Thursday, June 16, 2011

Thing 16: Facebook and Final Thoughts

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.

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... 

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

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. 

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.


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.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Thing 10: Online Productivity Tools

Ok, so I have to admit... I only joined google docs last week on the advice of you all and I am really using it.  I even uploaded my music video to my google docs account.  So I still have a lot to learn while using these productivity tools.  In fact, it was so interesting while we were working on our group video about multimedia and each of us had our shared document out and we were all typing on it and it was just coming to us.  I spent most of my time just thinking this is so cool, why haven't I used this before.  Specially when we are planning lessons and not together.  I am so bringing this to my science team.

So I made an account on ZOHO Writer.  It lookes a lot like google docs and I will have to play with both sites much more to see which one I like better.  I typed out a list of several different science quotes that I could use in the classroom. I even posted the list into my blog.  It is called Science Quotes.

I found it interesting that you can upload your documents from google docs into ZOHO. 

Science quotes

Science is organized knowledge.

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) English philosopher. Education.

Science is the systematic classification of experience.

George Henry Lewes (1817-78) English writer and critic.

Science is simply common sense at its best that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-95) English biologist.

[Science is] a great game. It is inspiring and refreshing. The playing field is the universe itself.

Isidor Isaac Rabi (1898-1988) U. S. physicist. Nobel prize 1944.

The hypotheses we accept ought to explain phenomena which we have observed. But they ought to do more than this: our hypotheses ought to foretell phenomena which have not yet been observed.

William Whewell (1794-1866) English mathematician, philosopher.

We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that we know so much, and still more astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English philosopher, mathematician.

Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.

Albert Szent-Györgi (1893-1986) U. S. biochemist.

Theory guides. Experiment decides.

An old saying in science, seen attributed to many different persons.

You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Italian physicist and astronomer.

Happy is he who gets to know the reasons for things.

Virgil (70-19 BCE) Roman poet.

The joy of discovery is certainly the liveliest that the mind of man can ever feel.

Claude Bernard (1813-78) French physiologist.

Only one thing is certain--that is, nothing is certain. If this statement is true, it is also false.

Ancient paradox

The gods did not reveal from the beginning
All things to us; but in the course of time
Through seeking, men found that which is better.

But as for certain truth, no man has known it,
Nor will he know it; neither of the gods,
Nor yet of all the things of which I speak.
And even if by chance he were to utter
The final truth, he would himself not know it;
For all is but a woven web of guesses.

Xenophanes (c. 570-c. 480 BCE) Greek philosopher.

The strongest arguments prove nothing so long as the conclusions are not verified by experience. Experimental science is the queen of sciences and the goal of all speculation.

Roger Bacon (1214?-1294?) English philosopher, scientist.

Every experiment proves something. If it doesn't prove what you wanted it to prove, it proves something else.

Prof. Anon

Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.  ~Edwin Powell Hubble, The Nature of Science, 1954

 

Thing 9: Playing with Wiki's

This exercise was easy.  I logged in as donnajean73 and at the end of the wiki I added my two cents in about using writers and digital cameras in the science classroom along with blogging.  Once I get a little more practice with wiki's I would like to see if I could start one on our students gaggle accounts.  If not I would use another save site.  I would like to start a wiki that will help our students better find their way around while researching different topics.  Students can also use the wiki to help eachother out and communicate better so everyone can be better prepared for research.  Personally, I would like to join some wiki's about weight loss and crafts; two things that are very important in my life when not at school.

Thing 8: Wiki's

The easiest way to describe what a Wikis is...  It is a quick-to-build, easy-to-edit website on which all information can be edited, changed, or rewritten by the users or members of the site. It is an incredibly useful tool for collaborative writing, pooling knowledge or exchanging ideas, especially on a subject that changes or needs updating frequently.

There are many uses for wiki's... conference planning, collaboratve editing of documents, Meetings, project space, in place of structured courseware, presentation medium, web-based notebook to organizer your thoughts...

Before this exercise I was not really informed about what really a wiki was.  I knew about wikipedia and fought a battle with students using the information in their research papers.  So needless to say I was not impressed.  But after realizing what a wiki was I am changing my mind.  I really liked how you can have all your information available for you in one area.  I liked the book lovers wiki.  I spent most of my time looking at all the different reviews of books.  I even called a good friend who is a libriarian to tell him about the new find and he told me he was already a member of the wiki.  I also spent some time on some of the teacher wiki's.

I would like to find a specific wiki for middle school science teachers so we can share our resources and experiences.

I would also like to explore if we can use the students gaggle accounts to create wiki's for them so they can have a more structured atmosphere to conduct research.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Things 7: Image Generators

The first generator I played with wordle.net.  I like wordle and have used it before.  The students really enjoy using wordle to create posters.  I would use wordle for students to create vocabulary lists and definition posters to put up in the classroom and out in the hallways.  Next year I really want to focus on our students vocabulary skills and building their science vocabulary knowledge.  Each unit I would like to have students create different wordles to help them understand and use science vocabulary words effectively.  I would also like to create a class vocabulary book for each unit with different wordles in it. 
Here is an example of a wordle about Newton's Three Laws:

 I never really played with Voki before, I have seen it done and was told about it but never made it a point to really play with it until this weekend.  It was interesting and fun to play around with all the different avitars that you can make.  I wish I had a microphone at home, I would have really had fun with my shark (of course my avitar is a shark, what else would you expect).  I would like to use voki's with my students so they can create stories about different science concepts and we could post them up in their blogs.  We could also have students create treasure hunts with the voki's they have created. 

Thing 6: Bloglines

To be honest with this exercise... I was not very impressed.  I spent a lot of time playing around and trying to find blogs that I was interested in following.  It was time consuming and in the end not fun...  I even had two other people (one librarian and one businessman) use this website and they became frustrated as well.

I did find the following blogs that I set up to follow:
Steve Spangle's Blog
Learning 2.0 Blog feed (from Dr. Wilson's suggestions)
The Art of Teaching Science
Science Fix
Houston Chronicle News Feed
This Week In Education
Teachers Teaching Teachers
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day
Science Blogs/Education
Feed Reader Science

I am so FRUSTRATED with this application.  I can not figure out how to do a public page.  I only have a private one.  I have gone to the help section and I have done everything but erase my profile and start over...
This is what the help section told me to do; the problem was couldn't find the link.  Personally, I prefer to never go to this site again...

How do I activate my Public Page?

 at this point I am done with this blog...
  • Click on “Create my Public Page” at the top left of your Private Page.
  • Follow the wizard prompts
  • Select a Public name
  • Finish
  • Your public page has been created at http://www.bloglines.com/public/xyz
  • Click “Go to my public page” to edit your public page” message will then appear.
  • "Create my Public Page” should now read as “Go to my Public Page”

Thing 5: Mashups

To be honest, I never heard of mashups before exploring this activity.  But as I was exploring, I have been using "mashups" for a while not just not realizing those applications where called mashups. 

My obviously favorite mashup is from http://www.bighugelabs.com/.  I have been using this site for years.  I started using this application for just myself and teacher lead activities.  I then took it out to the students and had them create their own trading cards.  They are also created their own movie posters and other activities from that site.

Here is a trading card that I made just playing around this morning. 

Thing 4: Exploring Flicker

Here is a link to a picture of the Ferocious Great White Shark.
This photo was an amazing picture of a Great White shark breaching out of the water.  The big fish was showing off it's rows and rows of massively strong teeth.  You can just imagine it's amazing strength and power in his body and jaws.  Sharks have fasinated me my whole life.  I think my fasination about sharks started when I was three years old and I kept asking my parents to take me to the place with all the TVs.  They could not understand where I was wanting to go.  This went on for two or three months of me pestering them about going to the TV place.  Finally, one evening the TV was on and a commercial came on about visiting the Shed Aquarium.  I got up and screamed the place with all the TVs and the fish...  They then took me to the aqurium and they told me that I would not leave the shark exibit to save my life.  As I grew up, I continued exploring sharks and their behavior.  My favorite week of the year is Shark Week on Discovery Channel. 

Sharks are at the top of the food chain.  They have lived for millions of years with very little adaptations.    They have been on Earth well before the dinosaurs and have thrived.  They are also very mysterious since we know very little about them, especially Great White Sharks.  We have never seen them mate or give birth.  They travel alone and rule the sea. When confronted by people that don't understand the beauty of sharks, I just remind them first that humans mercilessly kill millions of more sharks then sharks attack humans.  Secondly, when we go into the water we need to realize that we are no longer in our element.  Sharks explore things in the water by tasting.  If we look like food they are going to explore, once they realize that we are not food they usually go away.  Besides how many people love lions (for example)...  Would you ever go into a lions den and expect not to get attacked? 

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the picture.  :)

Thing 3: Pictures and Images

 This is Orion, he is new to the Deerfield household.  After Liz passed in January, Pandora was so lonely that the vet called me and told me about Orion.  Since he has joined the home they have been two peas in a pod.
This is Pandora.  She is a Rat Terrior and 7 years old.  Her favorite thing is to cuddle up in one of my afghans that I have made.  This one is always her first choice.  She and Orion are lights of my life.  They are my children and they are extremely spoiled.  Lol. 

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Thing 2: Setting up my Blog

I was really nervous setting up my blog.  I don't really know why I was since I have been blogging on gaggle at school a couple of times with my students, but I guess this one was omg, have to put this one out there in the real world.  LOL. 

After going through blogger and the instructions, it was very easy.  Much easier than I first thought it would be.  I even put up a picture.  I am excited to figure out how to invite everyone and comment on eachother's blogs.  I also figured out how to use google docs for the first time and upload a file into my blog. 

I think after this summer I will be even more confident in using the blog from gaggle with my students even more throughout the school year.  Since we got 21 writers for the science room and not allowed to make as many copies on the copier machine, I am looking into putting the science lab reports on blogs for the students to share and comment on.

Thing 1: Lifelong Learning

After watching the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, I thought about which points were easiest for me and which one's were the more difficult and why.
Let's start with the easier points:
1.  Begin with the end in mind.  This point is very easy for me.  I was taught at a very early age to visualize my goal before even beginning the task.  This has translated into my teaching profession since we are to look at what we want our students to accomplish before we look at each individual task. 
2.  Accept responsibility for your own learning.  This point is also easy.  I consider myself very vocal and productive in every activity that I am involved in.  I also consider myself as a very active participant in my own learning.  I am very proud at what I succeed at and I let it be known.
5.  Create yourown learning toolbox.  I am always looking for new items to go into my toolbox.  I am a collector of everything.  I am always looking for new and inventive ways to help my students achieve their goals and gain knowledge.
7.  Teach and mentor others.  I am very active in sharing what knowledge I gain and I love to hear from others about what they know.
7.5.  Play!  Really, does any one have trouble with this point.

The habits that are hard for me are the following.
3.  View problems as challenges.  I sometimes get down on myself when a new situation arises.  It takes me a while before I see the problem as a challenge that I can overcome.  I do eventually come to that point but I need to digest the new information first.
4.  Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner.  I think this goes hand in hand with the third point.  Again, once I get started I become more confident with myself.  But at the begining of a new challenge I sometimes lack the confidence until I see some results.
6.  Use technology to your advanage.  Sometimes I consider technology as difficult.  I am not really afraid to try new technology things, but sometimes sitting in class with younger students, I worry about "oh my they already know what Dr. Wilson is talking about and I have not a clue."

Here is my Learning Contract from google docs.