Thing 21

So I am blown away! I had no idea there was such a thing called Google Books! Wow! How awesome. There were several things I shared about on my laswt post that fell under this post section so I will avoid duplication by discovering the new tools I've never used.

Google Books. Enough said. There are several books out of copyright I could access at my fingertips! I think this could be a great tool for students. There is just something about reading online that motivates students more and more! This can be useful for students to critically evaluate books before going to the library. Often times, I have heard teachers ask about how to hold the student accountable for his/her learning. Choosing our own reading material is one of the BEST ways to do this!

Another new tool I discovered is Google Alerts. This reminds me of an RSS feed, but better. There recently was a current event in the news I was trying to follow. I went back every day to see if anything new was posted. I created an alert to get updates! This will be so nice to feel like I am not chasing the wind! Current events are so important to discuss in lots of classrooms-this tool will allow the students to become a part of the world and follow something all the way through!

I used Picasa this past year for the first time and fell in love. Here a couple of collages I made!

Thing 20

Our department began using Google Docs and it has made such an impact on our organizational skills, collaboration abilities, and has changes the way we gather data and provide information to campuses. For our bi-monthly meetings, we build a team agenda. When we need to gather inventory items, serial numbers, etc., we create forms. As a department, we track numbers of teachers and students that are trained throughout the year to be sure we keep our jobs! We are also able to break this information down by types of staff development such as how it was delivered and whether or not it is interactive, etc. We do this by simply filling in a form! It is magnificent!

This past year, MISD has set up a Mesquite account with google which allows the collaboration of an organization. All of our information has been loaded into Google to allow for easy sharing. The greatest thing about this is that we have included special accounts for all of our secondary students! This is making a huge impact on our district, teachers, and students! This past year, a middle school teacher had her students create Google sites and work an entire six week project online. The students poured their hearts into this project. They collaborated with one another, critiqued each other's sites, and provoked others to Think throughout the project. The kids were working at all hours on their projects because they could do it from home! This one step into Web 2.0 caused our department to create a position for a facilitator to work strictly with Google Apps.

This tool can be used in so many different ways. Among teachers, newsletters can be a snap! Each teacher can add any information they want to produce each week and it can be created online! Using the spreadsheets, lesson plans are a snap! Each week, our team would meet, write in pencil, send someone off to type up the plans, and we would do it again the nest week. With Google Docs, this step is eliminated. We simply type in our assigned subject and the plans are done!

For students, using presentations can be more collaborative. The students can add their own individual page to the presentation and it can be built by the entire class! MISD is so new at all of this, but so excited. I can't wait to get everyone trained on the newest capabilities.

I have to say one more thing. The Google Calendars are amazing. My family and I have a shared calendar that we put all of our baseball, soccer, and football game times on! This calendar has kept me from failing to let someone know a date or time! My friends and I are always trying to schedule time together, but we are all busy. We created a friend calendar to share with each other to send out invites for girl time!

As administrators, these tools can make our life so much easier if we learn it and let it! The classroom will follow the lead of the campus! Just think, the entire Calendar of what we will do throughout the year online, interactive, etc. There is so much to look forward to!

Thing 19

There are so many different tools out there on the web, that I have learned to just type in my generic username and password and sometimes, it just lets me in! Apparently I have set up an account for voice thread in the past. I love this tool. It is actually something I wanted to use more my first year as a facilitator, but as I was learning so much, I had forgotten about it! I am so excited to "rediscover" this tool.

This is a great tool for collaboration within our district. Teachers on different campuses studying the same topics can begin a voice thread and gather different perspectives from other schools. I think we tend to think more globally (as if that is a better way to collaborate), than locally. It is so much fun to use these tools and starting with what we know is usually the easiest. When we don't know where to begin, we don't begin at all! Many teachers know teachers on other campuses and this can jump start the usage of these tools.

So, voice thread is a great site to upload images, share ideas, thoughts, and provoke questions. There are several ways to share these thoughts-webcams, telephone, or microphones! The interface is extremely easy. The free account won't let you upload much, but I will check into creating an educator account for the future! How exciting!

Thing 18

I tell everyone in most of my classes you can learn how to do anything on the Internet. Two years ago, my headlight went out. I was in Rockwall at basketball practice with my kids and it was dark. I called to find the headlight at the local merchant and proceeded to look up the "how to" video on YouTube using my iPhone. I watched it, got out of the car, and changed my headlight for $7.00. Now, I have no idea what they would have charged me to do it elsewhere, but as a single mom, every penny counts. That is when I discovered the power of the site! It is amazing what we can learn. Since then, I have learned how to make better bows at Christmas, create jewelry, and string my weed eater!

The power of the site in the classroom is incredible! Our students can learn so many things. There are all sorts of lessons they have access to immediately. There are also different genres available to them. The topic I chose to look into as a facilitator relates to motivating teachers to become more technology savvy. These clips are great to use as powerful tools and emotionally stir us!

I also found videos that give great screen casts and overviews of different software programs we train our teachers to use. Comic Life and Inspiration were two I found. These are great openers in trainings and resources our teachers can utilize from anywhere. These introductions can be for students as well. Often times, I have seen high school students watch the overview of a program and figure it out in one 45 minute session! It's amazing!

The most important thing for kids is to share their work. You Tube is also a great place to post their own videos. One thing I know the students love to do is share their work with the world. Thanks You Tube!

Thing 17

Podcasting=fun. My kids and I made our first podcast a couple of years ago. I couldn't believe how simple it was! I remember being so intimidated by the word and the software. I try to remember those thoughts and feelings when I teach the class! There are so many podcasts available. The biggest problem I see for educators is filtering the good from the bad. Although the quantity is there, the quality is not.

One of the podcasts I want to share about is one that I had subscribed to back on the google reader when we first added items to our feeders. It is called GeekSpeak. The first thing that was said is that we are welcome to use the podcast as long as we cite it! Thank you for giving us rights to use it! It's very Geeky as the name says, but has several podcasts about science and adding solar panels to the moon. The ideas they are expressing could be great story starters in the classroom and make GREAT conversation starters for first dates!

Another Podcast I chose to listen to was dansmathcast. His shows were fun and goofy. He included his reader by answering e-mails, ends with a joke, and gets through the content on the chapter he is covering. If you happen to be teaching this particular skill, it might make for a great site, but I was looking for something a little more exciting, I guess. It does serve it's purpose!

I remember when a friend of mine bought an iPod. Oh my. I just thought they were over priced walkmans. Ha! As a single mom, I could not fathom spending that much mone on one item! Now, I can't imagine life without them. I work in Children's ministry at church every week and download our services every week. I need my iTunes account desperately and use it every week!

Kids love using podcasting in the classroom. They amaze me with the cool stuff they come up with. They have a unique ability to be shown one time how to utilize the software, and are able to find every new trick in the latest update. I have used Podcasting in classrooms for reader's theatre, book reviews, telling research facts about particular topics, and even UPSL for math! I believe in it so much, I train teachers to use it in Staff Development!

Thing 16

What will they think of next? This thing takes me back to the Dewey decimal system! The links go on and on as you explore each page. I have to say that as I enjoy the ease and comfort of having all of the information of the world at my fingertips, the first glance intimidates me. There are so many sections on each page. Dewey is just what we know and expect. Library thing is what we need and desire. As a matter of fact, I desired it so much, I got an account. I am feeling like I am a part of so many different things these days with all of my accounts. Having this resource in the classroom could be an incredible way to keep up with your classroom books. When I left the classroom, I had a HUGE library of books in the classroom. They were categorized by level, color-coded with dots to identify the levels, and placed into specific organizational tubs. Gone would be those days! How wonderful the kids could treat their classroom as a personal library efficiently and find what they need! Another thought I have about utilizing this feature is that it would be amazing to see the kids setting up the library online! We as teachers already have so much to do and this would give them a sense of ownership of the classroom. They would be able to feel like the community of learners includes everyone!

Thing 15

When I first discovered delicious a while back, I thought is was the most incredible idea! Someone at the Container Store had to have invented it! My reputation regarding my organizational skills is not something to brag about! I thought I had found an answer to my bookmark problem from all of the different computers I used. I set up the account. I imported the bookmarks from the computer I set it up on, and never did another "thing" with it, until Thing 15! I thought I would be able to start developing a library of resources that were never-ending, but I ended before I began. Initially, I did not place tags on any of the bookmarks. I believed just having them all in one place was enough for me. After reading and exploring during this course, I am excited about the resources I can grab from others! I am always looking for ways to get things from others that is simple and direct!

I am almost embarrassed our department has not utilized this resource for our community of learners in the world of technology. We each have our own account, but this will be a great goal for our own "CIP" in the fall. As we find sites that assist teachers, we are always looking to share them with each other. This will make a great resource if we truly utilize it!