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.