At times I was frustrated not because I didn’t understand but I couldn’t get my project to do what I wanted it to do. I had an ahha! moment. I had heard  of most things we learned about this week but never tried. I am teacher. I tell kids all the time to go and learn new things. I didn’t practice what I preached. I assumed you had to be tech person or you needed a class or workshop. At times you need those things, but what happened to good ol’ trail and error. This class took away my hidden technology fear…for the most part.

I used a flip camera (which has made it to my things-to-buy list) created a movie. I can create movies of my students or the students can create movies. I have had moviemaker on my computer and never used it, never played around with it.   It is not that hard to use.  I am going to work on adding sound next.

I am tired but excited…

A podcast is a connection between a website and a computer. When a show is shown you can capture it in a podcast and watch it at your convinence. Now the show has become personal on demand.  (Watching the video helped me!)

It is a simple to use.  I haven’t tried it but it seems simple enough. According a wonderful article on the journal.com 

http://thejournal.com/articles/2008/02/20/podcasting-basics-simple-steps-for-introducing-podcasting-into-your-k8-class-part-1.aspx?sc_lang=en

I need a microphone, video camera and a computer. I think I can handle it.

Podcasting can be  a useful tool in the classroom. Students could do a weekly news report, create “HOT LIST” book review, record class discussions, record textbooks for audio learners or struggling readers. While playing around with Gabcast in class, teachers linked the podcast to their webpages and recorded their supply list or a welcome messege for new students.

It is another tool that requires writing, reading, research and oral communication from students. The students have an audience and produce quality to work. Give them an audience and they will work!

The ideas are endless. They could create a getting to know you or student of the week slide. They could show the steps of a completed projects or make and end of a year slide to show all the things they accomplished in 180 school days. They have a history. The teacher could use Slide during open house just to show what has been happening in the classroom.

Overstream took me a few minute to figure out how to work it. Once I accomplished the how-to, it was easy. Adding caption is easy once you practice a few times. I like that I can watch what is going on the actual video as I type. I didn’t have to flip back and forth on different screens. I liked that everything was compacted on one screen and could preview immediately. If I didn’t like, click the remove button.

I like Jing. Actually, I think is the coolest thing I have used this week. It is like a camcorder on your desktop.  Capture whatever with Jing, upload it Screencast.com and put it into Overstream or where ever.

My goal before the school year starts is to create books using Voicethread. I want to practice because I love the idea of family members being able to leave comments on their child’s work for the whole world to see. What a great way to encourage and support a child! I think students would want to do their best work if they knew an audience was waiting.

Webquest could be used as a beginning and move the students to internet workshops.  I think webquest are time consuming for the teacher to create. Although sites have been created that makes it easier for the teacher to create webquest. Internet Workshop allows you to bookmark several sites and the students have the freedom of choice. Internet seem more inquiry based.

I have used webquests successfully and unsuccessfully. It depends on how well the students are taught in the beginning. K-2 students may need an adult to help them for awhile. One year I had a group of students that could not work independently and the webquest was a flop. I had put in a few hours of work and did not get the results I wanted.  

My feelings toward webquest are mixed. I think an internet workshop may be easier to create and manage. In overly simple language the teacher bookmarks a list of sites, create an open ended activity, the students research and share at the end of the week. There is no intro, task, process, evaluation, conclusion, and teacher evaluation.

I can have a class homepage without going anywhere else. I have the ability to make different pages private or public (Great Option). I am not bound to my school’s homepage template which is boring. I can make it to reflect me and my class. I can add a  link  to my social bookmark or class blog  for students and parents which gives them easy access.

It is very user friendly. My homepage through my school is not user friendly. It takes a lot  of clicks to get to certain sections. I cannot maneuver it without my notes including the sign in screen. I become frustrated before I even get started.

The menu Pageflakes provides is so easy. You can add and delete items with one click. It is easy to add your own link–two clicks and it’s done. I feel computer savvy!!!

Occasionally I read a blog or two but most of the time not. After our class discussion, my opinion of blogs began to change. Would I write one for the world to see and share all of my wisdom? No way. Would I create  a class blog for parents and students? Absolutely!

Students could blog about their week in class. Each student would be assigned a “blog day”. The student would write a blog on his “blog day.”  If they have free time during the week, they could blog more.  The parents could blog or leave comments for their child. If a child does not have a parent response, I could arrange for another parent to  blog to the child and offer support.

I could create a second blog just for parents. The parent blog would support parent/teacher contact and create a documented log. The blog site could have a link to  homework, present and upcoming units. It could be used as the class newsletter without have to waste paper and spend an hour organizing the layout.

Blogging used as discussion tool is a wonderful idea with many benefits. First, the quiet or timid students will have a voice without being afraid. Secondly, students can express their real feelings or thoughts without the fear of being laughed at by classmates. Finally, the teacher can assess  the quality of their writing skills. Although the students my use computer”language”, the student would use basic sentence structure or the teacher could set guidelines for the written structure.  The blogs could guide the teacher’s oral class discussion.

Threaded discussions could be used for classroom volunteers to make arrangements or for you to tell them what needs to be done. This would not cause interruptions during instructional time.

I think it would be great to use for small groups. You could give the students a topic to discuss or some type of baseline. They students could have oral discussion amongst themselves. Then, they could have threaded discussion with a different group of student about the topic. The students could could compare what other groups had discussed and bring it back to thier original group.

Personally, I feel threaded discussions are for older students because of the difficulty of following the comments. On the other hand , the classroom teacher could take notes and post them as a thread which could be used as a review and a way to show parents, administrators or other classes what your students thought about a topic. The headers could be the students names and the thread would be their contribution to the class discussion. It will give the teacher a visual of which students are participating and the student that need to participate. The teacher could review the thread later and really see which student understands the material or needs more help. Therefore, it becomes an assessment tool and anecdotal notes.

I think social bookmarking can give the students independence on the computer and give me peace of mind. Students have the tendency to close the site they are working on and have no idea how to return. If I create a specific list for them and teach them how to use it, the students can recover the site without having to interrupt me during small group time. I could  also differentiate sites by sorting them into groups and teach the students which group of sites they were allowed to choose. I could put sites for parents to use with there child or share information as changes are made in education.

It allows me to see what others teachers have found. It will definitely save me some steps as I search for new ideas. As I explored I found many useful videos and ideas.

A few years ago I arranged pen pals with a class in Nebraska. The kids had enjoyed every minute. They exchanged letters at least four times during the school year.  The teacher and I emailed each other a few times a week. We learned about our states curriculum, classroom management and exchanged ideas for lessons. Can you imagine what would happened if we used Skype?

She and I could present lesson to each others class, arrange for the penpals to meet, interview each other, discuss the differences between our environments or many other possiblities. The kids could have controled what they wanted to share with thier pen pals because the responses would have been immediate.

Classes can share projects and present via Skype.  Maybe the students could share projects or presentations with thier families (near and far) during the school day. If parents cannot come to school or a parent is not available(trip, reside in another state) for conferences, they can still be present through Skype. The parent would not hear the information second hand and could ask questions.

Skype can help send a clear messege to parents–I want you involved with your child’s education and I know how important you are. It tells the student that the teacher and parents are united in thier education. I have a strong feeling the child would not forget to remind the parent of the appointment on Skype.

Tweet, tweet, tweet

My favorite news journalist on CNN, MSNBC requested for viewers to post comments on Twitter. Actors were talking about Twitter as they made the rounds on various talk shows. My first view was it was just another Facebook or MySpace with a different name.  Well I judged a book by its cover and we all know how that goes.

I like the limited tweet space. You will definitely get to you point faster. I never realized how quick  I could use 240 characters.

I decided to learn a little about Twitter’s history compliments of Wikipedia.  Jack Dorsey created a Twitter during a daylong brainstorming session in an attempt break out of a creative slump. Jack Dorsey said the group played around with names for awhile. They began with the word ‘twitch’ because that is what happens when a phone vibrates but it did not create the correct image. They search the dictionary and found ‘twitter’ which means shorts burst of inconsequential information and chirps from a bird. Viola!

Everyone has different reactions (according Wikipedia) to Twitter from a great way to keep in touch to being too connected. Do I really care what you are having for dinner? Yet, it becomes an avenue to learn from others. Maybe the key to Twitter is to base your followers and followings to interest, career or favorite people and not to any and everyone.

Personally, I don’t think Twitter is for me. First, I am following people and place that I did not choose to follow. I have removed myself from following them only to discover I am following them again, ANNOYING. I could care less about the MLB (don’t like baseball), zoecello (who???what???).  I have thought of ways to use it in my classroom. Since I teacher younger students, I could not find it beneficial. They would have a difficult time limiting themselves to 140 characters.

After giving Twitter more thought, I believe it could be used a communication tool for the parents. I can give a few tweets throughout  day. Parents will have the opportunity to respond or just read. It can be as simple as the funny things kids say or reminders for upcoming field trips or school events. 

I will have to try Twitter in the classroom before I make a true  judgment call.