What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? I have enjoyed almost every moment of the class. I love that I took (am taking) the course with friends! It made the journey more fun and more meaningful! I think that I have enjoyed actually learning how to blog and getting the opportunity to do it! I would love to start my own blog for parents! That is my goal for next year! :-) Here it is in my beginning stages...
Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I have been surprised at how easy most of the applications have been to use. Oh yes, I've been frustrated and aggravated at times, but overall, most of the apps have been pretty user friendly!
What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? I have loved the self-paced class! The videos by Lee LeFever have been outstanding and so helpful for understanding the purpose, role and function of each of the applications. Thank you for implementing those videos each lesson!
If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate? ABSOLUTELY!!! I have learned so much and feel like I'm actually on the cutting edge of technology once again! (It's been a long time since I've been there!)
How will what you have learned influence your practice as an administrator? Well, I am now addicted to my reader! I love to get new comments on my blog posts. I will definitely use them both. I will honestly try to give Ning a second chance and a little more time to see if I can make it work for me!
How do you plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0? Recommend a way that you have found to be useful. I'm hoping that you guys will offer a "the NEXT 23 things" for us! I don't know that I have the time to go out and explore new applications without a reason! I am not even sure how I would begin. I found about many of the things in this class from my mom the librarian! Maybe she can keep me posted on the new and happening things! (My school librarian does a pretty good job at that, too!) I guess my plan? Depend on other people....
Monday, April 13, 2009
Thing #24
Visit 23 Thingsters
I've joined Ning - as two different AJ Murry's! I wish I could figure out how to delete the profile with the wrong email address! I've searched for hours! I don't think that Ning is nearly as user friendly as some other apps we've learned about in our course. I did add a discussion question for us, though - some of you may kill me for even suggesting the discussion - but make your comment anyway!
Anyway - I think this is a great tool for sharing ideas and communicating with others. I can see using this with my staff instead of my Monday Memo that I occasionally forget to write or change dates on! I love that you can create a page that is private so that only your students or members of your choice can see. Making it private certainly allows you the freedom to use it with kids!
I did join a group as called Education Leadership. I think it will be fun to follow along with the group as they discuss the state assessments in different states (that is the current discussion!)
Thanks for the opportunity to learn about another new and useful tool!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Thing #22
I have a very dear friend, who shall remain nameless, with whom I have a disagreement that arises every now and then. The argument? Namely - Facebook! Now my friend would argue that this is a dangerous place to "be" in the cyberworld - predators, mean people, ugliness, you name it - he thinks it's there. While visiting his home a few weeks ago, I introduced he and his wife to Facebook. And the reason you ask? To find his friend! He had lost touch with a friend from the past and wanted to see if they were on Facebook so that he could make contact again! Well, his friend wasn't there, but his friend's daughter was, and so the social connection was established. I contacted daughter ---> who contacted dad ---> who contacted me ---> who gave information back to my friend! Ahah! The epitomy of a social network!
Work applications for Facebook? Oh my - I have met so many prinicipals and educational leaders, found friends who have the same position I hold in a far away place, have been able to follow the legislature and educational PACs, all from Facebook! So many times, especially in a place of leadership, we feel very lonely, unconnected and often time disassociated from people because there is only one of us in a building - this has been solved through social networking.
Now, as educators, I would argue that we MUST "be" on these networks. There are some bad things that go on with our kids on these networks, but as "friends" on the network, we can monitor so much and discover so much about our kids - it is our responsibility as parents and teachers to help our students learn the safety and caution that is needed in these enviornments!
I've had an account for a while, so here is the link to my profile. I'm not sure you can see me unless I'm your friend - so invite me to be your friend... Vikingman, I'll be waiting!
Work applications for Facebook? Oh my - I have met so many prinicipals and educational leaders, found friends who have the same position I hold in a far away place, have been able to follow the legislature and educational PACs, all from Facebook! So many times, especially in a place of leadership, we feel very lonely, unconnected and often time disassociated from people because there is only one of us in a building - this has been solved through social networking.
Now, as educators, I would argue that we MUST "be" on these networks. There are some bad things that go on with our kids on these networks, but as "friends" on the network, we can monitor so much and discover so much about our kids - it is our responsibility as parents and teachers to help our students learn the safety and caution that is needed in these enviornments!
I've had an account for a while, so here is the link to my profile. I'm not sure you can see me unless I'm your friend - so invite me to be your friend... Vikingman, I'll be waiting!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Thing #7b
I've been waiting to share this blog with you! As a principal, I hear so often that learning isn't fun anymore and that we are drilling and killing our kids to death. I always feel the urgency to try to defend drilling to some degree. Why is that? Is it because it worked for me? Is it because it's a lesson I learned in sports? This blog entry is a thought provoking argument for drilling students! I guess that sometimes those of us that grew up under the influence of coaches and sports teams tend to view the world in a different light. I thought this blog entry about Pete Maravich summed up what I'm sometimes afraid to say for fear of being hit with blunt objects by my friends!
(Friends - remember that blogging is a place to post OPINIONS). I'm just thinking in type! :-) Feel free to disagree. I'm sure many of you will! I hope we can still be cyberfriends!
(Friends - remember that blogging is a place to post OPINIONS). I'm just thinking in type! :-) Feel free to disagree. I'm sure many of you will! I hope we can still be cyberfriends!
Thing #21
Google has a ton to offer, doesn't it? Who knew?
I explored the iGoogle page. I tried to link it, but unless you log in as me, you can't see it! Sorry!
I had fun choosing all sorts of apps to put on the page. School uses could be really limitless. There is a countdown app. Teachers could count down until the TAKS test, count down until turning in a foss kit, countdown so many things! I added a virtual ladybug that follows me everywhere on the screen - she was cute and made me smile! I added the weather - there was a temperature, air quality and heat index - information that my PE teachers could always use! There were top stories of the day, words of the day, clean jokes of the day, all sorts of unique tools that teachers could use.
Google Labs was neat. Did you know that there is a google tool to find the most searched items of the day? I thought that was neat. It is interesting to see how many searches were done for particular things... made me want to search them to find out why...
Google Labs also had a search tool for finding "words/phrases" used in videos. That might be helpful for a teacher searching how to teach something or wanting a video clip to demonstrate something.
All in all, Google Tools are really cool. I could use them for hours and never run out of fun things to explore!
I explored the iGoogle page. I tried to link it, but unless you log in as me, you can't see it! Sorry!
I had fun choosing all sorts of apps to put on the page. School uses could be really limitless. There is a countdown app. Teachers could count down until the TAKS test, count down until turning in a foss kit, countdown so many things! I added a virtual ladybug that follows me everywhere on the screen - she was cute and made me smile! I added the weather - there was a temperature, air quality and heat index - information that my PE teachers could always use! There were top stories of the day, words of the day, clean jokes of the day, all sorts of unique tools that teachers could use.
Google Labs was neat. Did you know that there is a google tool to find the most searched items of the day? I thought that was neat. It is interesting to see how many searches were done for particular things... made me want to search them to find out why...
Google Labs also had a search tool for finding "words/phrases" used in videos. That might be helpful for a teacher searching how to teach something or wanting a video clip to demonstrate something.
All in all, Google Tools are really cool. I could use them for hours and never run out of fun things to explore!
Thing #20
I love Google Docs! I took a course with Richard Armand showing us many, many, many uses for the GoogleDocs. I have already started using them for some word processing things, like our Kindergarten Handout - allowing the kindergarten teachers to make changes and the secretary to be able to print it out.
I have a google form set up so that teachers can input their summer address, phone number and other contact information. It is so much easier to have them type their information instead of me transferring it all to a spreadsheet. (More accurate too!)
I have not used the Google Presentations yet, but if all works out where I get accepted to the ASCD national conference next year, my partner and I will work on the presentation each from our computer and make the presentation complete without having to download a single thing! Woohoo! Can't wait!
I know that teachers could use this with students working on documents together, group work has been given a whole new framework as well! We can see the contributions from each student! No more guessing who did what! It is pretty amazing stuff!
PS - all my friends are welcome to add to the document for closing down the school year! I think it will be great to keep this document available for us to work on together - and techsploringprinicipal won't even have to retype or cut and paste a single thing!
I have a google form set up so that teachers can input their summer address, phone number and other contact information. It is so much easier to have them type their information instead of me transferring it all to a spreadsheet. (More accurate too!)
I have not used the Google Presentations yet, but if all works out where I get accepted to the ASCD national conference next year, my partner and I will work on the presentation each from our computer and make the presentation complete without having to download a single thing! Woohoo! Can't wait!
I know that teachers could use this with students working on documents together, group work has been given a whole new framework as well! We can see the contributions from each student! No more guessing who did what! It is pretty amazing stuff!
PS - all my friends are welcome to add to the document for closing down the school year! I think it will be great to keep this document available for us to work on together - and techsploringprinicipal won't even have to retype or cut and paste a single thing!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Thing #19
Voice threads are very cool and have immense potential. I have seen them used in some trainings such as the Sexual Harassment Video at TAMU-C and their other trainings that they require all professors to partake in. Voice threads do allow you to present your powerpoint or other video with a voice and that in itself is very cool. However, I am a little too impatient for some of the videos - I can read it faster than the narrator speaks it and therefore, I rush through. Could be a pitfal if the information were super critical! I'm going to keep searching for some voice threads that I could use in my position - perhaps "how to" voice threads on presenting certain concepts in science or math that teachers could view BEFORE teaching it... possibilities are endless!
Thing #18
YouTube is an amazing resource! It is incredible what you can find on there! I took the challenge to find the four videos that our 23 Things coaches encouraged us to find.
The first two videos that I searched for were searching the WhyTry? Program that the district has just recently introduced us to. I am going to have the creator of WhyTry?, Christian Moore come and speak to my staff in July. However, I wanted to give them a tease of what might be coming, so I searched for Christian Moore and the WhyTry? Program! I found several videos that took snipits of Christian Moore's life story and explained the history behind the WhyTry? program. I am sending the link to my teachers. (although they can't watch it at school!)
Next, I found a video on how to blow dry your hair! Did you know there are so many ways to blow dry your hair? Who knew... but according to this young lady, there is one RIGHT way to do it! Maybe I'll try it tomorrow.
Lastly, I searched for the Miracle on Ice live call. You know, the video from the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics when the US beat Russia defying all the odds! It is such an awesome story! I was able to find the actual footage of the hockey game! Amazing!
YouTube can be so powerful for teachers and students. Scary sometimes, but powerful! I wish there were a better way to filter it so that our teachers could access it in the classrooms! TeacherTube was good as well, but certainly missed out on some of the more frivolous searches like the Miracle on Ice.
The first two videos that I searched for were searching the WhyTry? Program that the district has just recently introduced us to. I am going to have the creator of WhyTry?, Christian Moore come and speak to my staff in July. However, I wanted to give them a tease of what might be coming, so I searched for Christian Moore and the WhyTry? Program! I found several videos that took snipits of Christian Moore's life story and explained the history behind the WhyTry? program. I am sending the link to my teachers. (although they can't watch it at school!)
Next, I found a video on how to blow dry your hair! Did you know there are so many ways to blow dry your hair? Who knew... but according to this young lady, there is one RIGHT way to do it! Maybe I'll try it tomorrow.
Lastly, I searched for the Miracle on Ice live call. You know, the video from the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics when the US beat Russia defying all the odds! It is such an awesome story! I was able to find the actual footage of the hockey game! Amazing!
YouTube can be so powerful for teachers and students. Scary sometimes, but powerful! I wish there were a better way to filter it so that our teachers could access it in the classrooms! TeacherTube was good as well, but certainly missed out on some of the more frivolous searches like the Miracle on Ice.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Thing #17
PodCasting - I learned alot and even found some of my misunderstandings to be straightened out. I don't have an Ipod, so I just assumed that podcasting was something that I really could not do. While I found out that I could do podcasting without an Ipod, I don't really like the idea of being tied to my computer for hours on end listening to the various downloads. Maybe for Mother's Day - hmmm.... Okay so to address your questions:
- Which podcasts did you preview? I had been following a blog feed for Practical Prinicipals and noticed they had a weekly podcast, I decided to subscribe to it through Itunes to see what podcasting was all about.
- What did you think? I was surprised at how much the podcast was really just a conversation or discussion between the presenters. I guess I still had the old school idea of "shows" as being scripted or prepared ahead of time, maybe some of them are, but the several that I found were more like discussions - but they were useful and had some interesting and thought provoking discussions.
- Which directories did you search and were you able to find podcasts of value? I used Itunes and found several of the same podcasts that were suggested for us. I'll keep looking.
- Do you have any ideas about incorporating existing podcasts into your classroom or professional learning? Of course, I don't know how to make a podcast yet, I'm sure that I'll learn in a thing or two, but seeing how students can use this in their learning excites me. I envision that students could reflect on their learning, "teach" others what they've learned, participate in active discussions, the possibilities are endless. I'm pretty sure that one of my teachers has students creating podcasts, but I haven't actually watched them in action! I'll have to ask him where to find them out there in the great big www!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Thing 16
This is a pretty neat website. While I do not classify myself as a "reader", I'm trying to work on that! I took the challenge from some dear friends to actually read one whole novel, front to back, in it's entirety this summer! I did it! Woohoo! Not only did I read one, I read 7 novels all by the same author. I've put those books in my LibraryThing library. You can view them to see what you think! In addition, I read the eighth novel this past November while second honeymooning in Cancun. My husband was a little frustrated because all I wanted to do was go to the beach, lay in the sun and read this eighth novel!
As for classroom applications, I can see endless possibilities - especially if you can hook your students into the love of reading. While younger grades probably couldn't build great libraries right away - imagine the power if they kept their accounts over several school years! What a great "scrapbook" of learning. The teacher could have students form groups, make comments, summaries, character analysis all on this one site! Pretty cool. Maybe when I become a reader, I can fill up my library! :-)
As for classroom applications, I can see endless possibilities - especially if you can hook your students into the love of reading. While younger grades probably couldn't build great libraries right away - imagine the power if they kept their accounts over several school years! What a great "scrapbook" of learning. The teacher could have students form groups, make comments, summaries, character analysis all on this one site! Pretty cool. Maybe when I become a reader, I can fill up my library! :-)
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thing #15
Social Bookmarking - not at all what I thought it would be! I thought this was going to be a social activity like Facebook or MySpace! I'm so glad to learn it isn't! I'm happy to have found a very powerful tool! I don't feel super proficient at it, yet, I'm sure I'll get there the more I use it. I can not find where to do the last part of the activity where we are supposed to find our shared tags on our wiki! I'll keep looking! Anyway - thought this was very cool. I can see using this as a classroom teacher like the example by Lee LeFever (BTW - those videos are so cool). Is there a way to hide the tool bar on the top of Mozilla? I don't like having all of these random bookmarks showing - I would rather them be a drop down box if we have to have it at all! Seems like we don't need it if we have a link to Delicious showing!
Thing #7a
I have enjoyed following my RSS reader! Today, my uncle sent me an unusual blog that I have now added to my reader. It is blog written from the point of view of President Obama's teleprompter. While I don't really pride myself on following the political jockeying or even politics in general, the creativity caught my attention, so I thought I would share. I don't understand half of what is written, because I don't keep up with it all, but it is a unique idea!
On a more serious note, one of the feeds that I have starred is from a LeaderTalk blog. It is a blog designed for those in school leadership. It is very interesting and thought provoking. One of my favorite entries is called Leadership Flavor of the Week. Check it out for those of you in educational leadership... makes you stop and think!
On a more serious note, one of the feeds that I have starred is from a LeaderTalk blog. It is a blog designed for those in school leadership. It is very interesting and thought provoking. One of my favorite entries is called Leadership Flavor of the Week. Check it out for those of you in educational leadership... makes you stop and think!
Thing # 14
What fun and more fun! This "focused play" was really cool. I tried out several things. First I tried the Letterpop and made my weekly memo using this tool. It was okay, I guess. With some gettting used to, it might be more fun! It seemed a bit constricting with sizes of boxes that I could write in, limited fonts and few pictures/themes to choose from. I think that if you pay for a subscription, you can add more of your own pictures etc...
After that, I went tried making a mixbook. This was a fun site. I started working on a book of our spring break pictures, but didn't finish. One cool thing I saw was that others can add to your book. So my sister or friends that accompanied us on all of the outings, could add their pictures! That is kinda cool. I prefer to use Snapfish or Smilebox for this same type of thing. Smilebox is my favorite because it has tons of themes and allows you to print your books, purchase them or just send them via email for free! It is one place I would highly recommend trying! I'll add a Smilebox Creation to the bottom of the post! Enjoy!
Lastly, I tried Wordle. I made one with each of my kids' names.
It was kind of fun! I can see adding this to presentations and other forms of publications that I have to use!
Thanks for giving us the opportunity to explore some new things! It was fun!
Here is the Smilebox I created! Follow the narration on the bottom left as you click on each egg! Enjoy!
After that, I went tried making a mixbook. This was a fun site. I started working on a book of our spring break pictures, but didn't finish. One cool thing I saw was that others can add to your book. So my sister or friends that accompanied us on all of the outings, could add their pictures! That is kinda cool. I prefer to use Snapfish or Smilebox for this same type of thing. Smilebox is my favorite because it has tons of themes and allows you to print your books, purchase them or just send them via email for free! It is one place I would highly recommend trying! I'll add a Smilebox Creation to the bottom of the post! Enjoy!
Lastly, I tried Wordle. I made one with each of my kids' names.
It was kind of fun! I can see adding this to presentations and other forms of publications that I have to use!
Thanks for giving us the opportunity to explore some new things! It was fun!
Here is the Smilebox I created! Follow the narration on the bottom left as you click on each egg! Enjoy!
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| Make a Smilebox greeting |
Friday, March 6, 2009
Thing #13
I love the Spell with Flickr Tool! It is so much fun to make unique signs and words! I've seen our preacher at church use these letters for his powerpoint notes, but never knew where they came from! I used them to spell out the kid's names! Aren't they cute! This would be a great way to spice up presentations that I give! I will have to work on the formatting to make them smaller to fit on my blog without going to a second line, but you get the idea!
I also played with the smiley face feature! I created a seasonal smiley that I could add to the bottom of my emails! I've seen several people in the district have these cute little icons attached. I always have a seasonal antenna topper and the kids love it! Maybe I should add this to my emails and make others smile!
Another really fun tool was the trading card maker! I'm not sure what all I could do with this tool, but it was fun to make!
I also played with the smiley face feature! I created a seasonal smiley that I could add to the bottom of my emails! I've seen several people in the district have these cute little icons attached. I always have a seasonal antenna topper and the kids love it! Maybe I should add this to my emails and make others smile!
Another really fun tool was the trading card maker! I'm not sure what all I could do with this tool, but it was fun to make!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Thing #12
After reading a really good blog post referenced by my friend, techsploringprincipal, called the Beware of the Ants of Annoyance and then the teamwork picture by Macropoulos from Thing#11, I've decided to create a slide show dedicated to the hard working teams of ants that work together day in and day out! So thank you ants for all you've done to inspire me lately!
Thing #11
This year, our campus has chosen the them, "Champions of Success." As we were involved in our first round of testing this week, I was reminded of all the "little" things that got us where we are! We've also chosen to talk about teamwork and everyone doing their part to help us reach that Exemplary Level that we are striving for. So I wanted to inspire the teachers and students this week, as I already spoke about in Thing#10. I didn't have much luck finding a video, but I found a picture that says a thousand words using Flickr.
Teamwork by marcopaulo
The task of these ants was monumental! They had to conquer something so huge, at least 100 times their size. Yet, they didn't do it alone. All of the ants came together to move this moth back to their colony! Amazing the task at hand and the teamwork it took to get it done!
Flickr is a great way to find some amazing resources. I'm always hunting clip art for various things and yet never ever thought to look in such a place - just figuring anything outside of Microsoft Office was probably covered by that C guy and I'd get in trouble by someone for using it!
I spent some time looking at the lesson plans. I had a student this week on TAKS writing that literally sat for more than 9 hours without writing a single thing on his paper because he couldn't "think" of anything to write about. I thought what are we doing to our kids... this writing thing is so hard for them. As I explored Flickr, I saw a really cool link. Story Telling in 5 pictures. Some people are so creative. Here is a link to my favorite story that I saw. Chores. Perhaps it's my favorite because I've spent the better part of my day doing tons of chores - this story makes it seem so easy!
Could we use these Flickr pictures to inspire our kids to write! How amazing it might be!
Teamwork by marcopaulo
The task of these ants was monumental! They had to conquer something so huge, at least 100 times their size. Yet, they didn't do it alone. All of the ants came together to move this moth back to their colony! Amazing the task at hand and the teamwork it took to get it done!
Flickr is a great way to find some amazing resources. I'm always hunting clip art for various things and yet never ever thought to look in such a place - just figuring anything outside of Microsoft Office was probably covered by that C guy and I'd get in trouble by someone for using it!
I spent some time looking at the lesson plans. I had a student this week on TAKS writing that literally sat for more than 9 hours without writing a single thing on his paper because he couldn't "think" of anything to write about. I thought what are we doing to our kids... this writing thing is so hard for them. As I explored Flickr, I saw a really cool link. Story Telling in 5 pictures. Some people are so creative. Here is a link to my favorite story that I saw. Chores. Perhaps it's my favorite because I've spent the better part of my day doing tons of chores - this story makes it seem so easy!
Could we use these Flickr pictures to inspire our kids to write! How amazing it might be!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Thing #10
Creative Commons! What a really neat idea! It seems so "anti -current-culture". You know what I mean? Everyone is out to create something that is theirs to make money and yet it seems to be a whole world of people willing to share? Is that really possible?
The possibilities of this "willingness to share" seem so exciting and such a relief! Now don't tell my mom, but I'm not a huge fan of copyright and often turn my head the other way when copyright issues come about! I understand the need, but it is so constricting! It really gets in the way of school so often! I won't do anything blatantly against copyright, but I don't always check into the "C" of something before using it!
I've never noticed a "cc" on any document, or maybe I have and turned the other way not knowing that I didn't have to! I'll certainly start keeping my eye out for it, now! Move on over Mr. Big C, I've got a new best friend!!
-S-T-R-E-T-C-H- -M-E-
I visited the OER website which I learned was the Open Educational Resources Site. I was looking for some "motivating video" to show my students before TAKS about believing in themselves, and all that other good stuff. While I didn't find anything fitting that specific content, I kept following all these links to great lessons! What fun! The Ooblek lesson was there along with other old faithfuls as well as lots of new ones! I wonder if our curriculum departments have spent anytime here? What a great resource!
The possibilities of this "willingness to share" seem so exciting and such a relief! Now don't tell my mom, but I'm not a huge fan of copyright and often turn my head the other way when copyright issues come about! I understand the need, but it is so constricting! It really gets in the way of school so often! I won't do anything blatantly against copyright, but I don't always check into the "C" of something before using it!
I've never noticed a "cc" on any document, or maybe I have and turned the other way not knowing that I didn't have to! I'll certainly start keeping my eye out for it, now! Move on over Mr. Big C, I've got a new best friend!!
-S-T-R-E-T-C-H- -M-E-
I visited the OER website which I learned was the Open Educational Resources Site. I was looking for some "motivating video" to show my students before TAKS about believing in themselves, and all that other good stuff. While I didn't find anything fitting that specific content, I kept following all these links to great lessons! What fun! The Ooblek lesson was there along with other old faithfuls as well as lots of new ones! I wonder if our curriculum departments have spent anytime here? What a great resource!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Thing #9
Creating the wiki wasn't too bad. It was a lot more fun to make them than to read them. I can see where the usefulness might be for collaboration. The formatting still seems a bit primitive, maybe that's because we are using a free wiki site. Embedding the text and pictures didn't allow for all of the same freedoms that you might get in word. Oh well, if that's the only complaint, I guess it's pretty cool.
I like the idea of the sandbox - a "closed" place to post wikis. I wonder what it would take to set up a school sandbox and allow parents to see it, but teachers to edit it? Could this take the place of my school website? Wouldn't that be helpful. I guess I could add that to my burning questions!
I like the idea of the sandbox - a "closed" place to post wikis. I wonder what it would take to set up a school sandbox and allow parents to see it, but teachers to edit it? Could this take the place of my school website? Wouldn't that be helpful. I guess I could add that to my burning questions!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Thing #8
Wiki............hmmmmm..............
I understand what a wiki is. I see it's potential in the classroom! What is frustrating or maybe disappointing is the outside looking in final project. I love how the wiki's allow for collaboration and growth in the production, but in the end, the final products appear to be more like an informational website - ho hum...
Now, if I were using this in my class, such as CoolCat Teacher did, I am sure that my passion for the topic and the tool would be MUCH more enthusiastic.
I visited the Kindergarten Counting Book Wiki. The end result just looked like a website with pictures on it. However, I'm sure that during the creation of this counting expedition the teacher and students were so excited about getting to use an interactive technology tool. So, as I said before, from the outside looking in, this isn't very exciting. Maybe if I could just muster up the strength to start one for my school, I could find infinite uses for the wiki!
I did visit the Primary Math wiki and then branched off into one of the first grade blogs. It was a very current blog that showed what the students were actually learning. Again, this was a blog and not a wiki. The actual wiki was a place where each of the classrooms posted the link to their blog.... I think I like the blogging much better - I always end up there!
The Schools in the Past wiki was kind of neat, allowing teachers, parents, grandparents and students to all give input in real time on one document for all to see. I thought that was a neat way to use the technology!
I struggle with ideas about how to use this with my school, right now. Maybe more ideas will come to me as I view more and more of them!
I understand what a wiki is. I see it's potential in the classroom! What is frustrating or maybe disappointing is the outside looking in final project. I love how the wiki's allow for collaboration and growth in the production, but in the end, the final products appear to be more like an informational website - ho hum...
Now, if I were using this in my class, such as CoolCat Teacher did, I am sure that my passion for the topic and the tool would be MUCH more enthusiastic.
I visited the Kindergarten Counting Book Wiki. The end result just looked like a website with pictures on it. However, I'm sure that during the creation of this counting expedition the teacher and students were so excited about getting to use an interactive technology tool. So, as I said before, from the outside looking in, this isn't very exciting. Maybe if I could just muster up the strength to start one for my school, I could find infinite uses for the wiki!
I did visit the Primary Math wiki and then branched off into one of the first grade blogs. It was a very current blog that showed what the students were actually learning. Again, this was a blog and not a wiki. The actual wiki was a place where each of the classrooms posted the link to their blog.... I think I like the blogging much better - I always end up there!
The Schools in the Past wiki was kind of neat, allowing teachers, parents, grandparents and students to all give input in real time on one document for all to see. I thought that was a neat way to use the technology!
I struggle with ideas about how to use this with my school, right now. Maybe more ideas will come to me as I view more and more of them!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Thing #7a
Well, I can't tell you how stressed this makes me to post outside of the "things" and therefore, get my list of entries out of order... yes, I know obsessive compulsive! Anyway - I just had to blog about what I learned today. I'm still playing with Things 3 and 4... can't move on to Things 8 and 9 yet! Too much to do!
My friend, IB2, (teacher at my school and member of our 23 things class) taught me how to get a cool new background on my blog. He also taught me how to put my family blog and my school blog all on one dashboard so that I don't have to keep logging in and out with the two different accounts! Isn't that awesome?
So here's the deal... Go to this link and you will be able to see tons of free backgrounds for your blog! I spent hours playing with and picking out new backgrounds for my blog. I might even change them with each post! There are fun "seasonal" backgrounds, traditional or conservative, wild and crazy and even a few just plain weird backgrounds! I hope you enjoy this little link! I sure did! Thank you IB2 for the hints and tips! I'm glad that I still have face to face friends that teach me things! I'm not sure what I would do if everyone were only virtual! :-)
Enjoy the new backgrounds and try not to harass me about my OCD! I know... I have issues! Getting things in "order" is just the beginning! Explains alot about me, doesn't it!
My friend, IB2, (teacher at my school and member of our 23 things class) taught me how to get a cool new background on my blog. He also taught me how to put my family blog and my school blog all on one dashboard so that I don't have to keep logging in and out with the two different accounts! Isn't that awesome?
So here's the deal... Go to this link and you will be able to see tons of free backgrounds for your blog! I spent hours playing with and picking out new backgrounds for my blog. I might even change them with each post! There are fun "seasonal" backgrounds, traditional or conservative, wild and crazy and even a few just plain weird backgrounds! I hope you enjoy this little link! I sure did! Thank you IB2 for the hints and tips! I'm glad that I still have face to face friends that teach me things! I'm not sure what I would do if everyone were only virtual! :-)
Enjoy the new backgrounds and try not to harass me about my OCD! I know... I have issues! Getting things in "order" is just the beginning! Explains alot about me, doesn't it!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thing #7
We're a third of the way there and all this process had done is make me more addicted to the computer! :-)
Commenting - I did it! I wrote on a popular blog page that I have been following and that I referenced in the previous post...Do I Dare Disturb the Universe! In my comment I thanked Scott for his thought provoking post, related it to my own experience and then asked a question! (ooooo, daring, I know!)
HE WROTE ME BACK!!!! A few minutes after the post, as I was searching and reading other things in my reader, I got a personal email from him that actually answered my question! It wasn't just an automated response, but a real response! I've made my first "virtual" friend! (not that my followers aren't - but I know most of you!) Now, I really will be encouraged to try commenting - you never know what might come of it!
Commenting - I did it! I wrote on a popular blog page that I have been following and that I referenced in the previous post...Do I Dare Disturb the Universe! In my comment I thanked Scott for his thought provoking post, related it to my own experience and then asked a question! (ooooo, daring, I know!)
HE WROTE ME BACK!!!! A few minutes after the post, as I was searching and reading other things in my reader, I got a personal email from him that actually answered my question! It wasn't just an automated response, but a real response! I've made my first "virtual" friend! (not that my followers aren't - but I know most of you!) Now, I really will be encouraged to try commenting - you never know what might come of it!
Thing #6
The RSS reader is an amazing tool! There seem to be millions, if not tens of millions of blogs out there. I was a bit disappointed in that ability to search and find what I was looking for. I tried several searches looking for administrators of public schools that were blogging or instructional leaders. Other than finding blogs for classroom teachers or for technology instruction, there didn't seem to be alot out there.
I found 3 that I will follow for a while and see if anything useful comes from them. The title of the first one, caught my attention. Do I Dare Disturb the Universe is the title for a principal from Colorado's blog. It was a very interesting read for the first three or four blog entries. He didn't have a blog roll started, that I could see, but he was a contributing author for another blog titled Leader Talk. There were several blogrolls listed here, so I followed a couple of them. There did not seem to be much out there for elementary principals.
It made me wonder, are we (elementary principals) so far behind the technological curve that no one is really blogging? Am I just not searching the right key words? What is going on? You promised me there would be a blog for everyone!!! :-) I'm sure I'll find it soon enough - I will just have to keep looking past this assignment for what really feeds me!
I did find one other blog called the Principal's Blog. It appears to be the personal blog of a prinicpal of an elementary school. So far the postings have not been very "job related" more of a social blog, but I'll keep watching to see what I can find. Who knows - she may have taken 23 things and is just keeping her blog going for personal reasons! I'll keep waiting for that nugget of inspiration! :-) After all, her avatar makes her look like a really fun principal! Maybe she is... we'll see.
I found 3 that I will follow for a while and see if anything useful comes from them. The title of the first one, caught my attention. Do I Dare Disturb the Universe is the title for a principal from Colorado's blog. It was a very interesting read for the first three or four blog entries. He didn't have a blog roll started, that I could see, but he was a contributing author for another blog titled Leader Talk. There were several blogrolls listed here, so I followed a couple of them. There did not seem to be much out there for elementary principals.
It made me wonder, are we (elementary principals) so far behind the technological curve that no one is really blogging? Am I just not searching the right key words? What is going on? You promised me there would be a blog for everyone!!! :-) I'm sure I'll find it soon enough - I will just have to keep looking past this assignment for what really feeds me!
I did find one other blog called the Principal's Blog. It appears to be the personal blog of a prinicpal of an elementary school. So far the postings have not been very "job related" more of a social blog, but I'll keep watching to see what I can find. Who knows - she may have taken 23 things and is just keeping her blog going for personal reasons! I'll keep waiting for that nugget of inspiration! :-) After all, her avatar makes her look like a really fun principal! Maybe she is... we'll see.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Thing #5
OMG!!! As my high school teacher sister would text me! Whoever thought of this RSS reader thing is so awesome. I had already "followed" or subscribed to several people's blogs in our class and was already getting FRUSTRATED at how many clicks it took to get from kbb to vikingman to theroylemansblog! This is an amazing piece of technology that could be very addicting, especially when I have the opportunity to go out there and surf for something that I am interested in reading about. However, that scares me a little - can other people see what I enjoy reading on my RSS? You might see a whole lot more of the "non-educational" things than you might like! I would love to follow my Florida Gator Blogs and anti-Dallas Cowboy blogs more than some other "school" blogs - but I'll try to diversify myself for the sake of learning in our class! :-)
Now, as for the reflection. One of the blogs that we were required to view was the Infinite Thinking Machine. On of the entries talked about a company called Brightstorm. This company makes videos to help teachers brush up on their own skills for teaching some subjects like Geometry, Writing, Alegebra II and many SAT preparation courses. I thought how incredibly cool this would be if we had this same type of technology available for our new teachers! Wouldn't it be amazing if they were wondering how to teach rational numbers to a group of fifth graders, at an age appropriate level, they could just click and there would be some video showing them what to say, how to say it, good examples and so on... Wow! I can see where this type of "digital teaching" could impact classrooms everywhere!
This RSS things is gonna be fun!!
Now, as for the reflection. One of the blogs that we were required to view was the Infinite Thinking Machine. On of the entries talked about a company called Brightstorm. This company makes videos to help teachers brush up on their own skills for teaching some subjects like Geometry, Writing, Alegebra II and many SAT preparation courses. I thought how incredibly cool this would be if we had this same type of technology available for our new teachers! Wouldn't it be amazing if they were wondering how to teach rational numbers to a group of fifth graders, at an age appropriate level, they could just click and there would be some video showing them what to say, how to say it, good examples and so on... Wow! I can see where this type of "digital teaching" could impact classrooms everywhere!
This RSS things is gonna be fun!!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Thing #4
First of all - thanks for the video on how to find the permalink! :-)
What do you notice about the genre of blog writing in general?
The writing is very informal! Anyone can do it. When I read the duck blog I found it so humorous! I wondered if some of our secondary friends would be able to decipher what was written because it was invented spelling of second graders. Every blog was an opinion from the writer and then comments, of course, were a free for all!
How is blog reading different from other types of reading?
Reading a blog takes a little time to get used to! I wish I knew how to make a thinking map online to compare and contrast to other types of readings! I am sure I'll learn that down the road somewhere in a Thing! First of all, most books that are used for information have gone through some type of peer review, I would imagine. Obviously blogs do not and therefore, the information gleaned from them would need to be taken cautiously - or at least with the understanding that it is not "gospel". That could be a good thing or bad thing, I guess. Great thing being that you have some opinions from which to make your own opinion and bad in the sense that it can't be counted on as fact...
How is blog writing different from other types of writing? How is it similar?
Blog writing is different because anyone can do it. In order to write a book or an article for a journal you have to be credible. No credibility required for blogging! :-0 However, I think that this type of freelance writing empowers people to say what they feel needs to be said. When in the history of mankind would an at-risk fifth grader have been given the time of day to talk about his will not to fail? What an amazing thing for him. To read all of the comments and then to read his thank you post, you know this kid felt encouraged, proud and determined! How awesome is that? Immediate feedback, praise and encouragement when he needed it most!
How can blogging facilitate learning?
There are so many uses for blogging! It is really fun to see my students at school blog about the book they are reading in book club or to see Mr. Smith's class blog about the daily events in his math class, much like the math blog from SP-817 Math Class. It can provide the teacher with a deeper understanding of what kids know and don't know. It provides parents a way to participate in the learning of their students. It gives students the ability to have input from all ends of the earth - not just little Mesquite! It gives administrators the power to observe student learning without ever entering the room! We can do it from our iphone! (Although that blog titled Spies Like Us scared me a little with the technology available to students on their iphone!) Blogging definitely could have a place in our buildings and classrooms, but the necessary precautions need to be taken! The blogging could certainly get out of hand or cause problems for students like in the article about cyberbullying!
What do you notice about the genre of blog writing in general?
The writing is very informal! Anyone can do it. When I read the duck blog I found it so humorous! I wondered if some of our secondary friends would be able to decipher what was written because it was invented spelling of second graders. Every blog was an opinion from the writer and then comments, of course, were a free for all!
How is blog reading different from other types of reading?
Reading a blog takes a little time to get used to! I wish I knew how to make a thinking map online to compare and contrast to other types of readings! I am sure I'll learn that down the road somewhere in a Thing! First of all, most books that are used for information have gone through some type of peer review, I would imagine. Obviously blogs do not and therefore, the information gleaned from them would need to be taken cautiously - or at least with the understanding that it is not "gospel". That could be a good thing or bad thing, I guess. Great thing being that you have some opinions from which to make your own opinion and bad in the sense that it can't be counted on as fact...
How is blog writing different from other types of writing? How is it similar?
Blog writing is different because anyone can do it. In order to write a book or an article for a journal you have to be credible. No credibility required for blogging! :-0 However, I think that this type of freelance writing empowers people to say what they feel needs to be said. When in the history of mankind would an at-risk fifth grader have been given the time of day to talk about his will not to fail? What an amazing thing for him. To read all of the comments and then to read his thank you post, you know this kid felt encouraged, proud and determined! How awesome is that? Immediate feedback, praise and encouragement when he needed it most!
How can blogging facilitate learning?
There are so many uses for blogging! It is really fun to see my students at school blog about the book they are reading in book club or to see Mr. Smith's class blog about the daily events in his math class, much like the math blog from SP-817 Math Class. It can provide the teacher with a deeper understanding of what kids know and don't know. It provides parents a way to participate in the learning of their students. It gives students the ability to have input from all ends of the earth - not just little Mesquite! It gives administrators the power to observe student learning without ever entering the room! We can do it from our iphone! (Although that blog titled Spies Like Us scared me a little with the technology available to students on their iphone!) Blogging definitely could have a place in our buildings and classrooms, but the necessary precautions need to be taken! The blogging could certainly get out of hand or cause problems for students like in the article about cyberbullying!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Thing #2
I'm going to try to figure out how to link to my writeboard now - I already reflected - let's try to link it - Here are my reflections of my Thing #2 on Writeboard!
The password for the Writeboard is ajmurry
Woohoo! I think I did it!
Thing #1
Okay - so we've started on this journey of the 23 things. The habits of highly effective life long learners (btw - can I tell you how much I love the SPELL CHECK FEATURE of this blog!).
These seven and a half habits are so closely tied with those of Steven Covey, whom I highly regard as a model for being an effective leader. I am thrilled about the opportunity to grow and learn new things.
As an administrator - standing in front of my faculty and asking them to get with the technology era and not doing it myself seems a little hypocritical! Therefore, I've decided to take the leap. I am ready for the journey.
The most challenging habit for me to adopt will definitely not be the play! :-) I think it will be to view the problems as challenges. I really get frustrated easily when technology doesn't go my way! I like for things to work the first time and for them to work the right way! Not alot of patience with having to "figure" it out. Although - that is a problem too, because I hate to take the time to read the owners manual! I would rather figure it out - is that an oxymoron?
The easiest habit or one to most easily identify is the half! Playing - I will easily find myself on the computer "playing" for hours on end! I leave my kids in the tub by themselves just so I can "play" in peace! Isn't that being a terrible mom?? I love the opportunity to learn the new technology and make it a habit for me!
I think taking responsibility for my learning will be most important! Take the time to get all I can out of the course instead of hurriedly completing a thing just to be done! All about getting it done - you know!
These seven and a half habits are so closely tied with those of Steven Covey, whom I highly regard as a model for being an effective leader. I am thrilled about the opportunity to grow and learn new things.
As an administrator - standing in front of my faculty and asking them to get with the technology era and not doing it myself seems a little hypocritical! Therefore, I've decided to take the leap. I am ready for the journey.
The most challenging habit for me to adopt will definitely not be the play! :-) I think it will be to view the problems as challenges. I really get frustrated easily when technology doesn't go my way! I like for things to work the first time and for them to work the right way! Not alot of patience with having to "figure" it out. Although - that is a problem too, because I hate to take the time to read the owners manual! I would rather figure it out - is that an oxymoron?
The easiest habit or one to most easily identify is the half! Playing - I will easily find myself on the computer "playing" for hours on end! I leave my kids in the tub by themselves just so I can "play" in peace! Isn't that being a terrible mom?? I love the opportunity to learn the new technology and make it a habit for me!
I think taking responsibility for my learning will be most important! Take the time to get all I can out of the course instead of hurriedly completing a thing just to be done! All about getting it done - you know!
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