Thing 20

I really liked using google docs and the possibilities it offers. I took a short class at school last spring, which was my first introduction to it. It will be a great way for students to work from anywhere and submit their work on time even if the printer is broken, they'er out of ink, there's no paper.... :) It will also offer an easy opportunity for collaboration. We don't have enough computers for each student to work independently in the lab, so it can be diffiduclt for students to fully experience whatever the assignment is. With google docs, they can work from home as well and still work with their group members.
(And all this really sounds familiar; I honestly thought I'd written this earlier! Must have just planned it out and forgot to write it. Sorry!)

Thing 23... the end!

Wow. I can't believe it's already over! (and that means next week is coming... aaaah!) This has been an incredibly valuable experience. I almost wish I could have taken it during the school year and incorporated tools as I learned about them, but then, I don't know if I could have experimented as much because of regular classroom duties. So, I guess it all works out. I am going to go back through the things and make sure I have all the links I want to remember and explore further. I have to start thinking about the first things I do in class and decide which tools I will introduce to my classes this semester. I hope to incorporate a couple in the fall, maybe google docs and wikis, and point students to some of the great things I learned about- social bookmarking, sticky notes, organizational tools... I think I'll find ways to actually use them in the future, but I'm going to try to take it slowly so that I don't get in over my head- unable to maintain projects I've started :)- and so that I don't overwhelm my students with too many new toys!

Thing 22

I looked at creately.com and clipmarks.com. Creately.com allows users to make diagrams, flowcharts, etc. online; collaborate, comment, save in various formats- great tools for students to make concept maps or organizational flowcharts. There's even a section of k-12 graphic organizer templates. The program is web-based, so there's nothing to download, making the tools easy to access. The options for adding, moving, changing colors, and so forth are simple to use. Only glitch? There's a waiting list! So, you have to sign up and wait till they have space for you. Hmph.
I am SO excited about clipmarks! It's about the greatest thing ever. You can select portions of a page, save it, print it, put it on another something (facebook, delicious, twitter, etc.) As are most tools we've learned about, your clipmarks can be private or public, depending on your choice. This is a great way to point students to specific parts of a webpage or mark the section you need to remember. They even mention the ease of selecting the portions you want to print instead of having to copy them to a word document. Who hasn't had to do that to try to save paper?

Thing 21

I really think I could enjoy Pageflakes, once I figure it out! I'd like to make some pages for various topics like the example about Darfur/ Sudan, but I can't figure out how to get news feeds specific to a topic yet. The sticky notes and message board are things I'd really like to use with my classes, so this is just one more chance to tory it. Of course, I'll have to pick one and stick with it so it won't confuse the little munchkins, but that'll come. I created a pagecast to see how that step works; I'm still working on ideas for class. Definitely useful to point students for searches or to help with current event articles. I think it would be a useful place to put together webquests, although I haven't decided- for things I already do- whether pageflakes or wikis would work best.

Thing 5d

Once again, my favorite ideas came from Free Technology for Teachers. This time, it's about several places to do online sticky notes. Three were mentioned with different capabilities, so I'm hoping to explore those and see what works for me. I'd like to play with them enough to make recommendations to students since they would be great organizational tools. One is a sticky that you set as the homepage with up to 3 items. Then, it's the first thing that opens when you get online, so you can see what you need to do. Pretty cool. I marked 2 of the sites in Diigo, but one, Stixy, wouldn't work with Diigolet. Hmph.

Thing 19

Making the podcast was pretty simple. I think the biggest pain for me was the time in downloading and uploading everything. My computer is poky today. I embedded the player on my wiki page just to see how that worked. Not too bad.
I read a Dr. Seuss Book about reptiles for my podcast. I stumbled across a couple books from the Cat in the Hat Learning Library in my kids' collection- the books had been passed on to us from a friend. My son brought me a book about plants to read and, as I read to him, I realized the book had pretty much everything I would include in a lecture about plants. And since it's Dr. Seuss style, it's probably much more interesting to listen to than... well, a lecture on plants. So I started hunting to see what I could find, and there are several science topics covered. I'd love to buy them, but I'll have to find them used somewhere (with no shipping costs!) if I am to get all of the ones I want. Anyway, I discovered that the Gwinnett County Library has a bunch of them, so I checked them out and read some to my students. Remember, these are high school students. They mostly loved it- probably because they didn't take notes- but that was one of the problems. It's hard to substitute something like this for a lecture if they don't remember it or can't look at the pictures. So, unless some kind soul buys me class sets of all of the books, I'll have to come up with something else. I'm leary of scanning everything with all the copyright issues- though it would make it easy to present using an LCD projector! But if I could record them for the students to listen to, maybe that would be a start.
I stumbled a couple times in the recording, so I'll have to practice sound editing to complete the Dr. Seuss project. I've used Audacity a teeny bit, but it was a long time ago. So, on to learn more stuff!

Thing 18

Well, I'm having trouble actually viewing the podcasts. I listened to some, subscribed to a few, but haven't viewed any of the videos yet. I'm attempting to download quicktime and itunes to see if that helps. We'll see.
As for use in the classroom, definitely could be useful once I sort through the options and choose some that will be useful to my students. Shorter than a video and easier to get! No traipsing to the media center only to find out the mystery teacher hasn't returned it... and doesn't remember he checked it out.
I looked briefly at the Education Broadcast Network, but most of the ones I checked hadn't posted anything new in over a year. I added a couple from PBS- the first one has a podcast of nudibranchs. I can't wait to see it. They're sea slugs, and absolutely gorgeous. (Unlike their land dwelling cousins. ugh.)

Thing 17

While surfing around Classroom 2.0, I ran across a group for Web 2.0 technologies for teachers from the university where I recieved my Bachelor's. While I was there, we had to learn how to use a thermofax (which I'd never heard of), a slide projector, an 8 mm (?) projector... there were very few computer programs. This was in 1993.. yes, the dark ages. The campus was networked; we had computer labs in every dorm and several (all?) buildings. And we, the new teachers, had to practice making overhead transparencies without using a copier. Hmmm... It is exciting to discover that the (new) professor is actually teaching the students something useful! My professor's argument for requiring such training? "There are schools out there that will have these things and you'll need to be able to use them." (oh, and we had to have several hours practice documented on each "technology"). Nevermind that the instructions were printed ON THE SIDE OF THE PROJECTOR!!! anad my aunt, who taugh 2nd grade in one of the poorest counties in West Virginia (one of the poorest states in the nation) said she hadn't use those things in years! Hmph. Sorry for the rant. It's always been a sore spot. But, it's so incredibly exciting to see how the program is embracing the new technology and training the teachers to use it!

Anyway....
I think Ning would be a very useful tool for my classes. It would be a great place to have discussions. I was thinking about that before I even got to the Twitter in the classroom video. We wouldn't be able to do it in class, but it would be a great resource to use.
I checked out a few discussions in Classroom 2.0 and saw several content-related ideas I liked. Very cool.
I'm now on Plurk- hopefully you've noticed. I tried to find everyone. My husband is my friend. how cute :) (it's getting late. I'm beginning to ramble)
I'm not sure how much Plurk will fit in for me, but we'll see.

Thing 16

Before this course, I felt I really didn't have much time for social networking. It would be nice, but too easy for me to immerse myself in it and neglect other things! It's kind of a joke in the family (and among our friends, now) that my parents are on facebook and I'm not. Of course, my brother made their pages, and I don't even know if they get on, but, they're there. I hadn't considered social networking in a professional light, but it certainly is intriguing.
As for PLNs, like most other things the course has introduced, they would certainly have value. I don't know that I would have the patience or personal security to build my own, though. I'm an introvert, and I found, while taking online classes with required participation in the class threads, it was as difficult for me to "voice" my opinions as it would be in a face to face class. Since participation is so important in building a network, I think it would be difficult for me to see this project through. If I could start with some people I already knew in real life, it might give me a boost. (And yes, I met my husband online. Go figure.)

Thing 5c

I've struggled with developing a reading habit. I'd like to think it's the craziness of summer. But then, the hectic beginning of the year will start, followed by the influx of papers to grade, then the holidays... and on and on. So, I still need to work on this one. It's still just overwhelming to me to take time to skim everything, because then I'll want to read everything, and there's no time. So my solution? Skip it! Yikes. Seriously, I think once I can decide which feeds are most useful to me, it will help tremendously.
On to the report for the week:
I need to mark or collect or download or something all the information about the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. I won't have an astronomy class till spring, so I need to do it now so I'll have it then. And how funny is it that NASA taped over the original recordings? JFK's "We Choose the Moon" speech is now available on the website. It's on YouTube, so I'll get more practice embedding so I can show my students :)

The Why files, described in free technology for teachers, will be a great resource for my students. I'm very excited to learn about this site. It will be a great way to keep up with the news and how it applies to science.

I'm definitely liking Free Technoloy for Teachers. Thanks, Caroline!

Thing 15

I really like using google docs. I took a one hour class that introduced it last spring, but haven't had much chance to explore yet. I really think it will be a useful place to have students put their work- over the years, there has always been a problem with forgeting a disk or flash drive, not being able to access email to attach it, forgetting to attach it, and so on. Google docs will definitely help with simple matters like that, plus allow students to work together on assignments and allow me to see what they are doing. A disadvantage I see is, like most other things, time to set it up, teach the students what to do, and implement it regularly. Once it's in place and students know how to use it, as well as my expectations for use, it would be a wonderful tool.

Thing 14

About the only thing I've done with youtube has been to watch clips of my nephew and niece and to post a few of my kids for family to see. Since it's blocked at school, even the clips I found that would be useful in class haven't helped. There are a few clips I've used in my Astronomy class, but I've had to find them on google video or capture them or something. I'm thrilled to learn how to embed them and to find more places to allow me to "get" the video somehow to show the clips to my classes.

I didn't have much success searching TeacherTube, although I'd heard about it before. I haven't thought of anything yet that I currently do or could start doing that would be video worthy. I'll have to think about that some more...

Thing 5b

Whoa! Google Earth has a simulation of a solar eclipse in honor of the eclipse next week. This would be great in my astronomy class. Solar eclipses are rare, and you have to be in the right place at the right time to see one. Last year, students were asking when the next one would be- they wanted to take a trip to see it. Well, this one is visible in Asia- not a great idea for a field trip. But the simulation could be helpful to them to visualize what's happening.
Another blurb was about free printable graph paper, always helpful to have. I'd run across a site a while back, but it's nice to have some other options, too.

Thing 13

This was my first introduction to voicethreads. I have been in classes where the instructor recorded lessons in Jing, showing how to do things and demonstrating them- very cool in technology classes! But this was the first I've seen of voicethreads. I don't see myself using it as oftenn as some of other web 2.0 tools, but I think it would definitely be useful for other classes. For my science classes, it would be useful for students to prepare their presentations, record them,m and then allow students to view them and comment on them. It would be a great tool for evaulation- students would be able to "perfect" their work, I could see the presentations and grade them, then include student comments for participation. It's hard sometimes to get students to respect each other's work when doing oral presentations, so a voicethread might help them really evaluate each other's work.
In the examples, I liked the insect collection and the student's art portfolio. Voicethread is a great way for students to show what they've done and report on their progress and what they've learned along the way.

Thing 12

I looked at the collaborative note sites first. After seeing how teachers use wikis and other things for online study groups, I thought this would be a great idea to use for student collaboration without worrying about email addresses, activating accounts, and so on. I could put a link on the class website for each unit or within the class wiki so that students could add to it as needed. I liked notepub better because it's free and looked like it would be easier to get started. Doingtext is also free, but you have to sign up for a trial membership, then it converts to free later. Membership and "fees" generally freak out my students, so I'd rather use one that says it's free in larger letters than it says buy a membership.
I tried wordle, but it wasn't cooperating with me, so I'll go back later and try it again.
Of the concept mapping tools, bubbl.us looked like the one I'd like to use. I've used Inspiration before (and found their online tool, Webspiration, as well), and bubbl.us is similar to inspiration. Plus, I think the students will like watching the bubbles explode in flames when they're deleted. One of the options I give students for their reading assignments is a concept map, so this could be a useful tool for them to try and then post on the class wiki.

Thing 11

I chose to do a slide show to accompany an article about the changing leaves in autumn.

Photo Sources
Chlorophyll Roo Reynolds
ambivalent tree/ By summervillain
Leaf By deserttrumpet
Chlorophyll? By pberry
Dying from the outside in By Dru!
Phases By jah~

Thing 5a

I've never been very good at skimming. I either read it fully or my eyes just move down the page and I get nothing. I've been trying, though, to just look for highlights in the things I see in Google Reader. The problem is, though, that I want to read everything that sounds interesting and there just isn't time for that!
In Free Technology for Teachers, I thought the Specra search engine tool might be a good thing to investigate for student use when searching for information. They really don't know how to decide what is valid information, and they always wonder why they need to keep reading when "everything says the same thing." With all they need to know about how to research, how to give credit and cite sources, how to recognize good sources, this search engine tool that ranks results across major search engines could be very useful.

Thing 10

I was amazed how many images I could find, even under Creative Commons, for all the words I searched. I mostly searched biology words; I thought something generic like "babies" or "animals" would give me so many images I wouldn't be able to choose... and it would take me forever to look at them. (I have to see everything just to make sure I don't miss the one I really want!). I finally chose "chlorophyll" and only got over 600 images instead of in the tens of thousands. Wow, that's a lot about chlorophyll! I was thinking about an article I have my students read about the changing autumn leaves due to the loss of chlorophyll, and thought some images of autumn leaves would make an interesting slide presentation with the article. The image shown here, by RooReynolds, is an amazing close up of a leaf. I thought it would be a good starting place to show the green from the chlorophyll.

Thing 9

Creative Commons is an exciting new idea to me. I hadn't heard of it (or noticed the logo anywhere!), but I'm delighted to learn about the new laws for educators and the sources for finding allowable materials for me and my students to use. I use things in the classroom and post material on my website, but I can't always post exactly what I use in class because of copyright issues. I've tried to follow them, but it certainly does get confusing. It seems we grew up with the idea that, as long as you're not making a profit from it or taking credit for it, it was okay. I think that might still be a common misconception. But the proliferation of technology and the internet has made us rethink copyright. As an educator, I can't afford to pay everyone for everything I'd like to use- I don't make that much money! But, if it means exposing hundreds of students to a particular work by allowing its free use or not allowing it unless a fee is paid, it seems reasonable that creators would want to share what they've done, if only to develop a following who would continue to support their work financially!
I took some classes in graphic design recently and, naturally, copyright was a big part of the coursework. Of course, it was more in the interests of the creators, but even there the instructors made it clear that images could be used for learning in our classes. We also learned where and how to find royalty free stock images and even some fee-free royalty free images. I plan to explore and use extensively the Creative Commons to ensure that I use materials appropriately and teach my students how to use them, too. Learning that there are ways to let consumers know how they can use your materials in a copyright was great- if I get the chance to create things (using what I learned in graphic arts...) I would like to let people know they can use them, so I'm glad to find out where to go for that step.
The new laws from 2008 seem more reasonable for educators. I thought it was odd that we could only keep copies of an article for a year- I only use it once a year, after all- but then I could go back to the magazine's website, download it again, print it again... talk about a lot of paper. I suppose I should pay for a class set of copies to keep, but that becomes cost prohibitive. After all, I want to provide the best for my students as well as set a good example in how to use materials. I believe the new laws make more sense with how we use things and with the availability made possible through the internet.

Thing 7

I thought the kindergarten Count to 100 page was a neat idea. Nothing was explained, but presumably students could gather items to count and photograph to post. A few numbers were missing, but it was a neat idea. I'd like to try the activity (without the posting) with my son. Since I don't teach kindergarten (far from it!), I don't know if this wiki is simply a twist on an in-class project, but it was a great way to get the kids involved and able to see what they did on a website so they could show their parents.
The Codeblue wiki showed some amazing creativity and writing skills for the students. Some groups had done an excellent job compiling information, but it appeared that some might have spent more time creating their persona that they lost sight of the project. Either that, or links to their work are missing- always a possibility if you forget to add a link!
I was curious about the chemistry wiki, since I also teach science. It looks like it has some considerable resources and work contributed by students, as well as useful course information for students (syllabus, notes, answer to problems). I found it difficult to navigate or figure out what was going on, though. To be useful, at least to someone not in the class that made the wiki, it needs some work to clarify what's available.
The wikis I looked at seemed to be most useful to those involved in creating them- it wasn't very clear what was happening or where to find things. But then, they weren't necessarily created to demonstrate to others what the assignment or project was for, like a lesson plan or lab instructions that might be found a web page. Of course, you wouldn't necessarily want to use a wiki, that could be edited, for lesson plans or lab instructions (unless it was protected).
Using a wiki as a means of collaboration, especially outside the classroom, could be very useful. I like the ideas for students to put together their own study guides, to get them involved in discussions about what's going on in class instead of just memorizing facts to get through the test. I would like to find out if pages could be protected from some users and not others so that a group can add to their page, but another group can't make any changes to it, to prevent sabotage. I started using a wiki with my astronomy classes, but since it was still new to me, I wasn't able to use it for much more than posting assignments. We had some issues with adding student users because students couldn't access their emails to activate their accounts, and a few students didn't have email addresses. I would like to find ways around that, as well. Can I add my students as users, assign passwords, and then they can change their passwords? More things to investigate...

Thing 6

I've heard of the social bookmarking sites, but haven't really had a chance to figure them out. It's a welcome opportunity to get started, though. I laughed when I read the part in the lesson about emailing links to yourself. I do that all the time!! To add links, for now, I just started down my favorites list- I hope to experiment with importing later. I ran into a few problems on sites that use frames; Diigo's drop down box was hidden and I couldn't figure out how to get it on top. I was able to find, though, how to add bookmarks on Diigo's site, so that worked. I like the box better, though, because it suggests tags I have used as I start to type, so I don't have to do it myself. Unfortunately, I misspelled one of my tags initially, so I've figured out how to edit that. Yeeha. I tried inviting some friends, but I'm not sure if it went through with the verification part, so I did it the old fashioned (?) way and added email addresses in an invitation.
Check out what I've started! (http://www.diigo.com/profile/ananshoes)
I hope to make appropriate links available to my students. Can the links be made available at different levels of privacy? Such as, my friends outside school could see everything, but my students would only see content related stuff? Have to check that out....
We have a lot of webquests in my Astronomy class, so this will be a useful way for students to find the assignments I have for them, plus a great way for them to add to it with sites they find, as well.

Thing 3

I had fun scrolling down the page and watching the number of new items change as they were marked read. I noticed one from Langwitches that was in Spanish (?)- had to go back to look at that one.
The snippet I found most interesting was from Free Tech 4 Teachers about Why? This was particularly interesting to me because my 4 year old is definitely at that stage, so much so that he will ask it automatically, now! I want to forward it to my husband- he's home with the kids, so he gets to hear the Why?s a lot.
If you're interested, check out why hippos don't get sunburned.

Thing 2

I have run across numerous blogs of various natures while searching for something online. One I read last year (I think) was someone’s journal of the move from Atlanta to rural West Virginia to homestead- raising all their own food. I can’t remember how I found that one, but I grew up in WZV and now live in GA, so it was fun to read. I have friends who have blogs about their families; I was downloading digital scrapbooking freebies the other day and found some of the designers are now including them on their blogs.
I haven’t really done much of my own blogging; I feel like I don’t have time with keeping up with my own family and my students and such, but I found some interesting examples while browsing those listed for us.
Some thoughts on two of them:
12. Why Can’t We Do This?
I don’t know if I like the idea of a tax on plastic bags- not because the government is telling us what to do, as one comment said, but because it could be a VERY expensive trip when I forget my reusable bags!
4. SP-817 Math Blog: Boeun's Scribe for December 4th
I love the idea of having a student write a review of what happened during the day in class. It’s a great resource for absentees or for students who want to refresh their memories of homework assignments. Plus, the scribe has a chance to put together some resource material for classmates, an invaluable experience for those who do the searching. We all know that teaching is the best way to learn! And, I’m assuming, the scribe chooses another student for the next day? Interesting idea…
I appreciated comments made by educators about learning and the profession, SSR online- cool idea, if you have enough computers in your room! I’m feeling inspired to incorporate blogging in my classes. I actually had started one last spring for my astronomy classes for us to communicate about our stargazing activities. Students were supposed to observe the sky for 15 minutes a week and write about what they saw, so I thought maybe starting a blog with my own observations would help inspire them to get out and look, and then we could develop a conversation about what we saw. We didn’t get far with it, but I’ll try again next time.

Thing 1-B

I was introduced to wikispace during my first semester at AHS. I had been out of the classroom for a year and a half; I had maintained a much used website for my students previously. In just that short break from teaching, Web 2.0 had changed… well, everything. The media specialist set up spaces for my astronomy classes and we used the sites frequently. I mostly used it to post guided web assignments with web addresses (so they wouldn’t have to worry about typos in the address bar!). We didn’t get very interactive with it, but it was an introduction for me. Most of my training encouraged teachers to guide students very carefully to the information they were to find, to prevent inappropriate websites from appearing. It makes me nervous to turn my students loose with a general assignment, but I had some success with one I tried last spring, so I’m feeling a little braver to let the students to the discovering.
In the past, I had students create a web page as a presentation method for a project in Ecology. Students usually enjoyed the project thoroughly and were glad to gain some experience in technology as well as learn about human impact on the environment. The web pages weren’t much more than a poster that had a web address, but, again, that was in the dark ages. I’m a bit intimidated by all the new tools at there, and daunted by things like computer accessibility for my classes and time teaching them how to use a tool (if they don’t know already). I am surprised how students can use technology all the time –iTunes, facebook, MySpace- and yet not be able to find a simple bit of information quickly. But if I can choose one or two ideas to use in the semester, or maybe add something new every unit or two, the task might not seem so daunting. I like to everything right now, so I get overwhelmed! I liked the idea about the team built study guides mentioned in Warlick’s article. I think developing a wikispace for each class will be a good place to start and, as I see what the students are comfortable with and able to do, and I can find a direction for our journey as we use these new tools.
I would like to use Web 2.0 tools because today’s students are accustomed to such dynamic interactions online. My students in the past generally appreciated the website I maintained, but it was very much a window shopping experience- get on, find the vocabulary words, find the notes, find the new project. With Web 2.0, we can communicate with each other- students can interact and help each other with their understanding of the course. I taught an online biology course and I’ve taken several online classes- it’s amazing how you really can connect with people you never see face to face. so the experience could really enhance what happens in the classroom, too. (Oh, and for what it’s worth, my husband and I met online- pre- eHarmony, at that! You should have heard what my students back then thought! :)

Thing 1-a

Hi! I teach science at AHS- Astronomy, Biology, and Anatomy & Physiology. I came to AHS in January 2008, so I have 13 1/2 years experience total. That half year just throws things off :)
I just finished renewing my certificate and thought this would be an excellent opportunity to build up PLUs for the next go-round. I took some time off to be with my children (hence the half year) and had a bit of a scramble to get my credits in on time. Hopefully, I'll do better this time.
I am hoping to expand my use of the web with my students through this class. I had a class website for years, but so much capability has developed, such as blogs and wikis, since I first started builing my site that I need to expand. I'd like to find some things to make my class site more usable for my students (plus, I'm transferring my site to my own domain name, so hopefully working on assignments for the course will encourage me to get my site going before August!).
Lori