Back to the Google Reader……I have been struggling to check it daily, but I am beginning to master how to “Mark All As Read”.It is so true about things coming back if you miss it the first time.I have seen the Common Craft “Networked Student” segment several times this week posted by various people.Two noted that I remember are our very own Jerrie Cheek and Kathy Schrock.The one that I want to share with you today is a post by Kathy Schrock sharing information about a cool little photo scanner.It is EASY to download our pics from the digital cameras, but what about all of those that we had before going digital (and having the option to get the CD from the film developers……).Check out her post…I included a pic above…….http://kathyschrock.net/blog/2008/12/cool-little-photo-scanner.html
Am I in Web 2.0 heaven??I LOVE all of these………..and……….it could consume many hours/days/months of my life as I get more and more addicted.I am sharing with you my Mixbook project that I whipped together in just minutes with pictures that I had in Picasa.WOW…..it was SO EASY!!!I love the book, but I need to spend much more time on it getting all the right backgrounds, etc.I also let it “mix it up” for me when I should spend some time arranging the pictures just so……..but………I wanted to see how WONDERFUL these tools were so I could not spend lots of time on any.I will definitely be BACK to visit and explore more on all of these.Although I chose to make something personal, I can see how WONDERFUL this tool would be for students to make book reports, projects, etc. with this.It is SO NEAT and all can be stored and shared online.If you do not want to “share with the world” there are options that you have to set for your projects such as “friends only” or “invitations”.
Here is the link to Mixbook if you want to try it out……….
WOW!!!I so enjoyed the K-12 Online Conference.Once I saw the email about it weeks ago, I have been going on about every week and downloading sessions to listen to on my IPod.There were so many that wanted to check out that I decided to pick a few a week to listen to.SO…..while I am on my way to work and on my way home, I have these going.I do not travel in traffic…….so there is no need to listen to the traffic updates on all the radio stations when I can be checking these out.JJThe one that spoke to me the most so far is the session on “Parent Engagement in the 21st Century”.It is about 20 minutes in length, but I think so many of my teachers that I support would greatly benefit from listening to it because this is one area we all sometimes struggle with.This session was very WORTHWHILE!!!It identifies that our students are digital and tech-savvy and some of the parents are on the same page, but there are many that are not.Our job should be to educate and get them there……..it would provide so many benefits including more parent involvement in the schools and in our student’s everyday lives.There were so many great points made in the session, but one that I call still recall is that many of our students are writing more at home and less at school because they are using the technology tools to communicate…….texting, blogging, etc.If we could box up all this energy and teach standards using these tools…………….Another thing that I keep thinking about as I am listening to these are the benefits from having 24/7 access to these sessions.With the budget crisis that we are facing, I feel this may be one way that we can communicate with our teachers and fellow educators about ongoing professional development.I also LOVED that we could pause the sessions and pick back up where we left off or rewind it to hear something again……….I have shared this resource with several teachers who are as excited about technology as me.I will have to say that although I have LOVED several of the sessions there were a few that I have not preferred, but the GREAT thing is that I did not have to get up in the middle of the conference hall and try to make it to something else or sit through the session being polite.JJ
Well…….I do have to say that I LOVE online slide shows.I have made many to include on my son’s CarePage along his journey through his many obstacles to share his progress with our family and friends.SO many people have sent many comments on how much they LOVE them as well, and it is a GREAT way to stay in communication with LOTS of people.For our assignment, I enjoyed using Flickr to find the photos for my “New” generation slide show to send the visualization out to my fellow teachers that we are teaching a NEW GROUP OF TECHNO KIDS!!!! I am constantly amazed at what they know even at the Kindergarten age.My nephews who are 9 and 12 keep me on my toes to keep up with them…………and………..I know that is what many teachers are facing in today’s classrooms.What we need to think about is how to USE the knowledge that they have to both their benefit and ours.It is REALLY hard to think a KID is going to teach us……..but……….we need to learn to accept it!!!
OK……….so it did seem to get better the more I navigated through the program, but it was not as easy as Google Images.I searched for Kids and Technology, and I had to go through MANY pages to get 5 that I liked.There were multiple pictures of the same “kids” over and over with different poses…..did not like having to go through all of those.In using Flickr in teaching and learning, I can see many uses including presentations, digital storytelling, video productions, etc.I have not been a “user” of Flickr before this class so I can’t wait to get more familiar with it.I know that LOTS of people use it because I have received many links to people’s “stuff” in Flickr.This photo that I have added to represent Kids and Technology—WOW!!!How young we are starting…..This photo was taken by Leonid Mamchenkov and the link to the picture is http://www.flickr.com/photos/mamchenkov/371926925/.
Creative Commons—what a concept!!!In researching more about Creative Commons (CC)….there are so many various licenses that you can choose under the big umbrella of CC to protect your work “exactly” the way that you want to.As an educator, ILOVE the Creative Commons concept of “sharing and tweaking” and WITH PERMISSION—WOW!!!All of the things that we have access to with the magic CC emblem on them-AMAZING!!!I have begun to notice more and more websites with CC on them, and I had a little knowledge about CC to know what is was but not what it meant exactly.I definitely think that this concept will impact the way students learn and create projects.They are so Web 2.0 these days that there are many uses just awaiting them for digital storytelling, video production, etc.In my classes, I LOVE to include digital images, audio, and video clips so I will greatly benefit from CC.I have not really “shared” content, but I hope to begin doing this. I make many “handouts” for our school trainings, and I guess “I” own them.These are the types of things that I foresee “sharing”.Some negatives for CC include the alteration of your work in a way that you do not like……..I can see this happening.I am such a perfectionist that I think it would be hard to turn over my “stuff” to the world.
In my Stretch activity this week, I decided to check out something of a personal interest.My little one may have to take IVIG therapy for his immune system, and I have been doing a lot of research on this lately.When I looked at the Wikipedia information on IVIG, I found it to be very valid, thorough, and well-written.It was a GREAT place to get the basic information stated in a way that you can understand.In looking at the History tab, it seems as time has “flown by” more and more information has become available on IVIG and revisions or additions have been made.I really like this feature because how many sites do we go to were updated YEARS ago……..In the Discussion tab, there seems to be no looming controversies…..a GOOD sign if we need this!!!
WIKI, WIKI—is how this class seems to be going.I am LOVING every “thing” that we get to do.How inspirational is the Cool Cat Teacher—she could really rejuvenate some teachers that I know—I will not name any names.I definitely feel that there will be a wiki in my future.I would love to create one for one of my schools to use with the staff members to collaborate and “teach each” other on the technology tools that I support them on.I feel that many of them would get as excited as the kids and want to go ONLINE and contribute to a WIKI.Many of the teachers I support are WONDERFUL…..they just need the know-how and encouragement and they can DO ANYTHING!!!OK—I could go on and on with my ideas…..let me share with you all some of the things that I read about in the wiki examples.1.Let’s Go West-AMAZING!!!I loved the Oregon Trail adventure.The wiki was very well organized making it easy to navigate.It was also PACKED with very good information.The teacher and students did a WONDERFUL job.2.Grazing for Digital Natives-PLC Wikis-OVERWHELMING!!!There is so much information on this site that I was astounded.It is a great resource that I have bookmarked for later.I could spend a day there just scratching the surface.3.Primary Math-Very simple site, but I can see many of my teachers using this site.It is always nice to STAY SIMPLE.This wiki could easily expand to cover more content, but I really like the simplistic style of it now.WIKI, WIKI-WOW!!!The wave of the future is among us………I can’t wait to get started!!!
WOW!!!After a few days of checking the Google Reader……it can be OVERWHELMING!!!I just keep reminding myself of Jerrie’s advice that I do not have to read every article…..the “good” stuff will continue to appear.In using the Stretch activity with Google News, I found out almost immediately the importance of being very specific in what I really wanted.I started out with (Georgia and Education)….In one VERY INTERESTING article dated November 5th from The Spectrum, the author is questioning Georgia’s commitment to Education.This article uses the example of three counties in Georgia cancelling Friday classes the day before the Georgia-Florida game as an example to how we tend to think that “football is king”.After a brief description about why the counties had to be off on Friday, the article further goes into the facts that Georgia has one of the lowest state education rankings.This was a VERY INTERESTING article.If you are intrigued and want to check it out………here is the link.http://spectrum.buffalo.edu/article.php?id=38000
OK………I think that I am now addicted to the Google Reader. I have managed to add about 40 different feeds, and I feel as if I have just begun to scrape the surface. I know that all of you have heard of Kathy Schrock, but I LOVE her feed. She always has cutting edges things mentioned in many of her posts that give me the heads-up on what is out there and coming soon!!! One that I found VERY ENTERTAING was the post with the link to many NECC attendees riding a mechanical bull—were any of you participants in this?? If so, you might find yourself here. http://kathyschrock.net/blog/2008/07/pic-on-bull.html. I have enjoyed reading those of you who have posted your 7A assignments as well, and I have added a few more feeds from your suggestions.
Along with all the education blogs that I have subscribed to, I also had to add the Georgia Bulldogs News updates as well as several on raising special needs children. In reading the ones for Special Needs parents it really made me want to host my own because I feel like I have so much to share with having a 1-year old amazing Special Needs child………….but who has time…………that is probably why so many of the sites are not updated frequently. JJ
Well….it is 1:00 A.M., and my husband does not understand how I can be on Google Reader for so long………. Just wait……..he will be “begging” for me to set him up one soon. JJ
