Where do I start on what I have learned. This course has been so informational and at times so overwhelming. I am going to have to go back and review items that I think I will be able to use in my position so that I will be able to use them effectively. We have experienced so many different items and learned to do so many things I didn't event know were available.
Thanks for all the time and effort put into this course as well as the time spent in reading all the blogs. This has been a great learning experience and I hope I will continue to further explore all 23 Things and learn more and more about them.
Blogging Out - For Now
Friday, July 3, 2009
Thing 23
This site is a new thing for me. I have never heard of Ning but what a wonderful idea. The entire Facebook/My Space has worried me about there not being any way to monitor what information, pictures, videos, etc. are put on the site. This is a wonderful way to network with others who teach the same subject/grade. Even though I don't teach I think we could use this as a tool to monitor to see what subjects teachers are interested in and use that information in forming staff development sessions geared toward those interests.
You can connect with other on your grade/subject or on a specific subject. I was interested in the whiteboard discussion. My daughters have really used these in their first grade classrooms so it was interesting for me to hear what others are saying. This is an awsome way of using social networking within the education world.
You can connect with other on your grade/subject or on a specific subject. I was interested in the whiteboard discussion. My daughters have really used these in their first grade classrooms so it was interesting for me to hear what others are saying. This is an awsome way of using social networking within the education world.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Thing 22
OK, 23 Things has done it. For several years my daughters have tried to get me to create a Facebook account. Stacy is always saying I say... on Facebook. She would tell me if I only had a Facebook account that I could keep up with what is going on. Then my boss, Dr. Karen Nix, get one and starts telling me information she gets on Facebook.
OK, I now have a Facebook!!!! Here is my Facebook. I have a profile picture and several friends. Stacy has already tagged about 40 pictures on there. I am trying to get up to speed on the social networking thing. It has taken a while, but here I am!
OK, I now have a Facebook!!!! Here is my Facebook. I have a profile picture and several friends. Stacy has already tagged about 40 pictures on there. I am trying to get up to speed on the social networking thing. It has taken a while, but here I am!
Thing 7b
I received a news story about the Texas Giant being closed down at Six Flags. It has been closed since Monday, but officials would not comment on the problem. Today they said that it is closed due to the wood being dried out because of the hot weather. They will not disclose if anyone was injured prior to them closing the ride. For the full story go to the following link Texas Giant.
Thing 21
I downloaded Google desktop to my computer at home. I really like it because it has the temperature for your zipcode and it scrolls through all the pictures on you computer. It makes a really neat side bar. I have used Google Earth before and it is a really neat tool to use, especially if you are looking to purchase a house. You can actually go in and look at the neighborhood.
I looked into Google SketchUp 7 but I don't think there is anything that I would use this for. I went in a made a Google Calendar, Diana's Google Calendar. I work with a Google Calendar with the Technology Department. I have access to read it, but not make changes. This calendar is very similar to the one we use to schedule rooms at the PDC. It is user friendly and easy to navigate.
I looked into Google SketchUp 7 but I don't think there is anything that I would use this for. I went in a made a Google Calendar, Diana's Google Calendar. I work with a Google Calendar with the Technology Department. I have access to read it, but not make changes. This calendar is very similar to the one we use to schedule rooms at the PDC. It is user friendly and easy to navigate.
Thing 20
Family Cruise July 2006
This has been so much fun to play around with. I did the document, spreadsheet and uploaded a document. After I finish that I did a presentation, Above is a link to a cruise we took as a family in July 2006. I spent time on this and it is so easy to do.
I also worked on creating a form. This is something that I need in my job. I am creating forms for Staff Development and I think I will be able to use this a lot. It is very user friendly and easy to get around in. I was even able to do a multiple choice question. I also like the fact that you can force a question to be answered.
This has been so much fun to play around with. I did the document, spreadsheet and uploaded a document. After I finish that I did a presentation, Above is a link to a cruise we took as a family in July 2006. I spent time on this and it is so easy to do.
I also worked on creating a form. This is something that I need in my job. I am creating forms for Staff Development and I think I will be able to use this a lot. It is very user friendly and easy to get around in. I was even able to do a multiple choice question. I also like the fact that you can force a question to be answered.
Thing 19
An idea that I have to use Voicethread in my position is to make one with the Electronic Registrar. We constantly have people calling and not understanding how to get on ERO and look at their transcripts, register for classes, drop classes, etc. I could make a voicethread and e-mail it to them when they are having problems and that would give them direct instructions. I could get a copy of each screen on ERO and narrate how to login, press the tabs across the top of the screen to look at their transcript, etc. This would be a neat tool to have.
I loved the way different people interpreted the picture in Coming and Going. While a lot of them had some of the same ideas, each individual one was original. The first one mentioned that they might be going to the beach and a lot of them kept with that idea. It was fun to hear the different views.
In Measuring Volume of Wierd Objects it was neat to see the step-by-step pictures. I think the visual helped to make it easier to understand. This could be used as a great learning tool.
I loved the way different people interpreted the picture in Coming and Going. While a lot of them had some of the same ideas, each individual one was original. The first one mentioned that they might be going to the beach and a lot of them kept with that idea. It was fun to hear the different views.
In Measuring Volume of Wierd Objects it was neat to see the step-by-step pictures. I think the visual helped to make it easier to understand. This could be used as a great learning tool.
Thing 18
We just got a copy of Photoshop to use in staff development. I will be the one that will be using this software. I found a video on Photoshop on YouTube. This will be really helpful as I learn to use this new software. I subscribed to this site so that as new information is posted I will be able to learn more nuggets about this software. I also found a video on how to embed a YouTube video into Powerpoint. This is something I have done in the past, but have spent a lot of time working on getting it to work. This video showed me the correct and quicker way to do it.
I have only used YouTube to watch funny videos that people have told me about. When I got in and started doing searches for education things, wow!, I was really suprised at what is available. I was able to find lots of videos on techniques I will be able to use in my hobby, rubber stamping.
I found a funny video of a little boy that was on the Ellen Show and he loves vacuum cleaners. It was so funny. Another one of my favorite videos is Charlie Bit Me.
I have only used YouTube to watch funny videos that people have told me about. When I got in and started doing searches for education things, wow!, I was really suprised at what is available. I was able to find lots of videos on techniques I will be able to use in my hobby, rubber stamping.
I found a funny video of a little boy that was on the Ellen Show and he loves vacuum cleaners. It was so funny. Another one of my favorite videos is Charlie Bit Me.
Thing 17
Podcast - what are they? I explored several different podcasts. I listened to some first graders reading stories they have written, a middle school that podcast their monthly news/announcements and one about being green without being a hippie. It was precious to hear the first graders read the stories they have written and I am sure that it thrilled them to hear their own voice reading a story they have written. What a tool to encourage new readers. The middle school news was probably heard by more students on a podcast than over the announcements at school. Using the technology that the kids are using is a great way to get information about school out to the student body.
The More Hip Than Hippie podcast was very disappointing. I only listed to the first part of it because they were using inappropriate language. This just proves that we must always audit anything we use prior to using it. This could be a really bad situation if we found the podcast and read about it and then went to use it and didn't realize that there was bad language used.
Two podcast that I subscribed to are Learn Out Loud - 8 Quotes, a motivation podcast under the Staff Development category, and UpWords by Max Lucado, a daily podcast on christian living. The Learn Out Loud could possibly be used in staf development. I will monitor this and see if there is anything useful.
The More Hip Than Hippie podcast was very disappointing. I only listed to the first part of it because they were using inappropriate language. This just proves that we must always audit anything we use prior to using it. This could be a really bad situation if we found the podcast and read about it and then went to use it and didn't realize that there was bad language used.
Two podcast that I subscribed to are Learn Out Loud - 8 Quotes, a motivation podcast under the Staff Development category, and UpWords by Max Lucado, a daily podcast on christian living. The Learn Out Loud could possibly be used in staf development. I will monitor this and see if there is anything useful.
Thing 16
The LibraryThing is something I think I could use in the Staff Development Department. We have a library of books that people all over the district use. Teachers will call and ask if we have a book and we are constantly looking through the books to see if we can find it. We have a "list" but it is not up to date. Using LibraryThing we could put all of the Staff Development books on there and be able to tell someone quickly if we have the book.
After New Teacher Orientation (summer is one of our busiest times) I am going to try and get this implemented. I could also do this for the ladies I work for. This way they could locate a book quickly. Often when someone calls it is hard for them to remember if they actually had the book or if they just read it. I think this could be an effective tool in our office.
After New Teacher Orientation (summer is one of our busiest times) I am going to try and get this implemented. I could also do this for the ladies I work for. This way they could locate a book quickly. Often when someone calls it is hard for them to remember if they actually had the book or if they just read it. I think this could be an effective tool in our office.
Thing 15
The Wiki Sandbox was lots of fun and I enjoyed looking at the other participants pages. It is interesting to see how different each person's page is. The information about making little edits and then saving was good advice. A few times I would get involved and forget to save and I guess I would have too much information and would have to go back and redo. I enjoyed the burning questions. Some are very serious while others are just fun. It will be interesting to watch the comments on the different question.
The tools in the Sandbox are very easy to use and are a lot like those in word processing documents. I have worked quite a bit with graphics so I was able to insert pictures and artwork without any problem. This is one of my favorite activities so far.
The tools in the Sandbox are very easy to use and are a lot like those in word processing documents. I have worked quite a bit with graphics so I was able to insert pictures and artwork without any problem. This is one of my favorite activities so far.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Thing 14
In the Wiki 1001 Flat World Tales it is so interesting how student in Korea, Colorado and Hawaii are all able to post, comment and suggest changes on the same story. What a wonderful tool to get input from so many places. Students will take suggestions from their peers better than from their teachers. This is an awesome tool to strengthen students writing skills.
I also explored Grazing for Digital Natives. It was great to see all the tools that are available on the left hand of the page. I went in and played with Voicethreads. This program allows you to upload pictures and then you can put a voice in that explains the picture or have someone in the photo talking about what is going on. This would be fun to do a reflective activity after a lesson. Pictures could be taken during the activity and then the students would be able to talk about what they were learning or thinking about. When students see their own picture and are able to talk link their voice to speak about the picture they will have excitement about learning.
The third site that I really enjoyed was Code Blue. This is a 6th grade medical informational site. Some of the items that really caught my eye were the links on smoking, drugs and alcohol. This is a wonderful way for young people to get information on the danger of these habits. This site had sites about the actual body as well as safety items such as bicycle safety and even sun screen. Hopefully this will help students to consider the dangers of bad habits early in life.
In my position I am considering trying to implement a Wiki page for our New Teacher Orientation (NTO). We could set up a Wiki page and everyone could post items that we needed to make sure we finished before NTO started. As we completed an item we would be able to go in and mark it as complete. With so many different people work on NTO it would be great to have one location that we could go and make sure everthing is being taken care of.
I also explored Grazing for Digital Natives. It was great to see all the tools that are available on the left hand of the page. I went in and played with Voicethreads. This program allows you to upload pictures and then you can put a voice in that explains the picture or have someone in the photo talking about what is going on. This would be fun to do a reflective activity after a lesson. Pictures could be taken during the activity and then the students would be able to talk about what they were learning or thinking about. When students see their own picture and are able to talk link their voice to speak about the picture they will have excitement about learning.
The third site that I really enjoyed was Code Blue. This is a 6th grade medical informational site. Some of the items that really caught my eye were the links on smoking, drugs and alcohol. This is a wonderful way for young people to get information on the danger of these habits. This site had sites about the actual body as well as safety items such as bicycle safety and even sun screen. Hopefully this will help students to consider the dangers of bad habits early in life.
In my position I am considering trying to implement a Wiki page for our New Teacher Orientation (NTO). We could set up a Wiki page and everyone could post items that we needed to make sure we finished before NTO started. As we completed an item we would be able to go in and mark it as complete. With so many different people work on NTO it would be great to have one location that we could go and make sure everthing is being taken care of.
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