I FINISHED! It has been a journey going through 23 Things. When I started Thing #1 I was not sure if I was going to finish. I selfishly did not want to send my summer taking a staff development online. Looking back I would have missed out on learning how to use so many tools I never knew about. I think knowing about all that the internet has to offer will benefit my future students. I cannot wait (well maybe I can) but I am excited for school to start and to try some of the "things" in my class.
My favorite thing I did was Thing 10, creating a slideshow using New York pictures. The reason I liked this so much was getting to go and look at pictures of NY. Why? Because learning is more fun when you learn about something you like. This is so true for our students too. I want to continue to search the internet and find more tools that will be helpful. This class has shown me how technology is changing so quickly so as a life long learner I need to continue learning. I think the thing that is going to be most helpful this upcoming year is LibraryThing. I am going to start putting my books in LibraryThing as soon as I get back into the classroom.
I have to admit this class was a lot of work and I struggled to finish. I think it is something that all educators should take because there are so many rich elements in 23 Things. Our students know technology so well, so we should also know it!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Thing #23
Other Social Networks
It is awesome to have a way to communicate with other educators. Using educational networking is a safe way to network with other teachers around the world. I think learning from other people who have experienced something is a great way to learn. I will enjoy using Classroom 2.0. I am also excited to see different resources I will come across from Calssroom 2.0. As i was looking through the forums I found many topics that interested me. I especially liked the discussion on the smart board. I have a promethean board in my class and I am always looking for new ways to use it. There were several great ideas I am going to try next year. I also liked joining the 23 Thingsters. This way we will all be able to keep in touch and share how we have used what we have learned in 23 Things in our classes.
It is awesome to have a way to communicate with other educators. Using educational networking is a safe way to network with other teachers around the world. I think learning from other people who have experienced something is a great way to learn. I will enjoy using Classroom 2.0. I am also excited to see different resources I will come across from Calssroom 2.0. As i was looking through the forums I found many topics that interested me. I especially liked the discussion on the smart board. I have a promethean board in my class and I am always looking for new ways to use it. There were several great ideas I am going to try next year. I also liked joining the 23 Thingsters. This way we will all be able to keep in touch and share how we have used what we have learned in 23 Things in our classes.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Thing #22
Social Networking
I have a Facebook and a Myspace acount (I do not use myspace anymore). I decided to create a new professional Facebook account using my middle and last name. I added one of my favorite authors on Facebook Jarrett J. Krosoczka. I am awaiting confrimation of my friend request. I also looked up other authors but many of them did not have a facebook.
I am going to now add my team members on my "professional" facebook account. I am also going to add other first grade teachers I know. This will be a way we can communicate with each other and share ideas. My principal also is in 23 Things so I will add her. I like that you are able to add website on facebook. I will be able to see other peoples favorite websites or blogs all on their facebook page.
I enjoy using facebook more than myspace. It is just a personal preference. Myspace has more people on their social networking site but many of those are fake sites. For example if you type in Tony Romo, over 10 pages pull up claiming to be him. He probably doesn't even have a myspace but you need to be careful because anyone can create a myspace page.
I have a Facebook and a Myspace acount (I do not use myspace anymore). I decided to create a new professional Facebook account using my middle and last name. I added one of my favorite authors on Facebook Jarrett J. Krosoczka. I am awaiting confrimation of my friend request. I also looked up other authors but many of them did not have a facebook.
I am going to now add my team members on my "professional" facebook account. I am also going to add other first grade teachers I know. This will be a way we can communicate with each other and share ideas. My principal also is in 23 Things so I will add her. I like that you are able to add website on facebook. I will be able to see other peoples favorite websites or blogs all on their facebook page.
I enjoy using facebook more than myspace. It is just a personal preference. Myspace has more people on their social networking site but many of those are fake sites. For example if you type in Tony Romo, over 10 pages pull up claiming to be him. He probably doesn't even have a myspace but you need to be careful because anyone can create a myspace page.
Thing #7b
I was looking through my google reader last week and found an interesting feed. Google has come out with Google for Educations. I found the information about it on a site called Infinite Thinking Machine. Using this search engine you can find ready to use lessons and resources for teachers. Teachers must look through the information, like always, to make sure the lesson is appropriate and will fulfill the objectives. I am going to take some time this week to look through some lessons and see if any of them will be beneficial to my students.
Thing #21
Google Tools
I did several things on goggle that I did not know about. First I created a igoogle page. I selected things that interested me like entertainment, news, weather and created my own page. I really like how it has all of this information on one page and it was all things that interested me. I also uploaded pictures to the album on google from one of my teammates wedding this past weekend. I like that I will be able to save all my school pictures on the internet and not worry about losing them on a computer. This will also be a way where I can quickly email parents pictures from class events. I also like to take pictures of projects we do in our class. I love to share pictures with other teachers and share experience I have had in my class. Another tool I liked was the calendar. I have started putting all my dates in my iphone but if something were to happen to it I would be completely lost. I also like the fact that you can share the calendar with others. It would be great for the office to know my schedule. I could put all my conference times in the calendar so if a parent called about their conference they would have accessibility to my calendar. I never knew google was more than emailing and searching.... But now I know!
I did several things on goggle that I did not know about. First I created a igoogle page. I selected things that interested me like entertainment, news, weather and created my own page. I really like how it has all of this information on one page and it was all things that interested me. I also uploaded pictures to the album on google from one of my teammates wedding this past weekend. I like that I will be able to save all my school pictures on the internet and not worry about losing them on a computer. This will also be a way where I can quickly email parents pictures from class events. I also like to take pictures of projects we do in our class. I love to share pictures with other teachers and share experience I have had in my class. Another tool I liked was the calendar. I have started putting all my dates in my iphone but if something were to happen to it I would be completely lost. I also like the fact that you can share the calendar with others. It would be great for the office to know my schedule. I could put all my conference times in the calendar so if a parent called about their conference they would have accessibility to my calendar. I never knew google was more than emailing and searching.... But now I know!
Thing #20
Google Docs
I created a newsletter to send out to my parents. Many times I have had parents call or email to ask for information on something. Most of the time what they want to know was in my weekly newsletter. Sometimes my students have a hard time getting papers home to their parents. For example, a student places their newsletter in their take home folder, rides the bus to daycare, goes to daycare, gets in mom's car then finally makes it home. Their folder has been in 5 different places in one day. Papers fall out without the child even realizing it. This is a much easier, more accessible way for information to be sent to the parents. I will continue to send a newsletter home because I know not all parents have access to the internet. Our team works on the newsletter together so we could modify to fit each classrooms use.
One idea I had was having a spreadsheet for each student. The spreadsheet would include grades and missing assignment. Parents sometime have no clue heir student is not doing well in a subject because they are not looking at graded papers or rubrics in the take home folder. I am not sure exactly how well this would work. i do know this would take a lot of time on my part but I think it would be worth it.
I created a newsletter to send out to my parents. Many times I have had parents call or email to ask for information on something. Most of the time what they want to know was in my weekly newsletter. Sometimes my students have a hard time getting papers home to their parents. For example, a student places their newsletter in their take home folder, rides the bus to daycare, goes to daycare, gets in mom's car then finally makes it home. Their folder has been in 5 different places in one day. Papers fall out without the child even realizing it. This is a much easier, more accessible way for information to be sent to the parents. I will continue to send a newsletter home because I know not all parents have access to the internet. Our team works on the newsletter together so we could modify to fit each classrooms use.
One idea I had was having a spreadsheet for each student. The spreadsheet would include grades and missing assignment. Parents sometime have no clue heir student is not doing well in a subject because they are not looking at graded papers or rubrics in the take home folder. I am not sure exactly how well this would work. i do know this would take a lot of time on my part but I think it would be worth it.
Thing #19
VoiceThread
What I really liked about voice threads was how it guides the students through their thinking. I have noticed this past year that you must guide students in their thinking especially in the younger grades. I watched the presentation on seeds. They would show a picture and then guide the listener to what type of seed it might be by asking questions. I think this would be a great independent activity for a higher level thinking in a first grade class. THese voice threads could also be an introduction into a new topic. These questions would get the reader thinking and open a great class discussion. I also love how students can respond to the voice thread. This allows students to take ownership of their learning. There are so many different ways students can respond. This also creates critical thinking because the students have to think about what they will say and think if their response is relevant to the topic.
What I really liked about voice threads was how it guides the students through their thinking. I have noticed this past year that you must guide students in their thinking especially in the younger grades. I watched the presentation on seeds. They would show a picture and then guide the listener to what type of seed it might be by asking questions. I think this would be a great independent activity for a higher level thinking in a first grade class. THese voice threads could also be an introduction into a new topic. These questions would get the reader thinking and open a great class discussion. I also love how students can respond to the voice thread. This allows students to take ownership of their learning. There are so many different ways students can respond. This also creates critical thinking because the students have to think about what they will say and think if their response is relevant to the topic.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Thing #18
I found a video on youtube by one of my favorite comedians. It is called Stupid In School. I feel like it is how some of our students feel but it is very funny. There is not much to watch on the video, it is mostly audio. I also found a music video that I listened to as a child. The artist is Mark Lowry and he takes songs and creates new words. This song is Every Teacher from the song Every Heartbeat.
I had a more difficult time finding videos on teacher tube. I enjoy more of the comedian approach when watching videos. Most of the videos on teacher tube were more serious than you tube. I did enjoy watching videos that Mesquite ISD had posted on teacher tube. Students could learn about a variety of topics by watching videos of other students projects on Teacher Tube. There were also some how to videos on Teacher Tube that might be beneficial to me as a teacher.
I had a more difficult time finding videos on teacher tube. I enjoy more of the comedian approach when watching videos. Most of the videos on teacher tube were more serious than you tube. I did enjoy watching videos that Mesquite ISD had posted on teacher tube. Students could learn about a variety of topics by watching videos of other students projects on Teacher Tube. There were also some how to videos on Teacher Tube that might be beneficial to me as a teacher.
Thing #17
Podcasting
The first podcast I previewed was Jamestown Elementary School. I loved this site and how the whole school came together and created podcast to put on their website. I think this would be awesome for students in MISD. If each school had podcast available on their websites students could learn from other students right around the corner. This would be a great way to see what students at other schools around MISD are learning. I also listened to several book reviews on Just One More Book. I feel like this could be very beneficial for teachers. We could go and listen to the review of the book and get other ideas about the book. This could be a model for students in your class too. They could listen to several of the reviews and create their own. This would be a good final product for students after doing a book study.
While I was looking on the internet I found a website for a first grade class that I would like to model my class after. This teacher has put podcast on her class website so anyone can view them. These podcast are things the students are learning in the class. It would be a great tool for when parents ask their students what they did in class today. They could go to the class website and pull up podcast to show their parents. I think parents would be very impressed at how much students could use technology in the classroom. I hope to create a website and use podcasting in the up coming school year.
The first podcast I previewed was Jamestown Elementary School. I loved this site and how the whole school came together and created podcast to put on their website. I think this would be awesome for students in MISD. If each school had podcast available on their websites students could learn from other students right around the corner. This would be a great way to see what students at other schools around MISD are learning. I also listened to several book reviews on Just One More Book. I feel like this could be very beneficial for teachers. We could go and listen to the review of the book and get other ideas about the book. This could be a model for students in your class too. They could listen to several of the reviews and create their own. This would be a good final product for students after doing a book study.
While I was looking on the internet I found a website for a first grade class that I would like to model my class after. This teacher has put podcast on her class website so anyone can view them. These podcast are things the students are learning in the class. It would be a great tool for when parents ask their students what they did in class today. They could go to the class website and pull up podcast to show their parents. I think parents would be very impressed at how much students could use technology in the classroom. I hope to create a website and use podcasting in the up coming school year.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Thing #16
Library Thing
This past year I started too make a spreadsheet with all the books I had in my class. After buying books for Half Price Books and Scholastic Book clubs I lost track. I did not have time to type in the title, author and topics. Library Thing might just save my life. Ok maybe that is an exaggeration but I am excited to use it. I can type in the ISBN number and the book will be added. I cannot wait to get back to my classroom and put my class books in Library Thing. I cannot even tell you how much time I spent this year looking through the books in my classroom library. i was either looking in my books for a certain book or books on a certain topic. Using Library Thing will allow me to easy see the books I have in my classroom library. I can easily look at Library Thing and see if I need to go to the school library or if i have the book on my shelf. I can also look by topics. If I needed a book about traveling I can check to see what books are available in my class. Thank you Library Thing!
This past year I started too make a spreadsheet with all the books I had in my class. After buying books for Half Price Books and Scholastic Book clubs I lost track. I did not have time to type in the title, author and topics. Library Thing might just save my life. Ok maybe that is an exaggeration but I am excited to use it. I can type in the ISBN number and the book will be added. I cannot wait to get back to my classroom and put my class books in Library Thing. I cannot even tell you how much time I spent this year looking through the books in my classroom library. i was either looking in my books for a certain book or books on a certain topic. Using Library Thing will allow me to easy see the books I have in my classroom library. I can easily look at Library Thing and see if I need to go to the school library or if i have the book on my shelf. I can also look by topics. If I needed a book about traveling I can check to see what books are available in my class. Thank you Library Thing!
Thing #15
Wiki Sandbox
Creating the Sandbox page was lots of fun. After watching the video I was expecting the sandbox to be difficult I was impressed on how easy the page was to make. I thought the saving and editing part would be time consuming but it was fast and a piece of cake. I first looked at other participants pages to get an idea of how I would like to create my page. I got a pretty good feel on how I would like my page to look. One of the hardest things was narrowing down my favorites to just a few. It also was hard to decide on which Web 2.0 pieces to put on the page. The burning questions were very interesting. I liked to see people questions and it gave me a feel for their personalities. After making my page I went back and made a few changes. Overall this was a great activity and students would love to do this at the beginning of the year to learn about each other.
Creating the Sandbox page was lots of fun. After watching the video I was expecting the sandbox to be difficult I was impressed on how easy the page was to make. I thought the saving and editing part would be time consuming but it was fast and a piece of cake. I first looked at other participants pages to get an idea of how I would like to create my page. I got a pretty good feel on how I would like my page to look. One of the hardest things was narrowing down my favorites to just a few. It also was hard to decide on which Web 2.0 pieces to put on the page. The burning questions were very interesting. I liked to see people questions and it gave me a feel for their personalities. After making my page I went back and made a few changes. Overall this was a great activity and students would love to do this at the beginning of the year to learn about each other.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Thing #14
Wikis
I am having a hard time of thinking how to use a Wiki in a first grade classroom. Most of the wikis i visited were for students 6th-12th grade. I did find a wiki for primary grade students. The site was Primary Math. They used their wiki to communicate about Math all over the world. I like how this was a wiki for anyone. After reading this sight I thought it might be fun for my students to communicate with students in another country. We could all write a story together, creating and modifying parts of the story on the wiki. This would help students to understand how children around the world are learning the same things. I wish the Primary Math website would have had more interaction with the teachers but I do like the concept.
I am in love with Mr. Lindsey's wiki page. This is a brilliant idea. I love how he has everything students need to know about his class. He has links to homework, new events, brainteasers and his own blog. My favorite part is that his students have blogs. They are accessible from his wiki. The students are posting assignments on their blog and other students can check out the completed work. This is so powerful for students to use. One problem I do see with a website like in my school is the accessibility of computers to my students. Not all of the students have computers at home so most work would have to be done on school time.
I also enjoyed the Salute To Suess. I watched the video by Miss Karen's Class. They had pictures of activities the did to celebrate Dr. Suess. From just watching the slideshow I already have ideas what activities to do with my students next year. Ms. Wilson's class read How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Each student has a quote on the site about the book. This is a way for the students to take ownership in their thinking. This is something I hope to use in my class next year.
Most of the things I have done in 23 Things are so valuable for the classroom but not many people know about them. I hope to show others teachers on my campus some of the things I have learned to do.
I am having a hard time of thinking how to use a Wiki in a first grade classroom. Most of the wikis i visited were for students 6th-12th grade. I did find a wiki for primary grade students. The site was Primary Math. They used their wiki to communicate about Math all over the world. I like how this was a wiki for anyone. After reading this sight I thought it might be fun for my students to communicate with students in another country. We could all write a story together, creating and modifying parts of the story on the wiki. This would help students to understand how children around the world are learning the same things. I wish the Primary Math website would have had more interaction with the teachers but I do like the concept.
I am in love with Mr. Lindsey's wiki page. This is a brilliant idea. I love how he has everything students need to know about his class. He has links to homework, new events, brainteasers and his own blog. My favorite part is that his students have blogs. They are accessible from his wiki. The students are posting assignments on their blog and other students can check out the completed work. This is so powerful for students to use. One problem I do see with a website like in my school is the accessibility of computers to my students. Not all of the students have computers at home so most work would have to be done on school time.
I also enjoyed the Salute To Suess. I watched the video by Miss Karen's Class. They had pictures of activities the did to celebrate Dr. Suess. From just watching the slideshow I already have ideas what activities to do with my students next year. Ms. Wilson's class read How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Each student has a quote on the site about the book. This is a way for the students to take ownership in their thinking. This is something I hope to use in my class next year.
Most of the things I have done in 23 Things are so valuable for the classroom but not many people know about them. I hope to show others teachers on my campus some of the things I have learned to do.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Thing #13
Social Bookmarking
This past year my team spent a lot of time emailing back and forth asking for websites we have used. Now with social bookmarking (delicious) my team can now share websites. This will have use more time and be very helpful. I bookmarked many children's auhors. I enjoy going to their websites and learning about them. Many of the authors websites have lesson ideas that can be used as a follow up activity.
I was surprised at how easy it was to create tags to a bookmark. I always had thought it would take forever to tag a website so I had never done it before. I will start using this for my class. So many times I find a website that I like but I don't save the website because if I bookmarked everything I would never be able to find it again. Now I can save it to my delicious site and tag the website. This will save me so much time next year so I don't have to google every time I am looking for a website I have been to before.
This past year my team spent a lot of time emailing back and forth asking for websites we have used. Now with social bookmarking (delicious) my team can now share websites. This will have use more time and be very helpful. I bookmarked many children's auhors. I enjoy going to their websites and learning about them. Many of the authors websites have lesson ideas that can be used as a follow up activity.
I was surprised at how easy it was to create tags to a bookmark. I always had thought it would take forever to tag a website so I had never done it before. I will start using this for my class. So many times I find a website that I like but I don't save the website because if I bookmarked everything I would never be able to find it again. Now I can save it to my delicious site and tag the website. This will save me so much time next year so I don't have to google every time I am looking for a website I have been to before.
Thing #7a
As I was looking through my Google reader I found some interesting updates. I subscribed to a daily devotional, so I found many encouraging verses that have helped me this week. I am also subscribed to Literacy Is Priceless. I looked at one of the new post and Anna, the creator, is presenting at the National Education Computing Conference. She posted her slide show for the presentation on her blog. As I was reading through her presentation I came across a website that she had listed. The website was Free Reading.. This site is a reading intervention for grades K-3. I took a while and looked over the website. I am amazed at what this program has to offer. It has intervention lesson for 40 weeks. The lessons are already created so the teacher does not have to prepare much. I found this to be a struggle this past year. I was planning literacy lessons each day plus acceleration and tutoring lessons. I feel like this could be a great resource for teachers of K-3. There are graphic organizers to reintroduce stories to students and more lesson to help the student grasp the concept. I also had a hard time finding another way to teach a student who did not understand the instruction the first time. I am going to share this website with my team next year and hopefully this will be successful for my students in Acceleration. I probably would have never read this article if I had not used Google Reader.
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