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.

Thing 5

http://ed.voicethread.com/share/563760/

This is a voicethread I found that reads sight words to students and allows them to practice those sight words by responding with a voice thread. This technique could be duplicated with many word lists and short stories creating read along books for Pre-K, K, or ESL students. This could be used with students of all levels. More advanced students could be challenged to create read along stories using particular word lists that they could then add the voicethread for younger students to read along with words and pictures. There could be many applications only limited by a teacher's time and energy.

Thing 4

I love Skype! I have been able to keep in touch with my son in the Navy as he is on base across the country. We have even been able to keep at times when he has been on deployment (it depends on the speed of the Internet provider, and they were not the best in some foreign countries). I have also been able to let him see his daughter while she was staying with me and I was able to see her when they lived in CT. I can see how this tool could be used as a great asset to build cooperative learning communities with a wide ranging reach. The quality of the Skype connection completely depends on the speed of the server you have. Although, the picture quality did not hold my granddaughter's attention (she is just 14 months old now), most older students and teachers should be able to work through these skips with a little patience and practice. It is sometimes hard not to get caught up in watching your subjects lips move and then experiencing the audio delay ... at least that is how it has worked on the Comcast network for me .... I can see a lot of teacher use with collaborative work groups and lessons across the district and across many learning communities. Each group could be part of a jig saw (an old time technique, improved with technology) group that gives personal viewpoints on a variety of subjects. This would be a great way to teach and learn science concepts for districts that did not have some of the more expensive or complicated equipment .... virtual space travel or weightlessness, the possibilities could be extensive ... the time to search them out would be the hard part for me but that is what networking is about. One of the ways Amy and I discussed using Skype for our classrooms was for possible Art Instruction when larger projects were involved that would need more then the scheduled Art time. Her classes at the other schools could collaborate and share with my class on similar projects and she could be available to answer questions and give instruction on aspects of the project. We could also collaborate on cross-curricular teaching between buildings.

Thing 0 -2

I enjoyed reading all the introductions or re-introductions. I successfully completed google docs and am seriously looking into the "last pass" site as the passwords are becoming overwhelming. If you don't write them down how do you remember them when your computer crashes .... I am just saying! I have logged on and created a twitter account and invited all 13 more things peeps to tweet me .... dmiller4th .... I am not that creative with names. I will now post my blog link to Twitter and visa versa ... follow me ... although I am not sure where I am going. The important things today are: 1) How do I fix my lawn tractor, 2) Can I replace a stove gas line on my own ..... ? We will see .