Thing #23
Well here I am at last the end of Firefly's Flight. Or is it really the beginning!!!! There were so many different discoveries that I made that I had no idea that they even existed. I really liked Rollyo and Photostory. I plan to use both in my class. Yea hurray!!!
I take away the knowledge of all the different discovery activities and the most surprising thing about it was that on only three ocassions did I need to call on someone for help. The help wasn't to complete that particular entire discovery, but was help to clarify how to do something--help me over a hump that was in the way. So it was surprising to me with not being too tech savvy that I was able to complete all 23 Things with minimal help. Yipee!!!
This activity has reinforced my life-long learning goals. It has shown me that the Web is not to be feared, but explored without fear.
The journey was long. I was surprised that it took me much more than 18 hours to complete. I'm sure each Thing took me 2 to 3 hours. I would suggest reducing the number of Things to get the 18 hours of credit. You might even break it up into two experiences. You might consider developing one that is even more basic.
I would participate in another discovery activity and know that this summer 11.5(I think) was offered. I plan to continue my journey.
Learning by Doing is how I would discribe this experience. Thanks!!!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Findings
Thing #22
My flight of discovery continues--finding new surprises on the Web. I knew about Facebook and MySpace and, in fact, joined Facebook within the last couple of months. I really haven't used it a lot though. I guess it all boils down to time and how much time do I want to spend online and how much do I want to spend doing other things.
I like the idea of Ning and can see how it is useful. You can narrow your focus of interest and audience with a social networking tool like Ning versus Facebook. It sort of correlates with Rollyo and the Web--you can narrow your search/focus. I looked at TeacherLingo which is an educational community of teacher blogs, lesson plans and other resources. I think it can be a good resource for lesson plans and current educational topics. It can also serve as a platform to vent and commiserate with other teachers. I could see myself using it with my colleagues.
My flight of discovery continues--finding new surprises on the Web. I knew about Facebook and MySpace and, in fact, joined Facebook within the last couple of months. I really haven't used it a lot though. I guess it all boils down to time and how much time do I want to spend online and how much do I want to spend doing other things.
I like the idea of Ning and can see how it is useful. You can narrow your focus of interest and audience with a social networking tool like Ning versus Facebook. It sort of correlates with Rollyo and the Web--you can narrow your search/focus. I looked at TeacherLingo which is an educational community of teacher blogs, lesson plans and other resources. I think it can be a good resource for lesson plans and current educational topics. It can also serve as a platform to vent and commiserate with other teachers. I could see myself using it with my colleagues.
Doings
Thing #21
I really liked Photostory. It was very easy to use. I had to do some prep work and get all the photos I wanted in some kind of order and in a named folder. After that, the rest was relatively easy. My only problem was in narrating the story. I'm not sure how many photos I have in my story, about 15 or so, and all the narrations came out fine except the last three. I tried editing the narrations numerous times without success. Not sure why. So my story has no ending. I will continue to work on this as it is something I was planning to use with my class.
PS I have not been able to post my photostory on my blog. I'm still working on it.
PPS Success at last, but still not able to correct narration problem on last three photos.
I really liked Photostory. It was very easy to use. I had to do some prep work and get all the photos I wanted in some kind of order and in a named folder. After that, the rest was relatively easy. My only problem was in narrating the story. I'm not sure how many photos I have in my story, about 15 or so, and all the narrations came out fine except the last three. I tried editing the narrations numerous times without success. Not sure why. So my story has no ending. I will continue to work on this as it is something I was planning to use with my class.
PS I have not been able to post my photostory on my blog. I'm still working on it.
PPS Success at last, but still not able to correct narration problem on last three photos.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Discoverings
Thing #20
Exploring YouTube was fun--too many tangents to go off on. Under Librarians I came across Librarians Do Ga Ga and Ninja Librarian. Both were instructional and fun. I think they would be particularly useful in middle and high school. Once I registered for TeacherTube I was able to access things on Japan. Both will be useful in a school setting; however, the teacher will have to careful view before presenting abt video to the class both for content and age appropriateness.
I think I will be exploring these sites much more and find definite uses for them in the classroom--especially in social studies and science. Here is my attempt to embed a video from TeacherTube on Japan.
Exploring YouTube was fun--too many tangents to go off on. Under Librarians I came across Librarians Do Ga Ga and Ninja Librarian. Both were instructional and fun. I think they would be particularly useful in middle and high school. Once I registered for TeacherTube I was able to access things on Japan. Both will be useful in a school setting; however, the teacher will have to careful view before presenting abt video to the class both for content and age appropriateness.
I think I will be exploring these sites much more and find definite uses for them in the classroom--especially in social studies and science. Here is my attempt to embed a video from TeacherTube on Japan.
Explorings
Thing #19
The flight continues. This thing brings to light, for me, just how much is "out there" of which I wasn't aware. I had no idea!!! Exploring this thing could have been never-ending. I briefly looked at Standout Jobs which was a job recruitment tool. I don't think I would use it in the classroom. I also looked briefly at DocStock which I thought was interesting. You can use it to find and share, create, upload and sell professional documents--anything from documents used in small businesses or by professionals. I thought it was interesting that they even sold textbooks of various sorts.
The one I explored the most was Lulu. I think as an elementary teacher, I have that hidden dream of becoming a children's book author. Well Lulu could make that happen. It offers resources to create, publish, market and sell books created by me. They offer resources for creating your own book or if you need help they have service packages that offer more extensive help in editing and marketing. Other that personally using this site, I think school teachers or librarians could use it to demonstrate to their students the process from idea to product of developing and sellling a book. What fun!
The flight continues. This thing brings to light, for me, just how much is "out there" of which I wasn't aware. I had no idea!!! Exploring this thing could have been never-ending. I briefly looked at Standout Jobs which was a job recruitment tool. I don't think I would use it in the classroom. I also looked briefly at DocStock which I thought was interesting. You can use it to find and share, create, upload and sell professional documents--anything from documents used in small businesses or by professionals. I thought it was interesting that they even sold textbooks of various sorts.
The one I explored the most was Lulu. I think as an elementary teacher, I have that hidden dream of becoming a children's book author. Well Lulu could make that happen. It offers resources to create, publish, market and sell books created by me. They offer resources for creating your own book or if you need help they have service packages that offer more extensive help in editing and marketing. Other that personally using this site, I think school teachers or librarians could use it to demonstrate to their students the process from idea to product of developing and sellling a book. What fun!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Venturing
Thing #18
Venturing through the darkness has its perils. I tried to explore Google Doc, but couldn't. I kept getting a message that the url was not available on the server. But not to be deterred, I decided to check out Open Office.
I guess since I am, and a lot of people are, familiar with Microsoft Office, it's some times hard to switch to some thing new. However, I can see advantages to using Open Office. First, it's free--you don't have to buy it or any subsequent updates--yea! Second, it seems very user friendly. Also, since you can use it in different language formats and different computer platforms, it has the applicability for global uses and the ability to facilitate exchange on a global level. I definitely will be checking this out further.
Venturing through the darkness has its perils. I tried to explore Google Doc, but couldn't. I kept getting a message that the url was not available on the server. But not to be deterred, I decided to check out Open Office.
I guess since I am, and a lot of people are, familiar with Microsoft Office, it's some times hard to switch to some thing new. However, I can see advantages to using Open Office. First, it's free--you don't have to buy it or any subsequent updates--yea! Second, it seems very user friendly. Also, since you can use it in different language formats and different computer platforms, it has the applicability for global uses and the ability to facilitate exchange on a global level. I definitely will be checking this out further.
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