1. My favorite tools that I discovered were Flickr and Image Generator. I really liked being able to explore Flickr and look at everyones pictures. I'm a sucker for good photography, so I could have easily spent hours looking at pictures on that website. Although I probably would only use it for personal reasons, it was still fun to explore. I also liked the Image Generator as I think it would be a great way to come up with an image that has an overview of the next topic or major ideas that you are studying. I had originally explored Tagxedo, which I definitely want to incorporate more into my classroom.
2. This experience definitely made me realize that there are so many tools out there that I should be utilizing more in my classroom. Part of my learning contract was that I wanted to not only utilize, but also organize my toolbox more. After this experience I feel like there are so many more tools that I need to add to my toolbox and figure out how to incorporate in my daily lessons. I think that over time I will also be more confident using these tools in my classroom as I have been able to play with them through these activities. This really allowed me to have some time just to explore these different tools without having to worry about generating something for an upcoming lesson, which made it less stressful!
3. I think I actually liked more tools than I thought I was going to. Just from the headings of each thing, some of them seemed daunting and boring, but I actually enjoyed a lot of the tools that we were supposed to discover and explore. Although so many of them were great, I am going to have to spend some time now and really figure out which ones would be most beneficial to my students and their success.
4. Overall I think that this program was beneficial and the different things that we had to do were outlined in a concise, easy to understand manner. If anything, I might stretch the blog out over a longer period so that you are not doing as many things each week. Most of us are teaching full-time as well as taking one other grad school class, so some times it was hard to find time to complete so many activities within each week. Other than that, I enjoyed the blog project!
Monday, October 14, 2013
Thing 16: PhotoPeach
PhotoPeach was easy to use and fun to create! I ended up creating a slideshow for the handful of pictures that I took for a wedding that I was in October 5th. One of my old roommates from college got married in Austin, so I (along with our other 4 close friends) were all her bridesmaids. Some of the pictures that included in the in slideshow were of all of us as we were waiting for the wedding to begin and of my boyfriend and I as he attended the wedding with me.
Robin and Clay's Wedding
I think that PhotoPeach could be a fun resource to use with your students for various topics, but I honestly do not think that I would use it in my classroom.
Robin and Clay's Wedding
I think that PhotoPeach could be a fun resource to use with your students for various topics, but I honestly do not think that I would use it in my classroom.
Thing 15: Things like Skype
I have used Skype a handful of times in my personal life, but I have never used it in the classroom. I will admit that I am not a big fan of Skype. I understand why people like Skype, but at the same time I'm not a big fan of talking on the phone, which is basically what Skype is, so I'm not a fan of Skype.
I can see how it would be useful in the classroom, especially for collaboration and connectivity around the world. If I was a student, I would think that it was pretty awesome if my class in Houston was able to Skype and see students all over the world. I know teachers plan Skype lessons where they connect with other classrooms around the world, but I wouldn't even know where to begin with something like that.
As a World Geography teacher, I should probably explore using Skype in my classroom more often as I think it would be a great way to connect with other classrooms nationwide and worldwide. I think it would give my students a better understanding of what cultures are like in other parts of the world as well as connect them to their peers across the globe.
If anyone knows how to set up Skyping with other classes, then I would definitely be interested in getting that information! This is going to be one of my goals for the remainder of the school year - set up Skype 'dates' with other classes around the world so that my students can collaborate with their peers from all over the world!
I can see how it would be useful in the classroom, especially for collaboration and connectivity around the world. If I was a student, I would think that it was pretty awesome if my class in Houston was able to Skype and see students all over the world. I know teachers plan Skype lessons where they connect with other classrooms around the world, but I wouldn't even know where to begin with something like that.
As a World Geography teacher, I should probably explore using Skype in my classroom more often as I think it would be a great way to connect with other classrooms nationwide and worldwide. I think it would give my students a better understanding of what cultures are like in other parts of the world as well as connect them to their peers across the globe.
If anyone knows how to set up Skyping with other classes, then I would definitely be interested in getting that information! This is going to be one of my goals for the remainder of the school year - set up Skype 'dates' with other classes around the world so that my students can collaborate with their peers from all over the world!
Thing 14: Podcasting and Bookmarking
I created my first podcast this past summer in our Distance Learning course and I loved it! Along with YouTube videos, podcasting is another tool that I want to start utilizing more in my classroom. I think Podcasts are a great way to get the students engaged and can be great for reviews.
Over the summer I created a podcast explaining the four types of Earth Systems which students can use to review that information. If I am going to make a podcast, I want to keep it to 6 minutes or less as I do not want it to be inundated with too much information nor do I want to put students to sleep. I think podcasts that are used within the classroom need to be concise and short to keep you student's interests.
Like YouTube vidoes, I love podcasts for reviewing information. Especially at the beginning of the year, we cover so many topics that students will look at the entire year and this is a great resource to have podcasts to refresh the student's memories. I am definitely trying to incorporate the use of podcasts more into my classroom this year.
I would love to try to have students make podcasts, but with freshman I would be concerned that they would not take it as seriously as they should and that they would be laughing in the background. I guess I will have to see how my students mature over the course of the year to see if I can assign them an end of the year project to create their own podcast as a source of reviewing for the final exam.
I am not as familiar with bookmarking as I probably should be - or maybe it is just that I am not a huge fan of bookmarking. I will admit that bookmarking is especially helpful when you are collaborating with your colleagues or peers, but I never remember to use it!
Luckily bookmarking is easy to do otherwise I would probably never use bookmarking tools. I have used Delicious in my classroom for helping my students gather sources for projects and last spring I did a group presentation on the benefits of Delicious in your classroom, but aside from that, I rarely use it. I do like the fact that you can access all your videos, images and websites in one convenient location.
I think I forget to use bookmarking because there are already so many other tools that I use and this one for some reason just slips my mind! I should make a point of trying to use it in my classroom more often. I think I might try to come up with a project where my students have to use the resources that I have available on Delicious in order to create a poster or paper. One other thing that I like about Delicious in the classroom is that it allows me to monitor which sites my students are visiting as I have already pre-approved them! That makes it easier (especially when using technology in the classroom) because I am not having to monitor my students as heavily or worry that they are on websites they shouldn't be on. Again, I am going to try to use this tool more often as it is really beneficial in the classroom!
Over the summer I created a podcast explaining the four types of Earth Systems which students can use to review that information. If I am going to make a podcast, I want to keep it to 6 minutes or less as I do not want it to be inundated with too much information nor do I want to put students to sleep. I think podcasts that are used within the classroom need to be concise and short to keep you student's interests.
Like YouTube vidoes, I love podcasts for reviewing information. Especially at the beginning of the year, we cover so many topics that students will look at the entire year and this is a great resource to have podcasts to refresh the student's memories. I am definitely trying to incorporate the use of podcasts more into my classroom this year.
I would love to try to have students make podcasts, but with freshman I would be concerned that they would not take it as seriously as they should and that they would be laughing in the background. I guess I will have to see how my students mature over the course of the year to see if I can assign them an end of the year project to create their own podcast as a source of reviewing for the final exam.
I am not as familiar with bookmarking as I probably should be - or maybe it is just that I am not a huge fan of bookmarking. I will admit that bookmarking is especially helpful when you are collaborating with your colleagues or peers, but I never remember to use it!
Luckily bookmarking is easy to do otherwise I would probably never use bookmarking tools. I have used Delicious in my classroom for helping my students gather sources for projects and last spring I did a group presentation on the benefits of Delicious in your classroom, but aside from that, I rarely use it. I do like the fact that you can access all your videos, images and websites in one convenient location.
I think I forget to use bookmarking because there are already so many other tools that I use and this one for some reason just slips my mind! I should make a point of trying to use it in my classroom more often. I think I might try to come up with a project where my students have to use the resources that I have available on Delicious in order to create a poster or paper. One other thing that I like about Delicious in the classroom is that it allows me to monitor which sites my students are visiting as I have already pre-approved them! That makes it easier (especially when using technology in the classroom) because I am not having to monitor my students as heavily or worry that they are on websites they shouldn't be on. Again, I am going to try to use this tool more often as it is really beneficial in the classroom!
Thing 13: Using YouTube
I created a screen-cast showing my students how to use ABC Clio for their upcoming research paper which I uploaded to YouTube. For both grad school and work, I have uploaded videos to YouTube before, so this was not something brand new to me.
The specific video that I uploaded is a quick tutorial reminding students how they can use ABC Clio to find credible sources for their research paper. It tells them about the different databases that are available within that website as well as how to perform a key word search.
I think having videos like this available to students is helpful because it allows them to go back and re-learn what you already taught without you having to be there. This is something that all of my students could easily access when they are working on their papers at home. Also, if a student is absent the day we go over this, this is a good resource for them to use to catch-up on what was taught. I would love to have more online tutorials and videos available to my students, I just don't have the time to create them. Hopefully over this next summer, I can finally have a good group of videos created for my students to help them review materials and gain additional insight on the different topics that we cover.
I would be hesitant to put student created work on YouTube as the information they might have in their video could be incorrect and I would have to make sure that it was legal to upload their materials as well.
The specific video that I uploaded is a quick tutorial reminding students how they can use ABC Clio to find credible sources for their research paper. It tells them about the different databases that are available within that website as well as how to perform a key word search.
I think having videos like this available to students is helpful because it allows them to go back and re-learn what you already taught without you having to be there. This is something that all of my students could easily access when they are working on their papers at home. Also, if a student is absent the day we go over this, this is a good resource for them to use to catch-up on what was taught. I would love to have more online tutorials and videos available to my students, I just don't have the time to create them. Hopefully over this next summer, I can finally have a good group of videos created for my students to help them review materials and gain additional insight on the different topics that we cover.
I would be hesitant to put student created work on YouTube as the information they might have in their video could be incorrect and I would have to make sure that it was legal to upload their materials as well.
Thing 12: Discovering YouTube
I love YouTube! Whether it is for personal or professional use, I think it is a great resource for educational as well as fun videos. I have used Teacher Tube, but have not found that many resources that are helpful for my specific content. Before this blog though, I had never heard of School Tube, so I will definitely have to check that out.
My students love YouTube as well. I try to show video clips that relate to our current content, whether they are news clips, music videos or other videos whenever possible to make the material more interactive for my students. I think YouTube is a great resource for Teachers as their are so many resources available at your disposal.
One of the most popular videos right now, which my students keep requesting me to show at the end of class (and which has nothing to do with my content material) is the Fox Video. If you have not seen this music video, then you should. Although it is extremely ridiculous, it has gained worldwide notoriety and is even being played on the radio. Watch it for yourself and as a warning, I'll tell you it is very catchy so don't be surprised when you start singing it in your head! I'll even admit that I kind of like it!
My students love YouTube as well. I try to show video clips that relate to our current content, whether they are news clips, music videos or other videos whenever possible to make the material more interactive for my students. I think YouTube is a great resource for Teachers as their are so many resources available at your disposal.
One of the most popular videos right now, which my students keep requesting me to show at the end of class (and which has nothing to do with my content material) is the Fox Video. If you have not seen this music video, then you should. Although it is extremely ridiculous, it has gained worldwide notoriety and is even being played on the radio. Watch it for yourself and as a warning, I'll tell you it is very catchy so don't be surprised when you start singing it in your head! I'll even admit that I kind of like it!
Thing 11: Web 2.0 Tools
The Web 2.0 Tool that I explored was Scoop.it From the get go, it reminded me a lot of Delicious, which was not what I was expecting. It was really easy to register for Scoop.it; not only was it free, but I received my confirmation email almost instantaneously, so I didn't have to wait around to start exploring the site.
The first thing that you do once you have logged into Scoop.it, is you add the 'scoop it' button to your toolbar which allows you to add websites to your specified topic. Since we will be starting a unit on the Middle East soon, I set up a topic for Terrorism and some of my key words were jihad, Middle East, 9/11 and Islam. Once I hit the button 'curate,' then I had over 100 websites pop up that brought up those key words. Obviously the more key words that you suggest, the more websites that will appear.
I think that this website would be really helpful for finding sources for research papers (especially in Social Studies classes) as well as allowing students to look up additional information on different topics. I could see this being extremely useful if you have the technology available to your students. This is even something that students can access at home. I like how you can manage the sources as well as filter the sources by additional keywords. Again I think this would be extremely beneficial for your upper grade levels. We write two research papers in World Geography and for the second one students have to gather their own sources, so I am going to look into using this for them to 'scoop' their sources into one location.
The second Web 2.0 Tool that I looked up was Powtown. I thought that this sounded really interesting especially because it makes your presentations animated! I know with high school students that listening to 7 different teachers lecture over the course of their day can be really exhausting and tedious, so I think that this could be a great way to amp up your PowerPoint presentations and make them more interactive for the students. Although it would be a bit time consuming to re-do all of your PowerPoint's, this could be a lot of fun.
When I have more time, I would like to further explore Powtown and actually create some more interactive PowerPoint's for my students to take notes from.
The first thing that you do once you have logged into Scoop.it, is you add the 'scoop it' button to your toolbar which allows you to add websites to your specified topic. Since we will be starting a unit on the Middle East soon, I set up a topic for Terrorism and some of my key words were jihad, Middle East, 9/11 and Islam. Once I hit the button 'curate,' then I had over 100 websites pop up that brought up those key words. Obviously the more key words that you suggest, the more websites that will appear.
I think that this website would be really helpful for finding sources for research papers (especially in Social Studies classes) as well as allowing students to look up additional information on different topics. I could see this being extremely useful if you have the technology available to your students. This is even something that students can access at home. I like how you can manage the sources as well as filter the sources by additional keywords. Again I think this would be extremely beneficial for your upper grade levels. We write two research papers in World Geography and for the second one students have to gather their own sources, so I am going to look into using this for them to 'scoop' their sources into one location.
The second Web 2.0 Tool that I looked up was Powtown. I thought that this sounded really interesting especially because it makes your presentations animated! I know with high school students that listening to 7 different teachers lecture over the course of their day can be really exhausting and tedious, so I think that this could be a great way to amp up your PowerPoint presentations and make them more interactive for the students. Although it would be a bit time consuming to re-do all of your PowerPoint's, this could be a lot of fun.
When I have more time, I would like to further explore Powtown and actually create some more interactive PowerPoint's for my students to take notes from.
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