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.

Thing 21 Video

This was so much fun. I just kept thinking how cool it would be to let my students create one of these for a project! Wow! Maybe an all about me??? This was very easy to work with once I created a gmail account. It is definitely something that I will use in the future. I love the way the music goes along with the transitions. One thing that I will keep in mind before I create another one is that I should change the size of the pics and make them smaller so the download time would be less.

Thing 20

There are things that I like about Youtube and things that I don't. I like that there are numerous videos on every topic imaginable. I don't like the idea that anyone can post anything. It is not always a good site for students to browse through. But there is an alternative. Teachertube is a great place to find resources that you can use in the classroom. Most schools do not have a block on teacher tube like they do You tube so it is easier to access. I chose 2 videos to embed in my blog. The first one is a video that was posted for a module in 5611 this Summer. It is called "Do You Know Web 2.0". I like this video because it really makes you think about the future of education and civilization. I also chose a video called "Web 2.0 Into the Wild". I chose it because it encompassed many of the tools that we have learned about in this class and with the 23 things. There are many ways that Youtube and sites like it can enhance learning in the classroom. Teachers can download videos to enrich concepts already taught. They can also allow students to create works of their own and upload them to the site. It is a great way to showcase hard work and to share it with others.

Thing 19

Thing 18

It is important for educators to know about these sites for a number of reasons. One, is to keep up with what is going on with their students if the students that they teach are old enough to have a page. Secondly, it is any easy way to keep up with other teachers and old friends who otherwise you might not have time too. Thirdly, you can create groups of people from within your friends that function like tags. That way you can look these people up if there is something that you want to share with your educator friends only :)


I already have a Myspace page and I love it. I think that if it is used wisely, it can benefit the author. I already have several of my teacher friends as "friends" on my site. I am placing a link to my Myspace page here, but it usually does not work. I keep mine set to private so to view me you have to ask to be my friend.

Miss Lorrie Anne

I tried to set up an account with Facebook. I ran into the same problem that I have with several other applications. When I use lcooksey14@apmail.apsu.edu, the verification link is not recognizable on the net. My blogger account is the same. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

Thing 17

Wow! I remember learning a little about these social bookmarking sites this summer but I really did not understand until now. This is an excellent idea for teachers to share important information with one another. The cool thing is that if you can get your colleagues on board you can create an easy one-stop shop for web related resources. In a world where collaboration is becoming more important every day, this type of tool is going to be a great asset.
As far as the classroom goes, most of my students do not have e-mail addresses. But if I were teaching older students this would be great for group work. For example, you could use it when doing projects for literature, science, history, or just about any subject that needed research. The students could share their information. It would also be great for checking references on research papers. You could require the students to label all their information under a tag in their bookmarks.
I'm really excited about using this tool with my fellow teachers.:)

Thing 16

I chose the Google start page because it was the easiest for me to set up. Since I already have several Google items, I can access all of them from one central page (blog, calendar, etc....) As I have mentioned before, the Google calendar is a wonderful tool to keep up with various dates and times that are important to me. For me, a to-do list would be more work than it is worth. Although, I must say that we all need to keep in mind the greatest thing about these tools is that they will allow us to go totally green and not use paper. Keeping a to-do list current would take up the time that I so desperately cannot afford to lose. But, for someone who has several meetings a day, it would be a godsend :) The cutepdf tool would definitely be one that I might use for creating documents that can easily be exported and imported without worrying about compatibility. Zamzar also seems like a good idea. When we are working with many different document formats, it often happens that there are compatibility issues and Zamzar looks like an easy way to convert from one type of file to another without losing too much formatting.

Thing 15

I created a wiki this summer through pbwiki. It was for an assignment where I had to create a fictitious seminar that I would teach. Wiki's are easy to work with. After viewing the video on wiki's I thought of many ways that I could use one in the classroom and in grad school. For example, a wiki would have been an excellent idea for a group project that I was involved in over the summer. I also thought about projects and committees that I am on at school, what better way to collaborate that through a wiki. Any time that you have multiple people working on one project a wiki would be useful. I also liked the idea of book reviews via a wiki. I would really like to start a wiki for my class that allows the students to post a book review every time they read a new book. This will be a great idea, especially for my gifted students. I'm always looking for new ways to challenge them. There is also a 5th grade writing assessment. A wiki could be a good place to post prompts and previous good work. I can't wait to get started!

Thing 14

The tools that I chose were Bubbl.us and Mind Meister. The main difference between a mind-map and a flow chart is that when you are using a flowchart, you are following a process or processes. When you use a mind map you are relating cause/effect relationships and words or ideas that are related in some way. You link them by relationships. I have used and will continue to use mind maps in social studies. For example, I did a unit on the Civil War. During this unit I discussed the causes of the Civil War and the effects of Reconstruction on the South. The mind maps that used really helped the students keep track of important ideas and concepts and helped them to link those ideas and concepts together. I chose Mind Meister because it was really easy to use. I chose Bubbl.us because it seemed like students could have fun creating their own mind maps here. I thought that it was really cute and funny that when you delete something it blows up lol:)

Thing 13

I really like the idea of using Zoho Writer. I would definitely prevent all those error compatibility messages that we get when documents are not created with the same version of Word. Zoho is very user-friendly, since most of the formatting and options are the same. I like that you can add emotions right from the toolbar. This application is amazingly easy to use. Some of my computers at school only have Open Office on them and that is not the easiest to deal with. I am going to suggest that we think about allowing the students to download and create from Zoho instead. The only drawback for me will be the fact that the students have to have an e-mail address. In fifth grade, many do not. As I type, I am increasingly more amazed at the capabilities of Zoho. The best thing for me is that it is so user-friendly. Maybe, I won't have to be smarter than a fifth grader to use it! lol
I tried really hard to post to my blog from Zoho. For some reason, it said that my username and password was incorrect. But I do think that is a great idea. I also like that you can allow others to view your documents just by adding them. This is a really cool tool!

Thing 12

http://www.google.com/calendar/render?gsessionid=ylitzBUQsx6UQZKrOk3g3w
The above link is to my Google calendar. I have tried to create one before but for some reason it would not hold my dates. This calendar will be useful to me now because I can put in important dates like my school calendar of events and the due dates for the two grad classes that I have this semester. I have many friends that use Picasa. The Picasa program is useful for educators because you can edit pictures from within the site and it is very easy to navigate, possible easier that Flickr. I did not create a Picasa album because I have already began using Flickr and at this point I am worried about time constraints. I plan to go back at a later date and create one. I also like the idea of alerts and that ability to have them come from your calendar. It is like having your own little personal assistant. I could use any of these tools for my class. The calendars would be great for the students to have. I could use them on a website or I could print them for the students that do not have Internet access. The Scholastic free teacher website offers the calendar as an add-on to your class page. I personally think that is a great idea. The students could benefit from a calendar of their own, if they have an e-mail account.