Thing 11: Photosharing with Flickr

jimmiehomeschoolmom

I actually enjoyed this assignment a lot. I always like to find new sites to be able to find new images to use in my lessons. One thing I found interesting was the way each image is labeled as either copyrighted or as CC. I had a hard time on a few images, trying to find out if I was able to use them or not. My idea behind finding images today was a lesson on fractions. In a class that I am taking, we took a close look at the TEKS and realized the importance of fractions and how they are started at a young age and continued through graduation. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I would really like to set up a Wiki for my students to be able to have access to full copies of notes as well as a form of communication with parents. I would like to use Flickr as a resource for images to use in doing this.

Thing 10: Creative Commons

I can honestly say that at this point, I have never noticed the CC logo on any website that I have looked at. It is probably mainly because I didn't know where to look. This is something that I am going to start looking for as I search the internet for information. I think that it is very important to discuss copyright and CC with our students. They need to know the difference but they also need to know importance of completely understanding what both of them mean. They need to understand that just because they see CC, that does not mean that the information is free reign to take and use as they want, but that it is there to use as a base for them to add to and improve the information. I have used images as well as video in my classroom. To be honest, I don't know that I have ever paid attention to the copyright connected to them. This will definitely be something that I will start paying attention to immediately though! I have shared a few of my lessons and flip-charts through the online library of flip-charts called Promethean Planet. While this CC sounds great, there are still some dangers involved. I am worried that telling my students about this will make them believe that they are allowed to copy anything they find on the internet or in books without paying attention to the Copyright or the CC symbols. Then I am worried that they will not make enough changes to get out of the gray area and could still possibly get in trouble for using it.

Thing 9: Play in the Wiki Sandbox

Creating a Wiki in the sandbox was an incredibly hard assignment for me. Like I have mentioned several times, I am always worried that I will mess something up with the technology. One good thing that really helped me was being able to look at the other Wikis connected to the Sandbox page and seeing what I needed to figure out how to do next. I still feel very unsure about creating a Wiki page, but I think that the only thing that will be able to help me with these feelings is to be able to play around more and probably make some mistakes. I am working on letting go of my fears of messign things up and just trying to take chances with my mistakes.
Feel free to visit my Wiki and share your input or suggestions as to ways I can improve it or fix mistakes that you may notice.

Thing 8: What in the World is a Wiki?

Being that this was my first experience with looking at Wikis, I was a bit surprised at the lack of information on the initial page. I guess after working with blogs, I almost expected to be able to see the information when I first got to the page rather than having to click on several tabs before being able to find things. There were a few wiki pages that did have some interesting information on the first page. I liked the organization of the wikis though.
I liked finding the wiki on Primary Math. Being that I teach at the middle school level, but have younger kids at home, I am always looking for fun ideas to do with my children that will enforce the importance of education. This gave me a few ideas of things to be able to do at home with my boys. The Kindergarten Counting Book was another wiki that I think will be fun to work with my sons on at home. Finding activities to use with them over the summer is always a hunt for me. Being that I am a math teacher, finding activities that have to do with numbers is something that I enjoy doing as well. Continuing with this same theme, trying to find activities to do with my children, Salute to Seuss was another fun page.
From the initial look at wikis, I think one way that I would really like to start using them is to have a place online to post notes and other things that are going on in my classroom. I would like to set one up with the other 8th grade math teachers as a place to post a set of our notes, a brief description of assignments, a calendar of upcoming tests or projects, as well as other events that are happening throughout the school. This would be a great resource for parents in that they would be able to know if their child has homework as well as when they need to be studying for tests.

Thing 7: Creating Community Through Commenting

I think that commenting on peoples blogs helps to keep the "discussion" going. People often blog to share their knowledge or opinions about certain topics. By asking questions or sharing your opinions with the writer, you are helping show that blogger what their readers are interested in knowing more about.
I really liked reading the blog titled : 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blogs. I often wonder what I can do to start more of the discussion type on my blogs. I often find myself just spilling my thoughts and saying all that I know to say about the topic. I like the advice of not only asking questions throughout my blogs, but also to leave some insight for my readers to add as well. I don't mean to over-talk my topic, but now looking back on previous blogs, I realize that maybe this is something that I am guilty of.
Through this "Thing," I realized how hard it is to comment on some blogs but so much easier to comment on others. After realizing that, I went back to look at the blogs that were easy to comment on and tried to find out why I thought those were easier. I then looked at the blogs that were not so easy to comment on and tried to find out why those were harder. This helped me in my blogging to make sure that I make a concious effort to pay attention to what I am writing about.

Thing 6: Feed your Reader: Find and Subscribe to Feeds

One pleasant surprise I found was the amount of time I found searching the internet. It was nice to find many of the things that I would have looked up, already in my reader. I like the idea of "somone else" doing the searching for me.

One article that I particularly liked was from the Blue Skunk Blog. I have always enjoyed listening to more experienced teachers opinions or viewpoints on the way things are done in education in the current day. I am one of the newer teachers in that I have always known everything to be done through computers and the "need for a password."

The next thing that I was happy to see came from NPR Topics: Children's Heath. It was an article called Uh-Oh: 15 Million Pounds of SpaghettiOs Recalled. My children LOVE Spaghetti-Os and we have a pantry full of them. I am so happy to have found this site simply because of being able to keep up with all of the re-calls. Too often we put trust in things that we buy that are brand name because surely there can't be anything wrong with them. Unfortunately this is not always true.

Thing 5: Getting Started with RSS

I found a website that is titled NPR Topics: Children's Health. I particularly like this site because with two small children it is helpful to have a website that can keep you updated on the latest recalls or health finds. Having subscribed to this through my RSS reader, it will be nice to be able to skim the information that is brought to me and find what is significant to my life rather than having to go out and search for it. This is a typr of technology that I never heard about before today. It is very interesting the way technology advances and we are able to sort out the information that we want to know about without having to search the whole internet.

Thing 4: Bloging Begins with Reading

Blog writing is much more informal that other types of reading. I like reading the blogs from the list provided. I liked being able to see peoples opinions on things and how they truly felt about their topic of choice. I specifically liked reading the blog written by the 2nd grade students about the missing duck. This showed that if students as young as second grade are able to blog, any of our students should be able to do it. Using technology as a way of allowing student to explore writing is an opportunity for the struggling writers to have "help." They have spell-check available to help them catch their mistakes. A great example of this is a blog written by a 5th grade At-Risk student. The technology gives them a sense of ownership and allows them to express their opinions in ways that they are do not feel comfortable doing with paper and pen.

Another blog that I really enjoyed reading was the blog on Brevity. This showed students viewpoint on the difference between quality words and the quantity of words. Too often, we set a specific number of words for our students to have in their writings. However, this shows the importance of the quality of the words rather than the quantity of the words.

Thing 2: Thoughts about Web 2.0

It is interesting to me to see all the different ways in which our students use technology. Having the opportunity to not only search for information, but to be able to post information out for the world to see is just an amazing concept to me. I really like the idea of my students being able to communicate with students all around the world to further their education and to share their knowledge with many. I would like to be able to incorporate a blog for communication with parents and students when they are not in the classroom. This could be an opportunity to share class information as well as being able to help students with their homework or assessments when they are not in the school building. I am also going to look more into podcasts and uderstanding what that consist of.

Thing 1: Reflections on Lifelong Learning

1. Which habit(s) may be most challenging for you to employ as part of your Learning 2.0 experience?
I think that the habit that will be the most challenging for me is to use technology to my advantage. I have never felt confident using technology because of the fear of "messing it up." The technology facilitator on every campus that I have ever worked on has known me well. I have never been afraid to ask for help when I am unsure of something, but sometimes the help request come quite frequently.
2. Which habit(s) will be easiest, or are most resonant for you as a lifelong learner?
The habit that will be the easiest for me to use is to begin with the end in mind. I have always been one to set goals. I set goals for EVERYTHING!! I usually not only set a goal by having the end in mind, but I also set many goals along the way of the different steps along the way.
3. Which habit do you think will be most important for you as you work through this course, and why?
The most important habit to have through this course is for me to accept responsibility for my own learning. With this being a self-paced and online course, I am going to have to find time out of my own busy schedule to complete the assignments and learn all of the processes along the way. As I mentioned before, I am always afraid of messing up the technology so it usually takes me a little longer to get the assignments done.