Thing 18

GoogleDocs is a great way to easily type up information and send it out either through email or sharing it with the public. I can open it from anyone's computer without having to email it first. I went ahead and typed up a spread sheet for averaging some grades, which I obviously would not share with the public but would keep on my documents on my gmail account. I also started a letter to mail out to my students, but again this won't be for the public. However, with our SBISD laptops, I don't see this as a necessity. I pretty much either work at home with the laptop or at school with it. I can see how this would be beneficial for older classroom students, and a communication tool with teacher and students. It is a little confusing to me when I am allowing the public to view this and when I am not.

Thing 17

Wow! I feel like a million bucks! I fiddled a bit with the Rollyo site and was actually able share one of my entries on my blog! That is huge for me. It helped that I was able to go through and read advice through others blogs and comments left for them. I think I feel more comfortable to go back and add and delete things on my site. But I am still so excited that I was able to do it and put something on there that I might really be able to use this year in the classroom. I put a children's lit. search on there so I can search books that I can use with the students. By doing this I can look up a particular book that I plan to use and get ideas from others on how best to interact with the story. Fun!

Thing 16

Wiki is wonderful for so many things as long as others are familiar with it. I guess if they aren't, I could always give them the wiki link. But as I have tried to play with it, it is a little overwhelming to me. I will need to give this more time. I have thought that if I taught my parents how to use this, then we could use wikis to organize for class projects: needed materials, parent volunteers, etc... That way everyone knows what has been taken care of without all the reply all emails. I am sure there are other fabulous ways to use this, but this is where I am now, without having had extra time to play around with it.

Thing 15

I have often wondered about this very topic. Leaving the way we know it and searching for better more interesting ways to teach in order to keep the students learning. It scares me, but at the same time I do see the need for the change. Now, if someone would just fill me in on how we are supposed to accomplish this, that would be very helpful. I can't see a complete benefit from leaving the hard copies, but that doesn't suggest there isn't another way that will help get these students ready for what lies ahead. I don't mind change as long as I understand it, and it has been well thought out. I feel like in the elementary school ages, at least in the primary years, we still need to teach them some of the old fashioned ways, but does that mean I don't totally understand what is coming their way in the future? I just think about reading good books with students and family. Does this stop, and we would get out our very portable laptops and read from those and create our pictures to go with the text? I still think what we have taught thus far is important, but I think there needs to be a better blend of technology teaching as well as the basic fundamentals. I mean what's the point in working on the web and doing different kinds of experiments if the kids can't read,write or do math? But does this mean we just teach these fundamentals differently too? I don't know where to begin to do my part. I am excited and nervous about what lies ahead...and not so very far ahead!

Thing 14

Okay, so I went onto Technorati and searched the blogs for on school libraries. I found it very interesting where you could go with this. It seemed like I was going into totally different subjects (with a small common link). It is like going to the grocery store only to get 3 needed things, and while you are in there you end up purchasing 20 items. I went into the blog looking for information on "school library" and I ended up using tags and taking me to infertility. I guess if you set up your own page with tags going to the places that you like you can stay focused. This would be important for your class...keeping them focused.

Thing 13

Okay, so tagging overwhelmed me a bit in the earlier activities. However, it isn't that difficult at all once I was able to follow the registation steps from delicious. I plan on using this new found information to set up pages for research. We have a bird unit every year in science as well as many others that this would be very helpful for. I could set up a page with tags on individual birds, and those kids who are researching a bald eagle could click on that tag and read about it. This helps to keep the research friendly for the students. Of course that is if I set it up student friendly. I can't wait to practice this for lessons that I can actually use.

Thing 12

Being a teacher and now a blogger I see a lot a similarities:
1. When leaving a comment (on a blog or an assignment) make it meaningful. This helps students improve their work just like it it helps to get more information to the blogger.
2. Ask ?s to get comments: When writing letters back and forth with students, it really encourages them to respond if you ask a ?. This is the same with a blogger. If you ask questions people are more likely to comment about them.
3. Be nice: I always try to start off with a nice comment (of course meaningful too) before I let them know what they need to improve on or let them know my point of view. For the blogger, leave a nice comment telling your point of view.
Something else that I have always been curious about is how to do the hyperlinking. I will need to practice this. Maybe now...maybe later. You'll have to wait and see if it's on my blog yet. Keep checking. When you see it you'll know I have figured it out.
Commenting on other people's blogs: I have now commented on at least 5 bloggers easily with my blogger name signing off, but I came back later and incorrectly left a comment with my actual name rather than my blogger name on 1. I tried to fix it, but it was too late.
Well, I am off to check out other people's blogs and see what gets my attention.
Okay, I have checked out information about recycling and how to get started in my home. I learned some important information about disposing of light bulbs as well as getting new recycling bins. I also commented on these blogs thanking them for the new learned information. I can't wait to read more blogs as well as comment when necessary.

Thing 11

I really do see the benefit to this Librarything! I really have enjoyed this site. I went ahead and added books that I have read recently as well as a couple that I have read in the past. I think I will also start a kids section of books that I have enjoyed reading aloud to my family or to my class. This would be an easy and fun activity to have the class start at school and share what they have read and liked with each other. I will need to play around with it a little more.

Thing 10

Here is one of my examples of "having fun." It is in memory of my mother-in-law whose grandma name was Zsa Zsa. Her birthday is tomorrow and she died 2 years ago of pancreatic cancer. We miss her dearly! I looked through the sites where I wouldn't have to use any of my own photos because I was too lazy to either
A. switch to the computer with the pictures or B. load photos onto the computer I am always working on. When doing this activity I would have to be careful not to steer the students in the wrong direction. There are some images that are a little too revealing. We could use these as covers for books or bill boards when giving a review for a book. I also enjoyed making a poster fo my own children when I actually decided to switch to the computer with the pictures. That was fun, but I am struggling to get that one posted. I have made the trading cards with my class, and I fiddled with that for a little while. As a project we had the students create the life cylce of a ladybug onto 4 different cards and fill them with important facts about each of the stages. They loved it!