K12 Learning

I really had no idea what I signed on for when I agreed to take this course. All I knew was that I needed PLUs. (And was very happy when it changed from 2 to 3 because I need a lot) And though there were times that I felt a bit overwhelmed, I am so glad I decided to take it. Shelley did an amazing job getting us so much information on each ‘Thing’ that you couldn’t help but get yourself through each one. Not that I feel completely comfortable with each ‘Thing’ but I know that I will look at 2.0 technology with an open mind. This course taught me that I am very capable of taking on the changing world and with the resources around me help my students prepare for their future.

When I was exploring on Classroom 2.0 I had to keep my search simple. Also I had problems figuring out what to search for. I ended up searching ‘science’ in both Groups and Forum. I had better luck in Forum. Many of the discussions were asking how to incorporate Web 2.0 technology in their classroom. Most responses were using wikis, videos, and podcasts. Though some of it was over my head, I felt great that I knew what they were talking about. Before this class it would have been like reading Chinese. I did run into a lot of posts that were just telling the beginners ‘good luck’ and not really giving them much guidance or specifics on where to start. I couldn’t imagine wanting to try to incorporate 2.0 technology into my classroom on my own hoping to find some answers from Classroom 2.0. It wouldn’t happen and you can see why teachers that aren’t as fortunate as we are at WA just stick to their old ways because new stuff can be scary, especially when it comes to using technology.

Of course, it is awesome that there are social networking sites on the web for everything. And like I discussed in previous posts when people are passionate about something they like to talk/write about it and socialize with people that share their passion. Up until this class I thought bloggers and podcasters were weird. Now I realize that sites like this and other social networking sites are very important in both your personal and professional life.

I am. I was pretty ‘flakey’ when it came to Pageflakes. I can totally see the purpose and had fun adding flakes but some things were really frustrating me. There were times when I was trying to add something from a search and it kept going to other pages and not the page that I was creating. I ended up deleting the other pages?? I am sure that was not the answer but that is all I could figure out to do. Also, I think it would be a good thing to have as your home page. I like the idea of having all my stuff in one place. I had fun adding flakes and could keep adding them.

As far as using it in the classroom I could make a page for each grade. It would be a great place to have my websites for each class. I could also have a calendar up for weekly and long term assignments. By making it public my students could use it and keep up with what is happening in class. It would also be a cool way for them to listen to podcasts and watch videos that reinforce what they are learning in class. I guess I would have to figure out by then how to not delete a page in order to save a bookmark? Or I could ask my all knowing 2.0 teacher to help me. Overall, it would be great to have all my web content in one place.

Since I teach in the transition program I have a team that I work with daily. There are 5 subject area teachers and 2 paraprofessionals. We have meetings on the average every 2 weeks discussing our students progress. We are always discussing if they are attending tutorial and how they are doing for each of us. And I was thinking that Google Docs might be a good way to keep that straight. We could add to a tutorial calendar if we wanted to see a particular student and we could put down the students that attended tutorial. It might even help me keep up with who is attending.

Looking at the presentation option I thought that would be great for my students when they were working on powerpoint projects in groups. The idea of being able to work on their project together but not having to be in the same room is cool. Also all the work is in one place. The students had problems when one of them wanted to add a picture to the project that was on the other student’s computer. They had to save to their thumb drive and give it to the other student to put on their computer. I am always very worried when the students share thumbs drives.

Another way I could use Google Docs would be to collaborate on our 7th grade final exam. We are always updating the exam and adding material and correcting mistakes.  But when the updated version gets sent in an email sometimes the revisions are missed. I discussed this idea in lunch today and someone at the table said that she did not feel comfortable using Google Docs. I told her that it is easy but you have to prepared that you will come across people that don’t feel comfortable using the technology. But it is only a matter of time and practice that people will feel comfortable using Google Docs.

I have to admit that I am one of those people that never watches videos from YouTube. Sometimes I might check it out if someone tells me that I have to watch this certain video on YouTube, but I never think to check it out on my own. So, exploring YouTube was fun and I could see many ways to use it in the classroom.

The first videos I watched were for my 8th grade Chemistry class and they were both pretty good. The first one was Dr Carlson’s Science Theater on States of Matter. There are quite a few videos from Science Theater that I could use during the year to help reinforce concepts and the students get tired of listening and looking at me all the time.

The second video I watched from YouTube was Introduction to Chemistry by Simon Tayler. It was an overview of the concepts we cover in 8th grade science and could be good to show at the beginning of the school year.

I also found this funny video of a student rapping about the atomic structure and atomic theory. It would definitely be a fun way for the kids to show their knowledge of a subject. And other kids might remember it because the brain tends to be able to remember things that a sung and rapped better than just a boring old lecture.

The ‘how to’ video I found was on how to fix a flat tire. I know that there are times that I might not be able to find someone to do it for me. It seemed like something I should be able to do but on the side of 400 in the rain might be a different story.

For fun I watched a video that the kids told me was cute, Charlie Bit my Finger-Again!. I thought it was amazing how many people watched the video and also how many people did funny remixes of it.

I did not have very good luck on TeacherTube. But I will keep trying. Overall I enjoyed this Thing and look forward to doing more research on both YouTube and TeacherTube.

I enjoyed making my first podcast. Listen to it!

It took me a little longer than it should have since I did not know that there was on and off switch for the microphone until David Widener had to come to my room to show me. Lesson 1: Turn on equipment. Oh well. In my podcast I discuss ways I could use podcasts in my classroom. Most of them are common sense uses but it did get me thinking. I also became very aware of some bad habits I have when I talk. I make a clicking sound and I sniff a lot. Not to mention that I sound like a man. So I think if I were going to have podcasts of my lectures available for my students that I would have to work on those annoying habits. I don’t think there is much I can do about sounding like a man. Also it is very hard to find a time that it is quiet enough to record a podcast.  For example in my podcast you can hear the bell ring. The one thing that I did not like about Evoca is I could not figure out a way to edit my recording. I liked everything but the end and could not figure out a way to go back and add an ending without re-doing the whole podcast. So I have a podcast with no closure.

I have a deep down desire to be into podcasting but right now I am just not. I guess the first thing I had to do was understand that subscribing to a podcast is different then just going to United Streaming and finding a video clip to show my students. I subsrcibed to 2 different podcasts. The first one is a wecast from Berkeley of a General Human Anatomy. I am only able to listen to the audio which is good for me but I don’t think it is conducive to using in the classroom. Even if there is just a professor lecturing I feel like my students need something to look at. But the 2 that I listened to on the Skeletal System were really good and I learned quite a few new things just from those 2 classes. The other podcast that I subscribed to was Why? The Science Show. Some of my favorites are Why Can’t Fish Remember Stuff? and Why Don’t the Oceans Freeze? The content is geared toward a younger audience but some really good information. Once again I enjoyed listening but I am not sure my students would.

I know there are lots of other podcasts out there for me to check out. One more thing for me to add to my summer to do list.

Visiting 43 Things can get you really pumped up or really depressed. When I filled in my list I came up with 7 things but I did not give it too much time. I am sure with more time I could come up with at least 20, but 43 might be hard. I stuck with things that you could actually complete, check off. I felt kind of silly putting something like ‘be a good person’ but you could be specific. Instead of putting ‘be a good person’ you could put ‘do something nice for a stranger every day’. Most of the items on my list involved traveling. And they weren’t really serious goals of mine but at least things that I have mentioned that I want to do in my life. And that is when the depression set in thinking about will I really be able to go all those places? But it could also be very motivating. You could see people that wanted to do the same things that you want to do and they actually accomplish them. Strangers might cheer you on and give you helpful hints on how to accomplish your goal. I can be a good cheerleader too.

As far as in the classroom, I can’t think of too many ways to use 43 Things. It could be cool to use for the students to set goals and then see how well they do at the end of the year. It would also be cool for them to set life long goals. They could then see how dynamic their list would be as they mature and life happens.

So the first thing that came to my mind when I discovered LibraryThing is that some people really have too much time on their hands. Of course, I thought of lots of ways that the site could be useful, mostly personal, but once again it would take time and I don’t have much these days. I like to read which is more than I would say when I was younger. I tend to read more in the summer by the pool or beach. I am not one that reads at night because when my head hits the pillow I am asleep. I was in a book club which ‘made’ me read at least one book a month and it was nice because we would read from all different genres. LibraryThing would have been great for book club because you could use tags and search different genres. Or many times we would talk about liking an author but needed to find out what other books he/she wrote. Also it is great to read what other people think about a certain book. There are lots of people that like to tell other people what they think especially people that are passionate about reading. There is ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with that it is just not my ‘thing’.

Once again this course is making me do some organizing that I have been meaning to do for a long time. I teach 7th grade human biology and we I often use websites for internet activities. Every year when the time comes I have to search for the sites and it can get very stressful. But not anymore I have my delicious site where I can save and tag all my human biology web sites. When searching delicious it was a little difficult to search using one word and get what I wanted. One word is just too broad sometimes. For example searching under the tag ‘biology’ was very broad, but if I could have search under ‘human_biology’ I wouldn’t of had to look through all the websites on animal dissections and tree names. So, I then searched under the tag ‘anatomy’ which worked well but most of it was not age appropriate. The perfect tag would be ’7th_grade_human_biology’ hehehe. When tagging the sites I wanted to save I found that some times the site titles did not have the actual website name in them so I would add that to my tags because that will be an easy way to search for my websites when I am teaching human biology next year. I am very excited to have started my delicious site and look forward to organizing my websites.