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.