My New Pet

adopt your own virtual pet!

Tuesday, The Last Day of Class

This class has been very informational. There are many things I have been exposed to that I want to take more time to learn about. I have looked at voicethreads before but haven't ever tried them. Now I think I can take them on and try to do one this coming school year. I have seen different ways to put together information - podcasts, voice threads, blogs, slideshows, etc. I like the variety of ways I will be able to integrate technology into my classroom this year. I have done enhanced podcasts before and have really enjoyed them as did my students. I think they will like having a variety of "products" too.

O.K. So I just finished reading the chapters on RSS, social networking, and Flickr. Holy cow!! There's a lot of information there! I will need to go back and reread the chapters. I am anxious to see what we learn about these things in class tomorrow.

We had orientation for my son at Central today. It was kind of strange being back in the same places twenty-some years after I left there. He had to schedule his classes the same place where most of my education classes were held. He is thinking about going into elementary education right now. Kind of strange.... They are building a new education center, so he will be taking classes there soon. Campus was the same, but so different.

Learning New Things

I have to read my homework assignment for class yet. I have been working on computer things though. I have been working on learning HTML. I want to be able to use it on a teacher website. I am thinking that right now I want to have a teacher website and a blog (which can be accessed from my website). There are ways I would like to use both of them.

Visit Second Grade Teachers' Club

Surprise!!!! When I went to check out how my new post looked on my site, I was quite surprised to see my podcast on the right side under my podcast heading. Now to figure out how that happened.....hmmmmm.

What a day! I was really excited to get my podcast on my blog. I tried to get it on using the gadgets, but couldn't do it that way. It's fine with me that that it is the body of the blog instead of on the side. I love the clipart I found to go with it. Quite fitting.

I am really anxious to do more podcasting with my students this year. I have thought of a number of projects they will be able to do that will incorporate research, writing, and recording. It will be a great tool for evaluation. I think parents will appreciate it too. Now, to make sure we have enough computers available....

Wow! What a lot of information in these two chapters. As I was reading the first chapter, I was thinking about how important it is for teachers to learn and experience things on the web to be able to teach students how to do it. I am very interested in technology and making technology a bigger part of my teaching. I spend lots of time on the computer looking for ways to make myself a better teacher. Incorporating blogging into the classroom is a whole different thing for me. I am definitely going to have to play around with this before introducing it to a classroom of second graders.

The whole time I was reading the second chapter I kept thinking about ways I could incorporate a blog into my life as an educator. I currently have a teacher website. It is through our school and is dependent on things working on that end. In the last 6 months, my site hasn't been accessible probably 2 of those months. That is not acceptable when you are encouraging your students to go to the site. Not acceptable as a way of communicating information to parents either. A blog would not be dependent on the school network. Troubleshooting might be much easier and faster. (I'm sure would be easier and fastser!)