Thing 23

Wow! Thing 23 at last! As they say- this is only the beginning. The video made me realize how quickly technology evolves. It has a life of its own! That's a positive and negative thing I suppose. You can never really "know it all". The learning must be continuous to be an effective user/integrator.

As tech support for my building, I'm always encouraging teachers and staff to try new things and adapt them for their classrooms. Now I can share the Wikis, Googledocs and podcasts. I really think they can be so useful once people get the hang of using them. The key is to know which application to suggest for which purpose.

This class has really helped me to get familiarized with tools I'd only heard of before. I will definitely have to continue exploring so that I can get proficient enough to instruct other users. Thanks for offering this opportunity to us. I felt it was very worthwhile and I'm glad I spent the 10 weeks with you and the 23 Things. Thank you so much!

Thing 22

My wiki address is:
https://room210goodreads.wikispaces.com/
I love the idea of kids being involved with the content of something that can be communicated to their peers. At the elementary level this would be so exciting for them and really bring the subject to life. However, this would definitely have to be a teacher supervised activity and all the input would have to be monitored before going public. This is different from a blog in that a blog only allows you to comment on what's been posted. The wiki allows you to add or delete content at your discretion. I'd use the wiki for collaborating and coordinating and the blog for communication and feedback.

Thing 21

I thought the wikiHow project could be very useful as well as enjoyable reading. My biggest concern with wikis is the possibility of spreading misinformation. I'm also thinking that it is essential to keep a permanent version of your pages so that items can't be accidentally deleted by another user. I'm a little reluctant to invest a lot of time in something that anyone can change without my consent. Overall though, I think I'd try it just to see if the pros outweigh the cons.

Thing 20

This was one of the more time consuming Things I've tried to do. I had a hard time with iTunes but I finally got it to work after several attempts. I subcribed to Bill O'Reilly's podcast:http://feeds.foxnews.com/podcasts/TalkingPoints. I thought that EPN had so much in the directory but the amount of text to go through made it a little unappealing. I did listen to Hartbeat Radio under the Elementary link and it was really good! I think I prefer Podcast Alley because of the top 10 features and podcast summaries.

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!