Second Grade is Super!

week 9 thing 23 FIN!!

2009-04-30T20:53:00.000-07:00

Can it be true? Am I through?

I have had an awesome journey through web2.0. I have learned so much, I don't know where to start for a summary. My favorite would have to be the blogging and wiki. I also like the ZohoWriter. I hope to use all three of these to kick off next year. This summer I hope to get my classroom wiki and blog set up. I also plan to teach my grade level about zohoWriter and maybe use it to collaborate with them since we are spread out across the school. That would also be an idea for collaborating across the district with different projects and meetings.

I also plan to use The LibraryThing to catalog my classroom books. Who knows, maybe I will let my students help me out a little the last week or so of school.

I would definitely be interested in taking a sequel class to web2.0 in the future.

week 9 thing 22

2009-04-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

ebooks and audio books are very helpful for those reluctant readers or even for those who don't have time to sit and read a book. I sometimes try to find the stories we read in class on the storyline online. Just last week we read Officer Buckle and Gloria and watched the ebook of it online. I know Angleton public library has a collection of audio books available for its patrons.

I think that if we had access to online textbooks, it could alleviate the need for students to carry home heavy textbooks on a daily basis. The major downfall to this is that the majority of our students do not have internet access at home. Most of our Hispanic families do not even own a computer.

Week 9 thing 21

2009-04-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

I have been looking through some of the different podcast websites. The yahoo, What is a Podcast? does not come up. Podcast.net does not come up either.
I went to podcast alley and looked in the education section. They had a couple of interesting podcasts on chinese. My daughter Gloria wants to learn chinese, so maybe I can show her this website and she can pick up a phrase or two.

I can't say I am interested in listening to podcasts, although I did search several different topics to try and come up with a link I may be interested in having on the blog. I didn't find anything. I am a little disappointed. I even looked a little in the kids and family section.

I also looked at the educational podcast directory and found nothing of interest. I rarely listen to the radio even, unless I am in my car commuting to work. Even then my teens dominate the radio.

I like the idea of creating creating a podcast of a tour of the school with students as the announcers.

I must say, I am more willing to listen to a podcast if it has video with it. I guess I am much more visual learner. ???

Week 9 Thing 20 YouTube and TeacherTube

2009-04-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

TeacherTube is not altogether new to me. I had embedded a video from there earlier in our discoveries. I chose the video because it pertained to what we were learning. The videos made "In plain English" are very helpful for the visual and auditory learner.

I looked at a couple of videos about blogging and classroom wiki's. I haven't decided whether to go completely with the wiki or to create a classroom blog and feed it into a classroom wiki. I don't know how complicated that would become.
???? Any advice or suggestions?

week 8 thing 19 Library Thing

2009-04-28T09:33:00.000-07:00

I love it! I don't read much for pleasure, but I can see ending possibilities for student use. I would like to set a classroom page up and allow students to use it to put in book reviews and to see what others are saying about the stories they read.

I have so many classsroom books that having students enter them in and catalog them would be a great idea. I think this would also allow students to see exactly what I have in my library and encourage them to read more books.

Week 8 thing 18 AMAZED!

2009-04-27T20:03:00.001-07:00

4/7/2009

Wow! I can't wait to start using this program with my grade level team! The possibilities are endless and much better than storing your files on a personal computer. Each week we are responsible for producing a "Peek of the Week for our parent communications. We collaborate on what will be included in it. By using ZOHO writer, we can cut out the sending and receiving the edited versions of our work. Also, if I start on a project and are unable to finish, I can access the project from any computer with internet access and just pick up where I left off. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?

The only thing I am noticing is that as I am typing , the cursor is having trouble keeping up. I need to check and see if I can adjust that or something. But for the most part, this is an incredible tool!

thing 16 and 17

2009-04-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

After hours of discovering and searching for different ways educators are implementing wiki's into the classroom, I have found a very informative site. It has more than just info about wiki's, it has the national standards for integrating technology and a lot of suggestions of programs and ways to implement technology. I looked under the wiki menu and went to editor's pick.

http://schoolcomputing.wikia.com/wiki/Technology_in_2nd_Grade

Week 6 Thing 14 and15

2009-03-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

I have been taking this in small doses. I browsed around in Technorami and experimented with different tags. I also looked at the prospective future of library systems.

Out of the different places I explored, I got the most out of The Horizon Report: educational technology trends in higher education. The article is long but it discusses and explains what is forthcoming with Technology and Education. It mentioned the webcasting by use of youtube. It explained that the technology is readily available for the user at minimal cost. The simple fact that most cell phones have the capability to take pictures, record both audio and video and get internet access puts the technological advancements in high speed. The point was made in the article that something must be done to get educators up to speed with their students. This lack of training and sometimes willingness to learn is causing clashes and barriers in communication and learning between teachers and students.

I am glad I am taking this class. I hope to be able to utilize more of the "things to come" in technology. I do feel better informed about what is coming up in regards to technology and education, but I know I still have a long way to go at being on top of things in technology.

Week 5 thing 13 part 1

2009-02-16T17:03:00.000-08:00

I need to take this section in pieces and write notes on the interesting things I am finding. I revisited Technorati and looked over their tagging techniques. I also visited the LibraryThing. That is a neat place for those who read books and would like someone to share their reviews with. This could be an awesome place to use for student reviews of books. I could see implementing this into my classroom, even if as extra credit or in a station activity.

Thing 12: Rollyo

2009-02-08T20:05:00.000-08:00

This was a neat thing to investigate. It was fun. I could continue searching for hours. I put my rollyo on the blogsite, if anyone is interested in looking at it. It is called My Elementary Reading Help.
Enjoy.

Continuing things

2009-01-04T15:16:00.000-08:00

I did not feel complete after exploring things 8 and 9. So I have returned to them a bit. I went to Technorati and searched for information on technology in the classroom. I really want to learn more about creating classroom blogs and doing podcasts in the classroom. When I searched under these topics a few different places came up - several videos exlaining said topics which all seemed to come from YouTube. I am still very unsure about the RSS feeds and school classroom related blogs we were supposed to find,(since what came up from my search were video podcasts from YouTube) but the search and the videos were very resourceful. The videos were also featured on teachertube. Below is one particular video I thought others could benifit from.

Week 5 Thing 11

2008-12-29T15:57:00.000-08:00

I have been exploring the Web 2.0 awards lists. I went into the education awarded site and found there is a site that allows you to take lessons online for free to learn a new language. It was interesting. I wish I had time to do such a thing.

I also looked at the games sites that were listed. My kids enjoyed playing alien hangman with me. I also played a couple of other games.

They also had Del.icio.us listed as the top bookmarking and tagging site. I decided to wait to explore it as part of next weeks thing.

Week 5 thing 10

2008-12-28T16:16:00.000-08:00

I played around with the FD toys image generator and came up with this image. I have received this picture through email previously and it really was breathtaking for me. I hope you enjoy it as well.

2008-12-28T16:13:00.001-08:00

Week 4 thing 8 and 9

2008-12-28T15:50:00.000-08:00

Once again I have been looking at several different sights, trying to find something I might be interested in keeping up with. I have found nothing I would want to keep up with. This is a little too overwhelming for me. Maybe I will revisit it later. I must go on.

2008-12-24T10:22:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to figure out how to add a feed to my blog. I did something, I just don't know if it's what I was supposed to do. I signed up to google reader and added a few feeds to that, but I would like to have them fed into my blog.

I also added some games and other fun stuff onto the blog. I have been exploring the blog options. FUN!

Thing 6 Mashups

2008-12-23T10:16:00.000-08:00

Okay, I have been exploring flickr and other linked sites and am very overwhelmed. I did manage to create a mashup. I uploaded some pictures onto flickr and created a motivational poster. The girl in the poster is my oldest daughter Kayla.

I am still not real sure how to use and set up flickr, but I guess that will come with time. I would like to explore more of the mashups - like the one that allows you to create trading cards. This really is something that takes lots of time to discover. I did enjoy this thing.

Winter Break Challenge

2008-12-15T19:35:00.000-08:00

I found this website with lots of winter activities on it. I have began searching for sites and activities that do not specifically mention Christmas as a result of having students who do not celebrate Christmas in my classroom. I am constantly having to find alternate assignments for them. This is one resource that I found to be helpful. I hope it will be equally resourseful for you all. It also has a variety of other themed sections in it.

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/winter/

Thing 7:Technology Related Link

2008-12-14T18:57:00.001-08:00

I was searching on TeacherTube for something about technology. I found this video that explains "Blogging in Plain English". It was short and simple, yet very informative. I also looked at other "Plain English" videos.

Thing 5

2008-12-14T16:22:00.000-08:00

I have been exploring Flickr for about an hour. I found this picture of a snowman family found in Texas. Someone was being creative. Since our snow was pretty much gone by Thursday morning, my kids didn't get a chance to really enjoy it much. I spent Wednesday afternoon working in my room. My daughter Jennifer went out front of Rancho and played in the snow as it was coming down. By the time I got home, it was too dark to take many good pictures. I am still learning to use my camera effectively.

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=texas%20snowman%20family&w=all&s=int

Flickr seems endless; many of the pictures are great though.

Things 3 and 4

2008-12-07T13:07:00.000-08:00

After playing around with the Avatar, I finally decided on "my look". I had a bit of trouble getting the avatar onto the blog, but after using the tutorial, it went pretty smoothly. I also visited a couple of bloggs that were listed at the bottom of thing 4 page in the syllabus. I have been debating searching for a classroom penpal. I think I may have found an answer to my dilemna. I would like to create a classroom blog, allowing students to post entries along with pictures of Rancho happenings. I think this would be fun for the kids and make writing more authentic. I am excited!!
This may take me a little while to get it started, but maybe over the Christmas break I will have time to dedicate to creating it.

Thing 1 and 2

2008-11-30T20:57:00.000-08:00

Wow! It is now 11:15 and everyone is asleep, except me. I decided to begin my Web2.0 journey, before the start of the new school week. After watching the 7 1/2 pointers from lifelong learning, I have concluded that the easiest tip for me is #4 or maybe it's #3. I feel I am a pretty confident person. I enjoy learning new things and do not give up too easily. For example, this is my second attempt at posting this blog. I wrote it once and saved it, but I couldn't read it when I went to view the blog. I am hoping this attempt will be more successful. My most diffult tip to follow is # 7 1/2. I have four children at home: three girls and a boy ranging from 17 years old to 5 years old. I am constantly on the go and never seem to have enough time to finish things. One of my biggest goals is to find a way to make better use of my time and find time to laugh and play.