Thing 10

Creative Commons is very important for our profession. We create things daily that we share because we are educators and our job requires us to teach all and this happens through sharing. I have not created anything and placed a copyright on it because anyone should be able to benefit from educational ideas. I do find it interesting how easy it is to use many things posted in the world technology.

I have noticed CC on some of the videos I've seen and thought I understand how they would like for others to notice how it can be shared. Yes, I use video clips a lot with the little people because they can pay attention to clips easier than listening to me. I also use promethian lessons and powerpoints that were created by others for educators to use freely with students.

I feel as if all educators have rights to teaching materials that have been made public. Ideas are out once they have been shared with one student or one person. Then everyone has the right to use those ideas to help others learn.

To go right along with the above comments that makes me excited to see websites like the OER Commons. I like how educators can access websites like these and share ideas and help our kids be successful. I can not wait to play around some more with this site and find some new ideas for certain concepts that we teach in Kindergarten.

Thing 9

The wikispaces sandbox was a bit scary at first. I saw all of the directions and became overwhelemed so much so that it has taken me weeks to get back on and actually accomplish this task. I don't think my sandbox is cool...I just posted what the directions stated and I liked visiting the other sandboxes to see how creative fellow classmates are at this task. Like I stated earlier it was a bit overwhelming at first but now I think I can wiki developing a few skills here and there. I like how anyone can join that is accepted and edit the page.
It was neat to see how everyone could add websites or really anything to the wiki and this helps everyone by giving new ideas for us to use with our students. I really like the concept of the wiki and can't wait to become more comfortable so I can cvreate one for teachers at our school. My sandbox page is http://misd23sandbox.wikispaces.com/crazy. The process at first was making my head go crazy so hints the name.

Thing #8 Stretch Activity

I feel completly lost and confused on the wikipedia site. On the main page was a poem about Autumn and I clicked on the discussion tab and it just had links to other wikipedia news and references to the main page. Nothing related to the poem itself which is what I think I was supposed to be looking for through this activity.

Wikipedia has a ton of information and I feel a bit overwhelmed just by the thought of going back to look for anything. I looked at the history and clicked on a few that had current article and previous articles related. Just like I posted in the beggining of this responce I felt a little lost throughtout this process. I'm not sure what I'll be using the wikipedia for in the future but hopefully after I play around with it some more I won't feel so frustrated.

Thing #8

Wow who knew this world of wiki's would be such an amazing resource for teachers? I am intrigued by just the few that I visited from the list that we were given in this activity. I wish I had many more hours in the day to keep researching new wiki's and blogs. This can start to consume all of your not so extra time. It is very exciting but scary at the same time to look up and realize how much time you have spent reading and searching on the computer just for one topic.

I have been trying to figure out a time and way to incorporate the Kindergarten Counting wiki into my math centers. I think I can have a counting center and the numbers that are missing we ccould count out objects of that many and take a quick picture. Then when they rotate and go to computers we could load the picture and add to the wiki. The kids would enjoy this... the actual wiki did not have very much to it... it was very simple compared to the other I researched. Great for simplicity for the little ones not a lot to click on or distract them, however not a great one for adults to disscuss or find links on to other resources.  This wiki made me feel like I could create one similar and use it with the little people.

The next wiki that I visited was Salute to Suessand this one was a little overwhelming to a newbie. Tons of links, resources, disscussions, kids examples, dates as to which to skype and celebrate Dr. Suess. Great ideas and a very creative resource but maybe a bit much for someone like me just getting started. I do like how it was organized just tooo much information.

The last site I wanted to mention was primary math wiki. Great idea to help teachers post lessons and love the pictures and videos to show others how to do the lessons. This wiki has a lot of information but is easy to follow and I even find it welcoming to educators to post leesons on for all to enjoy. It is organized in a way where anyone can follow a long and not feel stressed trying to find a lesson.

I do feel like I could create a wiki for Kindergarten that students and techers could possibly use together. I have all of the ideas spinning in my head right now as to which one i would want to create first. I think we could easily do a themed writing one and it would even be easy for the parents to follow at home. The best part about it is it's free for all involved.

Thing #7

Commenting fortunately is easy for most educators. We typically have a comment for everything and have been trained over the years to make those comments positive and to the point. Which is very beneficial in commenting to blogs. Some people ramble on and on about a blog when they could have made their point in their first sentence. Luckily as a reader I can skim through those types of comments quickly and move on. I have also seen some where it is a great debate and the commenting posts are arguing with the original blog posts and those are very entertaining. I'm sure this is like a sport for some people they want to voice their oppinions and try to persuade others. Reading comments on some of the blogs are the most interesting part of the piece.

Thing #6

Wow this subscribing to blogs is so exciting. I love to travel and am now a member of many different blogs related to traveling. I've also joined a few that show educators experiences as they work in other countries. This is an amazing new adventure for me.  I love how I can read something of interest and if I  have a question post a comment and it is answered. I like how when I go to the reader it shows me all the content in bold which is definitely overwhelming but I'm adjusting. I'm spendng a lot more time reading off of the computer these days which is not the most relaxing read but I am now realizing how people can leave work and come home and spend hours on the computer. I don't watch television or typically spend much time with objects that use electricity at my home. However, since this new adventure I'm sure my electric bill will go up due to the endless hours of reading interesting posts. I'm not complaining it's just changing my world one blog at a time. I guess you could say I've lived in the dark ages at home until now. My favorite new link has to be http://www.fact-and-opinion.com/irelandtravel

thing 5

Adding the google reader has sent me a wealth of knowledge. I love to travel and was excited to see some travel information. However, some are not so positive about the times to travel due to recent terrorists attacks. This is a warning for people who intend on traveling to Europe.
Travelers are being told to not take tours or students should not plan on traveling to Europe during this time. Al Quadia people have been making threats and are targeting tourists amongst others. This is a great topic to research for your own safety before traveling. Unfortunately in todays times we have to worry about terrioism attacks and our safety while traveling.
 This article shows that and gives other links to help the people who want to visit Europe be more aware of the dangers and I'm sure a way of keeping them posted of when would be a better time to travel.
The link to this information is http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03security.html?partner=rss&emc=rss