Flowgram Presentation

SUMMARY

* What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I really enjoyed creating the blog and working with animoto. What a great tool to use. I am using it with my computer club already.

* How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals?
I am a firm believer that we learn everyday. This program has given me many more tools to use and share with my colleagues and students. I will continue to explore and try new programs to advance my knowledge and abilities.

* Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I was reminded of my podcasts that I subscribed too. I have given myself time to listen and review them and share those I feel important with the class.

* What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I enjoyed this concept. The directions are clear and forward. I am not sure of what to say. Maybe slow the pace down.

* How will what you have learned influence your practice as a teacher?
I have learned a variety of things. I love the flowgram and the ability to combine many tools under one document. There are many more web 2.0 tools available that I need to explore and utilize. I just wish I had 48 hours in a day!

* How do you plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0? Recommend a way that you have found to be useful.
I will frequently check the web. I also subscribed to the RSS feed for web 2.0 tools. Both of these will enable me to keep on track with new tools.

2. Where do you go from here?
I continue my exploration and utilize the tools available to me. I enjoyed surfing the web and adding to my blog. My parents love my wiki and the google calendar that I have embedded into it with test dates. I plan to continue to use these and add any others I find to my bag of tricks along the way.

Thing #23

This is an example of the creative commons and this program being modified from its original form.


Now that I am informed on the creative commons, I will use this as a tool. We as educators can learn immense knowledge from one another and the use of creative commons allows educators to take an idea and tweak it for their students.

Thing #22

I listened to an episode of discovery channel of a podcast that I already subscribe too. I enjoy this cast and revisit often. I liked the educational podcast directory the best. I found it the easiest. I really think that creating podcasts would be a great idea. Our art teacher already does this with her 2nd grade classes.

Thing # 21

Thing # 20

Ok, I could not decide between the three. Although the last one grew on me more so than the other two. I really think this could be an asset, however there is so much on youtube that is not appropriate and that is where the kids would go first....I suppose that is the reason it is not accesible at my school. If there was a way to embed specific videos it would be very useful for teaching.

Thing # 19

I do belong to myspace and facebook now. I believe I like facebook a little better. Less ads and garbage to look at. I feel I will continue to use facebook in the future to communicate with collegues but not with students.

Thing # 18

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1506496285&ref=profile

Since I already had a myspace account, I decided to open a facebook account. I have included the link above. I already found my aunt who is an academic coach on there!

I feel that facebook is a safer venue for students, but it still is troubling to me to have one active at school and be responsible for content found on it. Myspace tends to have more risky ads and such that would not be appropriate for students. Although, I think that myspace appeals to todays youth more so than facebook.

It is important for teachers to know about these sites, because after all the kids are using them. I think you need to be extremely cautious about chatting with students. However, It could be a great forum for pen pals.

Having done myspace for a while, I found it easier than facebook.

Thing # 17

My inservice this summer that taught me about wikis included social bookmarking using delicious. I love it. It has so much potential for the students being able to go to one place and access all the websites you want them to see. I love the ability to make some seen by the public and keep others private. For instance if I have teacher websites on there and I don't want the students to see them, they won't.
I think this can be a great tool for teachers to use to further their online community.

Thing # 16

I created a start page on iGoogle since I already had an account. I did make it my home page mostly because, I picked a lot of gadgets that go along with what I teach. For example, moon phases. I find that it will be very beneficial to use when teaching.

I also really like the to do list. I already use stickies on my Mac for everyday things.

I think I would recommend the iGoogle and To Do list to others. I feel they can be very useful.

Thing # 15

I took an inservice with the county I work in this summer on this and created two wikis using wikispaces.com.

Here are the links.

http://menees4thgrade.wikispaces.com/MENEES+HOME+PAGE

http://sangocomputerclub.wikispaces.com/Sango+Computer+Club+Home

I am attaching the wiki for CMCSS technology. There is a lot of great info there and many tutorials that you all might find handy. Navigate all three by the left hand side.

http://empowerstudents.wikispaces.com/

Thing # 14

I created both of these to go with standards that I teach. Both of these programs remind me a lot of kidpriation and inspiration that we use at school. It is nice to know that there are free versions of these wonderful programs. My students love making mind maps about topics in science.

It was hard for me to figure a flowchart topic. I know that they flow from one shape to another and back, but coming up with a topic proved tricky for me. I have inserted both the mind map and flowchart that I created.

I used bubbl.us and gliffy.com.

Thing # 13

How many of landforms can you identify?

















All pics are courtesy of pis4learning.com.

Thing # 12

I already use google calendar and find it extremely helpful for students, parents and teachers. On my wiki page, I use the google calendar to show events, tests, and important dates that deal with my classroom. I absolutely love google calendar. I have mentioned the wiki before but here it is http://menees4thgrade.wikispaces.com/MENEES+HOME+PAGE

Google Notebook would have been wonderful this summer in research! :) I think it would be a great asset to teach the children when researching on the computer. It is a great way to continue the movement to more green.

Thing #11

I found bloglines, feedster and google to be the easiest to navigate and find blogs and RSS feeds.

Topix and Syndic8 were very overwhelming to me when I opened them. I could not get past all the stuff on the home page to figure what to search. I thought they were too busy.

I found some very interesting feeds about the political campaign. I also really like cool cat teacher.
I think it is very helpful that the icon is not standard. It makes it a lot easier to search and find feeds. I will be continuing the searching for more feeds. It is addictive!

Thing #10

I really like the idea of having everything right in one spot. I feel this could be very helpful for class and students, perhaps if it were bookmarked on the computers in your room. Students could access those feeds that pertain to your lessons.

By teachers sharing their blogline, they can commuicate with other teachers and create a virtual community of learning.