Well, I have to say... its been quite a ride.
I really like the YouTube, Skype and Twitter essentials. And I guess, that this would go hand in hand with the PLN essential. I really see the value in using this technology to collaborate and communicate. In these trying times we HAVE got to find a way to do things smarter, and not double or triple our workload.
Picnik is no doubt a tool that has worked very, very well with my students. Also using the online tools is another area where I have had a great deal of success with my students. It is amazing to see what can be produced by 7th and 8th graders.
In my opinion, the learning will never stop... it can't and I can't. I will continue to learn, explore, discover and share. I love this stuff. No matter what I do in the future, no matter what path I go down both personally and professionally, I will continue to learn. I love learning...
I can honestly say that I will use almost all these resources from this course. Surprisingly, the one I have not really taken to is Delicious... NOT because I don't think it has a place, but I think because I would have literally 1,000+ bookmarks by then end of the year. Then, I would have to spend all summer going through them.... just too much.
I would like to conclude by thanking my facilitator Carol for all her comments and hard work throughout this journey.. Thanks.. its been a great ride!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Essential #14 - Resources for STUDENT Use
The two resources that I have decided to use for STUDENT USE are two that I actually have used with my students. Actually, they have been the ones using these sites. They are not learning sites or sites with facts, but rather sites that they can go and create information.
The first one allows the students to actually become bloggers themselves - it is Kidblog.org. Here you can set up blogs for each one of your students and allow them to post to them. They can then comment on each others. I have to say that I was absolutely AMAZED how much my 7th and 8th grade students took to this. You could seriously hear a pin drop when they would get a chance to blog. If you use any type of journals, they this is a site you most definitely should check out.
The other is Glogster. What this is.. .is imagining instead of doing a poster-board on a certain topic, you would get your students to create that poster online. This is what Glogster can do for you.. to get a better idea, click HERE for some examples.
Again, these are two resources that I am currently using with my students and they LOVE it.
The first one allows the students to actually become bloggers themselves - it is Kidblog.org. Here you can set up blogs for each one of your students and allow them to post to them. They can then comment on each others. I have to say that I was absolutely AMAZED how much my 7th and 8th grade students took to this. You could seriously hear a pin drop when they would get a chance to blog. If you use any type of journals, they this is a site you most definitely should check out.
The other is Glogster. What this is.. .is imagining instead of doing a poster-board on a certain topic, you would get your students to create that poster online. This is what Glogster can do for you.. to get a better idea, click HERE for some examples.
Again, these are two resources that I am currently using with my students and they LOVE it.
Essential #13 - Resources for MY Contnet Area
There are so many wonderful resources out there to share, the difficult part was trying to find two that I use and would think that other educators would be interested in as well. For this, I really tried to think "outside the box" and not put my usual favorites such as Internet4Classrooms or FreeTech4Teachers. I wanted ones that maybe went past just the educational realm.
For my first one I was going to do AllMyFaves. Yes, this is also one of my favorite sites, but the one I will decided on and want to share is the AllMyFaves - Educational version. Here you can see countless websites all categorized into separate groups which allows the user to better find what they are looking for.
For the next one I also went with an old favorite of mine that may not be as well known as the others and is NOT strictly for education, but has many, many educational benefits and that is GoWeb20. This site has the latest and greatest Web 2.0 tools, again all categorized so that they user can easily find what they are looking for. And what I really like about both these sites is that if you place the cursor over an icon, you will get a brief description of what the site is. This really helps when searching for new and exciting tools and resources.
For my first one I was going to do AllMyFaves. Yes, this is also one of my favorite sites, but the one I will decided on and want to share is the AllMyFaves - Educational version. Here you can see countless websites all categorized into separate groups which allows the user to better find what they are looking for.
For the next one I also went with an old favorite of mine that may not be as well known as the others and is NOT strictly for education, but has many, many educational benefits and that is GoWeb20. This site has the latest and greatest Web 2.0 tools, again all categorized so that they user can easily find what they are looking for. And what I really like about both these sites is that if you place the cursor over an icon, you will get a brief description of what the site is. This really helps when searching for new and exciting tools and resources.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Essential #12 - Social Bookmarking
Ok... I have to admit, I have had a Delicious account for quite some time now and haven't really used it very much lately. But I have been in the social bookmarking game for quite some time. I first started using social bookmarking when furl was still around. Furl has since been swallowed up by a larger site. So I went to Delicious and found it useful at first, but I guess it was just one of those things that I really never took to. I used it for a bit, loaded it with bookmarks but just never really stayed with it.
Looking back, I can't really give an explanation why that is. It is such a wonderful tool. I struggle every day with where to put links that I would like to go back and review/explore. It seems like Delicious would be perfect for that. I have recently started using the Google Bookmark tool to see if that is more helpful to me, so I can keep all my "stuff" in one place (Google). Either way, it seems to me that social bookmarking is a great tool that can be used for yourself, with colleagues or with students. I will make sure to give Delicious or the Google bookmarking tool much more of a chance to see if it can work for me this time through. Overall, it was great for me to go back and visit my Delicious account.
Looking back, I can't really give an explanation why that is. It is such a wonderful tool. I struggle every day with where to put links that I would like to go back and review/explore. It seems like Delicious would be perfect for that. I have recently started using the Google Bookmark tool to see if that is more helpful to me, so I can keep all my "stuff" in one place (Google). Either way, it seems to me that social bookmarking is a great tool that can be used for yourself, with colleagues or with students. I will make sure to give Delicious or the Google bookmarking tool much more of a chance to see if it can work for me this time through. Overall, it was great for me to go back and visit my Delicious account.
Essential #11 - Personal Learning Networks
Well, I have to say that this is one of the terms that has really, really been brought to the forefront as of late. My first question would be "haven't we always had some sort of PLN?" I would think we have, but with the increase in technology, PLN's that were once limited to your school or district now, your network can stretch all over the world!
I came across a good article about PLN's when doing research for this essential. Its entitled "PLN Blueprint in Five Parts. It gives a good description of what I learned PLN's are.
My PLN has exploded over the past year, mainly with the use of one tool. That would be Twitter. Twitter has allowed me to receive information, resources, tip, tricks and tools from a variety of professionals from around the country. As I have mentioned previously, I follow some educational professionals that offer a wealth of new resources and information.
In my opinion, PLN's are going to take on even more importance in the future as resources are cut or limited. We are going to be more on our own with regards to our Professional Development. PLN's can assist with this and allow us to have access to information that once was not possible. I am a true believer in Personal Learning Networks.
I came across a good article about PLN's when doing research for this essential. Its entitled "PLN Blueprint in Five Parts. It gives a good description of what I learned PLN's are.
My PLN has exploded over the past year, mainly with the use of one tool. That would be Twitter. Twitter has allowed me to receive information, resources, tip, tricks and tools from a variety of professionals from around the country. As I have mentioned previously, I follow some educational professionals that offer a wealth of new resources and information.
In my opinion, PLN's are going to take on even more importance in the future as resources are cut or limited. We are going to be more on our own with regards to our Professional Development. PLN's can assist with this and allow us to have access to information that once was not possible. I am a true believer in Personal Learning Networks.
Essential #10 - YouTube in the Classroom
I have been using YouTube in the classroom for awhile now. I show clips directly from YouTube, but I also use Zamzar to put clips on my website and then refer my students to the site for assignments that are centered around the videos.
You can view the videos that I have put on my website by clicking here.
I have found the YouTube is becoming a much more useful educational tool with each passing day. It used to be that YouTube was just a place to go watch a person falling off his bike and having a good laugh. Now it seems like just about anything that you would like to learn about or how to do, you can just look it up on YouTube.
I even had great success showing parents about YouTube at Parent/Teacher Conferences. I really think that it has gotten a bit of a bad rap and that more and more that we are seeing what a powerful educational tool and resource that YouTube can be.
You can view the videos that I have put on my website by clicking here.
I have found the YouTube is becoming a much more useful educational tool with each passing day. It used to be that YouTube was just a place to go watch a person falling off his bike and having a good laugh. Now it seems like just about anything that you would like to learn about or how to do, you can just look it up on YouTube.
I even had great success showing parents about YouTube at Parent/Teacher Conferences. I really think that it has gotten a bit of a bad rap and that more and more that we are seeing what a powerful educational tool and resource that YouTube can be.
Essential #9 - Using Online Tools to Communicate
I have been using many online tools to communicate with my students for quite some time now.
Let me start with a blog that I follow of a teacher that uses all the latest and greatest tech tools and then blogs about them. I have mentioned it before, but to me... its so good that it is worth mentioning again. That is FreeTech4Teachers. It is a great site for teachers of ALL subject areas to follow. He uses this blog to let others in the world of education know of great tech tools that educators can check out and see if they want to use in their teaching and learning.
As far as someone who is using these tools with students... for that I would like to discuss what I am doing with my students. I have used discussion forums, wikis and blogs with my students. I use the discussion boards on Moodle, which work great for having students turn in assignments. I have used Wikispaces, which was a nice way to basically have a class website where all could contribute to it. And now I am using kidblogs, where my students each have a blog that I monitor and they can post and comment on each others blogs.
If you haven't already... check it out.
Another tool I just started using that may have some potential is Edmodo... also one to look into.
Let me start with a blog that I follow of a teacher that uses all the latest and greatest tech tools and then blogs about them. I have mentioned it before, but to me... its so good that it is worth mentioning again. That is FreeTech4Teachers. It is a great site for teachers of ALL subject areas to follow. He uses this blog to let others in the world of education know of great tech tools that educators can check out and see if they want to use in their teaching and learning.
As far as someone who is using these tools with students... for that I would like to discuss what I am doing with my students. I have used discussion forums, wikis and blogs with my students. I use the discussion boards on Moodle, which work great for having students turn in assignments. I have used Wikispaces, which was a nice way to basically have a class website where all could contribute to it. And now I am using kidblogs, where my students each have a blog that I monitor and they can post and comment on each others blogs.
If you haven't already... check it out.
Another tool I just started using that may have some potential is Edmodo... also one to look into.
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