Flowgram Presentation

I really enjoyed using Flowgram. It was a very easy site to incorporate information into. I love power point presentations and will continue using them in the classroom with words. It was difficult for me to create the power point without words. I often use a power point to introduce new vocabulary so I feel it is less effective without the words. Yes I do ask the students before letting them know the correct meaning of the word. We discuss the word, I ask the students what they think it means then we see the definition on the screen. Flowgram was a easy way also to introduce new vocabulary. I believe that the students could use the Flowgram to create an all about me page. They could find pictures on the Internet that describes themselves and then use the flowgram to discuss why they choose that picture to represent themselves. I do not believe my power point without text conveyed my emotion or message. I believe some text is important for vocabulary. I believe the all about me flowgram would convey the message without text. Allowing the viewer to hear the voice of the presenter and their emotion in their voice. I will try to use less words when presenting my power point presentations and more pictures. I also need to remember not to make them to distracting so the viewer gets the full concept of the lesson. I really enjoyed learning all the new tools through technology and the web.

Turtle's race with Beaver

Thing 23

http://www.23thingsonastick.blogspot.com/

http://our23things.infopeople.org/2007/04/about_our_23_things_challenge.php

I found two sites that are related to Learning 2.o-23 Things for teachers. The first one was very similar to the learning 2.0. The next one I located was for librarians in the state of California. It was not very attractive it was modified from the learning 2.0 to accommodate librarians. I believe teachers do not teach their students about copyright laws in the lower grade levels. I remember only hearing about copyrighting when entering middle or high school when completed a book report or paper, not to copy straight from the text. We need to teach our students now how not to copyright from the Internet weather it be from clip art to text. Creative commons is a good place to start when teaching copyright laws to your students. I hope to find a easy way to explain copyrighting to my students without going over their heads.


I enjoyed some of the activities we created using the 23 things. I have learned about a lot of new websites and tools to incorporate into my teaching style. Thank you for this opportunity and learning experience.

Title 22 Podcast

I have an apple computer and find it very easy to locate pod casts through Itunes. I recently went to an in service that discussed pod casts and allowed us a couple of minutes to search for useful pod casts for our class. I honestly have not had the opportunity to return to pod casting to view any other sites, until now. I tried viewing the pod casts through the sites listed on the 23 things but found them very difficult to find a specific podcast for my grade level. Then I searched the Internet through Google typing in a lesson topic and adding podcast to the search and found it was a lot easier. Overall, Itunes is the easiest way for me to view pod casts. I can see students being able to locate a podcast of their choice for research about a lesson. I enjoyed watching the cooking pod casts and some educational pod casts. They will soon be in my classroom to better teach my students. I am a little nervous about creating one right now. I hope to become more familiar with them and then maybe one day create one of my own.

Thing 20- Animoto

Animoto was a fun and easy way to create a slide show. I can see teachers using this in the upper and lower grade levels. In the lower grade levels the students would probably work best in a group presenting something they constructed. The students could take pictures of each step and then create a slide show. I wasn't very impressed with the music selection that Animoto gave you. I tried using my I tunes account but for some reason it would not let me up load a song. Then I had some difficulties adding my slide show to my blog. I got it on my blog page but I'm not sure if this will work on my post page. I do have a Gmail account but for some reason I couldn't get logged into it. I do like Animoto it is quick and user friendly.

Thing 21- Animoto

I loved creating this video it was very easy. I had a little trouble choosing my song. I wasn't happy with the selection Animoto gave you. I tried selecting one from my I tunes but for some reason it wouldn't let me. I can see Animoto being used in the upper grade levels as independent work. I could see this working in the lower levels by working in groups. The students could take pictures of a project step by step and then show it on Animoto. I believe they would love to see their work shown on a slide show with music. I hope I downloaded it correctly also.

Thing 20

I have not had a lot of time to look around on youtube before now. I have always tried to look up something when someone informs me of something interesting on it. I did browse through it before my wedding to find different dance moves my husband and I could perform. That was hilarious seeing all the different videos for first dance. I could not pick one youtube to post there are so many great ones. I did have trouble locating my step-sister's youtube of her snow skiing. I don't believe I have the correct title. I found several different snow skiing videos. I find it very easy to navigate through youtube. As far as in the classroom or library you would have to be looking for a youtube very specific for the students to see. A lot of youtubes are banned from our school. I really enjoy seeing the different things on youtube but find a lot not appropriate for our younger students.

Thing 19

I already have a myspace and really enjoy keeping in touch with friends. I love to see every one's pictures and what is going on in their lives. I created a ning account and teacherpop. They were a little confusing at first to located members, but I soon will get the hang of it. Teacherpop had to be supervised my administrations, so I'm not sure it that is why I was having a difficult time locating teachers. I do not think many of my teacher friends in my county are familiar with either website so I don't think it would be easy to locate them. I could see teacherpop useful with teacher friends at APSU. I also enjoyed the food socialising websites. I cannot figure out between bake space or open source food which I like better. I will continue researching and navigating through the sites to see which one I prefer. I love to cook and recently started cooking all the time for my family. I just need some new and interesting things to cook that are quick and simple.

Thing 18

I have had a myspace page for many years now. I really enjoy keeping up with old high school friends. I do not think it will be useful in the classroom because it is banned from being used inside of our schools. It is not child friendly for children to be using. I get scared of stalkers that can find the younger teenagers using myspace or facebook. It says you have to be 16 to create an account. How many of them are really 18??? I would not use this in the classroom only for personal use to keep in touch with friends. I do have mine set to private but these days there are so many ways around being "private."

Thing 17

This is a very good way to organize your websites. On my school lab top I have hundreds of bookmarks for various things I always use in the classroom. This is a great way to keep them organized. I can also embed APSU websites that I have gained from entering the graduate program. I can see Del.icio.us being a very useful tool in my school. When we go into the computer lab it is sometimes difficult for my second grade students to keep up with me to get onto a certain web page. I have found the easiest way is to go through my school web page but I only have a few things listed there. I can see this being very easy for my students to follow to get to a learning website we might be discussing that day. Also, my fellow teachers and I can go onto each other's to see what one another has found in one easy location. I certainly did set up a del.ic.io.us page. It is very awesome.

Thing 16

I already completed the IGoogle page. I really liked the polka-dots theme. I placed some useful gadgets that can be used in and out of the classroom. I have already created a Google calendar for me as well, to keep my organized. It has been a life saver. I could see the IGoogle page being used for personal and in the school activities. Parents could visit my page and see any assignments are due or a special event that might be occurring. It was very easy to set up and navigate through. I felt some of the tools were repetitive for example the to-do list and the stickies. Also the calendar they are tools that you can use to keep yourself organized. All the tools I learned this week were wonderful. I really enjoyed to Zoho account as well. They will be great to incorporate into my classroom.

Thing 15 Part 2 Thing 8

Wikipedia is a website full of information but I'm not quite sure it is all accurate information. I am not sure if it is filled with facts or opinions. We completed a research project last year about famous African Americans. I printed off the information for the students to research their African American. This was a second grade level project. We had a lot of parents complaining about the information on the website. I looked up Bill Cosby and found out a lot of things on Wikipedia were not accurate. For example his birthday. How can we rely on a web page to give us information if it is not correct. I believe this website can be updated by anyone. I feel that it is not an accurate resource for students. The history on Bill Cosby's page was updated but I do not if it is by one person or whom ever that wishes to add something to it.

Thing 15 Wiki Part 1 thing 8

WOW who knew Wiki's were not just for adults. That is what I thought. I have heard and heard about Wiki's and seen adult Wiki's but I have never seen ones that students have produced. Exceptionally Kindergartner's, who knew. It was amazing to see all the collaboration taken place through a Wiki page. It is also wonderful to see it being relevant to the real world of technology. I looked through a lot of the Wiki pages created by teachers and students. I chose to discuss the one's that are around my grade level.
First- Go West by third graders. You can clearly see the students created the work, they have published their name on it. It is amazing to see what students actually learn in the classroom. I hope parent's visit these Wiki's that their child has created. Hopefully the students will not go home anymore saying they didn't learn anything at school today. The flowcharts helped to see exactly what was being learned during the west. Way to go third graders. I like everything about this Wiki.
Second- I chose the Kindergarten counting. I was astonished to see Kindergartners creating a Wiki. It doesn't seem like a lot the students counting to 100 but for those younger students that is fabulous. I wonder though did the students take the pictures or the teacher. I also wonder if they got to choose what they used to display their number. That should have been stated somewhere in the Wiki. Other than those few minor details it was great!
Third- Salute to Seuss this could have been completed by any student. It was fantastic. I could see my school using this also. We take a whole week in honoring Dr. Seuss. We dress up each day out of the week and the students really enjoy it. I believe our school would enjoy this to see everyone effort to create a Wiki. The only thing I would change on this Wiki is have the students work to start the Wiki not embedded inside of it. The creation completed by the students is the most important part so show it off. This is a terrific Wiki any age child could complete.

Thing 14

I found the flowchart and mindmap very easy to use. I would prefer the mindmap for my second grade class. I created a mindmap using bubbl.us it was very easy to create. We are discussing sequencing this week for our reading lesson and this would work excellent to show the story. I like it because you click on a button to create another bubble. You don't have to drag and click it like I had to for the flowchart. Granted both of them are very visual and someone could easily read and understand what the person is saying through on of these charts. I just believe for my second grade students they would grasp more through the mindmap. It is a lot easier to navigate through, using less time to figure out where to put something. It is very easy to change the colors of the chart to individualize for yourself. I really enjoyed using both for myself.

Thing 13-Zoho

Zoho writer is an amazing tool, with everything in one place. It reminds me of Microsoft word, spreadsheet, power points, and the notebook all in one place. Plus it has many more features. I created a Wiki in Zoho writer with very simple step-by-step instructions. I love how you can create an awesome power point and share it instantly. Also, you can get feed back immediately from people all over the world. If you want your work to private then it can. Or if you want to share and collaborate with other people you can do that as well. There are so many options on Zoho. I can see myself using this tomorrow with my students. They would love to be able to create a power point and show it instantly to the whole class. It would also be a great learning tool, for them to critique them selves on their work.

Thing 12

WOW!! Google has done it again. I swear I learn something new everyday and boy I did today, actually more than one. I now have a Google calendar. Anyone that knows me will know I have a calendar in my purse, one at home, school, and one on the refrigerator. I have THEM everywhere. Now I have one place to go the computer to know exactly when something is going to happen or what time I need to be somewhere. I love this new calendar. Now hopefully I will stick with it and only use this one. I love how you can send messages to your phone about your calendar. It was super easy to set up and navigate through. I also got a Google notebook. I'm always searching for new and different things to help teach my students. Now it is in one easy place in my notebook. We have a feast in November to celebrate Thanksgiving. The week before each classes switches classroom for about 30 minutes a day. When a new class comes in I teach them a food to serve at the feast which we will create together and something to take with to the feast for example a place mat or napkin that they have designed. I always find creative things on the Internet print them out and then of course lose them. Now I have one place to store all of my fabulous findings. This is two great new tools I will use daily.

http://www.google.com/notebook/?hl=en#b=BDQqXSgoQreCO1ssj

http://www.google.com/calendar/render?hl=en&tab=wc

Thing 11

I felt google blog search was the easiest way for me to find new feeders. It was very simple to use just like googling. Whatever I was looking for I typed it in and it searched for it, very easy. I did not like Technorati, when I located a feeder I liked and tried adding it, it didn't work. My computer tried to save it to my desktop and I didn't understand that. Once again I still feel this is too new of a feature for me to be taking back to the classroom. I did learn how to view my readers in the shorter version instead of the expanded version. I tried to add a subscribe with using the URL and it would not load. It would continue to tell me to try again. Hopefully I can get this step accomplished at a later date. Overall, RSS seems very easy to get to but not to load onto my page. I'm sure it will become easier with time and practice.

Thing 10 RSS Feeder

The RSS feeder is a little confusing to me. I understand it is a great place to link everything you look at daily into one place. But I had a difficult time finding the link on my favorite websites to make it a RSS feeder. I chose only five readers because like I said I was having a difficult time finding ones of my preferences. I could see this being a good tool in the classroom when I became more knowledgeable of the feature. I could see using it for personal use right now. I could see teacher's using it in the classrooms to quickly show links that they might use to cover a lesson that day. It is very simple to use. I had to create a RSS feeder account and it had all the steps available to you step-by-step. As far as in the classroom right now, I don't think so. I am not sure I would be doing something correctly and accidentally pull something up my students should not be viewing.