A Quote to Inspire

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” Dr. Seuss

Thing 23

When looking back at my summer reflections I am pleased with how much I have learned from this course. I will use what I have learned personally and professionally to communicate with students, parents, and teachers for the 2009-2010 school year. I plan on continuing to add to my blog, read other professional blogs, read RSS feeds that I have subscribed to, and collaborate with other professionals in special education. I also plan to update and explore my wiki in order to create study guides and ongoing vocabulary examples throughout the year to support students in the classroom. I would like to share many of the tools with teachers I work with and know that they will find this information helpful as well. I will recommend this class to others who want to improve on their knowledge of web 2.0. It is time to embrace the reality that students are "digital learners" and the creative possibilities the internet has to offer to engage students in learning are endless.

Thing 22

I have learned a great deal from this online class. In the past I have had experience with professional development through Michigan LearnPort. I took a few classes online last summer and the summer before that. I found these also to be an excellent learning experience. I like the idea of earning SB-CEU's through online classes for teachers. I also like taking classes with other teachers because you can learn so much from each other.

Thing 21

Thing 21

There are many risks and rewards of using online videos in the classroom. The rewards are the online videos if chosen wisely can be excellent to supplement the curriculum. They are great for getting students attention...and they are free! Many of the online videos are not screened on YouTube so you have to be cautious. I found this cute music video on fractions. The TeacherTube , National Geographic, and Google Video sites also have many resources that will be helpful for teaching and learning. I tried using zamzar.com to download a video and it was simple to follow the steps on their site. I feel the benefits outweigh the risks as long as teachers are careful to screen the videos ahead of time and to not include related videos when embedding the URL.

Thing 20

Podcasts can help with instruction, retention, and motivation in the classroom. I believe that when students are directing their own learning and teaching for an audience , they are highly motivated and retain more. We can help them accomplish this by giving them the opportunity to create podcasts. They would also like video podcasts. Not all students would have access to an I-Pod to download podcasts but most would be able to access a teacher's blog or wiki in order to listen to podcasts that were student or teacher created. Another great way podcasts would help is to communicate with parents about what students are learning in the classroom and what they have created. You would be able to review assignments, due dates, homework,or study guides. Students would like any video podcasts that help with reinforcing concepts from class and especially ones they help to select or create in collaborative groups! Some of the top ways I read about that I would like to try include: creating podcasts they are interested in "Did You Know..." ; using vocabulary from all classes in a fun way with "Vocabulary Theatre" and brainstorming before writing by "Telling a story."

Thing 20

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

OBX Sunburst (DSC_1074)

OBX Sunburst (DSC_1074), originally uploaded by Arc.Jae.

8am in the morning on the beach. Right around Milepost 15 in Nags Head.

Uploaded by Arc.Jae on 13 Aug 09, 8.48AM PDT.

Thing 19

I listened to many interesting podcasts that would be beneficial to motivating students with reading for enjoyment:


http://www.drscavanaugh.org/booktalk/making_a_video_book_talk_PhotoStory.htm
Teaches you how to make a video book talk with Microsoft photo story.


I liked what Hillside Media Center is doing with their "Battle of the Books" activity to encourage Middle School students to read...you can listen to this podcast at :
http://www.northville.k12.mi.us/hillside-imc/podcasts/2007-2008/reading-roundup/Battle2008complete.mp3om

NancyKeane.com/booktalks
It gives a "book talk" which introduces many popular books, a brief summary, characters, plot, etc. This would also be a good example for students of how they could write their own "book talk" podcast (vs. a book report.)





Other valuable podcasts:

Class Acts: Ideas for Teachers,
Teacher Created Materials
and IRA insights on teaching and reading

There is a wealth of information to gain on how to apply research tested strategies to improve reading. Wow! I never knew all of this was available for teachers!

It was fun to watch some of the "Best of U Tube" videos!

Thing 18

Thing 17

How is a Wiki different from a blog? A blog is where you write "posts" and others are free to comment. You are able to share your ideas online and invite others to comment on your posts. I like it personally because it is fun. I like it professionally because it is a place where I could communicate with parents on what is happening in my classroom along with posting assignments. It is a helpful communication tool because they could comment back to me. A Wiki is alike in that you can share ideas and different because people can change what another person has written or add to it. It would be cood for online collaboration activities (collaborative writing, creating a study guide for a test or quiz, group notetaking, group projects, vocabulary lists.) Both would allow students, teachers, parents and others to share their ideas. The drawbacks for both are the privacy issues.

Archives - Lagoon at Cape Hatteras on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Archives - Lagoon at Cape Hatteras on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Can we get this over with?

Can we get this over with?, originally uploaded by ilovegoldens.

Enhanced in flickr...with picnic features...fun stuff!

Thing 13

I love the features on dumpr.com...it is very creative. You could use this personally and professionally to be creative with images you want to use or share with others. What a great tool for the classroom for projects when kids want to create!

Fun with photos.

PIcture 2, originally uploaded by ilovegoldens.

This is easy and fun to do.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

Pigeon Point Lighthouse, originally uploaded by Darvin Atkeson.

California

Thing 12

I am excited about Flickr photo sharing! I have never heard of it...I will use it for personal and professional sharing. In the classroom students will be able to access their photos on their personal blogs and share....or I can upload class photos of "what's happening" in the classroom to my blog. The pitfalls would be that it is not private and you would need parent permission to use photos. Also, students may not want their photos on a blog because they are camera shy. I think it is excellent for projects (Geography/Science)...and opens up greater opportunity to find images for students to use in creating slideshows, I-movies...etc.

We Love Summer!!!!

We Love Summer!!!!, originally uploaded by iloveteachers.

Only a couple weeks and it's back to school we go....

Thing 11

Just A Hummingbird

View more presentations from Mariane M.

Thing 9 and 10

I liked the idea of creating a survey for students on Google Docs. I always like to survey students at the beginning of the year to get to know them. This makes it more fun for the kids if they get to do the survey on the computer vs. how I used to hand them a bright colored note card! I loved how easy it was...and fun. This was my first experience with Google Docs but I can think of many ways it could be useful and effective for the classroom. I would like to create a parent survey next... This is my survey for students if you're interested.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?key=temiYhalixsH-j3do-I9uwQ

Thing 8

I like the idea of social bookmarking. As with most of these "things" it is totally new to me. I think it will be helpful in sharing bookmarks with other teachers. I also like that it is able to be accessible from any computer so you can bookmark a site and share it at school or at home. I need to work on organizing the sites into groups for work, home, etc. It is interesting to see what others have bookmarked and how they are using the sites in their classroom with the key words they choose to explain how it is helpful to them. It took me some time to set it up and I will need to spend more time later with the organization part as I continually add to it.

Thing 5

I watched the video and read about Thing 5....I didn't know much about Web 2.0 so I learned that it has to do with writing as well as reading on the internet. My memories from being in school were good. I had some fantastic teachers in High School who knew how to get you to think, create, and challenge you. Education has to change and we need to motivate and challenge students to go beyond pencil/paper and textbooks....that it just not going to work for today's kids. I love the idea of having kids create the content and publishing their ideas on information/topics they've researched. I also think it's important to help them distinguish a good source vs. just someone's opinion on a blog. Having them create a blog will help them understand this.

Thing 4

I can't believe how much teaching and learning have changed from when I was in Middle School. Students need to be prepared to think through problems, work in teams and distinguish good information from bad information...and technology is a big part of preparing learners to gather, use, and communicate information. When I was in school we did a great deal of memorizing facts that teachers provided and had less freedom in directing our own learning through group projects. One difficulty I find with my middle school child is that even when her teacher puts her homework online she chooses to use her time to do other things. I didn't have a computer or cell phone. I did spend a lot of time on the phone and playing "Pack man" video games, but I think I found school assignments to be more meaningful and worked more persistently to get homework done..., of course that was a long time ago...I learned to type on a typewriter in high school. My daughter spends way too much time texting friends on her cell phone, IM -ing friends on the internet, and updating her my space. I wish she didn't have so many distractions. I think this is a problem for many kids at this age...they are overwhelmed with all of the "fun" distractions and have a hard time getting work done. I just keep thinking about the survey of what employers rate for job success as #1 is work ethic....this is something we really need to think about. How can we improve the work ethic for students???? I'm going to keep in mind the job success top factors: work ethic, collaboration, oral communication, and social responsibility...in planning lessons/projects.

Thing 3

I'm a bit nervous about sharing my ideas, thoughts, and reflections online. I have never blogged before. This is completely new to me and I'm a very private person (personally.) I have many professional observations and ideas that I enjoy sharing with others and this will be an opportunity for me to share what I've learned in this course and how I plan to use the "things" in sharing with students and the teachers I work with. I noticed that the g-mail account I used has my first and last name so I have shared my name. According to the blog I just read students are not to share personal information. I should have set up a new e-mail...but I guess this is not a huge problem.
I think it will be very valuable when teachers share with each other (is this Thing 7?) I feel students are going to like sharing with others, (as long as they keep their reactions on topic and appropriate.) I can see where they may get off task or try to comment on what "so in so is doing" since they are so focused on their friends in Middle School. Is this a problem in blogging? I think they would be very creative in setting up their own blog since they are producing it for others to see. Middle School students would be able to read a chapter and comment on their "blog." They may take it more seriously in explaining their thoughts. This may be what it takes to get kids to be more successful by motivating them and building relationships with them by giving them this opportunity to set up a blog.

MMK Summer Reflections 2009

This is the first "thing." I was able to set up my own blog. I'm shocked at how easy it is to do! I never thought I would be able to have my own blogging site on the internet. I am excited about how I can teach students by using such a simple concept. It is easy and I thought it would be difficult to get started. I'm glad I have the time to devote to learning the 23 "things"since it is summer. The only worry I have for the classroom is that students may be blocked due to internet restrictions in our building. Will they be able to create their own e-mail at school if they don't have an e-mail account with google? Often students run into problems with accessing web sites due to restrictions. Hopefully, this won't be a problem. The best thing is that setting up their own blog is free and we have computers. The possibilities are endless for motivating students. They will be able to connect with text and each other by sharing and communicating what they know by using this simple strategy.