Thing #18-Video Sharing

Once again, I typed in Elementary Math as my search topic. I was very pleased with the number of video results it came up with. I spent WAY too much time looking through the many videos related to topics I currently teach about in my 4th grade math classroom. I found videos related to measurement, probability, geometry, problem solving and basic math. I found several videos that a teacher has posted with rap songs she has created that are related to math topics. I could see using some of these in my classroom. The video that I included in my blog post was about right angles. My students will be learning about right angles in just a few weeks. I like how it told what a right angle is, showed examples then show "real life" images that had right angles and gave you time to look for them. I think there are many uses for using podcasts in my classroom in the future. I look forward to working towards incorporating them into my lessons.

Thing #17-Pocasting

I looked through all of the directories that were given. I started by searchin for podcasts that were related to elementary math. I didn't come up with many results on most of them. I found the EPN, Education Podcast Network, was the best directory for me and the need of my students. I looked at several podcasts that were related to elementary school math. The Math tutor was one that I looked at. I found the podcast to be somewhat useful, but kind of boring. I looked at a few podcasts about teaching with a SMARTboard in the classroom, but I did not find them to be very useful. I have viewed many podcasts on iTunes before, one particular podcasts that I enjoyed was a course about teaching math in the elementary school classroom. Overall, I think podcasts could be useful to me as an educator, but I am not convinced they will be helpful to my students in the classroom.

Thing #16-LibraryThing

I found the LibraryThing to be very exciting. In my classroom learning I already use a number of books. I began by typing in the name of Marilyn Burns, an author that I prefer. I am very familiar with her works and have incorporated her books into many lessons in my classroom. Once I got to her page I recognized a number of books by her that I have used in the past. By clicking on those, I found links to other similar resources that were also available. I know I will use this tool again because it allowed me to easily find numerous resources that I could incorporated in my classroom lessons that I might not have otherwise known about.

Thing #15-Social Bookmarking

I enjoyed getting on Delicious and looking for websites that I could use in my classroom. I get on the internet often and search for ideas for lessons, worksheets I can use or websites my students might benefit from. I found many of the same sites and ideas on delicious, but it was very helpful to be able to actually bookmark them on delicious and tag them. The tags will be very helpful, because they will be a reminder when I go back to look at them. I also found it very helpful to look at some of the tags and follow them to find links to other sites I had not seen or used before. I am going to be getting another computer in a few week so, it will also be nice to have all of my bookmarks saved on delicious instead of being saved to my computer. I see delicious being a great website I will utilize in the future. Here is MY Delicious, you can go to it and see what I have already started bookmarking!

Thing 7a-google reader

I found an interesting article regarding the recognition of students via the internet entitled Robbing Students of Recognition. I think the article opens up a very interesting debate. There is no question that we have responsibilities to protect the students but I have to agree with the author that we need to also have a responsibility to promote their accomplishments. Locally, we have no problem promoting students accomplishments via newsletters and community newspapers, but I agree we become reluctant when utilizing the internet for the same reason. As use of the internet and its relative popularity continue to grow i hope that we will understand that there are so many more positives with the use of the internet that greatly outweigh the negatives. This will not lessen our responsibility to the students and our inherent obligation to protect them, but I am hopeful, as educators, we can recognize the many positive aspects and therefore positive outcomes of utilizing the internet for student recognition.

Thing #14-2.0 Tools

Well, being a math teacher, I was kind of partial to the math quizlet. My first choice was to pick flashcards and then I selected math. I was actually quite excited to find out what all was available from this site. It contained a variety of lessons which included interactive games, multiplication facts and quizzes that would automatically track your scores. Knowing how computer savvy a lot of today's students are, this is a great tool to reinforce learning objectives that we are going to be teaching anyway. What a great way to mix traditional learning with the use of technology!

Thing #13- Image Generators

I think the image generators are a tool to use that really take advantage of the internet. By using the word maker like the one above, I was able to write one of my user names by using six pictures of the different letters. This allowed me to make a very customized word that I could use in a variety of applications. Since people are publishing their works and there are programs becoming more available that can search through the large amount of information out there, it makes it easy for the average user to take advantage of all that without spending too much time sorting through everything that's available.



The sign above is another example of an image generator. The sign maker is really a simple tool that will allow you to write messages that you would probably be using anyway, but gives you a lot of options to customize them. This is a great tool to use in the classroom for lessons on the promethean board or for focuses and closures. It's easy to use and just simply allows you to be creative and customize it and add a little flare to classroom learning.

Thing #12-Slideshow

The theme of my slideshow is Geometry. I thought it would be

neat to create a slideshow that I could use for a geometry lesson.

As I stated in my previous post, I thought I could have my students

write a paragraph about a particular picture using the geometry

language they had learned. I thought it would also be a good idea to

show some of the photos as we are learning about a particular

objective related to geometry. For example, if we were learning about

intersecting, perpendicular and parallel lines, I could use the picture

by giopuo to show examples of the different types of lines.

photo credits: Geometry lesson by Kevin Dooley;

Villa Romana del Tellaro, Sicily-Geometry by giopuo;

Tourist Geometry by Tillwe;

Geometry for Dummies by Thomas Claveirole;

Thing #11-Flickr

I enjoyed looking through all of the photos on flickr. I already had a flickr account, so I was pretty familiar with it. I teach 4th grade math, so I was trying to think of a topic we would be learning about here in the near future. So, I chose to search for pictures related to geometry as my theme. I was surprised at the amount of pictures I was given! It was really neat to look through all of the photos that were related to geometry and think about how I could use them in my classroom. I thought it would be a neat idea to have the students look at several of the chosen photos and write a descriptive paragraph using many of the geometry related terms they have learned.

photo credit: Thomas Claveirole

Thing #10-Creative Commons

Creative Commons will continue to make it easier to use the vast resources that are available on the internet. Teachers and students alike are using the internet more and more in the classroom and for putting projects together. As use of the internet becomes second nature, part of the learning curve needs to be a better understanding of Creative Commons. Not only will students be using the internet to collect information, they will also be submitting their own creative works such as pictures and videos to a very large audience. Teachers need to understand and look for the CC logo and be able to explain what it means to students and their use of the internet. There is so much information out there that is readily available, but with those seemingly limitless resources comes responsibility. Not unlike teaching the importance of preparing a good bibliography for those resources that were used in a research project. Creative Commons should streamline the use of the many resource materials available because the owner will have allowed permission for its use at the beginning.

Thnig #9-Sandbox

Well I completed my wiki without too much trouble. Actually, that's not really true. I had to print the instructions so I could refer to them more times than I really wanted to. But once I got going and understood it a little better, it wasn't really that bad at all. Sometimes learning a new thing can be a little bit intimidating and I guess it was a little bit. I don't mind using technology and I know there's a place for it in the classroom and in my daily life. But the things I have used and incorporated have been made for me and ready to use so actually having to make it from scratch was a little bit overwhelming. In the end it all worked out and I'm glad I was able to become familiar with the process so that now I can make one on my own. View my page here: ckutie's wiki

Thing #8-Wikis

I enjoyed looking at all of the wikis. I wondered, before I began exploring the different wikis, what I might use one for in my own classroom. I now have several ideas for the use of wikis in my class!

I liked the way the Room 15 wiki was set up. This wiki was started by a sixth grade class to share book reviews and other student works, as well as share classroom information. This wiki was organized very well and the overall appearance looked better than some of the other wikis I saw. If I were to create a wiki for my classroom, I think this setup would work best. I think having a classroom wiki that provided a variety of information about the class would be a great idea.

I also chose to look at the Primary Math wiki. Being a 4th grade math teacher, this one initially caught my eye. I thought the concept behind this wiki was a good idea. It is setup for primary math students to share their learning. This wiki was very basic and simple.

I thought the Salute to Suess wiki was a neat idea. This was a project where students had to read a Dr. Suess book and make a project to post on the wiki. I thought this was a very creative idea to get the students involved in learning about a particular subject.

Thing #7-Commenting

The importance of commenting just very simply gives you a wide variety of ideas and opinions. Sometimes when people blog they are very passionate about their perspective on a given topic and may not have considered other viewpoints. When done correctly and in good taste, commenting can spark continued discussion and healthy debate on a given topic. The internet and the immediacy of information today allows for bloggers and commenters to engage in discussion that might not otherwise take place. A good blogger, and a good educator, should be open minded to different perspectives and welcome the opportunity to increase their knowledge.

Thing # 6-Readers

I've really enjoyed the information in the reader because it's good to gain different perspectives and insight that can be used in the classroom. There is vast amounts of information available to those who will take the time to look for it. That can sometimes be the negative too, in that so much information can be a bit overwhelming at times. Setting up a good reader can be useful because it allows you to sort through the information and pick only the things that you have found helpful. Taking the time to set it up right can save time later by limiting the amount of information and taking away that overwhelming feeling. Of course to do it right you need to revisit the content in your reader from time to time and make sure that it is still meeting your needs.

Thing #5- RSS

The internet is here to stay and today's students are using it more and more as a part of their daily lives. If used correctly, it can play a major role in the classroom and be an integral part of education today. Bob Sprankle talks about how the internet's role has changed in just the last year.

The importance of the internet will continue to become a greater tool for use in the classroom. Even though not all students have access at home, the availability of internet access throughout the community continues to increase. Students today do not know a world without the internet, regardless of their access to it. The hurdle in the short term will be the adults in the students lives, both parents and teachers, who are continuing to learn and understand the internet and the positive role it can have in education. Used in the proper context, the internet offers nearly limitless access to research information that would otherwise be extremely challenging to obtain. The internet will no doubt continue to play a bigger role in education in the future, not only for research assignments, but for day to day learning as well. Overcoming the fear of the internet and understanding its true potential and place in the classroom will be the challenge for educators as we move forward. Younger teachers joining the profession will more easily adapt to using the internet as a part of the classroom setting. Hopefully veteran teachers and administrators who are in the position of making decisions will embrace all that the internet has to offer and use it to their advantage to further the education of modern day students.