some of the teacher blogs that are listed on the site as well. Another fun place for me to explore and get ideas.

Thing #21

2008-07-29T18:20:00.001-07:00

I hear the term "podcasts" all the time so I enjoyed learning more about them through this "thing."

Photostory looks like so much fun. I really wanted to try it but I couldn't get it to download on my computer. I believe this is due to Vista. If you have a suggestion, please let me know. I have made picture videos with another program and was excited to try out a new program.

I think Photostory would be fun for a teacher to use to make a story of the highlights of the year and show it at the end of the school year. It would be educational for the students to use as well to turn their pictures into a video and add music.

I have recorded my son singing a song of the names of the continents using Audacity. We had fun getting this recorded. He knows the song of the planets and "Fifty Nifty United States" as well

Click here to listen: continents song

Thing #20

2008-07-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

I have used YouTube often but had never heard of TeacherTube until now. I found many videos on "technology in education" on YouTube. Here is one of them:

I had fun exploring the videos on TeacherTube. I searched for videos about phonics and found several. I wasn't impressed with the information presented through some of the videos, but there was a good variety of lessons available.

Resources such as these are a valuable tool for the classroom. Students would enjoy creating their own videos. One of the advantages of having these videos available is that it gives teachers a new way to present information. I think students get tired of seeing the same things class after class. The videos can give the teachers new ideas as well as be shared with students to present the information in a new way.

This was a fun lesson for me!

Thing #19

2008-07-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

This "thing" was so much fun! The first link I clicked on was HairMixer. This site just made me laugh! It was fun to play with the faces and hair styles of celebrities!

One site I enjoyed was Swivel.com. This is a site of graphs. Users can upload data to create graphs. This would be a beneficial site for a teacher to use to create graphs that are applicable to the students' lives to use as a class when learning about reading charts and graphs. It would also be great for students to use to create a graph using data they have collected. They could also use the other graphs (would definitely need to be pre-screened by the teacher) to discuss as a class.

I am saving this link to these Web 2.0 winners to use in the future! There are many wonderful tools here.

Thing #18

2008-07-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

I looked at the Google docs. I wrote a short note to my friend and sent it to her by the "share" link. I found this application easy to use, and I see many benefits to using it. I do not know that I will use personally though since I have Microsoft Office on my home computer.

One of the benefits, as I mentioned, is the ease of sharing the documents. I found it so easy to just click "share" and type in an email address. No copy and paste was needed. Another benefit is the ability to invite others to work on projects. This would be especially useful for group projects. I really like this feature. A third benefit is having access wherever you go. I have been at computers without Microsoft Office. At times like those this application would have been handy to be able to use.

Thing #17

2008-07-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

I had trouble using Rollyo. I created a variety of searchrolls for my various interests including parenting and health & exercise. I did a practice search through the parenting search roll on the topic of "teething" and many useful resources came up. Some were sites I'd entered and others were added by Rollyo I guess.

When I tried to share my page, clicking on the word that I thought would let me create a link, I got an error message. I am going to have to continue playing with this site to be more comfortable with it. I understand the point of the site having all your searches in one place and categorized for you. I just didn't get very comfortable using it yet. The video provided by the L2P Player was very helpful as well!

Thing #16

2008-07-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

Wikis are so much fun! I have used Wikipedia numerous times. I didn't know very much about it though.

I really enjoyed the Common Craft explanation of wikis. It makes so much sense. Emails were once the "in thing" for communicating and making plans. I can see how much more effective it would be to use a wiki for such planning. Actually it would have been very handy last summer when I was planning my 10 year high school reunion.

Teachers and students alike will be able to have many uses for wikis in the classroom. It would be helpful to have a class site where the teacher can post information for the students (or the parents of younger children) that can be easily accessible by all.

Thing #15

2008-07-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

I read several of the articles about Library 2.0. Once again I must say this was a term with which I was unfamiliar. One I found interesting was the Wikipedia article. This gave me a good idea of the background of Library 2.0 as well as some of the critiques against it.

I really liked Rick Anderson's analogy of the boat in his article. I agree with him that it would be a disaster if libraries refused to adapt and move forward.

Things have changed in our world. Watching the video "A Vision of Students Today" was really eye-opening to me as well. It doesn't seem that long ago that I myself was a college student, yet I wonder if I would be able to fit in the college student setting today. This little video showed me just how drastically things really have changed in the past 10 years since I was a college freshman.

This lesson was very informative for me.

Thing #14

2008-07-24T18:24:00.000-07:00

I wasn't as impressed with Technorati as I've been with the other "things" in this course so far. I guess it was due to the fact that I have never used this site and am therefore not at all familiar with it. I think I would have to play around with it for a long time to find a use for myself. It is fun though to look at the stories that are rising in popularity and see what other people find interesting compared to my own interests. I did find some rather interesting headlines there though that made me want to read more. The popular technology tags were interesting...Google, iphone, and Microsoft to name a few.

I did not realize the popularity or importance of tags. I wasn't aware of how widely used they are now. They are very beneficial and I like using them in my blog account as well as searching for pictures.

Thing #13

2008-07-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

Here is another thing I've seen but knew nothing about....del.icio.us. This is a fun tool to use. I can see how it would be a very valuable asset to have during research projects. It would make it much easier to keep track of information without having to print off hundreds of pages that you may or may not ever use. I have run into trouble before when I've been on a different computer and not had my list of favorite sites that is listed on my home computer. Teachers could use this type of social bookmarking to find good information about a particular area of study and keep that information all in one place rather than having to waste time finding it again when it's needed. I'm glad to know such social bookmarking sites exist.

Thing #12

2008-07-22T18:01:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed this thing about commenting. I think it is important to post comments when I read other people's blogs. It lets them know I stopped by, and I see it as a way to give encouragement and support for other bloggers.

From the articles I gained many great ideas regarding commenting. One from the article 10 Techniques to get More Comments on Your Blog was the importance of responding to comments. I don't always leave a comment in reply to a comment that was left on my blog. I am going to try this. Another idea I liked was from the article The Ten Commandments of Blog Commenting was to return to blogs once you leave a comment. Sometimes I forget to mark blogs I like and so I never return to them.

I will work to make more meaningful comments as I make connections. Sometimes I feel I don't have anything additional to say that other commenters haven't already mentioned. I see the value of thoughtful comments though.

I enjoyed looking at several of the other Library2Play blogs. It was interesting to read the others posts and find others feeling the same way as me regarding having all the information out there and feeling like I don't have enough time to explore everything fully.

One blog I found enjoyable was Joy of Desserts. I enjoyed the pictures. Also the author has a list of links to recipes for homemade ice cream. I found another new blog through a blog roll. It is called I'm Thinking. This is a nice blog that is a family type journal.

Thing #11

2008-07-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

LibraryThing would be fun to use to keep up with the books I've read. I could also use it to find reviews of new books I'd like to read. I had some difficulty finding some of the books in my list that I wanted to add. I thought they would be on the Amazon list, but they didn't show up at first. I did find them when I searched again though. I did some searches on topics and an author I enjoy as well as groups related to children's books. This is another fun tool I did not know existed!

Thing #10

2008-07-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

I had fun looking at the various image generators. I have no experience with this so it was fun to play around with all the different applications. One I liked was Image Chef. I could have looked at this all day! There were so many fun pictures to use. I made my name picture using to add to another blog I have. With the Kid Friendly Generators at this site I made this:

Another one I had fun with is this one also at Image Chef:
ImageChef.com Flower Text

I can see teachers having lots of fun using image generators in their classrooms. They could create covers for take-home folders of student work. The images could be used to make personalized bulletin boards. Also they would be helpful in classroom newsletters or blogs as funny graphics. The students could also use the images for projects or as illustrations for their writing projects.

Thing #9

2008-07-15T18:07:00.000-07:00

It has always interested me to ponder the vastness of the WWW. This exercise gave me a whole new view of all the blogs that are out there. I really enjoyed the article on "The Cool Cat Teacher Blog."

I searched for new blogs that are out of the "normal standard" of what I usually choose to read. I figured out how to find the RSS orange box and add the feed to my list on my home page very easily. I enjoyed the "edublogs award winners." The search tool I found the easiest to use was the Google blog search. The one called Syndic8 was rather confusing to me. I thought I had to click too many pages to get to the page I wanted to see. I did some search for recipes and found some new recipe sites. I also found some interesting sites about things happening at my Alma Mater. I was a bit overwhelmed with all the information. I could have continued searching on and on!

Thing #8

2008-07-10T17:36:00.000-07:00

I have heard of RSS feeds as well as seen the little orange box all over the Internet. I never knew how to use it though. Now that I know what it is and how to use it, I think it is great! I like the ease of adding new subscriptions, the organization I can have by making folders, and the time it saves me from clicking through my favorites listings.

I've already been able to make use of this feature in my personal life. I have made iGoogle my new homepage and added the reader to it through my main Gmail account. It is so helpful to have the updates show right there rather than check through my favorites list multiple times throughout the day.

This technology would be helpful for libraries as a research tool. It is much more convenient to have the news feeds come in as they're updated than to try to scroll through tons of web pages looking for new information.

Thing #7

2008-07-08T18:44:00.001-07:00

I had no idea there were so many different Google tools and had lots of fun exploring them.

I personalized my igoogle page. I enjoyed scrolling through the various themes to use on the page. I decided on the "Summer Oceans" theme for now. I found several gadgets to add too including love quotes, Bible verse of the day, the game Frogger, and pictures of sunsets.

I also created a Google calendar.

All of these Google tools would be helpful to both students and teachers alike. The calendar would be beneficial to post important test dates and project due dates for your class. Students would benefit from the Google Scholar as they work on research papers.

Thing #6

2008-07-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed this lesson. I had never heard the term mashups nor did I have a clue what one was. It was fun to browse through all the different options. I found out I have used mashups but didn't know that was what they were called.

One of the mashups I had a lot of fun with was called Color Pickr. I loved seeing the rainbow of colors. It was fun to try to figure out what the thumbnail picture was and then click to find out.

Flickr would be fun to use in the classroom for students to use to find pictures for their science fair projects and other presentations. Also, the teacher could use the pictures for writing prompts for the class. The trading cards would be a good teaching tool to teach new information about places or people for social studies lessons.

Thing #5

2008-07-01T18:15:00.001-07:00

I had seen Flickr on other sites before but was not very familiar with it. I had not ever actually used it myself either. I enjoyed browsing through the photos. There are so many possibilities for the classroom. I could see grade levels or classes doing projects where the students take the pictures meeting certain criteria and then post them in a group to discuss. The photos would be beneficial to add to PowerPoint presentations done by the teacher for lecture.

One of the searches I did was for ACU. I found many photos of my Alma Mater that brought back happy memories.

Thing #3

2008-06-30T16:56:00.000-07:00

I created a new blog. I have my own personal blog on Blogger so I was familiar with the setup. I'm looking forward to discovering new things to do with my own blog as well through this training.

I had fun creating my avatar. My husband and son even got involved as I was making some of my choices. My husband liked the outfit and the fire hat is for my son!

Thing #2

2008-06-20T18:55:00.001-07:00

I enjoyed watching the presentation about lifelong learners. The easiest habit for me is Habit #2...accepting responsibility for your own learning. As a child I loved school and couldn't stand to miss a day. Now as an adult I thrive on continuing to learn. It is exciting to me to find out new things, learn new ways to do things, or develop my skills. I seek out ways to learn new things now just as I did as a child. The most difficult habit for me is probably Habit #7 1/2...Play. I think sometimes I am too serious and I forget to have fun. This is an area I need to work to improve.

Thing #1

2008-06-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

I am excited to participate in this program and learn new things about blogging!