My plan of attack for the remainder of the 2008-2009 school year is pretty much the same as before I started 23 things. A lot of the 23 things are above first graders. I did see a few sites where first grade classes are creating podcasts using songs and poetry. We only have about 6 weeks left and I may try having the class recite the pledge and use it to create a podcast.
Personally I will use many of the things I learned about. Even now I use my delicious page on a regular basis. I use it to research other information about money related matters. It has connected me to a lot of other peoples tags concerning money and finance. My wife is hooked on Flikr. She wants to store our pictures using it. She was fascinated, as was I, with the ability to alter the photo using Picnik and Dumpr. My oldest son was watching with great interest as I created my state Wiki page and even started helping put it together. My children also enjoyed the short podcast I had to put together. They want to create one too.
Professionally and pedagogically this course really has made me think about my teaching style and what changes I need to make to better reach my students especially if I begin to move up grade levels. When I am helping out with bus duty the first thing I see when upper elementary and middle school students hit the exit doors is cell phones, ipods, and other devices that are not allowed to be used in school. I think schools really need to update the policies regarding the above devices and teachers need to really need to begin investigating what kids are into so they can reach them better. Change is scary especially if you have been doing the same things for the past 10, 15, 30 plus years. The truth is that things have changed and continue to at a faster and faster rate. We as teachers need to harness the new technologies that the students are using and incorporate it into our curriculum. Teachers, myself included, need to step outside the box and take a look at teaching in a new light.
23 things has given me a glimpse of what is out there and I plan to tell my peers and coworkers about 23 things. I have already mentioned and shown some of the work I had to do to a few people and they were impressed with all the things I was learning about. Hopefully that will grab their interest and make them want to try new things. I believe as I use some of the 23 things in my classrooms now and in the future some of my peers will warm to the ideas and take interest in it too. I have been thinking about educating parents on some of the applications that we use in school via the use of the school computer labs. If the parents are on board and get a glimpse of what we use in school than that will only strengthen what I am trying to do in the classroom because the parents will have a better understanding of it.
It is difficult to gauge to what extent I will use the 23 things in my classroom because I do not know what I will be teaching next year. It could be Kindergarten, fourth grade, or even middle school. Generally speaking I would like to use and create classroom podcasts. In the upper grades I will incorporate blogs and make a class Wiki page. I will also research how others are using podcasts, Wikis, blogs, and other technologies in the classroom and try to incorporate it bit by bit into my curriculum. Like the saying goes “You can get anywhere one step at a time.” As I get a better feel for what is out there and learn about it I will slowly add more and more to my curriculum.
I still want to learn what twitter is all about. I hear and read of athletes, politicians, and others twittering and I feel like I am out of the loop. I’ll look it up online and check out what it is about. I know there is a bunch of stuff out there that I am not aware of. I’ll pay attention to what I hear and read about then look it up online or sign up for “23 more things” hopefully in the near future.
As for staying in touch with the current participants through a “PLN”, we could continue our blogs. Members could blog what they are up to and the new and exciting things that they have tried in their classrooms that really enhanced/engaged student learning. Maybe create a Wiki page where member could put comments, ideas, videos, podcasts, etc…
In closing, I learned a lot of things that I had no clue about before. I did feel overwhelmed or in the web 2.0 “cloud” at times. The class was presented in a manner that was easy to follow and broke it down into step by step increments. It was a lot of work and I did get frustrated but in the end it was well worth it. This course enabled me to learn about Wikis, podcasts, web 2.0, RSS, Flikr, and many other things. I got to learn, explore, and best of all create things using what I had learned. This course has provided me with tools that I can add to my tool box and can access and use at a personal and professional level.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Thing 22
I will be utilizing PD opportunities online now and in the future. Having a busy schedule with kids and a spouse who also works full time finding time to take a class at the college or at a university would be very difficult at this time in my life. It is hard enough just to make it to the PD opportunities offered at the ISD and its only a few minutes from my house. Online PD is the way to go especially for those with a busy schedule. You can work on it virtually any time, no drive time, don't have to worry about the weather, don't have to line up a babysitter/daycare, and you can work from the comforts of your home. Wow! What more can you ask for. Some disadvantages include face time with an expert in the area your learning about especially if you have questions and concerns that need addressed immediately. Another disadvantage would be class time with fellow people in your field. You often learn a lot from talking and interacting with them. Another disasdvantage is the motivation/commitment factor. How many people start an online PD course and acually complete it. Being online people may foget about it or put it off or don't realize all the work that needs to go into it to complete it.
I would like to see online PD on the various software teachers could utilize such as power point, excel, google.docs, and many of the things I learned about through 23 things but covered in more depth.
This online class was a lot more work than I realized. Was it worth it? Yes - it helped me gain a better understanding of the many things that students as well as other educators are using. The course felt like a college course if you take into consideration all the time and energy it took to complete it. I will use or at least have some kowledge of some of the things I learned. I will be able to hold a conversation with someone and actually have a clue of what they are talking about and may be able to add my own two cents to the conversation.
I would like to see online PD on the various software teachers could utilize such as power point, excel, google.docs, and many of the things I learned about through 23 things but covered in more depth.
This online class was a lot more work than I realized. Was it worth it? Yes - it helped me gain a better understanding of the many things that students as well as other educators are using. The course felt like a college course if you take into consideration all the time and energy it took to complete it. I will use or at least have some kowledge of some of the things I learned. I will be able to hold a conversation with someone and actually have a clue of what they are talking about and may be able to add my own two cents to the conversation.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Thing 21
The following video was comic relief.
How It`s Made: Fireman`s Hat
2. I downloaded a video from Zamzar and it worked. It sent me an email fairly quickly maybe because it is 5 in the morning and everyone is sleeping in considering it is Easter morning. Have a Hoppy Easter!!! Save some candy for the kids.
3. I have used video streaming in my classroom in conjunction with the lessons I am teaching. It is nice because I can play certain segments without playing the entire video. When we learned about the sun I played some segments from"The MagicSchool Bus" talking about stars from streaming video. A word to the wise preview a video for appropriate content and age appropriateness before showing. What cracks me up is whenever I turn my tv on to show a streaming video or dvd the Jerry Springer show pops up on my classroom tv (talk about content). Now I start the video then turn the tv on. YouTube is blocked at our district. I guess we have had to many issues with it - thats to bad because it has a lot of educational stuff too - Zamzar &Vixy will come in handy.
How It`s Made: Fireman`s Hat
2. I downloaded a video from Zamzar and it worked. It sent me an email fairly quickly maybe because it is 5 in the morning and everyone is sleeping in considering it is Easter morning. Have a Hoppy Easter!!! Save some candy for the kids.
3. I have used video streaming in my classroom in conjunction with the lessons I am teaching. It is nice because I can play certain segments without playing the entire video. When we learned about the sun I played some segments from"The MagicSchool Bus" talking about stars from streaming video. A word to the wise preview a video for appropriate content and age appropriateness before showing. What cracks me up is whenever I turn my tv on to show a streaming video or dvd the Jerry Springer show pops up on my classroom tv (talk about content). Now I start the video then turn the tv on. YouTube is blocked at our district. I guess we have had to many issues with it - thats to bad because it has a lot of educational stuff too - Zamzar &Vixy will come in handy.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Thing 20
1. I think my students would like to listen to podcasts in certain areas. I believe they would listening to stories, songs, & poetry through podcasts. A podcast link students would enjoy is called storynory which has audiobooks created by adults as well as students.
http://storynory.com/
2. My students would love creating a podcast. We could create a podcast of a song or poem we have been working on in class. What a thrill it would be for students to hear the song or poem on a podcast.
3 A. Some of the podcasts that I look at include:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/archive?id=3634017 ESPN
http://www.cnn.com/services/podcasting/ CNN news
B. From a professional standpoint I have used the following podcasts sites:
REMC podcasts
http://www.remc3-9.org/education/components/docmgr/default.php?sectiondetailid=144&catfilter=26&PHPSESSID=12b10d5fd2175810b7122cb1c0979c76#showDoc
Earth & Sky Science topics podcasts
http://www.earthsky.org/clear-voices/
The Education Podcast Network is an effort to bring together into one place, the wide range of podcast programming that may be helpful to teachers looking for content to teach with and about, and to explore issues of teaching and learning in the 21st century.
http://epnweb.org/index.php?openpod=7#10
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Thing 19
Here are the podcasts I listened to including my likes/ dislikes /classroom usage.
1. Warner Archive Collection - Abe Lincoln in Illinois- This was a play about Abe Lincoln it was rather an old play and the audio was not to clear. You really had to focus to understand it. I would not share this with my students. If anything I would listen to it myself on a lazy Sunday night when I had nothing better to do.
2. Mandarin Chinese Lessons with Serge Melnyk- I found this pretty interesting. In fact we were discussing the possibility of offering students Mandarin Chinese through a grant from the ISD at our last staff meeting. I am thinking what is it? This podcast broke it down into simple instruction that a kid could follow. I learned that "Ne How "spelling is off, means hello. I think even my first grade students could learn some simple words / greetings in chinese with this podcast. I would probably download it to an mp3 player and have students learn a few words a week. I would have the mp3 players at a station and students would rotate to it during reading rotations.
3. Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing - I would use this podcast if I was teaching high school. It had a nice jingle to it and added life to grammar which is usually pretty blah for students.
4. Manic Mommies - The daily life of 2 moms who work full time and have kids. I thought this was a bit comical to listen to. I would not use this in the classroom. My wife might be intersted in listening to it.
5. Poetry Everywhere - I liked this podcast. It read a poem with video to it. This was above and beyond elemetary age kids comprehension. I would use maybe at HS/College level.
6. PBS podcast - American Experience - If were teaching middle/high school social studies I would integrate some of the podcasts they offer into my lesson plans. Not long ones though - students would do better with the video. They had many topics to choose from which could easily be integrated into a lesson.
7. Audiblekids - I registerd for an account and found that they had a lot of great books to listen to especially for my first graders. The bad part is that there was a fee for each book and it could get quite expensive. They had a few free ones and samples. If I had the extra cash I would purchase a few because they had tons of books in the 5-7 year old range. I would have this at one of my centers during center time.
8. Storynory - same reasonings as number 7 above but most of it is free although most of the stories are made up by others including students. I would use this in my classroom as one of my centers during reading rotation.
1. Warner Archive Collection - Abe Lincoln in Illinois- This was a play about Abe Lincoln it was rather an old play and the audio was not to clear. You really had to focus to understand it. I would not share this with my students. If anything I would listen to it myself on a lazy Sunday night when I had nothing better to do.
2. Mandarin Chinese Lessons with Serge Melnyk- I found this pretty interesting. In fact we were discussing the possibility of offering students Mandarin Chinese through a grant from the ISD at our last staff meeting. I am thinking what is it? This podcast broke it down into simple instruction that a kid could follow. I learned that "Ne How "spelling is off, means hello. I think even my first grade students could learn some simple words / greetings in chinese with this podcast. I would probably download it to an mp3 player and have students learn a few words a week. I would have the mp3 players at a station and students would rotate to it during reading rotations.
3. Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing - I would use this podcast if I was teaching high school. It had a nice jingle to it and added life to grammar which is usually pretty blah for students.
4. Manic Mommies - The daily life of 2 moms who work full time and have kids. I thought this was a bit comical to listen to. I would not use this in the classroom. My wife might be intersted in listening to it.
5. Poetry Everywhere - I liked this podcast. It read a poem with video to it. This was above and beyond elemetary age kids comprehension. I would use maybe at HS/College level.
6. PBS podcast - American Experience - If were teaching middle/high school social studies I would integrate some of the podcasts they offer into my lesson plans. Not long ones though - students would do better with the video. They had many topics to choose from which could easily be integrated into a lesson.
7. Audiblekids - I registerd for an account and found that they had a lot of great books to listen to especially for my first graders. The bad part is that there was a fee for each book and it could get quite expensive. They had a few free ones and samples. If I had the extra cash I would purchase a few because they had tons of books in the 5-7 year old range. I would have this at one of my centers during center time.
8. Storynory - same reasonings as number 7 above but most of it is free although most of the stories are made up by others including students. I would use this in my classroom as one of my centers during reading rotation.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Thing 17
My wiki space URL is http://cshipe.wikispaces.com/ . Please feel free to check it out. I created it to share motivational quotes and short videos that inspire teachers to keep doing what they love to do - TEACH. There area lot of variables in teaching and it can get stressful at times. Teachers need a pick me up sometimes so I created the above wiki to do just that. We all need a little lift at times in our careers to reinforce why we became educators in the first place. Please feel free to add to the Wiki some of your favorite quotes, sayings, or other inspirational words to continue to inspire fellow educators. A blog is like a diary - I post to it and people comment. A wiki is more collaborative. Ican invite people to add to it their ideas. A wiki is more functional. It is easy to edit, save, add to, and etc... I will be using Wiki's as part of my curriculum as I continue my teaching career from here on out. Today I showed my first graders my State of West Virginia wiki and they loved it. They got a kickout of the dumpr site too. Some potential pitfalls I see with a Wiki include student sabbatage. Students adding misleading info or links. Students will have to follow some typeof rules when it comes to working and creating Wiki's.
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