Learning Rocks

I’ve enjoyed the course and though felt a little overwhelmed, just took a step back, read one paragraph at a time and enjoyed it. As I stated in my thread, I think it reminded me of how overwhelmed the students can get with a new concept and giving them too much info can be dangerous.

I’ve learned so many  new things and look forward to using a few in my regular teaching life. I now know more tech lingo , and have already used Spell with Flickr and Weebly web sites.

My next steps are to become more aware of the new programs and sites out there and even though I may feel I won’t ever use them, I must at least spend 30 minutes getting to know them as my students or my own wonderful kids may become familar with them. I need to know about them. I may also end up finding them more useful then expected.

Thank you Shelley for all of your hard work and for answering all my questions!!!!

I enjoyed browsing Classroom 2.0 and found the Book Club for Educators an interesting blog. I thought this would be a lot of fun to do using Skype in the classroom, as I think I mentioned earlier in my Skype blog.  One person mentioned that to say “it was a great book” or “I really liked it” really isn’t enough. Why did you enjoy the book?

I’m not very big on Twitter. It seems like it is a place where people who feel they are never heard can be heard.  Kudos to those that created it, but I would have never thought an idea like that would have taken off… but look at silly bands! Who would have thought!!! I like to read other’s blogs to see what they have to say, and I agree with what Dr. Lois Hertz says, “I just don’t think that we are there yet to be using Twitter in the classroom,” under her Thing 22. I use Facebook but actually am under my maiden name. I’ve had students ask me if I am on Facebook and when they find out that I am, ask me what name I’m under… “Ms. Debbie Rochester”, “Teacher Debbie Rochester” (I thought that one was cute), “Ms. Rochester”. We need to keep our distance from the kids and remind them we are adults and they are kids and there is a line that mustn’t be crossed despite technology bringing people closer and easier to reach. Some of my students email me over the break, and I do set the rules that they must use appropriate (non-slang) language and use Ms. Rochester (not Debbie). I also copy their parents, if the child has their own email address. I think it is important for kids to know they can properly use technology to communicate with their teachers, but again, still maintaining respect.

I’ve also heard of people in business or the medical field setting up two different pages… one for their friends and the other for their patients.

I don’t see Twitter being useful in the classroom, except perhaps as a fun way to keep in touch with pen pals. I did enjoy seeing all the various sites that are out there and feel it is important to know about them.

The interesting info I learned was how you can subscribe to a specific feed for your ipod touch! It started with the following article in my Reader –> Beyond Google: Top 10 Search Engines by David Kapuler –> Kngine search engine and I typed in “ipod touch”. I came across this great site full of RSS for Apple.

I love the idea of Pageflakes page. I loved how easy it was to add and move pages around. I wish there was an easy way to actually share it though. It would be such a great tool to use to communicate with the parents – I could show pictures, the weekly spelling rule, upcoming events… all in one place! It would also reduce a lot of emails that go back and forth.

Perhaps I’m missing something, but when I tried to copy and paste the URL it just brought me back to the Pageflakes main page. Is there a way to make it viewable to parents through an easy link?

I thought using Google Docs was fairly easy. (Of course having easy directions helped also! ) I created a Powerpoint presentation on the most overused words.

It would be easy to use these in the classroom. My first thought is to use it when organizing a classroom party – rather then send out a lot of emails asking who would like to volunteer or what they would like to bring, send out the link and everyone can immediately see what volunteer opportunity and/or items are already being brought.

Teachers also have monthly birthday celebrations, and this idea would also help reduce confusion in this celebration also. Another idea for classroom learning would be to choose a favorite book series and list the number of books. Send the document out to other schools and have their classes check off perhaps their favorite book in the series or which books they’ve read. This would be a great way to teach kids about gathering data for graphing.

I thought this was very easy and enjoyed the activity. Hopefully it wasn’t easy because I did it incorrectly.

Here is the document I created: Most Overused Word, download the 66k document and share your most overused word.

In YouTube I discovered not only some great videos including one on ADHD, some iPod touch tips and tricks but also how to make it “safer” for my own kids to use YouTube by clicking on the Safety Mode on the bottom of YouTube.

When searching up TeacherTube I found some great videos on discipline. It wasn’t as user friendly I thought on TeacherTube compared to YouTube. I did like how you could choose the media though: audio, video, blog, etc.

In regards to how it will support learning in my classroom, I searched up “Antarctica”. When learning about the continents we can see what is really like to be there from those who have been. We’ve also used similiar videos when we were discussing the 5 big cities in Israel. The students were able to discuss the cities in  their brochure more vividly after they saw the videos.

I love this video. It is called “We Con the World” and was actually taken down by YouTube. My sister’s friend is the journalist who created it and originally posted it. YouTube has since posted it again.

I liked how easy it was to create a podcast and turn it into an MP3 (hopefully I did it correctly).  I think having the kids record their predictions would be fun to do with a book before they read it and then they can listen to it when they are finished and hear how close they were to the actual story. 

It would be awesome to have all the kids record something for their parents to hear before we start Open House.
(Eek, what did I do wrong? When I try to play it, it says it isn’t supported.)
It is a poem I wrote back in 1994. (copyright 1994)

I think podcasting is an incredible way to utilize the internet in a very positive way. I had difficulty downloading it at first – third time and rebooting was a charm. I also had my son download iTunes on his computer, so we spent some time both browsing iTunes. He enjoyed the Ben 10 episodes. I found a good podcast on ADHD, but found it difficult to search.  I think the more I play with it, the easier it will be to use.

Reading Rocks!

I love this Library Thing! I think it is awesome (sorry, I know it is an overused word).

If I entered the contest I would have taken a photo of my dad’s kitchen cabinets. After he passed away I went to his apartment. He loved reading so much that even his kitchen cabinets were FULL of books! The best part was that it wouldn’t have been a staged photo but a real one!

I created a Facebook group for people to discuss/share their good books, but it never really took off so I’m very excited about this web site. I think the 50 Book Challenge is a great idea and would even be fun to have a competition between schools. We could then Skype with each other and promote our favorite book.

I think it is a great idea to connect with new friends also, because it is a nonshallow way to connect .