Thing 22 – Classroom 2.0

July 17th, 2009 by

I have had the pleasure of listening to many of Steve Hargadon’s podcast interviews this summer because of my graduate school classes.  I have really enjoyed listening to other people who are excited about using Web 2.0 tools to transform education in America.  I have spent some time before today exploring the School 2.0 site.  I love that so many people from all over the world are connected through the School 2.0 ning.  I explored some of the forums and got some great ideas about how to integrate blogs and wikis into my classroom this year.  I plan on joining the School 2.0 ning so that I can continue to get great ideas from people all over the world.

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Thing 7c – Google Reader

July 17th, 2009 by

While searching through the many unread articles on my Google Reader I came across this link that really got my attention.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/07/using-blogs-and-wikis-are-core-skills.html

I have made it my goal this year to use blogs in my classroom.  I also would like to create a class wiki that can be used to hold many different projects that my students complete this year.  I think that blogs and wikis are great tools to use in a classroom because students get excited about them and they are great for collaboration.  I also love the fact that students are producing knowledge instead of only consuming knowledge.  I am always looking for more ways to learn about incorporating blogs and wikis into my classroom.

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Thing 7b – Google Reader

July 17th, 2009 by

I must admit that as the summer has gotten extremely busy, I have not stayed very current on my Google Reader.  However, it is one of my goals this year to use my Google Reader more frequently.  I love the fact that I have organized my feeds by topic so I can easily search through the various topics depending on my time.  Today, I was searching my Technology in Education category and came across this site.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/07/izzytodo-easy-to-do-list-builder.html

This site his an easy to do list builder.  I can see this being helpful in personal life and school settings.  I could have a separate to do list for school things.  I know I always have a list going anyway so it would be nice to have a digital form of it.  It also has an assignment tracker that may be nice for homework assignments.  I will take some time to check it out.

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Thing 20 – Google Docs

July 17th, 2009 by

I love Google Docs!  I use it all the time.  I have used it for personal things, grad school, and for summer camp this summer.  It is easy to use, and I love the fact that you can share your documents with others and they can view and change the document from their computer.  I have not used Google Docs in my classroom, but I think there could be many ways to incorporate this into a classroom.  I guess students would need an email address to login and I have not thought through the logistics of this, but I am sure it would be fine.  One way I think Google Docs could be used in the classroom in a collaborative manner is for writing and editing papers.  Students could write a paper in Word, upload it as a Google Doc, and then peer edit with someone else.  Students could invite others to collaborate on their paper and they could peer edit this way.  Teachers would have to set up guidelines for what could be changed on another students paper, but I think if students were shown how to use this tool it could be engaging for them and it could save class time.  It typically takes me a week to complete a writing assignment from start to finish.  If I used a tool like Google Docs students could complete some of the work at home and it would save class time.

I also use Google Docs for personal reasons.  I am on the nursery committee at church and we use Google Docs to keep up with the nursery schedule.  People who are in charge of scheduling all have editing capabilities and can change the schedule when they need to.  This way the schedule is always current and people can login to check to see who works.  This has really helped us make sure someone is always there to work.  I also use Google Docs if I need to work on something with my husband and he is at work.  I can save the document, invite him to collaborate, and we can solve our problems while we are both at work.  Like I said at the beginning, I really love Google Docs.

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Thing 17 – Podcasts

July 16th, 2009 by

As a graduate student, I have had to listen to a variety of Podcast pertaining to technology in education.  I have really enjoyed the experience.  I love listening to other educators who are passionate about integrating technology into their classrooms.  I have not only become interested in using technology in my own classroom, but I also want to see our education system transformed so that our classrooms are more student centered.  I would love to use technology as an avenue to meet my students at their needs and individualize instruction so that each child is being challenged appropriately.

I would love to experiment with my students making podcasts of their own.  I think this could be a way to engage them in novels that we are reading and keep them excited about reading.  Perhaps I will give it a try this year!

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Thing 16 – Library Thing

July 16th, 2009 by

This is a new Web 2.0 tool for me.  I love the idea that I can save books that I want to read or find out more information about in one place.  I also like that I could get great ideas about what to read personally and books I could use in my classroom from this site.  I am not sure if this is a Web 2.0 tool that I will use right away, but it is one that I want to remember.

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Thing 15 – Delicious

July 16th, 2009 by

I learned about Delicious a couple of years ago, but I have not been good about using it.  However, I am taking a class this summer for graduate school and one of our ongoing assignments is to find helpful technology tips and post them on our class discussion board.  If I was smart, I would go back and save and tag all of these helpful links in my delicious bookmarks.  Then, I would have them all in one place that is easy to get to where ever I am.  The think I like the best about this tool is that I can login to my account on any computer and get my bookmarks.

My delicious user name is http://del.icio.us/rebecca.dearolph

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Thing 14 – Quizlet and Voicethread

July 16th, 2009 by

I am currently a student at West Georgia getting my specialist degree in Instructional Technology.  I listened to a podcast and learned about Quizlet.  This is a website where you can create flashcards on any subject matter that can be used to study and review for a test or quiz.  You can also search the many sets of flashcards that other people have created.  This is the collaboration portion of this site.  The flashcards that you create can be viewed by others if you make them public.  I am tutoring a student this summer and he is using Quizlet to review Wordly Wise vocabulary words.  I love Quizlet because it creates flashcards, but you can also play games with the words and take practice quizzes.  I think this gives students a great alternative to studying for Worldy Wise tests.  I am going to try using this site this year instead of having my kids write out their definitions.  I think this will engage my students and help excite them about Wordly Wise.

Another Web 2.0 tool that I have played around with is Voicethread.  We all used Voicethread at the beginning of the class, but I used it this summer in a summer camp that I helped teach.  We used Voicethread to create digital stories.  We had the campers take a digital picture of something in nature, upload the picture, and then write a poem or story to go with the story.  Each kid added their comments and then we played the digital story for them all to hear.  It was really fun.  I think the kids really loved creating the story together.  This is a great way for kids to collaborate on a project together.  I look forward to trying many more Web 2.0 tools and using them to enhance my teaching!

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Flickr – Thing 11

July 10th, 2009 by

pedrosimoes7

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrosimoes7/870649358/

Flickr is a great resource for finding and sharing photos.  I loved spending time searching for pictures that interest me.  One thing I would like to do this year with my students is start student blogs.  I want the blog to be a place where students can reflect on what we are learning in class.  The blog could be a place to discuss things that I am teaching them or other things they are learning in different classes.  I think a fun way to begin would be to find photos that represent their life in someway.  They could upload the photo to their blog and then write an introduction of themselves to share with others.  I posted a picture of a boxer because this is the type of dog that I have.  I could use the picture to write and introduction post of me for my blog.

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Creative Commons – Thing 10

July 10th, 2009 by

Being able to use information I find on the web in my classroom is very important.  I have seen the CC before on some things, but I have never really paid attention to it.  I am glad that I watched these two short videos explaining what Creative Commons is and why it is helpful to me.  One of the things I love about technology and Web 2.0 tools is the ability to collaborate and work with other people on a project.  I never really thought about something I create being fully protected by a copyright.  I am glad to know that I can allow others to freely use information I create and put out on the web.  I created a wiki with my students two years ago to go along with a novel we were reading.  One of the things they loved most about the creation of the wiki was that people all over the world would be learning from the hard work that they did.  This is one of the things that is transforming education as we know it today.

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