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