Thing 19

I explored The Coley Cast:
http://www.mrcoley.com/coleycast/coleycast42.htm
and the Carver Cast:
http://salem.k12.va.us/gwc/podcasts/carvercast.htm

Both were very creative and informative. The students present mini reports on units of science, social studies, etc. It's like opening the classroom to anyone who visits! Students have to work in groups to research and organize their information and then present it. The subject really comes alive for students as they have to truly understand it in order to present it.

Thing 18

Kindergarten Information Night

Kindergarten at A. Lorne Cassidy

View more presentations from muskeg.

I like this presentation idea because it is useful information for parents that teachers can easily post on their web site. We've tried for years to use Powerpoint on our web pages with very little success. This seems to work well and is very easy to use which means teachers will be more likely to use it.

Thing 17

I had trouble with 30 boxes because I didn't receive the email with the link allowing me to get into the calendar. I did enjoy exploring Library Thing. I could spend hours searching for and reading book reviews. I'm amazed at the amount of information it contains and how many people are using it-especially since I've never heard of it until today!

Thing 16

Google Docs would be useful in the same way that shared calendars allow teachers to schedule classes in computer labs or reserve laptop carts. Also I can see this being used for administrators to edit their collaborative projects between buildings and with the central office. Student use in elementary school would not be an option since they don't have email accounts. Personally, I would use this for social invitations and responses much like an Evite email.

Thing 15

Yes, RSS is becoming easier to understand and manage. Now all I need is time to view the feeds! I subscribed to Reuters with no problem. Unfortunately, Delicious was not as easy and took me a lot longer. I was able to organize the feeds very easily and must remember to check them often to avoid having so many to go through at one time.

Thing 14

My Delicious username is mriscollins. Social bookmarking can be very useful for sharing as well as accessing sites from anywhere. I think that rating the sites by how many viewers have bookmarked them is a valuable time saving tool.

Thing 13

The biggest advantage of tagging is the ability to share the sites. It's important to be organized and specific in assigning tags. You can still use up a lot of time viewing other people's tags that don't really give you what you're looking for. This will only be worth your time to do if you are getting good resources from others in your community. Otherwise, you could accomplish the same thing by keeping your bookmarked favorites organized for yourself.

Thing 12

I chose this widget because I like to learn and speak other languages. I like the rotating feature. Embedding the code is pretty easy and has worked well so far. I also belong to Facebook. I find that it helps me keep in touch with friends & family on a regular basis but I haven't developed any new relationships through Facebook. I think kids love these networking sites because they can have hundreds of online friends and talk to everyone simultaneously. I have seen this become a problem for kids who are introverted because they can hide online and never really have to develop real people skills.

Thing 11

It's a strange feeling to have a faceless commenter leave their message on my blog. I tried to keep my comments positive and constructive because that's the type of feedback I appreciate getting. Students are much more free to express opinions in this manner.

Thing 10-Ma and Pa Math Video

The Kettles never used Everyday Math!




Embeddng the video was very easy. I had more trouble trying to download a video.

Thing 9

This was the most fun thing yet! You Tube is blocked for student use in my building but it's available for staff. This is another feature with endless possibilities if you have the time to search. It's unfortunate that Teacher Tube has commercials before the videos which could be inappropriate for young viewers.

Thing 8

I used Big Huge Labs to create this. It was fun and very user friendly. The possibilities are endless for project covers, calendars, special event promotions etc. Your only limitation would be your imagination.

Thing 7

At the elementary level students would not have access to this site while at school. Teachers would have to be the sole users and then share it from their PC. It could be used to share photos with parents on home computers. I can see issues involving copyrights and photo exclusion policies when using photos of students.

Thing 6

I chose this photo because of it's amazing color. I love flowers and gardening. The size of this field of flowers caught my eye and it includes a lot of my favorite color which is red. It makes me happy when I look at it which I suppose is why I found it when I searched under Happiness!

Thing 5

This actitivity took the longest to complete but overall it wasn't that difficult to set up. The directions were very helpful and it worked just as shown in the videos. I think that the Sub with Bloglines was the easiest way to subscribe. I like the fact that I can access the latest blog updates all from one location. I can see how this will be a huge time saver.

Thing 4

I handle information overload by trying to stay organized and categorizing information. RSS feeds will help filter out the information I receive rather than me bookmarking my sites, then trying to sift through them for what is valuable to me. Also, the information should be arriving in updates rather than having to tackle the entire load at once.

Thing 3

At the elementary level I thinkt the blog would give the greatest support to parent/teacher communication. Students may benefit from posting their work to share but I am concerned about young students have the ability to post their own comments. I think that I would restrict that portion and strictly use it as a teacher's form of communiction.

Things 1 and 2

I enjoyed the article because it tied the uses and users of technology into an understandable sequence. Once users become aware of the possible uses of technology they are on their way to becoming a part of the creative process. I have found that reluctance to use technology is many times a result of lack of understanding of the possibilities that are out there.

This is my first attempt at blogging. It was very easy to follow the prompts. I'm looking forward to learning more as I complete the remaining 21Things.