What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
My head is spinning with all the knowledge that I have learned from this course. One of my favorite discoveries was learning to use social networking on the internet to my advantange. Searching for news and sharing information efficiently is so easy, with knowledge of blogging, del.icio.us, google doc, Wiki's, etc.
How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
Technology advances rapidly! In the beginning, I was feeling out-of-the-loop in terms of my knowledge of the internet. I knew how to search and find videos, etc, but this course has taken my knowledge to a new level. I am grateful for this and plan to use what I have learned in my teaching. I feel much more up-to-date and plan to continue learning more about the topics covered in this course.
Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
The information learned in this course can be applied both in my professional and private life.
What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Divide the course into two parts with two deadlines, one deadline for part one, and one for part 2.
If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
Yes.
How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities? I will definitely use what I have learned from this program to enhance my teaching.
Now go and comment on some of the other Players' blogs? OK!!!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Thing #22: Nings
I looked at the "Ning for teachers" link, http://teacherlingo.com/, and reviewed the site. I like the idea of having a site that is designed to connect teacher bloggers. However, I found that the blog search is limited. You have to click on one of the general group catergories to expand it, and then have to scroll through all the blogs in that category as you hope to find someone from your subject. In my case, this was over 100 blogs to look through. On the other hand, when you go to the home page and scroll down there is a list of most popular blogs. Some of these have useful information and comments on the practice of teaching in general. There is also lesson plan tab, however, I found that the lesson plans are very limited. I was unable to find any usable lesson plan for my subject. Overall, I think the site is a good idea, but needs some modifications on searching.
Thing #21: Find, Create and Use Podcasts and Audio Books
OK. I think I have figured this one out. I like the idea of podcasting and vidcasting in the classroom. I hope to develop a vidcast project for my students from this experience. They will love this program. I think that they, like myself enjoy learning about things that apply to both school and personal life.
Photostory is very user friendly. BY THE WAY, WE DO HAVE PHOTOSTORY ON OUR SBISD COMPUTERS! I've read all the comments by frustrated teachers that cannot download photostory do to lack of administrator privledges. You probably don't need to. Just do a file search and it should pop up. Click on the photostory exe file. However, don't forget to go through all the steps. Make sure your file is saved as a wmv. You do not have to use switchpod. Instead just go to your blog page and click on the add video link. It will take a LONG time to "process". So, go take a break!
I created my vidcast using pictures from the creative commons on flicker. I would like to add enough pictures to represent all the major phyla of living things. Here is what I have so far...
Photostory is very user friendly. BY THE WAY, WE DO HAVE PHOTOSTORY ON OUR SBISD COMPUTERS! I've read all the comments by frustrated teachers that cannot download photostory do to lack of administrator privledges. You probably don't need to. Just do a file search and it should pop up. Click on the photostory exe file. However, don't forget to go through all the steps. Make sure your file is saved as a wmv. You do not have to use switchpod. Instead just go to your blog page and click on the add video link. It will take a LONG time to "process". So, go take a break!
I created my vidcast using pictures from the creative commons on flicker. I would like to add enough pictures to represent all the major phyla of living things. Here is what I have so far...
Thing #20: Expore YouTube and TeacherTube
I found some really great microscopy videos on YouTube as well as some examples of great student project videos. Below, is an example of a student project that made me laugh! I can just see my students creating something similar. Overall, I found many more useful videos on YouTube versus TeacherTube.
Here is a nice animation review of protein synthesis that I can use with my biology students...
Here is a nice animation review of protein synthesis that I can use with my biology students...
Thing #19: Web 2.0 Awards List
http://www.myheritage.com/face-recognition - this has a feature that can tell you what celebrity that you look like the most and a feature that can tell you which parent you look like more. This may be a fun introduction to a genetics lesson. The kids will love it!
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/ - great blog links and great, useful info in general on health and fitness; allows you to track health and store health info...not sure how secure it is. Another possibly useful site is http://www.peertrainer.com/ - looks interesting, but I haven't tried it. It tracks weight loss and fitness invididually and in groups.
http://www.mothersclick.com/ - lots of useful info here for moms out there
I love the tools below...have already commented on each in previous posts.
http://www.flickr.com/
http://delicious.com/
http://docs.google.com/#all
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/ - great blog links and great, useful info in general on health and fitness; allows you to track health and store health info...not sure how secure it is. Another possibly useful site is http://www.peertrainer.com/ - looks interesting, but I haven't tried it. It tracks weight loss and fitness invididually and in groups.
http://www.mothersclick.com/ - lots of useful info here for moms out there
I love the tools below...have already commented on each in previous posts.
http://www.flickr.com/
http://delicious.com/
http://docs.google.com/#all
Thing #18: Online Applications and Tools
Once again, here is another tech tool that I like! Google Docs is an excellent way to access documents from the web without emailing or putting the document on a USB drive and carrying it around. This past year, I assigned PowerPoint project that had to be presented in class. It was somewhat chaotic trying to open all the different USB drives , and open email attachments on my computer due to Mac/PC and microsoft version differences. Possibly this is the solution. I will have the students upload their docs to Google Doc!
Thing #17: Rollyo
I love the idea of refining searches to several trusted sites rather than having students search billions of sites! Rollyo increases the efficiency of finding information and the accuracy of information by searching only reliable sites.
In this assignment, I divide my students into groups and have them research a specific disease and present their findings to the class. Each group is assigned a different disease.
http://rollyo.com/barrasj/disease_project/
In this assignment, I divide my students into groups and have them research a specific disease and present their findings to the class. Each group is assigned a different disease.
http://rollyo.com/barrasj/disease_project/
Thing #16: Wikis
Added comment to sandbox (comment #6 under "Using Wikis")
Wikis are a great way for teachers and students to collaborate. Teachers can modify assignments or syllabi together by putting it on a Wiki site. Also, students or groups of students can gather information and modify it by creating a Wiki site for a project. For example, each year I assign a different disease to a group of students. This year I think I will have each group create a "Disease Wiki" for their assigned disease and each student in the group will contribute information their wiki site without having to physically meet together, which is usually a problem.
Wikis are a great way for teachers and students to collaborate. Teachers can modify assignments or syllabi together by putting it on a Wiki site. Also, students or groups of students can gather information and modify it by creating a Wiki site for a project. For example, each year I assign a different disease to a group of students. This year I think I will have each group create a "Disease Wiki" for their assigned disease and each student in the group will contribute information their wiki site without having to physically meet together, which is usually a problem.
Thing #14: Exploting Technorati
1. Take a look at Technorati and try doing a keyword search for “School Library Learning 2.0” in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory. Are the results different? I found that the search results were similar in blog posts, tags and in the blog directory. In all three cases some of the student blog for this course came up.
2. Explore popular blog, searches and tags. Is anything interesting or surprising in your results? I was surprised to see "janet jackson" and "animal testing" in the top 10 searches. Some of the most popular blogs are related to technology. This is not a surprise. There is very useful technolgy information available on blogger sites that may be more helpful than calling customer service when you have a technology problem.
3. Create a blog post for Thing #14 and express your thoughts regarding how Technorati and its features could assist you. Since you have now looked at several tools that use tagging (Technorati, de.licio.us, & Flickr), add your thoughts about the value of tagging information.
Technorati is an excellent searching website for avarage people like us to locate blog sites that we can use to share news, information and lessons. Technorati opens up the world of blogging so that we can all share news and information with each other, rather than relying only on traditional news media for news and information. Tagging information with relevant key words is an great way to find useful information, especially on del.icio.us.
2. Explore popular blog, searches and tags. Is anything interesting or surprising in your results? I was surprised to see "janet jackson" and "animal testing" in the top 10 searches. Some of the most popular blogs are related to technology. This is not a surprise. There is very useful technolgy information available on blogger sites that may be more helpful than calling customer service when you have a technology problem.
3. Create a blog post for Thing #14 and express your thoughts regarding how Technorati and its features could assist you. Since you have now looked at several tools that use tagging (Technorati, de.licio.us, & Flickr), add your thoughts about the value of tagging information.
Technorati is an excellent searching website for avarage people like us to locate blog sites that we can use to share news, information and lessons. Technorati opens up the world of blogging so that we can all share news and information with each other, rather than relying only on traditional news media for news and information. Tagging information with relevant key words is an great way to find useful information, especially on del.icio.us.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Thing #13: Tagging and exploring del.icio.us
3. Create a blog post about your experience and thoughts about this tool.
Del.icio.us is a great website for saving my own favorite or useful websites. It is much easier to search for needed links by searching with tags than searching through hunderds of saved favorites. However, it is even better to have the ability not to just access my own sites that I have saved, but also similar sites that others have found. Often the sites that others have saved provided more information than the sites that I found. Again, social networking on the computer increases the effienciency of finding useful and relevant information. Teaching is now a community effort to find the best resources.
Two heads, or millions in this case, are better than one. Using tags such as "biology animation videos genetics" I was able to find several very useful sites for my lessons.
Teachers and students can share useful websites for student learning very easily on del.icio.us. Also, small groups can share useful websites by creating and using an unusual tag.
Del.icio.us is a great website for saving my own favorite or useful websites. It is much easier to search for needed links by searching with tags than searching through hunderds of saved favorites. However, it is even better to have the ability not to just access my own sites that I have saved, but also similar sites that others have found. Often the sites that others have saved provided more information than the sites that I found. Again, social networking on the computer increases the effienciency of finding useful and relevant information. Teaching is now a community effort to find the best resources.
Two heads, or millions in this case, are better than one. Using tags such as "biology animation videos genetics" I was able to find several very useful sites for my lessons.
Teachers and students can share useful websites for student learning very easily on del.icio.us. Also, small groups can share useful websites by creating and using an unusual tag.
Thing #12: Creating Community through Commenting
The two most important points in blog commenting are to read carefully before responding and to be polite. Make sure that you are not misinterpreting the blog post before commenting. And a little kindess goes a long way. If someone takes time and effort to create a blog, then make sure that you are polite in your comments, whether you agree or disagree.
I enjoyed exploring and commenting on the other sbisd bloggers. I came across a couple of "outside" blog sites and commented on those as well. The biology teacher blog is not a typical blog site, in that it only has links to biology vides, however I found these links useful. The parenting wesite has somoe hilarious stories for those in need of a good laugh.
http://biologyteacherblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.5minutesforparenting.com/
I enjoyed exploring and commenting on the other sbisd bloggers. I came across a couple of "outside" blog sites and commented on those as well. The biology teacher blog is not a typical blog site, in that it only has links to biology vides, however I found these links useful. The parenting wesite has somoe hilarious stories for those in need of a good laugh.
http://biologyteacherblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.5minutesforparenting.com/
Thing #11: Library Thing
The Libary Thing website was easy to use. The sign-up was fast and I was able to use the tag word search feature to find the recent books that I have read. I have not had a chance to visit any groups. Students may want to explore this site for book discussions.
Thing #9: Useful blogs and news feeds
Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use? I liked the technorati's category groupings. I was able to find a few useful blogs using this search site.
Which Search tool was the easiest for you?The google blog and technorati search were easy to use. I found some interesting blogs on parenting using the category search on technorati.
Which was more confusing? Syndic8 was not as user firendly as the others. However, I found myself getting sidetacked and overwhelmed with information when searching in general.
What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find? I found a blog on finding happiness when searching health and fitness on technorati. That was interesting.
What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds? I used the links provided and typed in key words in the search box or clicked in categories. I was able to find some good science news feeds.
Which Search tool was the easiest for you?The google blog and technorati search were easy to use. I found some interesting blogs on parenting using the category search on technorati.
Which was more confusing? Syndic8 was not as user firendly as the others. However, I found myself getting sidetacked and overwhelmed with information when searching in general.
What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find? I found a blog on finding happiness when searching health and fitness on technorati. That was interesting.
What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds? I used the links provided and typed in key words in the search box or clicked in categories. I was able to find some good science news feeds.
Thing #8: RSS feeds
What do you like about RSS and newsreaders? I like the news being sent to me rather than searching for news. I like the analogy of the "web inbox" that was discussed in the introductory video.
How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your school or personal life? When I was searching for blogs to add to my reader, I came across useful blogs from other bilogy teachers that share comments about topics and websites. This blog,
http://biologyteacherblog.blogspot.com/, has posted sites of relevant biology youtube videos that can be used for instruction, such as microscopy videos. However, youtube is blocked in our school district.
How can libraries use RSS or take advantage of this new technology? Librarians can instruct students how to use readers and they can use readers to find new innovations in library science.
How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your school or personal life? When I was searching for blogs to add to my reader, I came across useful blogs from other bilogy teachers that share comments about topics and websites. This blog,
http://biologyteacherblog.blogspot.com/, has posted sites of relevant biology youtube videos that can be used for instruction, such as microscopy videos. However, youtube is blocked in our school district.
How can libraries use RSS or take advantage of this new technology? Librarians can instruct students how to use readers and they can use readers to find new innovations in library science.
Thing #7: Exploring google tools
The google alert will be a great way to keep up with current news on topics that my students study during the year. For example I can set-up an alert for genetics or cell biology and get the latest developments without having to search for it myelf. Current news stories are a great way to generate interest in a topic that we are studying at the time.
I also set up a calendar for family events. This will be a great way to share info with my family about our upcoming plans. In the classroom, this feature might be used to share inportant due dates, events or TV programs.
I toyed with the google notebook. I stared a notebook on the topic of cells to share with my students. This way, they don't have to do the searching, I can find the best sites for review or assignments. Also, I can immediately note the sites that I come across when searching and don't forget where they are!
I also set up a calendar for family events. This will be a great way to share info with my family about our upcoming plans. In the classroom, this feature might be used to share inportant due dates, events or TV programs.
I toyed with the google notebook. I stared a notebook on the topic of cells to share with my students. This way, they don't have to do the searching, I can find the best sites for review or assignments. Also, I can immediately note the sites that I come across when searching and don't forget where they are!
Thing #6: Exploring Mashups and Third Party Sites
The mosaic maker site is really amazing. I can build a mosaic in seconds just by typing in a tag name. I created a leaf mosaic and will insert it into my plant study powerpoint lesson for visual interest. It is easy to spend an insane amount of time on flicker and mashups sites. If only I had more time...
The trading card maker would be great for review card games. I could upload images of various cell parts, for example and create cards for review. Or, even better, the students could create their own!
I love the big huge labs site. the possibilites are endless with the calendar maker, jigsaw puzzle maker, badge maker, etc...
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Thing #5: Explore Flickr
I found this beautiful flower picture while searching the creative commons for biology related photos. This picture is titled "Flower" by @ly$ in wonderland.
Biology is a very visual subject and I am always searching for a variety of images. I am really impressed with flicker and the abundance of nature photos. It is also an easy way to have students take photos of various organisms or lab procedures, then upload to the site, and share with classmates.
Thing #4: Registered for course
I can see my postings and have emailed my blog site info. I am making progress!
Thing #3: Reflections on creating a blog and avatar
Setting up a blog is easy and does not take long. Creating an avatar was fun! I put together several different avatars for different seasons and occasions to use in the future.
I found one of my co-worker's blogs. It is helpful to look at other blogs to gather ideas. I haven't left any comments yet.
I found one of my co-worker's blogs. It is helpful to look at other blogs to gather ideas. I haven't left any comments yet.
Thing #2: Habits of Lifelong Learners
The easiest of the 7 1/2 habits for me is accepting responsibility for my own learning. I often find myself seeking information from the internet, books, or courses that will solve the challenges that I face in the classroom and in daily life.
The most difficult habit is using technology to my advantage. I love technology, however, sometimes it is challenging to find the time to learn new innovations and implement them in the classroom. This past year for example, I began using the activboard, which is a wonderful teaching tool. However, the initial time investment to learn the program and create lessons was significant.
I am really thankful, by the way, for this opportunity to learn about blogging, etc. I have been feeling like an old fogie lately because technology advances so quickly and I am clueless about most of what we will be learning in this course. Thanks for the easy format and guidance. I think I will feel more in touch with my students and am looking forward to blogging with them this next school year.
The most difficult habit is using technology to my advantage. I love technology, however, sometimes it is challenging to find the time to learn new innovations and implement them in the classroom. This past year for example, I began using the activboard, which is a wonderful teaching tool. However, the initial time investment to learn the program and create lessons was significant.
I am really thankful, by the way, for this opportunity to learn about blogging, etc. I have been feeling like an old fogie lately because technology advances so quickly and I am clueless about most of what we will be learning in this course. Thanks for the easy format and guidance. I think I will feel more in touch with my students and am looking forward to blogging with them this next school year.
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