There is not enough that I can say about Facebook. I have been a member a long time. I have almost 600 friends. I usually spend at least 30 minutes a night on Facebook. Some of my favorite activities is to play Vampire Wars and Treasure Isle. I also play some other mindless games but who's counting. The app is even on my blackberry. I love keeping up with old and new friends (specially the real ones). I also like to "Facebook Stalk" friends and see what they are up to. But it is all good, because I also comment on their posts.
Final Thoughts:
1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I really enjoyed the whole bloging experience. Some of my favorite activities included the image generators, the productivity tools, web 2.0 tools and youtube. I have learned a lot by exploring these and the other activities. I know I will definately continue to use bloging personally and professionally.
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
Like I stated earlier, I really enjoyed these bloging exercises. I created a personal blog about my weight loss journey on the advice of some of my friends. I have also put into play that at the start of the school year I will have students blog their thoughts and some of their assignments for class. I am hoping that my other teaching half will also join me on th jouney.
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I learned a great deal from reading other peoples blogs and learning from their suggestions in the comment section. I hope I helped others also. I do know that I will not use bloglines again. Hailey gave me a suggestion on using a different app and I am planning on looking into that one.
4. What could I do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
For the most part, everything was great. But some of the links did not work (especially for Thing 6) and that got me very frustrated and shut me down.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Thing 15.5: Twitter
I started Twitter personally a while a go and didn't really care for it since I was always on Facebook. So when working on this assignment, I couldn't remember what my screen name was or what email I used so I started with a new one...
My screen name is djdeerfield73.
I started following these professional tweets:
Discovery News
Discovery Space
Discovery Earth
Discovery Ed
JASON Project
PLTWinc
Science Channel
Discovery
And of course Neal Shusterman
I am happy that I am following the above tweets. I will have to play more to get more used to it. I will also have to reload it onto my phone...
My screen name is djdeerfield73.
I started following these professional tweets:
Discovery News
Discovery Space
Discovery Earth
Discovery Ed
JASON Project
PLTWinc
Science Channel
Discovery
And of course Neal Shusterman
I am happy that I am following the above tweets. I will have to play more to get more used to it. I will also have to reload it onto my phone...
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Thing 15: Skype
I was first introduced to Skype a couple of years ago when I took a two week training on Distance Learning. I have had an account ever since. I use Skype for when I am involved with video conferencing but have not used it personally. I know that my grandmother is on Skype and calls my sister all the time. I have yet to tell her that I also have an account. Talking to her on the phone is just fine. lol.
I found Skype to be an excellent resource for broadening our students’ minds. It also teaches them about life in other regions or other countries. I know that our social studies and ELA departments use Distance Learning for these reasons. This technology also allows teachers and students the avaibility to contact and communicat with schools and individuals all over the world. I do know that our ELA department at the end of each year hosts a Poety Slam. This Poety Slam involves all the students from all over our district. They write an orignial poem and then complete with other schools through skyping and distance learning. It is a big production and the kids have a blast.
Here are also some other examples of different Skype projects that can be implemented in school:
Foreign language classes talking with students in other countries
Science classes discussing research with a scientist
Literature classes discussing a book directly with the author
Art classes “visiting” a gallery
History classes in different schools comparing historical events in their home states
Two schools playing an educational game
Teacher professional development seminar
Music classes “meeting” a particular artist, composer, or conductor
Health classes debating or discussing issues with students in a different part of the country
Virtual book clubs
I found Skype to be an excellent resource for broadening our students’ minds. It also teaches them about life in other regions or other countries. I know that our social studies and ELA departments use Distance Learning for these reasons. This technology also allows teachers and students the avaibility to contact and communicat with schools and individuals all over the world. I do know that our ELA department at the end of each year hosts a Poety Slam. This Poety Slam involves all the students from all over our district. They write an orignial poem and then complete with other schools through skyping and distance learning. It is a big production and the kids have a blast.
Here are also some other examples of different Skype projects that can be implemented in school:
Foreign language classes talking with students in other countries
Science classes discussing research with a scientist
Literature classes discussing a book directly with the author
Art classes “visiting” a gallery
History classes in different schools comparing historical events in their home states
Two schools playing an educational game
Teacher professional development seminar
Music classes “meeting” a particular artist, composer, or conductor
Health classes debating or discussing issues with students in a different part of the country
Virtual book clubs
Thing 14: Podcasting
Podcasting was interesting. I have never really searched for podcasts before. So spending some time and really looking at it did some good. The one I liked the best was from NSTA (the National Science Teachers Association). I am a part of this organization and I never new about this podcast. The podcast is called Lab Out Loud. It is hosted by two science teachers, the episodes discusse science news and science education by interviewing leading scientists, researchers, science writers and other important figures in the field. It is a bi-monthly podcast and you can get the last four seasons of the podcasts. I will definately look for more that I can use in my classroom and for me personally.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Thing 13: Using youtube
Here is my uploaded video that I wanted to share.
I see many advantages to having these videos in class. There is so much out there and I am not very inventive when it comes to creative projects. I love that people share their ideas and let others be able to use them. I am very leary when putting student work on line. I would probably use gaggle to show off student work more then youtube or teachertube.
I see many advantages to having these videos in class. There is so much out there and I am not very inventive when it comes to creative projects. I love that people share their ideas and let others be able to use them. I am very leary when putting student work on line. I would probably use gaggle to show off student work more then youtube or teachertube.
Thing 12: Discovering youtube
I have used youtube more for personal life then professional one but have really never looked around except for what I was specifically searching for. This exercise gave me the opportunity to slow down and explore. I have never hit the Browse button before and realized with you can search through categories. There is even a most viewed today section. There are not only videos but music, shows, and trailers. I didn't know you can even buy downloads of movies off of youtube. Very interesting...
Unfortunately, at school, our district has blocked the use of youtube and teachertube. You can get on a type of teachertube from our gaggle accounts. But still many videos are blocked. Specially science ones. When I have looked on teachertube at home and find something useful, I will usually download the video and bring it to school.
Here is a video that I found off of youtube. It is not an educational one, but Rick and I love Craig Ferguson and watch the Late Late Show all the time. It is a topic of conversation even day about what Craig said or who he had on the night before. This is one of my favorite introductions that Craig has done... not just because he has a shark in it. lol. He is lip syncing to "Say Hey (I love you)" by Michael Franti & Spearhead, surrounded by a fleet of his puppets. This was an intro from about a year ago. He now has Geof his skeleton robot sidekick that helps him with his intros. Sometimes the bunny puppet shows his face. Hope you enjoy.
Unfortunately, at school, our district has blocked the use of youtube and teachertube. You can get on a type of teachertube from our gaggle accounts. But still many videos are blocked. Specially science ones. When I have looked on teachertube at home and find something useful, I will usually download the video and bring it to school.
Here is a video that I found off of youtube. It is not an educational one, but Rick and I love Craig Ferguson and watch the Late Late Show all the time. It is a topic of conversation even day about what Craig said or who he had on the night before. This is one of my favorite introductions that Craig has done... not just because he has a shark in it. lol. He is lip syncing to "Say Hey (I love you)" by Michael Franti & Spearhead, surrounded by a fleet of his puppets. This was an intro from about a year ago. He now has Geof his skeleton robot sidekick that helps him with his intros. Sometimes the bunny puppet shows his face. Hope you enjoy.
Thing 11: Web 2.0
I love Web 2.0 items. I just didn't realize how many there are...
The first Web 2.0 site that I explored was Im Cooked. My boyfriend calls me a "foodie". I love to cook and I constantly have the food network on. I also have http://www.foodnetwork.com/ on my favorites and use it all the time. So when I was looking at the list and saw a food section I imediately went to that section. Im Cooked was so awesome. There were thousands of videos of recipies. I looked up about twenty different topics and there were videos for everything that I searched for. That was a huge plus. You can also down load your own videos that you create when cooking. I am so not ready for that (the videoing me while cooking part). lol. The Channels section had 28 different topics that you can search by. It was very easy to navigate around and find exactly what you are looking for. The group tabs had different blogs that you could join for cooking support, etc. Now, I can see this tool being used in a life management class. Unfortunately, due to budget cuts our school no longer has this class. But I do know that I will be using this Web 2.0 application for my personal use. In fact found a couple of dishes that I want to try.
The second web 2.0 tool that I explored was called Masher. It lets one create a mashup with video clips, music tracks and photos. There is a section to store and share the mashups that you have created. In the studio section is where you work your magic. This is were you create your mashup. There are several options to choice from, such as:
1. Uploading your own videos, photes and music
2. Get videos from their libraries that include BBC videos, RipCurl, Urvan Freestyler, and BlockColour Screens.
3. There are several music categories in their files, even TV and Themes category.
4. There are Text Options and many effects such as really cool moving rain, stars, hearts, etc.
5. Lastly, there are all types of skins.
It's almost designed like movie maker in that it has timelines, but each section has it's own timeline to look at.
In the Gallery section you can see hundreds of other people's mashups. There are even featured mashup sections.
I think this would be a really cool web 2.0 tool to use with my students. This could range from all different topics. Maybe even an end of the year project where different groups create a mashup for each topic that we have discussed throughout the year for review and for students in the coming up years.
The first Web 2.0 site that I explored was Im Cooked. My boyfriend calls me a "foodie". I love to cook and I constantly have the food network on. I also have http://www.foodnetwork.com/ on my favorites and use it all the time. So when I was looking at the list and saw a food section I imediately went to that section. Im Cooked was so awesome. There were thousands of videos of recipies. I looked up about twenty different topics and there were videos for everything that I searched for. That was a huge plus. You can also down load your own videos that you create when cooking. I am so not ready for that (the videoing me while cooking part). lol. The Channels section had 28 different topics that you can search by. It was very easy to navigate around and find exactly what you are looking for. The group tabs had different blogs that you could join for cooking support, etc. Now, I can see this tool being used in a life management class. Unfortunately, due to budget cuts our school no longer has this class. But I do know that I will be using this Web 2.0 application for my personal use. In fact found a couple of dishes that I want to try.
The second web 2.0 tool that I explored was called Masher. It lets one create a mashup with video clips, music tracks and photos. There is a section to store and share the mashups that you have created. In the studio section is where you work your magic. This is were you create your mashup. There are several options to choice from, such as:
1. Uploading your own videos, photes and music
2. Get videos from their libraries that include BBC videos, RipCurl, Urvan Freestyler, and BlockColour Screens.
3. There are several music categories in their files, even TV and Themes category.
4. There are Text Options and many effects such as really cool moving rain, stars, hearts, etc.
5. Lastly, there are all types of skins.
It's almost designed like movie maker in that it has timelines, but each section has it's own timeline to look at.
In the Gallery section you can see hundreds of other people's mashups. There are even featured mashup sections.
I think this would be a really cool web 2.0 tool to use with my students. This could range from all different topics. Maybe even an end of the year project where different groups create a mashup for each topic that we have discussed throughout the year for review and for students in the coming up years.
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