I have truly enjoyed this class. It has taught me that I have sooooooo much more to learn….and web 3.0???? I’m wondering if this is a class in the making??? I will keep an eye out. Thank you so much for the opportunity to grow!

I found Classroom 2.0 and Ning in Education to be a wonderful resource for the educator. What a great way to collaborate with other professionals. Under “forums,” I discovered Glogster and GlogsterEdu. I also found a post from a teacher looking for inspiration. Apparently, she was having difficulty motivating her at-risk 6th and 7th grade students to write poetry. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the responses. Another post was from a teacher looking for help with quiz and test making. While reading through posts to these forums, I couldn’t help but think of how valuable this would have been when I was in the classroom. Under “groups”, I found a great site for elementary reading teachers. Each group listed the number of members who were involved. I liked that function because it gave me a hint to how successful or new a particular group was. It made my browsing more efficient. “Tags” proved to be a useful search tool in helping to find information on a specific topic more efficiently.

I think Classroom 2.0 and Ning in Education would be valuable social networking tools for student teachers, new teachers, and teachers re-entering the classroom after a significant time away from their profession. I think it could also help with teacher certification and re-certification. I have been licensed in four states over the past 12 years. I have had such a difficult time getting questions answered regarding re-certification in the state of Georgia. I would have loved to go to a site where my questions could have been answered.

We have learned about so many Web 2.0 tools in this class. Ning, Ning in Education, and Classroom 2.0 will definitely be on my “Revisit List.”

I DO love the google reader…I have subscribed to some really valuable sites. (I am thinking about deleting a couple and searching for more.) This evening I came across a fun graphing activity from Kindergarten Tales. In light of the fact that I just posted thoughts on graphing with early elementary students in thing 20, I felt it was appropriate to highlight what I found on Kindergarten Tales. I also have become quite fond of the Word of the Day subscription. Check out the meanings for mellifluous and senescent. You might become hooked yourself. And if that isn’t addictive enough, go to the site Learn Spanish with Coffee Break Spanish. My husband has subscribed to the French version, since he will be in France this summer (while I’m visiting family in Minnesota). Who got the better deal there?? Finally, I read an article from Curriculum Matters about gains being made in students whose parents didn’t finish high school. It was a quick and uplifting read. Even though it’s hard to get to Google Reader daily, I do enjoy  browsing through to see if anything hits my hot button! I look forward to “tweaking” my reader in the upcoming days.

I enjoyed this “thing.” I had fun looking at Miss Tyler’s Third Grade Pageflake. I thought it was set up nicely and had great photos for the students to access and wonderful interactive games for them to play and learn. I must admit that The Crisis in Darfur pageflake saddened me deeply and I found myself spending a great deal of time at this site.

One idea that came out of this assignment was a site that could be set up by the teacher for the parents. So often, parents are at a loss as to how they can best meet their child’s needs. Educating the parents on how to work with their children, providing interactive websites for the parent and child to work on together, and offering a “brain-teaser of the day/week” are a few of the flakes that I might start with. A pageflake for our troops in Iraq and their loved ones is another idea I’ve had. I would think that it would be helpful to know top news stories from the region, weather, podcast messages, etc. I AM intrigued by the idea of pageflakes and I look forward to spending more time with it at my leisure.

As bad as this sounds, being an at-home mom,

I don’t have a REAL need to use Microsoft Excel or PowerPoint at this time or any time soon. So, I will play around with google docs and share my experience with you in this document, as well as in my blog. I think that Google Docs is a lot like Microsoft Office. It has some fun tools! I love the word count and readability feature! It also gives a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level! I’m thinking…high school/college English papers…???  One of my ideas for using Google Docs in the classroom includes surveys. Early elementary students would love to use the following table in order to take a survey on ice cream (or any topic for that matter):

DO YOU LIKE CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA ICE CREAM?

CHOCOLATE VANILLA

This idea could also be a collaborative project with the upper elementary students. The table could be more elaborate. The teacher could split the class into small groups. Each small group could have access to their groups table in order to revise as needed. Finally, I think that Google Docs could be used to make rebus stories for the early elementary students. The teacher could create the story for the early elementary student. The middle to upper elementary student could create on their own. This could also be a collaborative activity with small groups contributing to one story. To recap, my three ideas for using Google Docs include English papers, surveys, and rebus stories!

I had fun poking around on YouTube and TeacherTube. The reason I chose to embed guitar playing is because it is on my “bucket list.” Currently, I am learning how to play piano, right along with my five year old. Before “the end” I hope to learn how to play the guitar. I also thought it might be nice to embed this video so you could have some background music to listen to as you read this post. For nostalgic reasons, I chose to view Grease Lightning. I happened to find a great version for any fans out there! Check it out! YouTube also had a variety of videos on early reading and math skills. I found a great deal of information on TeacherTube as well. A couple videos that caught my eye were Teaching Content is Teaching Reading, and Line of Symmetry . I think that producing videos in the classroom would be a great way for young children to learn. I can see anything from book reports, to weather reports, to creating re-enactments of favorite books. Videos could be used in math to replicate concepts. What a great way for the teacher to assess whether a child has mastered a particular concept? Really, when I think about it, videos across the curriculum would be extremely beneficial.

This is my first true experience with podcasts. I did not use them when I was in the classroom and have not used them personally through  an ipod or mp3 player. To be honest, I had a bit of difficulty with this one, as I am a visual learner. It was a bit of a challenge to play around with this “thing”. Some of the sites that I explored included Education Podcast Network, Podcast Alley, and PBS Podcasts. Initially, I thought I would find the most useful podcasts on EPN, however, I was more successful with Podcast Alley. I subscribed to four podcasts. Learn Spanish with Coffee Break Spanish is a weekly podcast that teaches the basics. I enjoy the Spanish language, therefor, this podcast was of personal interest to me. The second podcast subscription that caught my eye was EdTech Talk. It is a podcast with educators who discuss the issues related to educational technology. The third podcast was Teachers Teaching Teachers. This podcast was a favorite as it talks about teaching reading, writing, and content with Web 2.0 technologies. I wondered if others from the class might find this podcast helpful, therefor, I have provided a direct link. The final podcast subscription was to Education Forum. This podcast provides news and developments from local education experts. Since I’m not in the classroom, this podcast will be helpful in keeping me up on the latest in education!

Finally, I do have ideas for podcasts. First, I feel that podcasts would work well for storytelling, especially to young children.  The type of podcast that I have in mind would be something highly descriptive. It would be one which allows the listener to visualize and feel like they are part of the story. I also think that it would be beneficial for podcasts to be used as the audio that would accompany text for young readers. Podcasts could also be used for reading assessments. Children could create a podcast while reading a story. The teacher could use that podcast to assess progress. ie: was the student tracking print, correcting miscues, successful with word attack skills, finding meaning in the print, etc. Finally, I think podcasts would be an ideal way for my family, in Minnesota, to hear the voices of my little ones! I know that would be a hit with Grandma and Great Grandma!

At first I was certain that LibraryThing would not be “MY thing.” However, the more I dug into this site, i actually enjoyed myself. First, I did a search on Sandra Boynton. My toddler happens to love her books, and is starting to “read” them, based on the pictures she sees. Blue Hat, Green Hat is currently a favorite in our home. As I was browsing, I began to think of all of the children’s books that I have accumulated throughout the years through teaching and reading to my own children. I began to see value in LibraryThing. How great would it be to have our collection organized, so that I am one step ahead when I do go back into the classroom. I also wondered if this site wouldn’t be a valuable tool for my daughter’s preschool. I will have to investigate further! I did do a Zeitgeist. That seemed a bit overwhelming for my taste. When I tried a group search and started browsing, I began to think of all the “book clubs” I could join without feeling the pressure of a weekly or bi-weekly commitment. I thought to myself, “how fun would it be to have conversation about a book with various people, without the added pressure to stay on pace?” Finally, I found the “suggester” tool to be quite valuable. Personally, I read much more in the summer. I plan to visit LibraryThing when I’m looking for a new book. Why not spin off of what I already enjoy. Suggestor allows a person to do just that. All I have to do is enter a book title from my list of favorites, and Suggestor will come back with a list of others that I would likely enjoy! How genious!  Professionally, I could see the suggestor tool working well for those early childhood/kindergarten/early elementary grade teachers. What a great tool for pooling books based on theme! In closing, I have to say, LibraryThing was a pleasant surprise! I look forward to “playing around with it” in the future!

I love the whole concept of delicious. It is much more convenient to have bookmarks that aren’t tied to a particular computer. While exploring the site, I did searches on emergent reading. I learned that there is a plethora of information out there. I had fun searching “everyone’s bookmarks.” It helped to see what others are finding and seemed to reassure me that I was on the right track with my search. I am not teaching outside of the home, but I have found a great deal of information for my preschool daughters. Of the 14 that I have tagged so far, Game Goo, Roy the Zebra, and Highlightskids seemed to have interactive activities that young children would enjoy. Mrs. Meacham’s Classroom Snapshots, PBS Teachers, Proteacher, and Enchanted Learning were some of the sites I found that would be a great resource for assisting teachers with lesson plans. I have also tagged some sites (Reading Begins with You, a resource file from NCiP, and National Center for Learning Disabilites). These sites contained valuable information and research with regard to emergent reading. I kept thinking, “I wish I would have known about this in college.” Incidentally, I also came across a site that gave me some neat ideas for a non-profit organization that I have dreams of starting one day.

Of the stretch tasks, I did add a subscription and added Jerrie to my “network”. I do look forward to playing around with delicious when time permits. I am excited about the sites that I’ve been made aware of through this online class! ; )

I came across an article in Education Week that was intriguing. Should There Be a YouTube Channel for K-12 Teaching touched on the usefulness of  K-12 teaching accessed through the ever popular YouTube. People shared their opinions in favor of this idea. Some thought it would be a valuable resource for personal development. Others mentioned its usefulness in assisting parents who are trying to help their child grasp a particular concept. Another person felt that K-12 teaching through YouTube might be useful in the event of a planned  teacher absence. At any rate, the ideas were interesting. If you read this article, you will also notice that alternative sites already exist. Links to those sites are provided….go check it out!