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