One Last Thing

I have always been apprehensive about using the computer so this was a giant leap for me. I feel very confident in using the computer now that I have completed this challenging class. I made it and before the deadline. I may celebrate with a toast tonight! I feel like this has connected me with so many people to help me grow. I learned that I can't stay in my own private world personally or professionally. I must open myself up! Although, I feel like I am a great teacher I feel I can even be better now!The most rewarding part of this experience is feeling confident that I can use the computer. I learned new things each and every day! I would do it again and again. The only thing I would do different is to give us access to Sandbox before completing Thing #15. I didn't have access when I was ready to do the task. So I had to complete it the following night.

I will give myself time for the computer to keep up with the technology skills that I learned from this course . Thank you for this journey! It was very helpful!

Thing #23

I really enjoyed classroom 2.0 but I didn't understand how you could search for forum topics, I just had to browse from most popular or recently submitted. The one I spent the most time reading instead of skipping was Promethean vs Smart Boards. I enjoyed reading the commits. It made me thankful for our school district for providing Title 1 schools with this technology. I did see Promethean Planet referenced a lot. I do like promethean boards better because there appears to be more free things to use in the classroom. Using the Ning Networks related to education I found a networking group that I liked for my classroom. It was titled The Way We Are Classroom Project where collaborative learning takes place with children from different places around the world using E-Pal. I am just amazed everyday with the social networking out in cyberspace! Hope your having a great evening!

Thing 7b

My Google Reader site Infinite Thinking Machine lead me to an article about Twitter.com. I really think Twitter is more for me. I like that it is bite sized information and that it can be done via computer or phone. I think this is something my first graders could and would do. This is a plus for education it would foster interaction but not get in great depth or too personal. I really want to try this with my first grade students. I am wondering if we can get to Twitter in the computer lab. Just to practice. I really love all the video from Commoncraft.com. Those guys are helpful!

Thing #22

Tonight was a blast from the past. I didn't realize how many people I knew until I started searching on Facebook. I wondered how all these people have time to do all this social networking. Although, I really enjoyed looking up old friends and seeing their children. I saw many former students on Facebook. What a great way to see how they are doing and what they have accomplished for themselves. I was really weary of going into Facebook with all the negative publicity but it all seemed fine and harmless. Here is my profile.

Thing #21

Tonight I explored all a lot of technology Google has to offer! Wow! My favorite place to explore was Google Earth. I spent a wonderful hour just playing. This would be great for the classroom and really bring our history and map lessons alive. I love searching different places. You can really get close up and personal to people homes. I visited our family farm, our old house, and even enjoyed the stars. Very intriguing!
I love the Google Alerts, I had no idea their was such a website. That is amazing how it can locate the things that interest the reader without the reader having to do all the work! SUPER!
Google is amazing there is something for everyone! It is a fast paced world!

Thing #20

Yes, Google Docs are fabulous! This will save me a lot of time opening e-mails and cutting and pasting to an original document. Well my team has talked about making a grade level newsletter this would be perfect. We could each input on the same document that we are sending home to parents each week. Also my principal has been talking about a vertical reading wall but when never had time to collaborate on it so tonight I created a spreadsheet for us to use every six weeks. This will be perfect. My principal will be excited! Plus, I think this would be perfect for our weekly first grade reading log. Our reading logs would look similar but the teachers still have the freedom to program it and input their ideas. The best part about this is that Google Docs is on the Internet. You don't have to go out and pick up the latest version of Microsoft Office.

Thing #19

This was a new skill for me tonight. I haven't ever heard of VoiceThreads. I wish I would have known about this years ago. I will have my own kids record their thoughts about this summer adventures that we have together. So I can treasure not only the picture but their voice, spelling, and drawings. For the classroom, I loved the idea of showing classical art and having the kids describe it. They did this using the Norman Rockwell piece. I am always trying to figure how the kids can produce something with the information gained from research units so this would be perfect. I enjoyed the book A to Z in the Library.
I feel like this would help kids communicate better. There true feelings would come out as they are expressing themselves using more creative sources. Lots of good things to think about for the new school year!

Thing #18

I really enjoyed my time watching all YouTube and TeacherTube Videos. I really enjoyed the video on the Lady Liberty. It was very educational. It would be a great way to review facts on the Statue of Liberty in our Social Studies Unit. I highly recommend this for kindergarten, first and second grade teachers. It would be fun to use the information for a round of jeopardy. I would embed this video but it kept buffering which caused poor play quality. The second teaching video would be a wonderful addition to our science curriculum when we teach the water cycle. This video teaches a song to help reinforce that concept. Listen to it below.








For my how to I found an instuctional video on How to Make Classroom Posters with Microsoft Excel very helpful. This appeared easy to do and would have lots of great benefits for teacher and student use. It would be a lot cheaper than using the poster machine at my school. This would only take 4 sheets of 8 1/2 by 11 paper!

I laughed a lot during this entire process tonight but to end my night I like the video of 2 Funny Babies Laughing from YouTube. It just reminded my of my own two kids when they were that young. I just love how the simple things in life make us laugh! Good night!

Thing #17

Podcasts would be a valuable tool for my classroom. I really like the podcast with video or visuals more that just an auditory one. I found the Jamestown Podcast #72 would be a great way for me to implement a podcast for my students. I really loved the pictures that went along with the kids poems. Then the second podcast I enjoyed... First Grade Teachers usually don't find a lot for science but I found a goldmine using the DragonFly Podcast. It was kid friendly and had a lot of information that would help support TEKS. For my personal use I liked the Merrian Webster Dictionary with a word of the day. What a great way to learn new words. I will add that to my morning classroom routine for myself before the kids arrive each and every school morning. I am glad I was able to find so many fun things to use both professionally and personally too.

Thing #15

OMG! This took me two nights to complete! I think we needed the approval a few nights before so we didn't have to wait for permission when we were ready to work. After I got in, I had a lot of fun with it. I am happy I got to post my burning question about TOMS Shoes. I hope he makes his goal for this year! He has been an inspiration to me! I am hoping to get some co-workers to purchase shoes from TOM. I feel like everything is really starting to click once I get going and it reinforces everything we have learned. I enjoyed the Sandbox Pages after I finished it. My son shared a song using Blabberize. So it was great family fun! Happy Independence Day!

Thing #16

WOW! Where do I start? I wish I would have had this LibraryThing when I first started teaching school 16 years ago! I am famous for buying the same books over and over. This could have saved me some cash for other stories! I did join Library Thing! I really liked Children's Fiction Group. There were a lot of good posting on there.I will use this site when I get a brain freeze in the classroom and need other assistance when I am puzzled! Plus, I loved the topic list. I found the topic Books You Loved As A Young Child, it sent me down memory lane. I will have to read a few of those oldies to my daughter this summer.

I have been reading My Sister's Keeper so the Book Suggester was very useful. It offered other ideas for me when I am finished with this fantastic story. The Unsuggester was very unique, but true. I really wasn't interested in those types of novels.

I feel like my students would like to sign up for the Book Challenge. That would motivate her to read. So I love that idea. I am wondering if it would be effective in the classroom to for choice reading time. I might try it when school starts. It was a fun learning about LibraryThing!