Thing 11.5

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

I particularly enjoyed the portion on image generators, video hosting, and I was already getting a lot of enjoyment out of microblogging.

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

It is good to get out of your comfort zone and try new things. Even if those things don't work out very well all the time, at least you tried them. This problem and the 23 Things got me out of my comfort zone, and showed me new things.

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

The take-aways were some of the quicker applications for student publishing. Also, while looking in the App store, I found an application that will totally solve equations with one, two and three variables. Something to keep your eyes out for, in a way of warning :)

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

I know that this is a library website, I would love to explore some websites and applications that are math related.

Thing 11: Digital Citizenship

I particularly liked this image because I thought that it touched on what we need to focus on when we talk with our students about digital citizenship.

These are the things that I want to focus on when discussing digital citizenship and internet use in general.

1. Never give out personal inforamtion (last name, address, personal details) on the internet.

2. Be polite to everyone at all times.

3. Discuss the importance of recognizing bullying behaviors.

4. If a student ever feels uncomfortable at school or at home to let an adult know.

5. Due to the ease of copy and paste, discuss documenting other peoples ideas, it is so easy to plagerize (and often they don't even know they are doing it).

6. Go to reputable sites to find information at first, until they can determin their own filters.

7. Spellcheck and proofread

Thing 4: Video Hosting

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

I know that every teacher has said something like, "I wish I could record myself and replay it so that I wouldn't have to repeat myself!" Well, now you kind of can. Uploading videos is easy and can be a lot of fun.

I think that the more that the students can publish the better, And for them to know that it will be seen by their peers, makes it a much more powerful tool. They could have access to so many lessons, instructions, and ideas all about one topic. This would kind of remedy the problem of teaching a mile wide and an inch deep.

Thing 10: Second Life

small cute animals

So, I loaded the software and went into Second Life. What was the first thing to greet me, an avatar that was a bulbous and pulsating testicles and penis. Not as auspicious start...

Thing 9: Slip sliding away

Amazing Math Trick

View more presentations from simone su.

Slideshare and other such websites and applications allow a few advantages, becuase no matter what your operating system format (XP, Windows 7, Keynote) there is a repository to use and share powerpoint-type slideshows. I was trying to think of some advantages for Slideshare. I think that this would be a great way for students share things like notes etc, or if you needed to get some amount of written material, or wanted to get inforamtion out quickly.

Thing 8

You may notice that a few of my posts are out of order. To be honest, sometimes i just didn't feel like doing that particular thing at that time, or I wasnted to think about my post a bit before I published it. The reason that this is almost the last post is becuase I had so much trouble with this.

ScreenCastle would not work at all.

Even after installing and uninstalling Jing several times everytime I tried to open it, a window would pop up and say that the program had encountered a problem.

I did get CamStudio to work but I didn't like it, I found it hard to edit the video.

Screencast-o-Matic wouldn't work either, it asked if I was having a about Java Script errors.

Freescreencast encountered a problem (several times) and had to shut down.

This was not a one day thing.

Wink also had errors. I finally recorded in GoView. Here is the link: http://goview.com/?id=765deb78-f248-4a35-ab9d-039905999fd2

Thing 7, Video Resources

I have been using Youtube and Teachertube in the classroom already. But I enjoyed exploring these additional video resources! to be quite honest I got stuck on Hulu watching National Geographic specials. (This was interesting and entertaining but probably not a good use of my time). And, getting sucked into the vast array of resources, is a danger to us and our students. It really takes some pretty strong willpower for some of our students just not to click! On Hulu even when searching for Math topics I found some very inappropriate videos and video clips. Sometimes, I know that as exciting as the resources are that are available, it is kind of scary too because there are so many inappropriate places to go, even when you do the research. Goodness! What to do? Cross your fingers and pray that the filters to their jobs?

I also , enjoyed exploring the PBS site and found this Video about the Long Island Express, the 1938 Hurricane.

Also attached to some of the video, there is supplementary interviews, videos, links and materials. This is a very useful site for videos. I especially liked the American Experience. This is a great way to show and discuss primary and secondary resources!

thing 6:

I was sitting here trying to think of a clever name for this entry. I was trying to come up with some sort of combo of in the clouds and ipod apps, but i am just being unsuccessful. :D

Speaking of being in the "Clouds," for this thing i look and thought about the meaning of cloud computing. I watched the videos posted to the link and it seems to me that cloud computing is many things to many people. I liked the answer from the representative from paypal the best, I think. He called it "Pie in the Sky." My husband and I were talking about the Commodore 64 computer just this week. My how things have changed! That we can hold in our hands more computing power than what took us to the moon!

I enjoyed exploring the Flat Classroom posting! I would still like to see more examples of how to use math applications with the ipod touch. I would love some more ideas and links if anyone wants to share any. There are a few apps that I think that we may be able to use in class projects, etc.

Thing 5--Microblogging

I have already been using Facebook and Twitter for social reasons and also for keeping up with former students. In fact, I got on Facebook because I had gone to a cyberbullying workshop and the presenter of the workshop practically shamed me into getting involved. My excuse was that I just didn't have time to mess with it. But, as with anything, if you enjoy it, i guess you will find time for it, because I sure did! Meanwhile, i have have found out a part of the true power of social networking and microblogging. From following the presidential campaign to, music and band that I like, being the first to hear about my cousin's recent engagement, keeping in touch with friends, colleagues, and family, to have in-depth discussions on topics from , teaching, health care, to the best shampoo.



I am lucky to see my son use Facebook in virtual study groups and class discussions, collaborating on group projects, etc. Students can also share links to video and audio, photos, and applications. A teacher could set up their own group and have students join comment Tweet from their phones.



As for back-channeling at school, i can see so many advantages! For those students who don't speak up or are afraid to share their thoughts, this tool would empower them to have their voice and their views heard! But as with so many of these tools close monitoring, clear explanation, and vigilant monitoring is a must!

Thing 3--I like Skype

I had already used Skype before and I had seen the advantages of using it in the classroom.

I see the vast benefits and yet I see the scary, scary failure that might occur. This was brought home to me by reading Anne Mirtschin’s post on Using Skype in the classroom! Conceiving of this bit of technology is the scariest thing that I have wrapped my mind around so far. To you people out there in the blogospere, I beg you tell me it will be okay, make the Boogieman go away!

Ah, if I only had a brain! Image generators--Thing 2

I have used a few of these image generators before and have had success with them. There are absolutely limitless possibilities with using these in the classroom. I have to admit though I was very frustrated with Wordle. I spent HOURS trying to get this to work on my computer. Then I switched computers. I have never been able to get this to function, even after following the websites troubleshooting information. I really like the way that Wordle looks and functions (when it does).

I moved on to WordSift, which is not as graphically interesting as Wordle, but it does all the words to be hotlinked. I really liked this because i can really see that helping with vocabulary and language development. In a school where a vast majority of the students have English as their second language, having a definition and help determining the most important ideas are huge.

Next, I explored Glogster. I really enjoyed seeing this and enjoyed looking at that and i can see lots of applications for the classroom. Especially since as a school we are moving toward interdisciplinary teams.

I had already been using Animoto so I looked at Voki. I had a blast with this and I am sure that the kids will too. It put me in mind of some kids that i have had in the past that are just too scared to talk but if they could record their ideas on Voki! I love this idea very much. Also, their was a comment about adding a Voki to an email. I started to think about this. I want to pose this question. Have you ever written an email, only to have it totally misinterpreted? Perhaps, you may have meant it totally innocuously and the person on the other end takes offense because they just read it differently than you intended? Voki would kind of take care of that.

Bookr is a really neat application. I can see tons of applications for Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science. I can also see doing a Geometry book for Math and student-based projects.

Once again, here are several really interesting, user-friendly, applications to use with students.