Thing 23

Wow! I am excited about all the new things I have learned. I am amazed that I actually write and post my thoughts for others to learn. I am entering a whole new era in my teaching profession, new school, new grade level, new tools, new knowledge! I hope to actually use my web page. I would like to model writing to my class by creating a blog for them to read. By creating podcasts on my webpage I will be able to give more information to parents who view it. I am excited about letting my students create podcasts of their writing. I hope to show some online videos to my class to enhance lessons. I am sure that I will think of many more ways to use the things I have learned once I get starte.

Thing 22

Professional development on line is nice because you can complete classes in your own home any time. I can see myself using online classes because of the convenience of them. Moving to a new grade level I will be looking for professional development in reading and writing at an intermediate grade level as opposed to primary.
This class has opened my eyes to a whole new way to use the web, powerful.

Thing 21

Using video in my classroom can be a great way to enhance lessons. I will be able to use the computer more in my classroom because we just had document cameras installed. Finding appropriate video may take some time but it should be worth it. I am not sure which sites are blocked in my school because I am just starting there.

thing 21

Zero Gravity Training

thing 21

Rent A Goat

Thing 20

I think that my students would love listening to podcasts. I could leave messages on my website for students and parents. My students would love to create their own podcasts. Creating a podcast of their writing or journals would be great motivation. I could also leave directions for homework so that parents and children could listen from home. I can use the podcasts of the Dog Whisperer in my personal life. I will also be looking for more professional development using podcasts.

Thing 20

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Thing 19

I listened to Audible Kids, 10 Podcasts for Teacher's and Kids, National Geographic, and several others. I think that downloading podcasts of stories onto ipods would be a great alternative to using books on tape in the classroom.
I would have a problem using podcasts in my classroom right now because I do not have any speakers on my computer. I guess I better get on that!
I think that podcasts would be a great new teaching tool there is so much out there on the web for our students.

Thing 18

Thing 17

Wow, so that is what a wiki is! My sister was talking about a 2nd grade teacher at her school having her students use wikis to work on teams for reports. I didn't really understand what she was talking about because I had never heard of them before.

Wikis are different from blogs because anyone can edit the content. I can see how this could be useful in so many ways. I love the idea of teachers using wikis to work together on planning or research projects. The most difficult thing about working with other teachers is finding common time to actually get together, what a difference the use of wikis would make!

I would like to use the wiki that I created for my class and their parents. My original thoughts were to have a pages that I would post information on and to have pages that students could create. I would also like to have a parent to parent page. I first thought that I would be able to lock some pages so that only I could edit them and then have pages that students could be able to join and then different pages that parents would join. I now see that I need to purchase a membership to be able to do that. I think I will need to check into this a little more before I continue with my original idea. I think for now I will use it like a web page for class information and as time goes on and I do a little research on this, I will try to let it evolve into more of an interactive project.

Thing 13

I think students might enjoy editing photos for projects in creative ways. I will have to spend more time playing with these sites to really use them with my students. I can see myself using these editing sites in my personal life to edit photos and create gifts for people. I am learning about so many new things my head is spinning.

Tessa's Birthday

Tessa's Birthday, originally uploaded by tbar

dumpr.net

Thing 12

I really enjoyed exploring flicker. I think that flicker is a great way to store and share photos with family and friends. It takes so long to upload pictures to email and then you can only include a few, so I don't share as many as a would like. I also think that flicker will be a great way for me to share class photos with parents. Perhaps my students will enjoy creating a class photo album! I will be spending much more time exploring flicker and thinking about the ways I will be using it with my students.

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing public photos and videos from tbar1. Make your own badge here.

Thing 11- Thoughts about Slide Share...

So this is how people post all of those little slide shows or movies... ahhh...

Posting slide shows or videos is a great way to enhance a lesson. Students might enjoy using Slide Share to post and share their own projects or presentations. What an easy way to share classroom happenings with parents. The issue of privacy would need to be dealt with carefully. Privacy and safety of things students post on the web is an important lesson that our students need to learn anyway. My mind is just whirling with all of these new ideas....exciting!

Slide Share Post

Amazing Animal Camouflage

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Thing 10

I am shocked at how much there is on Google Docs. I was surprised at how easy it was to use. I can see myself using Google Docs in my personal life as well as my professional life. Google Docs would have helped so much in the past. It would help to avoid problems with attaching documents to emails. In the past I have composed documents at home, sent them to coworkers, only to find out the next day that they could not open the document or it was not attached. If we needed them that day we would have to scramble to rewrite them. Parent or student surveys would be so much easier to create and conduct. Often they are not returned to school for one reason or another Google Docs would cut down on that problem. I am excited about being able to work on documents with other teachers via Google Docs. Wow, we could cut down on editing, that's for sure. The possibilities are endless.

Thing 8

Social bookmarking, wow!! I can see myself using this in so many ways. I can't tell you how many times I have been working on lesson plans, found ideas on the web and then try to find them in my classroom and can't. I then waste time searching for them again. Delicious will certainly help put a stop to that!

When looking for information, weeding out bad sites takes so much time. Using tabs to see what others have bookmarked could help with that. If someone else has already bookmarked it there is a better chance that it is useful.

I can't believe that I can use a computer anywhere and sing into delicious and bingo... there are my bookmarks! My 24 year old daughter who thinks that I live under a rock didn't even know about this. I can't wait to call her twin brother when he gets out of work and see if I can teach him something new, and to think I thought those days were gone forever!

thing 5

Wow!!!!!! I feel like I am starting to understand some of the things that my sister (a 5th and 6th grade science teacher) and 24 year old children talk about. Soon my daughter might start to ask me if I am coming out from under the rock that I have been living under.

I will be moving from teaching preschool to 3rd grade this fall so the things that I am learning about are taking on a whole new meaning to me. I am excited about finding ways to use them with my class. I can see how they would be great tools for communicating with parents and keeping them informed of what their children are learning in school. I think that getting students involved in projects using wikis would be exciting and motivating for them.

I come from a large family and we live in many different states. I see how easily these things will make it easy for me to keep in touch with them.

I often use Craig's List, ebay and Amazon and we rely heavily on comments by consumers but we never leave reviews or comments. I think after this class I will be more willing to offer input. I also have a few blogs that I lurk on and now I think I will join and participate with those also!

thing 4

Thinking back on my early school memories truly illustrates how much schools have changed. I remember sitting in straight rows raising my hand to talk and sitting very still. I remember watching the clock and wishing the hands would move faster so that I didn't have to sit any longer. I wonder how I ever learned to read or write because most of my energy must of went into staying still and not talking.

I think back to my first classroom and trying so hard to use cooperative learning and hands on activities so that my students would be able to learn and enjoy school. I remember when we got our first computer in the classroom and how scared I was because I had no idea how to use it let alone how to use it with my students! I remember when my school first installed groups of computers in our classrooms with internet access and sent us for training and I didn't even understand what the internet was!

Thing 3

Never having created a blog before I have no idea what I am doing! I hope that by the end of this class I have a better understanding of how this works and feel more comfortable creating a blog!

23 Things Class Welcome To My Blog...

Hello Everyone,
This class might very well drive myself, my husband and my daughter crazy!!! I am going to try my best to learn a lot of new things that I will be able to use professionally and in my personal life. My ultimate goal would be to impress my daughter who often asks me if I live under a rock.