I feel like singing "The Shining Moment", but I digress. I truly enjoyed this course and am already thinking of ways to implement the course concept in class using some e-learning platform. Going in, I was not sure how much I would get out of it being that I see much of this in my graduate courses. However, I learned a ton. I enjoyed all the tools especially the Voki, even though it's kind of creepy that my avatar follows me around my computer. Another thing I enjoyed was being cohersed into joining Classroom 2.0. I have already found some incredible tips on using technology in my classroom. I can't wait until next year. The only thing that bothered me regarding 23Things was my ability to manage my time with everything else going on around me. I feel that I would have been able to produce much more engaging projects if it were not for the lack of time. However, I finished and that is par for the course. Now, with me going to school for technology, it will be easy to keep up with what's going on, mainly because I subscribe to Go2web20.net via twitter and I'm a Facebook fan. Every single new Web2.0 tool that comes out goes through this channel and I'm floored each day, because there seems to be something new each day. Without my twitter, I would not be able to keep up.
Because I enjoy blogging, I don't see any issues with maintaining this blog. This blog will be my personal technology blog where I'll continue to put my ideas about the latest and greatest 2.0 chatter. Thanks 23Thingsters for the opportunity to stretch ourselves.
Thing #9 I've Got Sand in My Eyes
I'm starting to dig wikispaces! (No pun intended!) In completing my little sandbox area on the 23Things Wiki, I found myself still not much of an expert in navigating my way around. I had trouble with the table of content, and for me, that's pretty disappointing! However, I'm glad that this assignment presented a learning opportunity for me. Due to the lack of time, I was unable to make elaborate sand castles, but, a the right moment, I feel that I'll be able to take the wiki notion and do phenomenal things. My page name is Imaginebeingbetter... of course, mainly because I know that the wiki is not my strength yet, but if I keep on plugging away, it will be... because I imagined it to be so. My favorite part however, was the Voki... that was pretty cool. Everything else I've done before; embedding images, links, etc. However, that darn [toc], and I bet it is something simple to. Oh well, I'll figure it out.
Thing # 7b 1:1 Environments Keep the Ill Connected
Eliminating absences... what a concept. This article that I received in my Google Reader is one of the benefits of educating in 1:1 environments.
A little third grader, Ahmed Hamdi, is suffering from Lukemia, but is still able to go to school through the use of a laptop and livestream into his classroom at Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia. Because Ahmed is homebound and can only go to school two days out of the week, having full access to the classroom without being in the classroom allows him to keep pace with his classmates. We had this situation in our school earlier this year, and through the use of a home computer, I was able to create some tutorial videos for our student, but nothing beats being able to be their in the way the Ahmed is. He is able to interact with his students through the computer webcam.
Thing #7a Oh There's Money Out There
As I continue to pursue my dreams of opening my own technology development school/center/program, I am constantly researching to find new ideas, technology, and of course...funding. The beautiful thing about RSS feads is, I don't always have to do my own research. Lo and behold, within my Google Reader, I received a feed from Tech&Learning about an interesting company that I have had my eyes on for a little while. Calypson just made an announcement (April 27) that they have just formed the Calypso School First Foundation (CSFF). They plan to transform a Chicago elementary school through the Be Heard School Grant. They are outfitting a classroom with sound technology that will allow the teacher to be heard by all students at anytime, especially the special needs students in full inclusion programs. You can find more about the company's mission by going to http://www.calypsosystems.com/
Thing #17 Podcastically Terrific
Truly one of my favorite technology tools to use is podcasting. I first was turned on to the idea when I subscribed to the Mike and Mike Podcast on ESPN PODCENTER a couple of year ago and I always said that I wanted to create something like that. Well, thanks to a good friend of mine Curtissa Greene I was turned on to using Garage Band on our macs to create podcast for my students. For this assignment, I reviewed a few sites to continue to grab ideas that I can use in the classroom. I listened to Grammar Girl,The Math Factor Podcast, and mathgrad podcast to all I enjoyed immensely. What I was looking for was how to use my subject more often in podcast situations. Prior to listening I tried a couple of podcast search engines like EPN, Learn Out Loud, and Podcastdirectory.com. I found the most out of the Podcast Directory site that was most useful for the grade level that I teach. I noticed however, that the United Kingdom had far more entries than the U.S. I've listened to many of these podcast before, trying to once again, listen to all the different styles of delivery and uses. I do this because I use podcasting pretty often in my class. For one, I use it for my spelling test weekly. Each Friday, prior to our normal rotation, my classroom Administrative Assistant will log into our class podcasting site (Smittie's People Podcast) and my students will take their Spelling test. I also use podcasting for story telling, learning multiples in math, study guides through Smittie's Studio of Study and my favorites Ask Desiree and Dis Is How D Does It. " Ask Desiree is a show that currently has five episodes where students will write in to ask questions dealing with math topics that are difficult for them to understand and Desiree will answer them in her own unique way. Dis is How D Does It is new to our site, and it stars another student, Demitrius. Demetrius or "D" puts his own twist to the latest discussions over the Social Studies topics in class along with simple "guy stuff". We have several parents subscribe to the episodes and download them into itunes. I'm currently submitting Ask Desiree in the iTunes podcast directory. Our next goal is to place all of our tutorials for using mac applications from our Extra Credit Project Site and create learning podcast for other classes in our school to use. Along with that students are podcasting in the class next week where they are choosing an historical figure from the Recent Social Studies units (Civil War, The Great Migration, World War I and II, and The 19th Ammendment) and interview them using Garage Band. The results will be posted on our Extra Credit Project Site. and on Smittie's People Podcast site
Thing # 23 Noth-Ning To It But To Do It!
Since beginning graduate school, all my professors have pushed the idea of social networking on us. Creating or joining a Ning has always been a part of the conversation. Initially, because I feel that my time is already limited to getting my projects done for school that I would not have time to network with other educators interested in similar technologies other than my classmates. Though I don't have the time, I like the idea of the Ning or should I say... creating your own social network considering their are other options out their. However, in exploring Classroom 2.0 I definitely see the use of the Ning. Within the Classroom 2.0 Ning I was able to find educators using the very same tools that I use or would like to use in my classroom. It was good to validate what I am doing, but also fantastic to see ideas that I had not thought of. I like the idea that this Ning provides a community that provides somewhat of a support system for every 21st Century educator who wants to stay on top of their game. I enjoyed reading the forum to get the latest tips, especially in the area of online project learning. It was also cool to see all the various tools that educators use in reference to what I've actually seen in person. Then the sharing of ideas without concern of someone getting ahead was very noticeable. I definitely will be creating a ning in the nearest future to support a educators network for those interested in media design. Though I have many ideas, I've learned that two heads are better than one. So why not create a social network without as many heads as possible.
Thing # 21 Googoo For Google
Now, I've been a Google fan from the beginning, and they keep putting tools out that may it hard to hate them. In this "thing" I decided to use a tool that I had not used before and that was google alerts. Now, considering my relationship with my iPhone, I am always looking for the latest update, app, or rumor and Google Alerts allow for anything iPhone related that takes place in the industry come directly to my iPhone. Talking about taking care of yourself! Thus far, I have received messages regarding the new voice option on the iPhone, along with alerts from the Dallas Morning News and Wall Street Journal regarding competitors inability to keep up with the iPhone.
Then from my iPhone, I tried the new application for Google Earth. The updated version takes your current location and zooms you in as if you were gliding like an airplane. I enjoyed being able to locate different addresses and looking a street view images, however, what I enjoyed most was that the application kept track of my other location pinpoints and allowed me to see my current position in reference to where I have been.
My desktop is saved to iGoogle. When I turn my computer on, I have it set to automatically open Firefox and my iGoogle page pops up with my favorite widgets. I can check my gmail, the newspaper headlines, and latest sports stories from ESPN all from the same page. The sweet thing about it that all the information is catered to my interest because I choose exactly what I want to see and I only get that information. So, yea.. I google... do you?
Thing #22 IN YOUR FACE...BOOK!
Yes, I'm on Facebook: Brian Romero Smith
What's addicting to most, is somewhat annoying to me. I not that much of a public social person other than at church, so online social networking is not that appealing to me. Yes, having an account on Facebook has served a good purpose. I like being able to allow my family and friends to catch up on what is going on with me and my family. I can share videos of the baby, and photos of the kids easily without having to send each individual an email that will not fit everything in one send. Great, but what I don't like is how much time you can spend away from old fashioned face-to-face time or simple picking up the phone to hear someone's voice. It has also made many people lazy, because instead of ensuring everyone knows what is going on personally, we leave up to our friends to find out for themselves what is going on in our lives. The other side of that is when you do update your life, it's instantaneously known.
For teachers social networking however is important in order to keep up with educational trends on our world. With everything going online, knowing what the latest tools to use in the classroom, or the what the greatest minds are thinking, we have to be able to keep up with the Jone's. However, a far more important reason to stay knowledgable about social networking is the help it provides in understanding the trends of our students. We are having to take education to another level with this new connected generation. Our old methods of reaching them are benign which behooves us to stay abreast on their methods of networking.
I have found Facebook to be more useful educationally then myspace because of widgets link out to references that are more valuable to the classroom. Also, Facebook seems to allow for more methods of communication with the site like writing on the wall, wall to wall conversation, group chatting, and simply when you log on, you know when someone has posted something. Myspace, mainly due to my lack of patience, seemed to juvenile and more of a "look at me" opportunity rather than actual networking.
I have used Facebook during my graduate work. We have set up groups where we collaborate our ideas for the projects to be completed.
However, having a Facebook account makes me feel old because some students from the my first year of teaching found me and wow, they are all grown. My how times passes you by. Well, I guess it was good hearing from them. In your face Brian!
What's addicting to most, is somewhat annoying to me. I not that much of a public social person other than at church, so online social networking is not that appealing to me. Yes, having an account on Facebook has served a good purpose. I like being able to allow my family and friends to catch up on what is going on with me and my family. I can share videos of the baby, and photos of the kids easily without having to send each individual an email that will not fit everything in one send. Great, but what I don't like is how much time you can spend away from old fashioned face-to-face time or simple picking up the phone to hear someone's voice. It has also made many people lazy, because instead of ensuring everyone knows what is going on personally, we leave up to our friends to find out for themselves what is going on in our lives. The other side of that is when you do update your life, it's instantaneously known.
For teachers social networking however is important in order to keep up with educational trends on our world. With everything going online, knowing what the latest tools to use in the classroom, or the what the greatest minds are thinking, we have to be able to keep up with the Jone's. However, a far more important reason to stay knowledgable about social networking is the help it provides in understanding the trends of our students. We are having to take education to another level with this new connected generation. Our old methods of reaching them are benign which behooves us to stay abreast on their methods of networking.
I have found Facebook to be more useful educationally then myspace because of widgets link out to references that are more valuable to the classroom. Also, Facebook seems to allow for more methods of communication with the site like writing on the wall, wall to wall conversation, group chatting, and simply when you log on, you know when someone has posted something. Myspace, mainly due to my lack of patience, seemed to juvenile and more of a "look at me" opportunity rather than actual networking.
I have used Facebook during my graduate work. We have set up groups where we collaborate our ideas for the projects to be completed.
However, having a Facebook account makes me feel old because some students from the my first year of teaching found me and wow, they are all grown. My how times passes you by. Well, I guess it was good hearing from them. In your face Brian!
Thing # 20 Can Somebody call the Google Docs?
Google docs to the rescue. Someone in Mesquite has been trying to get me to use google docs for the longest and I have refused to do so. Actually, the entire reason that I have a gmail account was to start using google docs. But, initially, I felt the instructions were not simple enough for me to gather a quick understanding of it's purpose and useful tools. Well, thanks to the common craft video (I need to see creative demonstrations to be engaged) I felt compelled to give it a shot finally. Funny thing is, I had been looking for a tool to use for my extra-credit project that my students have been working on. I tried Zoho Office at first, but when embedded into a blog, our district restricts the use of this Web2.0 tool. However, since google is mostly wide opened I tried Google Docs and I was excited about how easy it was to use, especially since I had spreadsheets and documents already created. I simply needed a way for the groups to be able to collaborate off site while manipulating by adding to the travel budget sheets that were created for their use. Here is an example of one of my groups travel budget before they began using it online: Cows In Traffic Travel Budget
Before we were using a flash drive to keep track of the budget and that worked wonderfully, until someone left the drive at home and the group couldn't get access to their budget thus halting their research progress. With their budget being online, this issue can be avoided. Prior to the realization for the budget sheet use, we used Google docs to keep track of the progress of each project. The students set their own time lines and used their documents to check off when each city was blogged about. This format found itself useful when the Parent sponsor of each group needed to get an update on where their groups were according to the deadline.
Before we were using a flash drive to keep track of the budget and that worked wonderfully, until someone left the drive at home and the group couldn't get access to their budget thus halting their research progress. With their budget being online, this issue can be avoided. Prior to the realization for the budget sheet use, we used Google docs to keep track of the progress of each project. The students set their own time lines and used their documents to check off when each city was blogged about. This format found itself useful when the Parent sponsor of each group needed to get an update on where their groups were according to the deadline.
Thing # 19 Oh The Possibilities
I have found my next project piece. I am totally geeked about Voice Thread. I had never heard of this Web2.0 tool until now and I'm wondering how I lived without it. So often I've looked for means to get students to voice their opinion about something in creative fashions. I believe using Voice Thread might be the ticket to even getting the most reluctant student to open of their minds to finding the power of their own voice. When I taught Language Arts in New Jersey, I used picture prompts to get the students to infer in their writing, however, Voice Thread is a more valuable tool because you will get to see how other people think and hear how other people see the very same thing we see but through their own lenses. Voice Threads could be easily used in art critiques, peer reviews, and digital storytelling. Personally, I could use it to display designs for book covers, birthday cards, or even or family reunion t-shirts. Everyone could view them and comment and we can then make a decision on what to do based on everyone's comments. Wow! What a wonderful way to collaborate.
Another use could be to explain via pictures a step-by-step process on how to complete various math problems.
I could have groups complete a visual presentation and we can then use polldaddy to vote on the best demonstration. Imagine that!
I could even post my tutorial videos to our student blogs and have students create questions in form of comments in references to their project work and/or the video instructions. And I could respond directly. Sort of like a semi live Q&A board. Wow! Now imagine that!
Another use could be to explain via pictures a step-by-step process on how to complete various math problems.
I could have groups complete a visual presentation and we can then use polldaddy to vote on the best demonstration. Imagine that!
I could even post my tutorial videos to our student blogs and have students create questions in form of comments in references to their project work and/or the video instructions. And I could respond directly. Sort of like a semi live Q&A board. Wow! Now imagine that!
Thing # 18 Tubing
Before completing this activity, I didn't realize how much time my students spent looking at videos on youtube. I introduced teachertube to them today and not one student had heard of the site. (That's because it has something to do with education...funny how that works) However, I have had the chance to use both. I have recently created my own channel on Youtube for graduate school purposes. I upload video projects created for class and I complete video tutorials upon request. I will be working on a series of tutorials for my Mac Camp for Kids Group this summer to get them acclamated to using the various Mac applications to become familiar with them for the purpose of completed several projects throughout the summer. My channel is imaginebeingbetter08. I enjoy using both platforms for educational purposes. I learned how to tie a bow tie using a video tutorial on Youtube. Today, I used a teachertube video to introduce how to change an improper fraction into a mixed number lesson for my math class. The video is by Mr. Duey. His video is on Youtube and Teachertube. However, many of the educational options in Youtube can not be shown within our district, therefore I had to upload the teachertube file. Bother sites are extremely useful for educating yourself or simply for entertainment. When I am preparing for my Praise Team rehearsals at church and I am introducing new songs, I normally find the original artist performing the songs in Youtube and I get a better feel of how they ministered their music thus providing some connection for me with the song and the artist. I guess I'm a tuber now.
Thing # 16
Yes you are right... I should have known that books were coming. I'm just surprised that it took so long. However, LibraryThing is pretty cool. I normally keep a list of books that I have read or suggested books for my students on our class website (smittieskids.com) However, LibraryThing gives those books that I suggest more life. LibraryThing allows for a web of books that are connected in some way or another to the book that I may have suggested, thus giving a wider range of options for readers interested initially in the book I chose, or for those who would enjoy reading more books similar to what they have just read. My meager recommendations can only go so far. The social network aspect of LibrayThing is pretty cool also. Student's can easily form book clubs based on common interest. I have helped 4th grade set up some technology uses in reading and one of the projects was to interview a character using garageband. The difficulty in this was we did not have enough variety of characters to interview because we did not have a means of polling everyone to find out every type of book read by students in the class. Well, using LibraryThing would provide all that information if students were members. However, the best feature for me was the opportunity to finding the information from LibraryThing on my mobile phone. How many times have I gone into Barnes and Nobles and forgotten the title or genre of the book that someone just suggested for me? By this alone, I'm convinced and will become a member.
Thanks 23 Things.
Thanks 23 Things.
Thing # 15 Hmm! Something Looks Delicious!
My Delicious Account
Tag, you're it! I think that I got into tagging last year, but truly started using it with the beginning of this class. I initially enjoyed the fact that there was now a place that I could log all the wonderful websites that I have found and will find over the years. I hated writing them down on a paper or typing them in a documents (URL addresses that is) and then eventually loosing them. Well, delicious has made it all simple for me. I now use Delicious to share interesting sites with my colleagues on various levels. For Grad school, when researching toward my thesis, I use delicious to find related topics through the use of tags. I practically found all my resources and references by simply typing in a tag word or phrase. I am thoroughly impressed with the plethora of uses Delicious has opened the door to. I have even started using the RSS feeds to certain delicious accounts. My next venture is setting up more networks to follow, or belong to other than misd23things.
Tag, you're it! I think that I got into tagging last year, but truly started using it with the beginning of this class. I initially enjoyed the fact that there was now a place that I could log all the wonderful websites that I have found and will find over the years. I hated writing them down on a paper or typing them in a documents (URL addresses that is) and then eventually loosing them. Well, delicious has made it all simple for me. I now use Delicious to share interesting sites with my colleagues on various levels. For Grad school, when researching toward my thesis, I use delicious to find related topics through the use of tags. I practically found all my resources and references by simply typing in a tag word or phrase. I am thoroughly impressed with the plethora of uses Delicious has opened the door to. I have even started using the RSS feeds to certain delicious accounts. My next venture is setting up more networks to follow, or belong to other than misd23things.
Thing # 14 Who's Your Polldaddy?
As WEb2.0 tools take over our lives, I've had the chance to use a few; wordle.net, writeboard, blabberize and polldaddy. I've had the most use out of Polldaddy, as I use it on my class media website weekly. You can find my latest poll at www.web.me.com/imaginebeingbetter The current use is for the lower elementary students to listen to our classroom spelling podcast stories and vote on the story they like best. We then take the results and use them in Math class to discuss converting fractions into decimals and percentages. The results can also be used to help students read and understand a pie chart.
My future plan is to use the polls and surveys for my thesis project. Gathering the demographics from various places around the country will help in understanding the educational differences that many states have in comparison to Texas.
Here is the link to the writeboard I created: http://123.writeboard.com/8faddd82f01aa976c/login Password: natadryerase
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