Jabberwocky by Jan

Well….the end of a long road!  At times, it did seem like it was 7000 weeks!  I was looking back over the “things” to see which ones I wanted to talk about on the voice thread and I was really amazed at all I had learned and done!  If anyone had told me at the first of September that I would have made a podcast or embedded a video in a blog, I would have just rolled my eyes or laughed!  What an accomplishment!  Many, many thanks to Shelley for being so organized and funny so that the whole experience was exciting and pleasant.  I’ve tried to keep as much of the info as I can so that I can refer to it later when I am trying to implement some of these ideas in the classroom!  (I really liked all the video help though…..too bad I won’t have that forever!!)

In my voice thread, I talked about the “attitudes” of many of the current teachers and that I thought it was going to take getting the teachers excited about this technology in order to make the shift with student learning.  I’m not really totally sure how to do that, but one thing I can do is encourage teachers to take classes such as this.  Maybe if they felt more accomplished and confident about their skills, they would not be so resistant to using technology in the classroom.  As for me, I definitely need to continue to practice and use what I have learned so I won’t lose the ability.  I have found (and this applies to many things!) that if I don’t use it, I lose it! (That was another great thing about this class…..most skills we did over and over so I really learned how to use it effectively!!)

When we had to do a voice thread for Thing 1, I chose a picture (representing me) that was sort of “Freudian”.  It was like I was saying YIKES for venturing into these technology areas.  But now…..I could choose a totally different image:

LIFE IS GOOD….NO WORRIES!!

Classroom 2.0 was interesting to look at!  I have been connected to Facebook for quite a while now so I think I was expecting something of the same.  I really liked the sharing of ideas and people asking specific questions about information they needed.  There were a lot of technology questions on there like how to use blogs or wiki’s in the classroom setting.  That’s really something that will be helpful for me:  the answers to those questions!  There were also new educators on the site that even needed simple information about how to manage a particular student’s behavior, etc.  So….bottom line:  classroom 2.0 is a place where I can find out things I need to know from tons of other educators AND a place where I can impart information that I have gathered and learned over the 25 years of teaching.  I have a lot to learn but I also have a lot to share.

I wish Shelly could see how excited I was when all went well with “Thing 18″.  I skipped over it for a couple of weeks because making a podcast seemed so daunting.  But (many thanks to Shelley for her OUTSTANDING videos!) this “thing” went very well and just as Shelly described.  I was so darned excited!  In fact….I am still basking in the glow that I actually DID it!  I will just have to finish the rest of the task (thinking of ways I can use it in the classroom) in a couple of days…..basking in the glow of success is just too good to spoil with thinking!!

O.K….I’m back to finish!  I had to think a bit about how to use podcasting in the classroom.  Even though I’m branching out as far as being more confident about exploring all these new Web 2.0 components, I still have a bit of trouble “thinking inside the box” and that’s NOT a Web 2.0 box!  But…I think podcasting would be fun for book talks, or literature groups and especially for reader’s theater groups….like the radio broadcasts years ago!  Just a few ideas to begin; definitely more ideas coming!

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One of my favorite items in my Google Reader is called “Cultural Learnings”.  It has many of the TV shows listed and gives a synopsis of particular episodes.  At the end of each re-capping of the show, it has something called “cultural learnings” and gives bullet points of particular observations of the shows, characters, etc.  This link, Saturday Night Live , is about the show where Taylor Swift was hosting SNL.  I find that the overviews and, in particular, the ending remarks to be funny, interesting and occasionally insightful!

Right after I started this course and in conjunction, I think, with playing around with Google Reader, I found the “igoogle” link and went to that.  I was “lost” for about three hours setting up that page!  It was so much fun finding all I wanted to see when I opened it up.  Little did I know that I was adding “flakes” to the page!  I even have a little hamster running around waiting for me to give him little food pellets with my courser.  What will they think of next???

Setting up in the teacher page flakes was just as fun.  It is easy to express your own individuality, have fun AND receive pertinent information all at the same time.

Every week each teacher in our school completes a “class page” so that the parents can log on and see what we did the previous week pertaining to goals/objectives and housekeeping details as well as seeing homework assignments and links to helpful websites and classroom pictures.  Loading pictures on the page involves IT (to send us the link) and the format is cumbersome and not very “edit” friendly.  I think Pageflakes is a much better option for both parents, students AND teachers!  A bonus:  EASY TO USE!

I did have one problem with the task though…..I was so confused for about two hours while playing with Pageflakes.  I added the K12learning page but then it wasn’t showing up on my Pageflakes page.  Then I would toggle back to the other site and there it would be!  FINALLY, I thought to look at the URL and the template was in regular Pageflakes but I was trying to add it as a page to the Teacher Pageflakes.  I probably missed some great little video somewhere but I never did figure that one out.  So….if someone did….let me know!

My husband has been yakking about Google Docs for some time now and I haven’t been paying attention!  All of the documents were very easy to use if one is already using Word, Excel and/or Powerpoint.  For Part 1 of the exercise, I browsed on my computer and sent a co-worker a document that we use at the beginning of each school year (we send out info to the parents and want the information to be somewhat similar.)  Every year, after I make my changes, I send this document by email to my “team” and we all make changes, suggestions, additions, deletions, etc. until we get it like we all want it.  It is so laborious and typically takes a meeting as well.  This would be so easy to do!  Everyone is invited to look at the document, view only or make changes and go from there.

I am also reminded of all the times I have been the “minutes taker” in an important meeting.  I send out the original set of minutes, ask for revisions, make the changes, send it out again, yada, yada, yada.  Once again, how easy this would be to use.

We have also been working on curriculum revisions in our school……same process:  rough draft sent via email, changes highlighted, made, sent again………….on and on.  How nice that this can be viewed by everyone!  The process is easier, is more efficient and a time saver.  What teacher isn’t looking for easier, more efficient and time saving?????  I mean really….we need time to sit down with a good book, put our feet up, have a little chocolate (Yeah….right….when does THAT happen!  We would use the extra time to plan something else for the classroom!)

I LOVED using Quiet Tube…..WOW!

I had fun with YouTube even though I have been occasionally using it anyway! I watched 2 videos that I could possibly use with my classroom: Christmas Traditions in Spain and Painting a Rainbow. The ones I chose to look at to teach me something were: How to Kiss (Oh my…..!) and How to Swing Dance (they didn’t go slow enough for me!) and just for fun: About a kid finding ET! I love a lot about YouTube but had always thought of it for my entertainment only….never about using it in the classroom…cool. Oh…sorry about the Wikispace blunder (and if you haven’t already found it….no need to go looking for it!

FINALLY….something I already know about and am using….PODCASTING!!!  I use ITunes as my “podcatcher” (did NOT know that term though!!) and subscribe to an Oprah “spirituality” segment, Andy Stanley’s leadership podcast (he is the pastor of Northpoint Community Church) and American Life (A Chicago NPR podcast.)  When I sync up my ITouch, the newest segments load automataically and when it’s done, I’m off.  I usually listen while I walk.

I had never thought about using this in an educational way though so this was a good lesson for me to look at, think about and begin to explore!

I also had no idea that you could get podcasts on Google Reader (hey…I didn’t even know about Google Reader until I took this class!)  I LOVE Paul Harvey’s “The Rest of the Story” and was never available when they were on the radio (seems like they were broadcast at noon and of course, I was in the classroom.)  I was so sad when he died and felt like I had “lost out” on something really important…..not hearing his show.  I was so excited when I put his stories on my Google Reader.  I can’t wait until I can read them all!

I will have to think about joining 43 Things for myself.  Right now I depend on my friends/family to cheer me on and have never been shy about sharing with them.  However, I like deciding when and what I talk about and with whom.  Some friends or family are good to tell certain things and some friends or family are good to tell other things.  I don’t know if I’m much for sharing things to the public at large.  I do think it would be fun for children to do.  They tend to LOVE accomplishing a goal and adore recognition.  I think they would like the cheers from other people and it would motivate them to achieve what they set out to do.  My  goodness……the things I am learning….who knew that was even out there??!!