Thing 19

I haven't done much tagging in the past, but plan to try it in the next thing on delicious. I currently use delicious and it is a life saver!! I like the idea of tagging with a number of key words or topics. I am fearful of inappropriate tags. So I am moving on to thing 19. I hope to use the site in a class that begins in a couple of weeks. I see delicious having great potential with my 7th graders.

Thing 18 Ning

Enjoyed looking at Ning and Ning in Education. I joined a middle school group as well as groups for social studies and world history. Lots of great information, new ideas, discussion on using web 2.0 in the classroom. Within our school the social network could be used to dialog with teachers in other buildings that teach the same subjects at the same grade level. We rarely get to work together, so maybe social networking would be an answer. I found a great deal of helpful information, dialogue, and ideas to use in my classroom. But as always, I want to know where to find the time to be able to utilize everything. Even be able to participate in the networking on a regular basis.

Thing 17 web 2.0 winners

There is SOOO much to look at so I went to the short list of web 2.0 winners. Went to many of the sites. Wish I had more time to just explore!! I found Go2web2.0 and plan use the site with my students. We are going to do some exploring together. I'd like to see them use doink.com for animation and storytelling. We will do some exploring together and then use a wiki to share their opinions on how these sites my enhance their creativity and help them in school. Great ideas, I just hope we (students and I) can make it work!

Thing 16

I enjoyed all 3 videos although I must admit they made me cringe about the state of education. Digital students in analog schools seems to hold true for more than just university students. Students must have technology and the option to use it creatively to demonstrate knowledge. Robinson emphasized that creativity is as important as literacy in schools. Instead of growing out of creativity students should grow into it as they progress through schools. Technology can allow them to do that. Problem is many schools do not have the technology available to them or their students. No Future Left Behind said it all in a variety of words: ask, learn, discover, create, share, fail, try again, learn, explore, collaborate . . . thats what we need to do in classrooms today

Thing 15 Podcasts

I was real excited doing the podcast exploring for thing 14, but for thing 15 I discovered some things about podcasts that I don't care for. The educational site for podcasts has a disclaimer that they can not guarantee the content of the podcasts. I went exploring for a podcast on Japan. Found one but was greeted by inappropriate language for 7th graders. I enjoyed the podcast, but couldn't use it in my classroom. That happened several times, so I will return to the podcasts I found in thing 14.

We have had students create podcasts as well as teachers. As for me, I am considering having the students make their own podcasts reviews of different topics in my world history class. Possibly a podcast simile, metaphor, personification song we have been working on as a review.

My school is very supportive of teachers exploring web 2.0 possibilities. I am very fortunate to work in a school system that utilizes technology every day.

Thing 14 Podcasting

I looked over a number of podcast sites. I liked storynory.com and the Greek myths section. The podcast reads the story, shows the story for the reader, and made connections with the gods to today. I also liked vocabulary by the Princeton Review or http://feeds2.feedburner.com/princetonreview. Students can choose the specific topics to listen to, such as synonyms, and learn about them through song. I personally enjoy the podcasts from NPR. During the school day I miss some of my favorite shows and I am able to listen to them later.

Thing 13

Thing 13 Slide Show

I went to the Slide website first and created a slideshow with great ease. What a great tool. I have been taking my laptop or thumbdrive with me to present and now all I need is the website and a computer at the site I will be presenting. I would like to try these sites with my students as well. We currently make commercials using imovie and garageband. We might try some of the suggested websites and see what the students come up with. I am really excited (and scared) at the same time. My tech class starts in 2 weeks and I believe we will "wing it" and try the web 2.0 "things" that I have learned!

Thing 12 LibraryThing, Knowtes, Trailfire

I looked at Knowtes, Trailfire, and LibraryThing. I created a LibraryThing account and spent some time adding books, looking at reviews and chat groups. I love books and love to read so this was a great site. Easy to use and connect to new books and new people. My 7th grade students are avid readers and talking about their books all the time. I would love to see each of them have a LibraryThing account to write and share reviews as well as to introduce them to more books. Very EASY to use! I liked Knowtes and went through several decks of note cards for Spanish, root words, etc. I see it as a tool I could use for my students or better yet, they could create the note cards for study purposes. Once again I wonder how we would manage all the accounts they could create. I have used delicious.com to organize websites, but I'm not sure that is the answer for me. Trailfire was interesting as well. I could set up a trail of websites to study certain topics. Students could do the same as we do our research reports. So many ideas . . . so little time! Time is always the issue.

Thing 11 Google Docs

Just started exploring Zoho Writer and Google Docs. I now understand why we are looking at accounts for our students in Google Docs. As a language arts teacher I love the idea of being able to collaborate on our work. More to come as I explore the possibilities.
Next year each of my students will have an Acer notebook loaded with the kinds of applications we are exploring via the internet. Will be exciting and a little scary at the same time. So much changing, so much potential! Good morning, I am sitting in Apalachicola, Florida experimenting with Google Docs. I know my school district is looking at using Google Docs with our students.
It is possible we might be piloting it before the end of the year. I believe I understand how it works, but actually using it will be the test. Later. I can see how Google Docs would be a great tool for student use. I hope to be using it by the end of the school year. I now understand why our tech department was looking at how to set up student accounts. What a great way for students to collaborate on a project. So much of our new World History program is collaborative work, I can see the students loving using google docs to exchange ideas and come up with a final project to present. The revision history will be extremely helpful in all of my classes, especially Language Arts. Now I need to find a way to get this to my blog.
Look out Microsoft. My students will love this!!

Thing 10 My wiki

Just created my wiki, whalen 7th grade wiki, and added two pages. One page will be our ongoing study of words and their root words. This replaces a paper poster I have used in my classroom to collect all of the words, where they came from, and what they mean.
The second page will be a collection of examples of author's craft from our class reading and personal reading. It was VERY easy. I am still trying to figure out how my students will join. That might be something I have to talk to my tech department about.
I am feeling much more comfortable with the wiki being private and love the fact that it is free for educators. Ongoing issue: trying to find the time to truly understand and use everything I am learning about Web 2.0

Thing 9 Wiki

One year ago I was introduced to wiki. I set up a simple wiki for my 7th grade class, but kept getting a message asking if everyone using the wiki was over 18. I stopped using the wiki. Once again after exploring all the wiki sites I am very excited about trying a wiki. I am also very anxious about everyone having access. I'd like to have more control to access to the site, but will still try using one yet this school year.
After visiting the many sites I have a number of ideas for my classroom:

Literature groups wiki
Daily or weekly questions for world history wiki
Author's craft wiki posting examples of literary devices used in novels.
World history figures from Greece and Rome biographies
Mythology wiki on the gods and goddesses and connections to current time
Study guides created in student teams for world history
Word study with Latin and Greek root words
Traveloque for students on vacation
Writing ongoing stories with current vocabulary

I am really excited about trying the wiki again, I am sure I will find a way to deal with my "control" issues concern.

Thing 8 exploring RSS

I used Topix to add more feeds to my google reader account. The top stories were time marked "2 hours ago" or "5 hours ago." You can't get more current then that. The local search option was great. Anything I needed for the Grand Rapids area. Topix was very easy to use. I plan to explore more later an update my blog. I'm finding I am on my computer more and more each evening. Hours pass and I am surprised to find myself totally fascinated with all I am learning. This is exciting.

Thing 7 RSS

How exciting! I had no idea what RSS was and I see it regularly in the URL bar.
I have subscribed to a number of feeds and will continue to find more. It allows me to catch up on NPR when I can't listen. I plan to use RSS as a news and information resource with my 7th graders. We play a current events game called newsbowl each week. My students could set up a google reader for each of the topics such as world news, sports, national news, etc. and they would review them each day to prepare for our competition. I am SOOOOO excited about this. This digital immigrant will become a native soon.

Thing 6 Technologically Illiterate?

In order to teach it, we have to do it. How can we teach this to kids, how can we model it, if we aren’t literate ourselves? You need to experience this, you need to explore right along with your students. You need to experience the tools they’ll be using in the 21st century, developing your own networks in parallel with your students. You need to demonstrate continual learning, lifelong learning – for your students, or you will continue to teach your students how to be successful in an age that no longer exists.

I agree with this statement 100%. The digital immigrants need to be lifelong learners and take the time to experiment with technology in order to provide a better learning environment for the digital natives. Our students need to be prepared for the 21st century. Problem is schools do not have the money, the time, and sometimes the technology to prepare the teachers. I find technology often is given to teachers with the expectation they will use it. Yes, we need to experiment with it, play with it, get it to work, but wouldn't a little training and support be a wonderful thing! Wouldn't it be wonderful if our students or even our digital native teachers were to mentor the digital immigrants, just as the new teachers are required to have an experienced mentor teacher for four years. It is all about learning together, experimenting together, making mistakes together to grow with technology.

Thing 5 Mashups

I took a look at a number of the mashups. Flickrcolorpicker would be a great tool for our poetry unit related to color. Big Huge Lab was my favorite at this time. I would use the world travel map to track my own travels through Japan, China, Ecuador, and Belize. It would be a great tool in my presentations to students. My students would like Big Hug Lab and the world travel map as part of their country project presentations.

At last, I figured it out, the photos are posted.

Flickr

Hoping my flickr photo from Ecuador will be posted.

Flickr

I really enjoyed using Flickr. The tags make it so easy to find images of just about anything you are interested in. Groups were helpful as well. I chose images tagged Ecuador because of the month I spent there this past summer. I fell in love with the people and my favorite place to visit was Otavalo. The photo of the textiles made in Otavalo was incredible. The market was packed with textile stands. I am still working on posting the pictures. Every time I upload using the URL from flickr the pictures do not appear. I'll keep trying.

7 1/2 Habits

The most difficult of the 7 1/2 habits is using technology to my advantage. I just don't know enough about it yet to make it a routine way of thinking when I am planning my school day. I love technology and I get very excited when I find a new tool to use in my classroom. I find myself on the computer more and more each evening after work.
I just don't feel as if I can use it to my advantage yet.

The easiest of the habits would be to accept responsibility for my own learning and play.
I believe I have always been a lifelong learner. I love to learn in a variety of different ways: classes, online, video, hands on, reading, travel etc. Play fits into each of those categories because if makes the learning fun. Trying something new is exciting. That is how I see techology. This 23 things class is fun, and hands on.

23 Things-The First Thing

In this on-line course I hope to become less of a digital immigrant and more of a digital native. I know that web 2.0 holds all sorts for potential for learning in my classroom. If I can become more comfortable and confident in using all the resources, I know my students will be much more excited about learning and so will I.