New Teaching Tools

   After learning about the RSS feeds and Twitter I am finding myself looking at the way education is going in my school and also my classroom.  I feel that there is so much out there that we can use and are learning to use, but I am not sure that the district is keeping up as well.  Our district is committed to using technology, but I need guidelines on what is ok to do and use.  With that I have found some new tools this week that I am excited to try out and in the very near future.
   I have talked a lot in my work for class lately about our 2nd grade zoo at parkway.  It is a tradition of 2nd grade and has been done the same way for many many years.  There is so much we could do to update the whole process and I think now is the time.  Every year we have at least 15 kids with huge disappointment that their parents were not there.  Now we can use ScreenCasting to make sure that parents can see what is happening at the zoo.  It will take only a few minutes for students to read their reports to the computer and have it narrate to the picture of their diorama.  It will be very simple and the students will have, I am sure great success.
   I am also working on creating a Wiki for my classroom this week and am finding it very easy to do and create.  I do like that I will have the freedom to set the page as I would like to rather than have to follow the "strict" formatting of the district webpage.  It is really kind of a pain to try and figure that out.  With my Wiki the same info will be there with even greater images, visual appeal, links, and imports.  I like the way it is turning out, it is just a matter of playing with it to get the look I want.  It should not be to hard--and I am already liking the end product!  

Creative Commons and More

    For class this week I have enjoyed going back through some old photos from my summer academy class that taught digital photography.  It was a fun class with a bunch of successful photos taken.  The students shared their photos and were letting other students in the class and school use them for various projects.  If I had know about creative commons at the time of the class I would have had each student create one like this.  Further I would have had a Flicker site set up for the class so they could choose a creative commons attribute for it or choose to keep the photo private.  It would be a great way for the students to choose what could happen with their photos.  I guess this will come into play as I do my Summer Academy classes that are coming up in a few months.
Below are a few of my example flicker photos.

www.flickr.com Digital Photo SA2011's Student Samples photoset

    RSS seems to be really working for me.  I am trying my best to keep up with reading the articles and blogs that I have subscribed to, but I doubt I will be able to as there are so many updates.  What I do love is that I can simply click on my subscription page and see what is new without ever having to navigate to the multiple pages.  What I am finding is that there really is a lot of information out there and it is just a matter of keeping up with it.  The idea of the RSS really does make this a lot easier!


Student Samples (Summer Academy 2011) / CC BY 3.0

Wikis

     So this week I got to go in depth and research a topic that I was told growing up was not to be used as research.  High school told us that "Wiki was tricky" and anyone could post on it therefore it was not to be trusted.  That was the old way of thinking.  After looking at wikis and how they could be used in education I was impressed.  There are lots of things to do with Wikis and even trusted research that is out there.  I looked up a few topics I know  whole lot about and man.....that info was right on!  No lies or mistakes that I could find when reading the written word of Wiki!
     I have also enjoyed continuing reading on blogging and using it in schools.  It seems that the idea is still coming into acceptance in the schools.  It will, I am sure, take some time yet....but they will get there.  Teachers in our district are still struggling with a classroom webpage that they simply have to edit the text, everything else is all set up.  I guess it would be a long way to go to ask them to set up their own blogs.  But once they see just how successful it can be and easy....I am sure they will jump on board.
     Group work this week again in the Etherpad was a bit un-nerving.  I am still fearful that someone will screw with the groups work it would be lost.  I am also finding that the rainbow effect with this is frustrating for some people.  The lack of a spell check is also concerning for those who depend on it......I guess I am having to check my own spelling for now!

Blogs 2.0

Blogging seems to be a great new way of the future, all in part thanks to web 2.0.  It takes a lot for a person to understand all of the terms and means for all of the technology tools we have, especially when they are always evolving right under our noses when we are trying to learn.  It seems to be much like the metaphor I heard about education and it evolves.  "It is like trying to redesign and change the wings of an airplane mid-flight."  Quite a challenge when you think about it.
The readings this week have really helped to push me into understand terms and concepts in a very simple way.  For example, Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0.  The idea of read only vs Read/Write made it so clear.  Also defining what a blog is and what it is not.  I was concerned with the idea that my blog may not actually be a blog but a journal was a big frightening.  What did confuse me with the readings though was reading what a blog should do and contain, and then clicking through many links the author called blogs--and they did not meet his defintion.  Strange I thought.
Our group work this week seemed to be a bit unnerving as well.  We are working in a format that is open to anyone who knows how to get to the link.  This means that anyone is able to come through and completely destroy my work and it is only backed up on a recording of the key strokes.  Very unsettling, especially as one of my projects earlier in the programs was lost to a short trial version that I was unaware of.
I am taking a lot from exploring the various blogging sites.  My choice to review Posterous, 21classes, and EduBlog, is proving to be quiet educational.  I am finding that I like/dislike many features of all the sites.  Maybe if I were wise enough I would be able to create a blog that would do everything I wanted.  I am sure it is out there somewhere, but it will probably cost me an arm and a leg.  Not something I wish to spend my money on when I already struggle to keep up with my own school and class blogs!
**** side note--this truly is my first "blog" post in accordance with our reading as it includes links!

Wrapping It All Up and Putting It Together.

So this week we are reviewing again technology and what to look at when buying it.  We are also re reviewing rubrics and making them.  There is nothing wrong with the practice of this all, but I feel that we are doing it over and over.  I am glad for the practice, and the tools, I just wish that doing some of it more practical for the current classrooms we are in.  I have chosen to do my rubric on the 2nd grade animal report and how the technology will be used in it.  This is great as the rubric is going to be used in a month!
As for the Pecha Kucha---man I do not like the sound of my own voice and I am finding that even if I am not reading from a script, it sure sounds like I am.  I am a trying to redo it so this is not the case, but it is tough!  I like my story, order, and pictures.  If only I had a great "presentation" or "radio" voice I would feel better!
Group work this week--we are skipping face flow and going right to a Vroom.  The Vrooms have proven to work, so we have gone with what is proven.
Time to work out the final details of the Pecha Kucha!

Prepping the Pecha Kucha, Face Flow, and Prezi

So I have finally nailed down my Pecha Kucha idea.  Now it is time to start on the story board.  It should not be to hard, it is just figuring out the order and then putting down what words go with it.  After meeting with my group we discovered that it takes, with a normal talking speed 50-60 words to fill the 20 second time limit.  Very do-able.  If need be 40 words a bit slower!!!
Meeting on Face Flow was, to me, basically meeting on Skype.  The only real difference was that we were able to meet in more of a group setting.  It was fun to see a face with the name I see every week!
The concepts that make a good picture was pretty well known to me.  I have seen the article before and actually used it in a digital photography class I taught over the summer.  We did a similar project, but there were assigned topics for the photos as well.  I enjoyed going back over my photos.  I do realize that they are only from my Iphone and not the best ones I have ever taken, but it has been hard for me to keep up with daily pictures and post when there is really just so much going on right now.  At least when outdoors I normally take a photo and that really helps!
Finally the readings this week were great.  I love the analogy of presenting and Judo.  Each takes practice and with that practice comes the ability to make a move without thought.  It just happens.  One does not and SHOULD NOT think about how they are doing in the moment.  When you do that, you start to fail.  You can always look back and think about it later!!!!

Reading That Matters

So finally a chapter I have read that really means something to me and was useful!  The concepts and principles that we learned about I have put to use.  The assignments that are going along with the readings this week are ones that are also useful for my life and job as well.  I actually went through and changed what my original presentation was from last week so I could modify a lesson/presentation that I will be using in the up coming month as my 2nd grade class begins a new unit.  I found that I really need to simplify my presentations and create a handout.  That is exactly what I did.  I also found some cool animated clipart.  It is not able to play in the Voice Thread due to the Activinspire upload issue.  I have to upload the presentation in a PDF format and therefore it is a "still."
The videos in the Animoto education videos were pretty fun as well this week.  I like the videos that say "So much depends on...."  They were pretty clever with the various items.  I.E. the big mustache, the head band, ect.
I have also been thinking about what to make my Pecha Kucha about.  I have two ideas that I am excited about and they are actually for somethings outside of my school life.  I plan on either doing a show on Adaptive Sportsmen.  This is a group of outdoors people who are handicapped in some way.  I work very close with this group and we need a presentation for the webpage/sports shows we attend.  OR... I will make the presentation on Marfan's Syndrome.  A genetic cardiac condition that lead to myself and many family members having open heart surgery.  I am a mentor for families/people going through much the same I did. The presentation may help and could easily be passed along to them.
Overall a good week of work.  --Time to post some pictures!!!!