My 5618 Module 9 Flowgram

Flowgram Presentation

I definitely would say that the Flowgram was the most beneficial for teaching. The PPt. was okay but after creating and viewing flowgrams, I think that my students would really enjoy them. The first PPt. that I created was not my best work. I found it challenging to find the right image for the content that I wanted to convey. After switching around the slides a little and adding just a few words, I felt that it was improved. But after adding the audio in flowgram, I really felt that this ordinary, not so elaborate, little presentation could really be effective. I'm not sure that I will ever use just a plain old PPT again unless it is an interactive tutorial. This type of instruction, captures more learning styles. Not only are the visual students engaged but also the audio learners. This would also be a great learning tool for the kinesthetic learners by letting them create their own. For that matter, all students could benefit from creating flowgrams. This is certainly something that I am going to try to incorporate into my curriculum.

Teacher Pop Thing 19 cont....

Teacher Pop! Thing 19 cont....

Reflections

I finally understand wiki's and RSS feeds. By creating my blog lines account, I can keep up with sites that I normally have to check everyday.

This has affected my Lifelong learning goals by reminding me why I went back to school in the first place. I also caused me to think about what lifelong learning really means. It means that we should always do our best to keep up with all new technology and beliefs about education. We have to know our students and to know them we must understand the world that they live in.

I think that if I were not already a member of Myspace, some of the toys and tools we worked with would have surprised me. I did enjoy the videos that went along with discovery exercises. They were really cute and broke things down. I especially liked the one about the social bookmarks. I did not understand what they were until this class either.

Other than giving us prizes for completing the Things (like the mP3 players on the learning 2.1 site LOL), I'm not sure that there is anything that you could do to improve the program. However, it would be a great idea for a class of its own, WEB 2.0 101? :)

It will no doubt influence my teaching. I plan to use the podcasts that I found for my students that have trouble with various concepts. They are excellent for that. I definitely hope that I can spend more time exploring these tools. I think that if this was a class of it's own, students could have that luxury. There would be more time to explore the 23 or more things.

I have subscribed to the blog created by Orli Yakuel one of the founders of Goto WEB2.0. If this link does not open up to Orli's blog, then go tot the bottom of the got to web 2.0 site and click on about us. This will take you to pictures of the founders. Click on Orli's link. This way I can keep up with any new tools or sites that are added without having to scan the directory every time.

I will definitely share this with my administrator and other colleagues. Sometime seeing someone else exited about something really gets you going. I try to be as positive and helpful as I can in my day to day teaching.

Thing 22

The podcast that I chose to listen to is an online tutoring podcast for math. I found it very interesting because there were several concepts addressed that are covered in 5th grade math. For example converting percents to fractions and adding and subtracting decimals. It is really cool. I subscribed to the site in my bloglines account. It is the first feed that I am really excited about! :) I will definitely check it regularly! I got this from the Educational Podcast directory (very user friendly). I found this directory and the Learn Out Loud Directory to be the easiest to navigate. I think that is because they are already set up for educational purposes. I would really like to explore the idea of podcasts. More so for using them rather than creating them, because of time constraints.
Here is a link to the site I chose:
Your Tutor Online

Thing 23

I have listed below the two places that I found that let me know that this project was based on the work of someone else. I like the idea of the 43 things. I think that one of the reasons that I went back to college in the first place was because I missed learning. I can actually remember saying that.
I think that in the future I might use Creative Commons to teach my students about the importance of citing your references and understanding plagiarism. It seems that plagiarism never gets addressed in the lower grades. Often times, students are allowed to use the words of someone else exactly for the sake of teaching about research. I am going to teach my students the importance of using their own work and their own words.

*Note: This project is loosely based upon the website 43Things (which allows you to set and track personal goals) and the Stephen Abram article titled 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006).

Credits

Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers is based on Learning 2.0 - 23 Things, a staff development program for the Mesquite Independent School District. That program was based on the Learning 2.0 program that was designed by Helene Blowers and adapted by the California School Library Association and others. Content and style for Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers has been borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a Creative Commons License.