Thing #23

Library2Play Reflections
What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
*I learned a lot from the Common Craft videos. In general, all of the videos were very helpful for me.
*I have a much better understanding of how to integrate technology into daily lesson plans.
*Picasa (#19), Imagechef (#10), Big Huge Labs (#10), Taggalaxy (#16) were all great discoveries.
How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
I have felt quite inadequate in the tech field the last few years of teaching. I feel that I am now on the right track to change that thinking.
Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
*I learned that I can (usually) work through tech problems without running to others for help. It just takes a lot of experimentation and perseverance.
*I was surprised by how much technology is being used in classrooms around the world.
What could we do differently to improve upon this program's format or concept?
My only suggestion: I had some problems posting some items. Perhaps more in depth instructions would have been helpful. (example: wordle)
I thought the program was very well done.
If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
Yes, I would be interested in more training next summer.
How would you describe your learning experience in one word?
Eye-Opening!
I will continue to go back and read and comment on other players' blogs and respond to comments on mine. It is great fun and educational to see what everyone else has discovered.

Thing #22

I had never heard of Ning before. I can definitely see how a group of people sharing similar interests could be beneficial. I explored, and joined both Educator Ning and
Ning for Teachers. In Educator Ning I found some groups in Classroom 2.0 that were blogging on i pod touches and wikis in the classroom. Both very timely topics for me for next year. I spent a lot of time in Ning for Teachers. I started getting into digital storytelling and animotos. The possibilities are endless.

Thing #21

I had fun making the videocast. I narrated the pictures and tried recording them several times, but couldn't get the sound to work. (It was really a good story!) The screen kept saying it could not detect my voice. (Do I have an internal mic?) Once I figure that out, I know the students will love recording book recommendations and reports.

Thing #20

This is a podcast from Coolcatteacher called Fear Factor in Education.
This has been the most difficult assignment for me thus far. I thoroughly enjoyed searching YouTube using tags "primary,learning,teaching, and technology. I found a great video by Dr. Patrick Dixon called Multichannel Learning in Blackberry, You Tube, and I-Pod world. On the sidebar for that I located Education Trends in a Fast Changing World. I tried for hours (I'm not kidding) to post it on my blog and could never figure it out. I tried Zamzar and after waiting forever to get an email from them, gave up. Then I went to Teacher Tube, and using the same tags found this interesting video (above). I hope I did this correctly and you can view it. I was able to see it when I looked.

Thing #19

I went to quite a few sights on the Web 2.0 Awards List. There were many that I found useful personally, but that didn't transfer into classroom use. I went to the games and entertainment section thinking that I would find something there for school, but all the sites I looked at were inappropriate for second graders. Comiqs is very similar to comic strip generator that I explored earlier. Picnik allowed you to upload pictures and use photo editing. The picture above was made from this site. Yourminis provided the opportunity to download music that the children could listen to from radio stations during class time. Live maps might be useful when we study cardinal directions in geography. The tool that I liked the most was picasa. I entered the keyword "birds" and then had a choice of clicking on many different photo albums put together by other people. I looked at slide shows of several of them and one was better than the next. I know the children will love this when we do our bird unit. Perhaps it will inspire some to make their own albums.

Thing #18

I had heard of Google Docs as a possible alternative to Microsoft Office for the new laptops we are getting in the fall. I didn't know anything about it prior to this lesson. I found it easy to work with and I liked the template feature. (Perhaps Microsoft Office has this feature as well and I don't know about it.) I also like the idea that you can share documents and/or work on them at the same time from any location. I can see this as an advantage for my teammates, but I'm not really sure how the second graders will be able to benefit from this feature.

Thing #17

Bruce's video was so helpful in breaking down the whole idea of Rollyos.
I created a search roll for bird facts, since this is a major unit in second grade. I plan on putting this site on my wiki next year. It should be extremely helpful when the students go to do their research. Bird facts