Thing # 7b

The post from my professional sites focused on many different topics. I chose several that were of interest to my position to read. One was about bullying and how this is being addressed in other school districts across America. This is especially interesting since this is Anti-Bullying week in MISD.

Other articles I have found interesting dealt with:

• Censorship of Children's Literature
• Effects of War on our students and comforts we can offer
• Economic Recession and schools

These are all issues that impact our students and schools.

As I continue to receive information on a daily basis. This has become like reading the newspaper to me. Only the sections I am most interested in have already been sorted out for me. So I continue to read and learn in many different formats.

"What did I learn today?" A Summary

I really enjoyed 23 Things.

Now I know a lot more about Web 2.0 than I ever thought I would. This is fun!

The information keeps us in the stream of all that is current and new in our world and profession.

Yes, I am a lifelong learner. This experience has opened up many doors for me that will lead to many more.

So many things in the course were new to me that it is hard to say what stood out the most to me. But I really like the blogging and the RSS feed to my Google Reader.

I enjoyed working at my own pace and in my home.

I found that some of the sites like delicious were not district friendly as far as accessing them from my office computer.

All in all I am on my way.

Thank you.

Thing 23

The Ning video demo by the CEO was a great intro. It was hands on, presented step by step which was easy to follow. I found this an appealing site to follow up on for my own use.

In visiting Classroom 2.0 I took a look at all of the suggested tabs from Forum to Videos. I found a group for Middle School Math Teachers that I checked out. There was a lot of tagging being used to collaborate on documents which even offered templates to get you started. The members were extensive. I looked at page 1 and found 5members from Texas, yahoo. There were 2399 pages to flip through. Also, the latest activity has been moved to the middle of the page.

All in all I thought this a wonderful way to start your own site and to take advantage of those already set up for educators. There is so much out there. It seems you really must be able to sift through all of the info and focus on what interest you the most.

I found lots of valuable groups, discussions, and tags. This is a great place to start social networking for educators and learn from the experiences of those that have gone ahead of those of us just starting.

Twitter now makes more sense when I look at it as a conversation between people of similar interest that are not always able to be in close physical proximity. It is also 141 characters or less and should be substantial and interesting in order to get followers for you to follow back.

The UT classroom that used twitter was definitely a success. It gave students an opportunity to be heard without being intimidated by the large audience sitting in the classroom. Instead conversations, questions, and clarification were sought by class members. Much like students working on their homework together.

This will take time for me to institute in my own work environment. But the wheels are turning.

Thing #22

I have already established a facebook account. I set this account up in order to keep in touch with my two daughters. They are both facebook users and I can view some of the things they are doing without requiring their attention and time to be "mom time".



I view facebook as a useful communication tool. As I am learning more about how to comment and post through our 23 Things this has made membership in facebook not so scary. Of course, I am still in a tight circle of friends but have been amazed at how many people can be connected to the same people. I guess it really is a small world.



As educators it is important for us to be familiar with facebook and the other ways our student communicate in order to understand them. I really enjoy being a forever learner. Our example of keeping up with new technology will hopefully instill confidence and a habit of doing the same in our students.



The facebook network seems fun and useful in many ways. However, we need to make sure that our students are careful about sharing too much specific info about themselves for all to see. By this I mean specific locations they will be at on a regular basis etc. should not be advertised for all to see. This makes them vunerable to outsiders. This is my main concern about young people on facebook.



I like the ease with which a facebook profile is set up. I also like my anonymity. By this I mean I do not have to open myself up to everyone.



I feel like we all need to be careful how we represent ourselves on facebook also. I have seen some people make the mistake of thinking that what they did on facebook had no impact on their work and social relationships outside facebook.



Right now I do not really feel comfortable recommending facebook as a teaching tool for the classroom. Maybe as I learn more and have time to investigate facebook further I can see some applications that are not visible to me at this time.



So for now I am signing off as a facebook member.

Thing #7a

I have been reading mostly things that have to do with our profession of education in my Google Reader. So to spice things up a bit today I would like to share with you the newest and best from Scrapblog.

They have a spotlight item on Friday's called the Friday Five. This is where from the many contributors five scrapbloggers are chosen and spotlighted. For their design, content, originality, and quality of the post.

Of course, I chose to view a couple of the post for tomorrow that have received rave reviews. Each one was eye catching and used some of the techniques we have been learning about in our 23 Things course.

Another item that was posted for tonight was a sale that is going on of Christmas cards that the templates and setups are free for tonight. The cards themselves can also be purchased at 30% off if this is something you have not taken care of yet.

Another day of reading that is very informative not only in our field of education but also in the area of hobbies.

Thing #21

I found that Google has a lot more to offer than just being a search engine.

The two tools I chose to explore were the Google Alerts and Google Book Search.

The Google Alert that I set up is for Baylor Bear Football. I set it to be updated on a weekly basis in order to check the latest game scores etc. Of course I follow Baylor Football already but this will be very handy to have pop up on my email. I can just forward the good news about wins to other Bears.

I would like to provide a link to the Baylor Bear Football alert that I created but did not see a share button.

The Google Book Search surprised me in that I could actually choose to read the text of the book. I did not know that such a sight existed. It also allows a reader to have a list of favorites, current reads, and to read.

By learning more about Google I realize that I have easy access to several applications that are offered at other individual sites but are all offered by Google. That makes Google pretty amazing.

These two Google tools that I explored did not have a share option that I could find. However, I enjoyed getting a first look at them and will enjoy their continued use.

Thing #20

Google Docs is used by our campus and district in many different ways. A few that come to mind immediately are calendars, list, agendas, gradebooks, etc.

I created a document and gave access to misd23things@gmail.com. My document is something I find comes in handy every day. Any time a new student enrolls I must get the transfer grades to the teachers on the students schedule. So I made the layout for that particular use. I could actually enter the grades and post for the teachers to access. This of course is just an example of how google docs works.

A project that I could use collaboration with staff on is planning Spring Orientation for our campus. We could all have input to the Agenda. Once the agend is finalized all staff members could refer back to the document as the date drew near.

Typically the more I use an application the easier it becomes. And I have found this to be true with googles docs.

Thing #19

Voicethread is a fun digital-storytelling tool that I immediately could see
myself using.

During the welcoming of a new enrollee to our campus they are given a tour by one of our office workers. I could see voicethread being a video tool to introduce our campus to new students and their families. By addressing several of the topics below.

• Introducing the teachers on each team.
• A tour of the physical building and getting around campus.
• Giving a welcome from our administrators.
• School immunization requirements discussed by our nurse.

Voicethread could also be used within my hobby of scrapbooking. Scrapbooking is storytelling too. So I believe that it would add a lot to digital scrapbooking to also have the voice of the storyteller along with the pictures.

A perfect example of this is in the "What is Voice Thread Anyway" where the mom in the picture is talking about how happy she is and at the same time explaining the disgruntled looks on a couple of her children's faces. In hands on scrapbooking using your own handwriting is encouraged because it will be treasured by family and friends. So I know that being able to hear the people in the pictures talking about what was happening would be a lifelong treasure for generations to come.

As I said before. I can see myself using voicethread in many ways.

Thing #18

As a middle school registrar much of my job focus is on curriculum. Therefore, I explored You Tube video's on Curriculum in Middle Schools.

The first one '>"What Makes McKinley Middle School Special" was particularly engaging. It is fast paced and features the students in hands on learning activities which appear to be fun and educational at the same time. I would feel comfortable sharing this with some of the teachers at my school in order to piggieback on the success McKinley Middle School has had.

I chose a how to video that was funny. I was taught how to '>tie a tie by my father and chose this topic for my how to video. Of course now days tie's are not worn as much as they used to be. Therefore, some men may need a refresher every now and then. Some of the middle schoolers I work with might find that this comes in handy when wearing a tie on game days.

Teacher Tube was very interesting. I was able to find lessons on most any subject and found that many might be great introductions to a lesson. This is a resource I will explore more in the future in hopes of finding some attention grabbers to start a presentation.

I also found that the timer idea was a good one. It is quite easy to loose track of time while on You Tube.

Thing #17

Well, I believe that podcasting in education definitely has the advantage of bringing other worlds and their people into the schools for us to experience. My example of this is the podcast I heard on the Education Podcast with John Merrow - PBS, the podcast directory that I chose to subscribe to.

The first podcast that I listened to was from Haiti after the earthquake, it was entitled "Read, Read, Read" in English but in Creole it is called "Li, Li, Li". The gentleman speaking is in the courtyard of the demolished school where a tent city has sprung up. He is part of a group that is taking books to the children during the day. They carefully select the books to be read so as not to cause the children to become upset by the subject matter. Such as a book about a child's room would be upsetting because these children no longer have homes.

As the gentleman reads he starts out with say 12 children and a few older students standing around. The group increases to around 40 as he reads several books. The children all ask if he will return tomorrow. They have enjoyed the luxury of thinking only about the topic being read to them. This is also something that families did not do on a regular basis prior to the earthquake. So hopefully this will benefit the children as their nation recovers.

The second podcast that I hear was "A Brand New Ballgame". The subject this podcast dealt with is the loss of learning in low socio-economic areas during the summer break. The summer break is a time when these students do not receive the same nutrition as they did during the school year. The partnership of schools and communities is encouraged as a way to provide food and a summer learning environment even though we are having budget cuts in the non-profit areas.

Also, looking at summer school as a way to prepare for the next grade level. A time full of learning that is fun and full of new teaching ideas.

I saw this as relevant here in MISD. Because we do have summer lunch programs and our summer school is evolving into more of a preparation time for the next year. Hopefully, this trend will continue making summer full of learning and promise.

After listening to these two podcast I felt that our ideas can be shared and we can also learn from other teaching communities by listening to each other. This can all be done in our own schools without the cost of travel and with the same benefits in many cases.

Thing #16

By far this has been my favorite site! Wait, I believe I have felt this way several times throughout our 23 Things journey. It is very exciting to see author sites, groups, and recommendations. I looked up mysteries, romance, some of my favorite authors using Zeitgeist.
And I found the 50 Book Challenge group a good way to start my January. This is also a great tool to encourage students to read throughout a school year. You define when you start, set your own parameters and goals.
Recommendations for books a reader will like are right at your fingertips. This will encourage many student readers. They may exhaust all the books written by that first favorite author. But by listing their favorites they can receive recommendations for books they might find just as enticing! I know that I will put this feature to use myself.
Thank you so much for an intro to such a fun learning site.

Thing #15

Thing #15

I really enjoyed using delicious as a bookmarking and tagging tool. It is easy to see which sites have proven themselves to others by the number of users listed. This being my first use of delicious I would search by topic and then visit the most popular sites. Books have always been fun, entertaining, informative and part of my life. So I did a search for books and found one site called Overbooked that was very user friendly. I feel like this site would be a good one to search for books on for professional and personal use. I also explored scrapbooking which as you already know is one of my hobbies. Just follow this link to my delicious offerings http://delicious/ccwildcat10. I am glad we are sharing our links. This will offer a variety of tags.