Reflections

Wow where do I even begin, what a journey I have been on over the last few months. This  was reccomended by someone I met this summer at a staff development. She told me it was a great resource and everyone should take the class. It is a lot of work and hard to stay focused on one task at a time but well worth every minute. My internet went out at my house for 2 weeks in the process and I thought it was the end of the world I missed all these things like blogging that I had never done before. Thank you for bringing me out of the dark ages. I fill like I can not only carry on a conversation about technology but use resources in my classroom and even teach others. I have 2 friends tha have now started blogging and they love to check their google readers that I showed them how to set up. YEA ME!!! I can not thank you enough for allowing us to embark on this adventuer that will now be never ending. This class will keep going even after the deadlines. I have so many new ideas and I am very happy that I feel more comfortable with the internet world and have resources to help me continue to learn.

Thing 23

Classroom 2.0 has so many resources available for it's members. I could easily spend hours just under one topic. I used the videos and searched for videos on antibullying. Bullying is a big deal these days and I was lookig for anything that I could possibly use to help my students. I like all of the comments that can also be posted to go with the videos. I read the comments before I watched the videos. Most comments were positive and gave some great ideas as to how they might use the video in their classroom. I'm glad I watched the videos and did not just go by what was posted. I found  a few that I can use with my students next week for our teaming up against bullies week. I have writen this post twice now because I had a computer issue and it did not save so I'm having to go back and reread to see if I have really already typed this or if it was on my lost post. I definitely see the benefit in joining 2.0 for collaboration with educators who are using technology in their classrooms.

Twitter is also a great site for collaboration but just like I posted in my last blog I cannot join something else that I want to check continuously. Unless, I just make it for work and do not allow friends or family onto this site. Educators would hopefully limit the amount of sharing on my twit. I think you could do a school twitter and keep up wth meetings and things happening in your school and the lives of the people you work with if you are a close campus and interested in the lives of the people you work with on a daily basis.

Thing 22

I already had a facebook account and probably spend more time than I should checking out what people are doing on a daily basis. It is important for educators to share ideas and to see what is going on around us through these social sites and also to see what is out there for our kids. So we can know what they are doing and interests they may have. I did not create a myspace account I have never had one and honestly think I cannot handle another site that I feel compelled to check on a daily basis. I like the sharing and seeing others pictures but I think people need to be really careful as to what they post because it is writen documentation that could be held against you in a court of law. Myspace and facebook really seem the same to me form looking at other peoples sites. I just stick with the one because I already have it and again think I should just focus on one instead of 2. I am more familliar with facebook and I think it has a lot of graet features. I can see how educators can keep in contact with each other and send messages like email but in a different fashion that will probably be checked more frequently than an email because everyone checks facebook.
My profile is under my name on facebook.

Thing 21

Google has so many resources available for so many different aspects of our lives. I explored google sketchup and google sites. I think google sketchup would be a fun place to play around but I'm not sure how I would use it for my everyday life or in my classroom. I sould possibly use other peoples creations of areas to show my students what downtown dallas looks like but that would be about the limit of how I could see myself using google sketchup.

Google sites would be another resource like google docs that I could definitely see myself getting a lot of use out of for school and home. Again, if I could get my family onboard with a google site we could keep up with each others lives better and stay in contact and know what is going on and when. I could also see this as a great way to keep classroom parents informes. we could post our school newsletters, PTA newsletters, and classroom newsletters and save paper. I can only imagine the amount of paper that is wasted due to newsletters taht are possibly just thrown away. I think parents who would want to stay up on school news would definitely be excited to see an internet friendly way of sharing and conserving resources.

Thing 20

Woohoo something I was a little familiar with before this class. Google docs have become an everyday part of my life over the last few months. Our principal loves google doc so we have to send questionaires and responses all the time. She had us take a quick class to make everyone familiar with the application so we could use it school wide for our newsletter and calendar.

I like how you can send it to anyone and you get the responses. It is an awesome application and easy to use just has all the bells and whistles with spreadsheets, powerpoints, word documents and you can easily share and get feedback. I have easily downloaded party letters to parents and sent them to the new room mom to view and make changes. This is so much better than just emailing a document and then making changes and sending it back.

I like the background options and it's easy to post a whole school document questionaire. We had one last week about buncco. We have also used this to find out who wants to participate in a Christmas party for the staff.

I use it with my teammates, parents, and would love to use it with my family if I could get them all on board with filling out the calendar we would never miss another birthday or family function cause everyone would have a live calendar when they clicked on it to check it out. This could save so many family fueds!!!

Google docs rock!!!

Thing 19

I've never heard of voicethreads until now and I can see how this can be used in educaton. I really enjoyed the first grade book that was done for the alphabet. What a great way to get the kids involved with the writing and recording their voices which means that had to read. I could see doing the same thing with my kindergarten students. We publish a class book every year and this way we could have our own little voices to go along with it and the parents would treasure this forever.
As educators, we could teach a concept and use videothreads to teach our students but one person does not have to do all the talking and kids would like it cause its a voice change.  Kids love to hear voices and I think would really enjoy using voicethreads to help others learn or to learn themselves.
Very interesting concept that I will have to explore some more so i can use this in my classroom.

Thing 18

YouTube is not a new resource for me. I've been sent numerous emails with videos or logged onto facebook to see videos that others have posted to their page. I have seen many how to videos related to technology, teaching, and home improvement. I will try almost any type of repair as long as I do not have to pay someone to come out and fix something of mine and there are many helpful videos that I have used.
I am new to TeacherTube, I am very excited to learn about this resource. I just spent a few hours researching and watching videos on teachertube. Educators truly amaze me at the things they will post to help others. It is greatness, I appreciate their bravery and abilities. One of the videos that I found very interesting for my age group was MORE Kindergarten Power Teaching with NEW PHONICS RAP!. This teacher has her kids using gestures to learn and this is a great tool. I love how they have memorized and practiced the rules. They all interact very well with her and each other. I am interested in her methods of power teaching and ready to do some more research to find out other strategies that are used in this type of classroom environment.
I can most definitely see myself using teachertube with my students. The resources are amazing and video clips are a great attention getter for all ages.