Thing 13

I give the THINGS a star. I am glad to be done but I think that is because my brain has been completely stretched out and will need to relax for a few days (Friday is interactive whiteboard training so here we go again!) I think these Things were great preparation for that thing .... I like the stickies and as some of you may have noticed I added one on the Moodle site to give my opinion of there use. I cannot keep all this in my head and have been getting a little freaked as to how to sort all this info in a filing cabinet as it won't fit in my brain with timely recall. The stickies can keep me informed on what I thought and let me explore more uses and note them as time allows. Relevant and irrelevant sites can be tagged and noted without major time committed. I always seem to be looking for the site that great game or worksheet was on and now I can tag and note them. I think this will give us re learners, continuing learners, those that are learning things that weren't even in existence when we were in College not to mention in HS or Elem. Students these days learn in different ways then we did and we need the added help to catch up and keep up with a mind or brain the was initially wired differently.

This will be an awesome interactive tools with my present and future techie buddies. I am looking for Interactive Whiteboard Resources and hope to collaborate with other teachers whenever possible. I thing I could also use the stickies as lesson plan notes as well, to give step by step instructions, cautions on areas that were a struggle for students, extensions for extended learning, and modifications for students that need them. You all know where to find me out on the web to share those great ideas in the future. I am looking forward to learning something new everyday due to Web2.0!

Thing 12

This is my Diigo Widget. I am hoping that this will be compatible to the software at school; if not I hope that I can encourage the changes in the allowable tools to be able to use it. I plan to check this out tomorrow. With my new 3M "Vicky" System, I believe this will be a valuable tool to collaborate across classrooms, buildings, districts, and beyond. I am just in the beginning stages of developing my resources and exploring the site. Look for me on Diigo to see the improvements and contribute to the resources for the students.

Thing 11

This thing was relatively simple. I would consider putting this on speed dial to send messages to myself and my kids (that would freak them out!) through e-mail. I often think of things while driving and recording a message or note would be pretty simple. I could also see some class application for both text to speech or speech to text technology for reluctant readers and writers. Those with both physical limitations and motivational limitations of one kind or another. I found that the Dial2Do site took some exploration to figure out what to do but only about 10 minutes. The SpokenText site was pretty simple to navigate as well and might help students to edit their own writing as the read what they think they wrote not what is on the paper. They would also be motivated to write (or type) more for the novelty of getting to hear their written word. SpeechtoText would be very helpful for those students that find the physical fine motor skills of writing difficult or restrictive. I could see the use of outlining with older students and then have them fill in the text with the spoken word to complete a project using the software to complete the written assignment. Each of these sites had their benefits and feel that this is something that could be used and accommodated pretty easily in the classroom.

Thing 10

View Doug returns from deployment! in a larger map

This is my Google Map for the trip I am taking this Wed. I am beyond excited. I hope to add more details when I return.

This could be useful for students to create and research their hometown, their state, and the country they live in. There is a lot of information on Google Maps that is historical and unique. Students can take and create virtual trips around their country and around the world. Collaborative research projects that lead to creative presentations could be part of any classroom with this technology.

Thing 9

This is the beginnings of my search engine for 4th graders. I think this tool will be the most useful to my students and I; as I can now specifically control the sites my students can visit during computer lab time. I can design specific search engines for specific projects. This will also allow collaboration with teachers and colleagues across the Web. I think this is my favorite so far!

Thing 7 & 8

2009-08-03_1933

The Jing / Screencast experience has been the hardest one yet. I have posted both the link and the embed as the embedded slide show is too big for the screen. I have no idea how to fix that. I think if you have SmartBoard Technology this would be a great tool to post notes and screencasts for your students. Those of us working with less then the best of software face many challenges in using this technology. The PowerPoint presentation that I created earlier in the year was the subject of this cast. I added the voice over dialogue. This would take some practice to sound professional and as you only get one chance to get it right or you need to start again. The PowerPoint I had created was too long and as I do not have PowerPoint on my laptop I was not able to edit it. I do not think I would post this cast for parents and students, I would strive for a more complete and quality product. However, due to the amount of time I spent on this one, I am posting it and calling it done. I had also created a Mathcast in OpenOffice but the pages do not play in a video format; therefore, after several hours of creating and trying to post it, I gave up and went to the PowerPoint production. I believe this could become a valuable asset in the classroom if you had students and/or parents that were able to view the technology from home. This could assist with absent students and project assignments as the teacher could explain and students and parents could replay multiple times. My concern is that at the elementary level many of my students would not have access to the information as many do not have Internet access at home.

Thing 6

Here is a ToonDoo that I created in a very simple format to introduce Parts of Speech to describe a picture. I did have difficulty copying the embed code to post it here and had to get creative. I had a similar issue with Kerpoof, but was able to create a similar "toon' with a similar use of poetry and parts of speech. I can see the use of both of these sites to encourage students to write and create stories, then publish and share them with the class. If we were able to get extremely proficient with the use of technology we could then us a voicethread to read our creations as presentations to the class and share them with other classrooms. This could motivate advanced students to achieve at a higher level and encourage reluctant students by providing tools to use to create work that would catch their imagination.