One last thing

• What were my favorite discoveries? I really liked the Blogs, Google Reader, Slideshow, and Delicious.
• How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals? This program has changed my mindset that I had to know exactly what and how to do it before I begin. Now I am more apt to explore and click and see what happens.  The fear factor is gone.
• Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised me? I was surprised at the overwhelming amount of resources and new technology available. This program gave me the confidence to talk about current technology with a group of women who were much younger than me.
• What could be done differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? I like the flexibility of the schedule.  It would be helpful if the last week was a "catch up" week.
• If another discovery program like this was offered in the future, would I choose to participate? Yes.
• How will what I have learned influence my practice as a teacher?  I will continue to learn from contacts I have made, I will use the slide show I made and will make more for other lessons.  I will use the resources in my teaching.
• How do I plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0? I plan on checking my Google Reader each week.  I need to contribute and comment more. I would like to pursue my connections with international teachers and allow my students to benefit from a world-wide classroom.
  

Thing #23 Classroom 2.0 and Twitter

I think I will benefit from Classroom 2.0.  I liked the following video sent in by Emily Dahm.  It was very thought provoking.  We need to compare this focus on 21st century learning with how we are currently teaching and preparing our students.  I look forward to collaborating with other kindergarten teachers in Classroom 2.0, sharing ideas and resources.  I like to know with whom I am sharing. I am still a little hesitant to share about myself and about my ideas or questions in sites like Classroom 2.0, Facebook, or Twitter.  Maybe that will change the more I use them.   Twitter and other social networking sites would be great to use for inter-school projects with schools around the world.  I have teacher friends in schools in Ethiopia, New Zealand, England, and Australia.  What an experience for my students to make friends and learn with students from these schools.

Thing #22 Social Networking

My profile is on Facebook.

1. Why is it important that educators know how social networking works?
We need to know how it works because our students and coworkers are using social networking and we need to prepare our students to use these tools and we need to be able to relate to them and our fellow educators.  We need to take advantage of the endless connections and resources that social networking provides professionally, educationally, and personally.

2. What new insights did you gain about these popular sites? 

I found Facebook to not be as scary as I thought it would be. Now I see why my daughter is on Facebook so much.  I didn't realize that it was more than a "glorified email site".  I was surprised to find facebook pages for sports, media, institutions, TV shows, etc. 

3. What did you like or dislike about each of the sites you explored?
Like:  I can search for friends that I haven't heard from in a long time.
Dislike: I am still not 100% comfortable about the security issues.  I am uncomfortable with the fact that when I connect to a facebook page, I felt like I was eavesdropping because I didn't know the person, only the institution.
I didn't like the ads.

4. Which site had the most useful features?  
I liked Facebook's "Discover Facebook Pages" feature.  I could find Facebook Pages for so many things, connecting me to related websites.

5.Can you see an educational application for any of these sites?
There is a wealth of research possibilities in using Facebook Pages.  Facebook provides teaching resources through connections with friends or other websites. 

Thing #7b

I learned about Quizlet from Rondoes' blog.  I can see how this site could be useful in the classroom and at home to help students with homework and studying for tests.

On elementaryeducationnews.com I read about a new website called www.mrsp.com.  It is a great site for students to have stories read to them. There are many stories to choose from. The site provides the option of having the words appear so early readers can read along.  I had difficulty getting that option to run.  But it is new resource for read alouds anyway.

Thing #21 Google Tools

Google Book Search helped me find a book that was mentioned in our district's math curriculum, but was not in  our local library.  In Google Book Search, I was able to look at the cover and a summary of the book as well as find places where the book is available.  I love to look at  books so I had fun searching for several titles.

Google Alerts is a simple but helpful tool.  I made an alert to get news of Ethiopia.  I still have friends and former coworkers who still live there and I like to keep updated on current events.

Thing #20 - Google Docs

I can think of several uses for Google Docs. Two ideas, I shared with misd23things@gmail.com.  One use was a reminder letter to parents regarding upcoming parent teacher conference. I could send this to team members for their input and then we could all use the letter with some modifications for each teacher.

The second idea was a presentation on adjectives. This too could be turned into a collaborative work, if other teachers have images or ideas to improve the presentation and then we could all use it in our teaching.

I think using Google Docs spreadsheet would be helpful in tracking activities done in reading acceleration with "pull out" teachers. One spreadsheet shared between us would help to keep information organized and available for all teachers involved.

Thing #19 Voicethread

I think this would be a great application to use with kindergartners or students who have not developed writing skills yet. I can see where I could incorporated Voicethread with Writer's Workshop. Early in the year the students have stories to tell through drawing pictures but they are not able to write out in words what they want to say. What a great way to share their stories as they develop their writing skills!

Students' thoughts and discoveries in the areas of science and social studies could be expressed orally as well as in pictures.

Thing #18 You Tube Video

by creeves19
I plan to use this video in our study of Community Helpers. I found a video about weather, that I can use in our Science unit next week. You Tube has many nursery rhymes. I can select one that will be used in our curriculum and I could show it as a special treat when we reading from our fluency folder.

I hope to take advantage of the How to Tile a Bathroom Floor from Home Depot.

I reminisced through the 60's with the video of the Monkees.

Teacher Tube videos were not as well made or did not have audio.

Thing #17 Podcast

Podcasting can be a quick way to learn  new things or double-check something forgotten.

I listened to two podcasts, both were helpful in giving me quick information on specific topics. The podcast 60 Second Science gives research on various topics such as 'Fingers know when they make a mistake typing'.  I like the fact that the information was concise.

The second website I previewed was Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips. I searched the grammar and punctuation directories.  One particular podcast I listened to was "Is 'Got' Proper English"?  This website is a useful resource for quickly checking grammar rules.

I think I will use these websites because they are both quick and helpful in my personal and professional development.

Thing #16

Library Thing is a great resource.  I think it would be very helpful in searching for particular books to use as read a-louds for kindergarten.  I could do a lot of the leg work in Library Thing, looking for possible books to meet my teaching needs, then search on MISD library site and Mesquite City Library site to see if the titles are available.  Having input from other readers helps to determine if the book would be appropriate or worth reading.

Thing #15

 Delicious is great!  My teaching team is now WORLD-WIDE!  How wonderful to be able to search for websites targeted for my very specific needs and interests!  How even better to find sites that connect me with other kindergarten teachers who are willing to share their creative ideas.  We all win when we share. 

I will use my delicious bookmarks to find new ideas to teach different concepts.  I love how it organizes the sites I visit frequently.  I think I will benefit from tag filtering feature.  You can find my bookmarks at http://www.delicious.com/c.anderson7722.

Thing 7a

I found the following article in the Elementary Education Blog, eledblog.com.  It is very thought provoking professionally, in considering what we are doing in the public school system to prepare 21st century students for their futures.  It raises questions for me as a mom whose son is on ADHD medication. The title of the article is RSA Animate Changing Education Paradiagms.

Thing #14

I spent some time exploring Wordle.  I typed in the action words my students gave in our study of verbs.  I think it would be a great way to review.  The kids would love to see their individual answers shown as a poster or on the screen. I changed the font to one that would be easy for kindergartners to read and selected that all the words read horizontal. I changed the color to something bright and catchy.  The sad thing was that in the process of saving it, I lost it.  I'll have to do it again.

Whether I am using photos or samples of students' work, sharing that publicly in class affects the social and emotional development of the child.  As teachers, we have to provide safe and accepting environments where students will be comfortable sharing themselves (photos or work).

Things #13

It was fun experimenting with these image generators.  I really like Spell Flickr.  I spelled my name, my grade, and my school.  Since I can select what letter I like, I can do a combination of lower and uppercase letters.  I will have my students identify lower and uppercase letters in the words.



I usually decorate my room in smiley face theme so I was excited to see Happy Face Generator.  We usually discuss autumn and the changes we see during this time, so I made a smiley face with autumn leaves. I simply clicked on the sample text, typed in the new and saved.

Our school is undergoing renovations, so Happy Face Construction Worker will be a great motivator.  I selected the face I wanted, changed the text and size of font, and saved.

There were other generators I explored and have ideas how I could use them in the classroom.  Flickr Color Pickr will be a good resource at the beginning of the year when I teach the individual colors.  Mappr would be great for bringing geography to life with photos.

I am glad I was introduced to these resources. 

Thing #12

My slideshow  is titled States of  Water.  It consists of 6 slides.  The first 3 slides show the 3 states of water: ice, water, and steam.  The last 3 show the 3 states seen in nature.  Hopefully, the photo of the mud puddle would encourage a discussion about evaporation.  To see my slideshow, click here.




Photos Used in the Slideshow

ice

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2175/2045290249_7fd6e4fc7f_o.jpg Kyle May

water    

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1249/1454159546_578e56a802.jpg

Nathan: shutter snap Studios

steam

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3339/3407551102_710b60fd99_b.jpg Kenny’s Back

snow

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/39/83440385_28184bb33c_b.jpg farfuglinn

rain

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3476/3705518748_9bd28e6964_b.jpg Maine Surfer

mud puddle

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/44/150411241_c64a2a024f_o.jpg nuance

Thing #11

Water as a liquid

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1249/1454159546_578e56a802.jpg

Nathan: shutter snap Studios

This learning activity was very time consuming.  I spent way too much time looking at photos.  Flickr is a great resource.  I wish there could be a search within a search when looking for particular photos.  I changed themes a couple of times, when I realized my 8 photos for my theme of numbers would require me to contact each photographer for permission. 

My final choice of  theme was "3 states of water".  I plan to show the slideshow when I teach the science lesson next week.  Other ideas of using Flickr will be finding pictures of 1) singular and plural objects 2) action photos for the study of verbs and 3) pictures to use in reviewing shapes (I Spy type of pictures).

Working with photos and images took me out of my comfort zone.  I had to learn how to find information about the photo, to download and upload photos, save, rename, and relocated my photo files.  I should have already known this. I needed to learn it and I feel like I have a handle on it now.

Thing #10

I think CC will allow teachers, myself included, to feel freer to use ideas and items on the web. 

I wonder how CC handles workbooks produced in the last 20 years.  I stopped using pages for fear I was breaking copyright laws.  Now I see we have more freedom than I thought.

I would think that the flipcharts on Promethean Planet are protected under CC. I'll have to check that out.

How is CC regulated? How does a reader know what freedoms have been given on a piece of work?

On a personal level, CC is something my husband needs to know about.  He writes and is thinking of publishing a textbook.  I'll need to send him links to CC.

Thing #9

I did it! Take a look at Cindy's Sand Dune.  I felt so proud of my accomplishment that I showed my teen-aged daughter. :) I worked on it a long time with much trial and error.  I have the finished product, but I don't know if I could reproduce it without some of the same errors.  I probably would finish it faster, though. I have a better understanding of the terms, 'embedded', 'jpg', 'widget', 'external image' and 'upload'.


Once I was able to create and edit my page, the text part was easy for me. I had a hard time uploading an image and creating my voki.

As I did the learning and discovery activity, I didn't see the comparison of the sandbox at first.  It didn't feel like playing, pouring sand through a sieve or making sandcastles.  I called my wiki page, Cindy's Sand Dune, to connect it to my memory of sand on Lake Michigan.  At the times where I struggled to upload an image or tried to save the voice of my Voki, it was more like a desert sand dune.

But I learned a lot.  I have a wiki page to call my own, and that feels good.

Thing #8

I am amazed at the amount of resources available.  A whole new world has been revealed.  It's like going to a teacher's conference while sitting at my desk.  I have access to creative teaching ideas from a team of teachers I have never even met.  Three wikis from which I gained some great ideas were Kindergarten Counting Book, Primary Math and Schools in the Past. Viewing these wikis was a wonderful way to get connected to other kindergarten teachers' blogs.  Kindergarten Tales is a great blog. It gave me lots of ideas to try in my own classroom. I will definitely visit Kindergarten Counting Book and Primary Math again and again.  I think I could use Kindergarten Counting Book in the classroom by having my students view the counting book and add a number page.  I would like to contribute but this wiki didn't give clear directions of how to do so.  References to 'page' and 'thread' were a little confusing. I  looked up 'thread' on Wikipedia to see what it was.  Primary Math does provide easy directions to add to the site.  It also provides a table of contents up front which is very helpful to determine if the wiki will be useful to me.   I think doing a similar wiki to the Schools in the Past wiki would a lot of fun for the students and family members.  Another possible class activity would be to use a wiki to make a class story, each child contributing a section of the story.

Thing #7 Commenting

As a reader I feel lead to express my thoughts in "blogalogue". I want to be able to communicate and be able to encourage the writer or give another link for future learning. But I can't!  I have been posting comments several times to different blogs but I see no evidence that any have been received.  My comments do not show under the blog's comments.  It is frustrating typing and then retyping and posting again and again.  Do I need to make some changes in my settings?  How can I fix this problem? When "setting profile" which is the best way?

Thing #6

Quickly I can see that I will be overloaded with reading materials and articles. I have started to seek ways to manage my reader and will definitely have to keep organizing incoming information.  One question I have been asking is how to delete unwanted posts.  I don't want to delete the blog, just the article.  Or maybe I am confusing the terms, blog, feed, and posts. I will need to explore more within my reader.

Some interesting items:

Christian News Report gives me daily updates on issue of personal interest.  Obama's defense of his religious views was encouraging.

I was reminded about a book that I already have that would help in teaching comprehension strategies to my kindergarteners.  Linda Hoyt's Interactive Read-Alouds is recommended in eledblog.

Cool Cat Teacher has a link to a insight video about motivation. A good reminder that motivation for my students and my own son needs to be internal driven.

Elementary Education News is a site of helpful articles that can be applied easily to the classroom.  It was great to be reminded that October is Fire Safety Month.

Reflection on a feed article Thing #5

I found the article about Dr. Robert Esptein on Teen 2.0 to be very interesting. I have been concerned with changes I have seen in our young people and wondered how if at all the new technology will affect teenagers.  I have two teenagers at home.  This site might be very helpful in addressing issues in my family.  I would like to pursue more information from his book, Case Against Adolescence. The list of endorsers is pretty impressive:  Alvin Toffler, Joyce Brothers, Newt Gingrich to name a few.  This article was in the feed,  Infinite Thinking Machine.

Thing #4 Reflections on blogs

Mark Ahlness wrote a blog about using blogs for SSR for his third graders.  What a great idea!  I would need to modify this with lots of readable links for my kindergarteners.  I hope I learn how to get something like this running on my classroom computers.  I think I could do something similar to the blog, Duck with a Blog. With kindergarteners it would be very simple but I think they would have fun learning to write. Brevity is what kindergarteners do best as they learn the new skills of writing. Individual students could do a simple and short blog like Patrick in his 5th grade blog.  The students could express their opinions about topics we study in Science and Social Studies like in the web about plastic bags.  I have read about some great learning possibilities.

Thoughts on Reading and Writing Blogs
Reading blogs is like reading a letter from a friend but knowing that there is an underlining purpose in the communication. I read blogs differently than other reading materials.  I seem to read quicker, skimming as I read selectively.

Writing blogs is a freeing experience to express honestly, but within boundaries, my thoughts and ideas.

Contributing to blogs is a form of  encouragement to a friend or coworker, sharing ideas, urging them to keep going.

Blogs can facilitate learning by directing the reader to other similar areas of study.  Blogging is cooperative learning on 'world wide web' scale.

Post 2 Thing #2 Thoughts about Web 2.0

Wow! My mind is spinning with how fast technology is changing. I remember the time before computers! I’ve got to catch up and keep up. By watching these videos I read many unfamiliar terms. I am fearful and nervous with the amount of new information.

How might these tools change my professional practice?

As a Kindergarten teacher, I need to “catch up” and challenge my 5-6 years-olds. They don’t know a world without MP3 players, Wii, and cell phones. However, some of my students have never touched a computer. They don’t know the alphabet, never mind keyboarding. How can I take the technical knowledge and skills they already have and connect these students to the academic world of learning?
 
In communicating with parents, there is a possibility I might be able to use a blog instead of my weekly newsletter.

How might you be able to use these new tools to engage today's "digital learners?" Why?
If today's children have access to a computer at home and have learned by online computer programs, they will want to continue to learn in this same matter.  I want to make learning as interesting and interactive as the learning to which they are accustomed.  

I might be able to make learning of the students’ WWW done as an online game or activity.  Maybe I could eventually use blogs or podcasts with them in Writer's Workshop.

How might you be able to use these tools to support your own learning?
Tonight I took a course on the fundamentals of the Promethean board. I am so excited to use it in my class. I see how I can use this interactive tool to bring the world and endless learning into the classroom.
I know so little of what is out there. But “little by little walks the egg” (Ethiopian proverb). I have to take those first scary steps, then I hope to be up and running.

Post 1 Thing #1 Reflections on Lifelong Learning

Of the 7 1/2 habits I would say the habit I find most challenging would be #4 - Have confidence in yourself as a competent affective learner.   The idea of learning new technology is frightening.  We didn't even have computers when I was in college so I have witnessed enormous changes.  And now to be in the midst of it all, trying to learn new technology that is  past my "comfort zone of email" makes my palms sweat!  I have stepped out with earlier technology, if only to keep up with my own teenaged children.  If I can handle email, digital cameras, cell phones, and iTouch I should be able to handle 23 more things.

The habit that will be the easiest for me would be #2 to view problems as challenges.  Living overseas on the mission field for almost 15 years, I have learned to be flexible, quickly coming up with Plan B or C or D.

The habits that will be the most important for me as I work through this course would be #6 to use technology to my advantage and #7 teach/mentor others.  My kindergarteners have never known life without digital - phones, TVs, cameras, etc. They are not held back by "the way it used to be" mentality. I need to meet them right where they are and fit into their world, bringing  learning through technology in ways they are familiar and can understand.  We have to move forward together into our technological future.