Queen B's Blog

Wow!  it does seem like a trillion weeks of work on a topic I love and appreciate learning more about.  The more anyone ignores the fact of Web 2.0 and thinks they have too much to teach to deal with technology is sorely mistaken.  I feel that I have ignored too much for too long mainly because the district says we are not going in that directions.  It is an uphill battle and I am so glad to be better armed to do what is best for kids.  That is stepping up my game with the knowledge from this course and meeting students where they are.  I want to help them use this technology more effectively.  Integrating it into my classroom management and procedures as well as web projects is so meaningful to us all.  We all work together to become smarter at the technology that defines our future. 

I have appreciated the opportunity to participate in this project beyond measure.  Thank you!

I did not get too far with Ning, but spent my time investigating and joining Classroom 2.0.  I found the site filled with valuable information and connections.  Teachers were looking for classrooms to buddy with or great classroom blogs.  I started looking at some of the the blogs teachers have made with their kids and they are so inspiring.  I can get my kids’ work out there and they can manage it too!  What a load off my shoulders to have that design help!   I checked out the lengthy list ofning networks for educators and ran across a few that had lessons for the classroom, but my favorite is Promethean Planet.  There are so many resources and with my new Promethean Board on its way, I will have all the lessons I can handle at my finger tips!

Social networking is a tough topic to handle for all the reasons stated in the article by Nancy Willard, Schools and Online Social Networking.  We are putting ourselves “out there” for several people to see us without us necessarily knowing that the person has “visited”.  That is eerie.  Students are subjected to predators unknowingly.  What do we do?  I think we should model proper social networking etiquette and directly teach what these tools are capable of doing.  Kids trust us.  If the teachers are empowered to use these tools in an appropriate manner, the kids learn to use them just like everything else we teach.

I think the biggest thing aI love about my reader is that I can subscribe to feeds, star what is important to me and go back to it later.  I like to have these resources on hand when it comes time to implement.  I found a discussion on backchannels which I am not too clear on what they are.  The article  assumed I was that smart…I’m not (lol).  I investigated eLections and found a really cool elections simulation for students to play.  I can envision linking this to my webpage for the kids to play from home or when their work is finished.

Wow! I thought podcasts were so different from what I have experienced today! A simple podcast is so easy to create and can enhance my website by adding the audio of announcements or messages.  People can hear the intent with which I am conveying a message and be put at ease by hearing the friendly voice lost in our words.  Our students can create book talks to post for each other or books on podcast for our younger peers in the elementary schools.  Teaming up with that PreK teacher who does not have time to create these podcasts for her students can enhance the learning in two classrooms and be a link for a caring community of learners!  I like this

This is open to so many opportunities! I am reminded of one of our readings in the early blogs A Day in the Life of Web 2.0.  The campus is communicating with each other without going to each person individually or calling a meeting.  Just think…honestly…about how much time we lose in our day as we walk the hallways to see a person, send out emails, or call meetings.  It’s crazy how much time we spend talking with our colleagues and saying the same thing over and over.  I am in favor of building relationships, but not wasting time.  I can see how Google Docs can help us share one document for the staff directory.  I would like for the parents and students to fill in a form to submit their personal information into my spreadsheet (I cannot tell you how much time I spend doing this myself!).  I like the idea of students creating documents that I can access from any computer for grading or commenting as well as being available for peer editing.  Nice!

I like the idea of these sites and having access to so many videos.  Learning about the safemode was great even though it won’t be completely accurate.  Teaching with a short video anchor has always been important to me, but I have let VHS tapes and other time consuming issues stop me from enhancing my lessons.  These two sites will enable me to overcome most issues.  Especially since I know how to embed videos and and download to avoid the blocks in place in the classroom.  Thank you for a great “thing” !
My Just for Fun Video-Bugs, Daffy and the Abominal Snowman!

I could spend forever looking and listening to the many podcasts available!  I can see where you have to have a goal in mind and stay focused in the beginning becasue there are so many possiblities to incorporate into a lesson.  Once I get some items incorporated it will narrow my focus.   I would really like to integrate podcasts into my whole group instruction, make stories available to the students, and provide helpful links for the students to reinforce a topic the have not learned yet.  They are a good thing, but, in the beginning, it is so overwhelming.

I signed up for an account on LibraryThing and began entering books from my library collection.  I really like the idea of inventorying my books to know what I have.  I criticize this tool because it does not place you back in the same spot/page on the list you are selecting books from.  For example, I searched Roald Dahl and began selecting the titles I knew I had.  When I moved to the second and third pages, I had to use the “next” button to return to the page I was on during the search.  Also, if I do not organize my classroom books alphabetically, I am not so sure I would be able to find a title.  Maybe the tags would work?

I like my reader.  While I do not look at it daily, I am good at skimming it and focusing on what I am interested in and there are several good bits of information feeding through it!  Like others in our class, I like Free Technology for Teachers and Instructify.  I have found another blog that is great information in small bits.  It is Jane’s Pick of the Day.  Her blog gives a tip that is manageable for me to envision in the classroom.  It is also set up in a format that I believe I will be able to manage even back at school. Today’s pick was Xtranormal, one of our tools from Thing 14.

This is definitely a web 2.0 application with so much potential.  I cannot tell you how often I have been at school working on a technology idea that I began at home only to remember that I bookmarked the information on my home computer.  now I can use Delicious to bookmark sites to access from any computer with internet access!

QueenB40 has been busy already!