Thing #23

I'm kind of sad, partially because coming to the end of this course means summer is almost over, but also because this has been lots of fun.  I am definitely going to follow Learning 2.1.  Thing #70 popped up when I opened it and that means there are so many more things to learn.

I don't really have any recommendations for changing the format of this program other than finding a way to get people to do more commenting on each others' blogs.  I've tried to go through the spreadsheet and find people who might need encouragement because my facilitator has been a wonderful "cheerleader" and those comments kept me going.  I found myself checking several times a day to see if anyone left me a message!  I would love to have known who "adopted" me so I could've made sure I was also following their blog. 

I'd have to say my favorite learning exercises have been the more creative ones involving image generators, spell with flickr, Slide.com, etc.  Creative Commons is going to be VERY useful and I hope I really do use VoiceThread.  I would definitely participate in another discovery program, especially if it was offered in the summer.  I tried this once before during the school year and I just couldn't keep up.  Thanks for teaching me so much this summer!

Thing #22

Okay, remember how I felt about Twitter in Thing #21?  Then I said I went back and looked again and found Classroom 2.0? Yay Twitter!  I had no idea we were about to explore this topic.

I was really excited to find Classroom 2.0 because it looks like a site that I can really use.  One of the links on the bottom left of the main page sent me to an area where Special Education teachers were discussing things that worked, or didn't work, in their classrooms.  This led me to an idea that I think would work very well to help the teacher's in our district, with students like mine, communicate.  I'm not a "regular-meetings-kind-of-gal" but a social network set up for just the LIFE Skills teachers would probably be right up my alley. If it could be controlled in order to protect student confidentiality I think it's a great idea.  We have SO much paperwork and I'm just exhausted when school's out from 7.5 hours of almost constant student contact. Our students have difficulty working independently.  By the time school is out and I've prepared for the next day I just want to go home.  Keeping up with a network in my PJs sounds so much better than regular meetings!

Thing #7b

One of the blogs that I follow in my Google Reader is My Life as an Ungraceful, Unhinged, and Unwilling Draftee into the Autism Army.  The particular post that I've linked here is about this mom's dealings with her young autistic daughter on a trip to Target when she doesn't get her way.  Autistic children have difficulty expressing themselves verbally.  In this case Audrey, the daughter who is trying to express her emotions, comes out with some typical blurtations (a new word I just invented) that can just crack you up...much later when you're retelling a story.  I can't do this woman's post justice by trying to retell it so please do read her version if you have time.  (I'll apologize in advance for some of her language.  This post is pretty calm but some of them are not.)  As a teacher of moderate to severely disabled students, I find it comforting to read her posts as well as the comments she elicits from others.

Thing #21

I believe I have just hit INFORMATION OVERLOAD!!!
I'm a fairly new user of Facebook and I like the fact that I only have a few "friends."  Lots of what I've seen this evening on Twitter seems like it's written in code and just not enough to catch my attention.  I did find a few diamonds out there that I really liked such as slide 33: #32-Blurters in 34 Interesting Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom.

I feel like having the Google Reader set up to follow longer versions of CoolCatTeacher and other similar blogs give me more information.  Does that make me set in my ways already? Taking a second look I found Classroom 2.0 which has idea links categorized by tool, subject, and areas such as Special Needs, Gifted, etc. It's just going to take me a bit longer on this one to get comfortable, but I'll try!

Thing #20

One of the staff development sessions that my school had this past year was about Google Docs.  We were separated into groups and asked to explore a certain tool (document, spreadsheet, presentation) and then present to the rest of the class.  My group got the spreadsheet and although we weren't extremely creative, we got the concept. It just amazes me that you can create something and others can work on it at the same time.  What will they think of next?

Idea #1:  I wish I had thought of this tool when my class studied families and traits at the end of the year!  I asked everyone to bring their pictures to me so I could scan them and make a PowerPoint presentation.  We all enjoyed looking at each others' families and resemblances.  It would have been so much better if I had had them collaborate on the project during class!

Idea #2:  We have, in the past, made projects in our classroom that we took orders for and sold to the faculty and staff (non-profit, of course).  I set up one of those Google Spreadsheets and sent it out via e-mail.  It was really cool because my students (with help) could see when new orders were added, what had to be made, and where to deliver the item.

Idea #3:  With help, I think my students would enjoy creating a MadLib or Rebus-type story.  Perhaps they could create portions separately and then combine the story to see how it ends.

Thing #19

One of the tools we use with autistic students is called a Social Story.  It is a non-threatening way for a student to be told about appropriate behavior and is available for repeated use.  I think a VoiceThread could include the voices of the teacher, parents, itinerant staff, and anyone else to whom the student relates.  This VoiceThread jumped out at me since I have an autistic student returning in August who does NOT like to have his hair cut.  This could be a valuable tool, indeed!  (I will have to be honest, the never-ending comments on this VoiceThread try my patience.)

Thing #18

I found YouTube to have more videos than TeacherTube relating to the topics I researched.  My topic was "Teaching Severely Disabled Children."  TEAMability 2009 was a video about a private program in San Antonio, Texas for students similar to some of mine.  I never feel like I'm doing enough for this population of students so it was encouraging to see.  My plan is to share this video with my paraprofessionals so that we can work together to better serve the more disabled students in our classroom.  Another video, How to Recognize the Early Signs of Autism, will be helpful to me regarding my  Child Find responsibilities as an educator.
The "how to" video that I located was How to make your own document camera or ELMO.  I didn't get a document camera and probably won't due to the current budget situation.  I was very excited to find this YouTube video that may make it possible for me to still enjoy this technology!
Last, I decided to embed a nostalgic YouTube video that my sister-in-law created two years ago after my daughter got married.  Her granddaughter (our great niece) was one of the flower girls so she took photos from VIM\\Studio Photography to make the following photo collage.  It puts me in a good mood every time I watch it.

Thing #17

I previewed a number of the podcasts including Webster's Word of the Day, Teachers Teaching Teachers, Just One More Book, and Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips.  The two podcast directories I liked the most were Learn Out Loud and PBS Podcasts. With Learn Out Loud, you can learn Spanish, French, or improve your English just to name a few things.  Since I'm more of a visual learner and so are most of my students, I chose  the PBS Podcast DragonflyTV as a science learning tool to follow.  We will no longer have Discovery Education streaming videos so this podcast will help my students learn about topics visually, and on their level.  For myself, I picked The Victory Garden so I can enjoy watching someone who knows what they're doing plant flowers and have them actually grow!  In the Education Podcast Network I found 1-Maple Audiobooks which had first grade students reading original books they had written.  It was a great idea because their families and friends from across the country (maybe around the world) could hear their children's voices reading and then post encouraging comments.  It was a great idea for encouraging students to want to write and read even more.  The speech therapist let me use two iPod nanos with my students at the end of this last year.  I put music and pictures on them and used one with my autistic student to record his speech and encourage more verbalization.  He was fascinated.  I can see where these podcasts could be a very useful tool in the classroom.

Thing #16

LibraryThing would be a great way for an English/Reading teacher to encourage his/her students to share book lists with each other.  With LibraryThing, students could research book titles, authors, etc., read their chosen book(s) and make recommendations to their classmates.  This tool has lots of social features related to books similar to flickr and photographs.  I can see where this site would be very popular with librarians, especially when they're making large book purchases.  My sister has been a high school librarian in another district for seventeen years and she tells me that she has to find a certain number of positive reviews for each book ordered.  That has to be quite a job when ordering such a large amount of books!

Thing #15

This is the THING I've been waiting for!  I heard about it after my school's librarian finished this course several years ago and I thought it sounded so wonderful!  At first when I read the assignment I was overwhelmed and it took me a couple of days to be courageous and focus on the instructions.  Of course I did the "Stretchier Task" first, maybe that was why I found it so difficult.  Please feel free to peruse my Delicious bookmarks.  I think I made my imported MISD bookmarks private so please let me know if you're able to see more than the seven Teacher Resource sites I added later.

I wish I had had Delicious set up on my computer this last school year.  I ended up having two different student teachers and was expected to be out of my classroom some of the time.  I had so much trouble finding a "home."   The online service our district uses for Special Education records is difficult to find if you don't have the URL memorized, and I didn't.  Delicious would have saved me so much frustration!

I'm looking forward to continued exploration of this tool.  It has the potential to be a great resource and a real time-saver by allowing me to connect with other teachers with my same interests.

Thing #7a

One of the blogs that I follow in my Google Reader is Free Resources for Education.  Although I don't know about the safety (to my computer) of going to the links provided from this blog, there are lots of resources and some of them are quite useful.  The one I chose to write about today is Clay Yourself Avatar. Yes, I did indulge in playing with an avatar creation and it was fun to make. 
I think students would get a kick out of adding this type of avatar to their blogs. Used in conjunction with Blabberize they could tell a story or give a report.

Thing #14

After looking at each of the tools from the list, I chose to work with MixBook.  The students in my classroom are delayed in their ability to write words, sentences, and even letters.  To encourage them to read or write we sometimes make books about them.  Usually this is done by gluing pictures of the student onto construction paper and letting them copy words.  I see MixBook as a technological tool that would peak their interest even further. This program encourages collaboration.  We could start a book at school and then "invite" the student's parents to include their own photos and work with their child from home.  I always ask for pictures of their families and summer activities at the beginning of the year and often times never receive them.  This would be a "safe" way for the parents to share their photos without being afraid they might get lost or ruined.

I'm embedding a book that I made about my grandson. This is a quick example and I look forward to spending more time on it (because I'm pretty sure I'm already addicted).  
The complete book doesn't show here, but you get the idea.

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

Thing #13

Spell with flickr is a fun and creative way to send a message.  Once you get to the site you simply type in a word and click the "spell" button.  Your word instantly turns into letters made from pictures.  If you don't like the picture for a certain letter it's simple to click on it until a picture that you DO like appears.  However, I had difficulty with the spacing when I typed in more than one word.  I'll have to work on that.



Mosaic Maker will definitely be a site that I work with in the future.  I recently scanned all of parents' family pictures and want to make a collage for them.  The instructions are straightforward and simple.  If you can add attachments to your e-mails you can make a mosaic!




MagMyPic is another fun site that allows you to turn any photo into a magazine cover.  I actually learned about this site in the "Picture Perfect" pay for knowledge class that I took several weeks ago.  (Be careful though, if you go to the "Most Viewed" tab be prepared to see some pretty inappropriate pictures.  You don't want your kids playing around with this site when you're not with them!)  All you do is pick the cover template that you like and attach a picture, just like an e-mail attachment.  It's easy!

Thing #12

This slideshow is something that I could use in my classroom to discuss the 4th of July patriotic holiday. I might start out asking the students to name things they do with their families. The discussion could lead into the meaning of the colors of the flag, what fireworks represent, and had I used animoto I could have included patriotic music in the background.

PHOTO CREDITS:

IMG_4894 by Kurt Wagner

IMG_4985 by Kurt Wagner

IMG_4988 by Kurt Wagner

4th of July Parade Dundalk, MD - 033 by xmrocks'

Picnic by Sandra Regina

Cayucos July 4th, 2010 Parade by kevincole

Thing #11

Happy 4th of July!  I chose this patriotic holiday as my topic for Thing #11. This picture was simply labeled IMG_4985 and was taken by Kurt Wagner.  I've used Flickr ever since my school's librarian shared it with us at a Staff Development session a couple of years ago.  I've taken pictures and added them to PowerPoint presentations to help my students with comprehension.  This Thing, however, made me realize that (biting my lip) I may have accidentally taken photos without permission.  I'm so glad to have the  Flickr Advanced Search so I can stay within the limits of the Creative Commons when searching.  I really liked Teacher Dude's idea of using Flickr to teach vocabulary.  What a great idea!

Thing #10

My school's librarian shared the Flickr-Creative Commons site with us a couple of years ago after she took this course.  Other than that, I have never noticed the CC symbol on anything.  I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for that nugget of information.  However, I used the CC Content Directories in the Stretch task to find ookaboo: free pictures of everything on earth, and the Free Music Archive. I am always looking for images and music to use with my moderate to severely disabled students to help them understand the world around them. I have not really shared my creations with others, but having these sites available will help me to be more creative and have the ability to share with anyone who is interested.

Thing #9

I'm spending waaaaay more time than the average 3-4 hours per week on these things.  That's not a complaint, by the way.  I'm really enjoying what I've learned so far!  Tonight's project was my wiki page.  Probably the most challenging part was changing the font color and size, lol.  I wrestled with the program over and over until I WON!

Thing #8

Ok, so I checked out the wikis in our assignment and now I'm really overwhelmed. I can't imagine myself being able to create anything close to any of them.  The simplest one I found was Schools in the Past. It has one page and although very interesting content, wouldn't take very long to read.  If I were going to add anything to this wiki it would be pictures that the parents and grandparents might have of themselves relating to the school experiences they are describing.

I was very impressed with Go West. I just wish I had known about this wiki during the school year because I would definitely have shown it to my students. It has lots of concentrated information about the Westward expansion.  I especially liked the simplicity of the links on the left side of the page.  The flow chart/thinking map on the home page is an excellent example of what we are encouraged to have our students use to organize information.  Someone put lots of time into this wiki.

Grazing for Digital Natives is a one-stop-shop for using digital technology. I can't imagine anything being missing from this wiki.  I think I could probably spend hours, days, months, and probably longer and still not run out of information to learn from this site.  The content is HUGE and well organized.

My idea for a wiki would be a classroom newsletter to parents.  To be honest, I'm not the best at written communication.  My student's parents and I keep in contact by e-mail and telephone.  A classroom newsletter wiki could provide up-to-date information.  Since I teach Special Education in a self-contained setting I would have to maintain confidentiality with pictures and student names.  Are there any privacy settings on a wiki?  Can you keep the content limited to invitees?  I haven't seen any information on that.

Thing #7

Having read each of the blogs in this Discovery Exercise, I found that what the authors said was pretty much common courtesy when talking to people in face-to-face situations. When I don't know someone I ask lots of questions and try to be as open as I can about myself.  When I first started this class in the Fall I fell behind in my work, housework, schoolwork, etc., because I kept going back to my blog and the others that I had added to my reader to see if any new comments were made.  Even though I didn't know the other bloggers, I couldn't wait to see what they had to say in their own blogs but more so what they said to me in mine.  In just a couple of weeks people must've gotten so busy with school that they stopped commenting...and that's when I fizzled out, too.  Luckily now that it is summer it's much easier to keep up and I'm trying to comment on lots of blogs as well as reciprocate with each person who comments on mine.  I check back with those people at least once per day to see if they've responded to my comment.

One thing I found interesting was Darren Rowse's comment about not commenting on blogs that require you to sign in.  Although I don't mind signing in, I've had lots of trouble with this issue.  Almost every time I try to sign in it takes me to my own dashboard.  Sometimes I'm able to sign in several times and then it finally allows my comment to go through, but last night I tried over and over for probably six or seven times and it just looped back and forth between the dashboard and their blog.  Anybody else have this problem?  If you have any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong PLEASE feel free to tell me!

Thing #6

I've gone a little crazy adding RSS feeds to my Google Reader. I decided to add a blog about photography to my list because, in my dreams, photography would be my next career (way down the road, of course.)  Actually, this blog was recommended by a former classmate Talking Tech.  The article I chose to write about was The Engagement Shoot and how it has become quite popular with couples who are planning their weddings. 

My daughter was married two years ago and it was quite a different experience from when I was married almost 30 years ago.  She has had professional photos taken at just about every turn. They had an Engagement Shoot, Pre-Wedding Shoot, During-Wedding Shoot, Post-Wedding Shoot, Pre-Baby Shoot, Post-Baby Shoot, and a New In-Laws and Baby Shoot. I really must get busy and practice my love of photography.  The article has numerous tips on how to make the e-shoot go without a hitch.  The author recommends the engagement shoot as a precursor to the actual wedding photos so that the couple will become comfortable with you, and with posing.  Other tips included in this article were related to the business end of being a professional wedding photographer.  Although my interest is mainly macro photography for fun, I'm looking forward to reading more of the tips that this feed will be submitting.

Thing #5

Lisa Nielson posted her views in an article she titled Why I Will No Longer Work To Differentiate Instruction. As a Special Education teacher, her title really caught my eye.  Gone are the days of the “factory model” schools where everyone was expected to learn in the same way at the same pace. As I read the article further I realized that she and her colleague, Tom Welch, are shifting the responsibility for learning to the student by changing the terminology to “Differentiated Learning.”  Ms. Nielson made the following statement in her article: 

“I realized that when teachers gave up control and empowered students to use the tools they want and meet learning goals in the way they choose, then true differentiation could begin and it wasn’t all on the shoulders of the teacher to figure out how to do this.”

As I continued to read through the article I realized that our 23 Things class is based on the “Differentiated Learning” concept.  We, as participants, are responsible for our own learning.  It is up to us to decide how much we will get out of this class.  I really understand the philosophy that Ms. Nielson is encouraging educators to adopt.