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Thing 23 – Reflections

Aug 26th, 2009 by

Well, I finally completed the web 2.0 technology class and I feel more informed, more aware and technologically less afraid. At times, it did seem difficult. Some activities were more challenging than others, but I am glad I worked on the problems, solved them, completed the course and now I do not feel “out of the loop” as I used to.  All these words wiki, Blogging, Delicious, Podcasting, Audacity, Google Docs, Page flakes, Wordle are not strange any more. I feel less apprehensive and more encouraged to learn along with the students and apply whatever I have learned towards my teaching lessons. I truly believe that this course has pushed me in the field of technology, made me feel more comfortable with its applications. It may be my first step in this field, but I am ready to move ahead.

All the tools that I have learned, the information I have gathered is certainly overwhelming. Now I am going to sit down, refresh my memory, lay down all the pieces of this tech journey and plan to fit the tools of this course into my lesson plans. I already have an idea for blogging/podcasting with my sixth graders.

I am glad I took this course! I have learned so much! Now I need to implement what I have learned. I need to guide myself and my students to use technology more efficiently, positively in a productive manner.

Thanks for offering this opportunity!

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Thing 22 – Social Networking

Aug 25th, 2009 by

I spent a considerable amount of time browsing through this educational site Classroom 2.0. Following the guidelines I opened many possible links and found myself immersed in this enormous ocean of information, technology and knowledge. I truly am overwhelmed with the amount of information available. It is a great site based on communication and provides you with extensive information on any possible topic. At present, due to time restraints, I did not join the site, but I surely will visit it for my own benefit. Reading these blogs has guided me to get more ideas to incorporate in my class. I am getting more fascinated with the idea of my class working on at least one project on blogging.

I like the way this website is organized and laid down. I could search on based on Subject or the particular type of tech tool. I also found this idea of Blogging in Science very interesting for posting the class news. I can use this idea and slightly modify it for my upcoming ecology project. I like the way educators from all over the country exchange their views and help each other, share their ideas to improve on teaching skills. I checked out the video section and found the teacher tube video to be a very handy tool.

Next I checked out the Ning network and again was overwhelmed with number of networking tools available. I found the Social Networking site for Teachers very appealing. Another website that I found interesting was on human biology that I would like to refer in my class.

I would certainly like to incorporate some of these collaborative technological tools for my science class this year. I have to consider the right topic and explore the proper lesson plan from all the available information.

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Thing 7C – RSS

Aug 24th, 2009 by

I have added numerous feeds on my Google reader. Some of them are directly linked to my Science, my subject and some are education related and class management for teachers. I have always enjoyed reading articles from Successful Teaching. Two of the blogs titled Useful Information In and Out of Classroom and Places to find Curriculum Ideas really interested me. These are excellent source o information to find class material and tools.
Another article that got me thinking was Is My Classroom a Safe Place?.
Coming to my subject, I found an interesting article from Instructify titled Women in Science. I would like to explore some of these experiments in my class.

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Thing 21- Page Flakes

Aug 24th, 2009 by

Working with Page flakes is consolidating and condensing the information on one big bulletin board. I would like to set up individual page for my science classes and would like to publish parents’ letter, calendar, upcoming events etc. on this bulletin board. I would like to create individual page for each unit. This unit will have related videos and links listed under it. This will make search easy and organized for the students.
I have added contact list where I can store information about field trips, addresses and phone numbers etc. I am having trouble opening and adding some websites. I browsed through numerous page flakes and was astonished to find almost unlimited information available. I like the Instructify page flake for myself and math page is neat learning tool.
The information available is certainly overwhelming, but I do plan to try and use this tool.

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Thing 20 – Google Docs

Aug 21st, 2009 by

At the beginning I found Google Docs, especially its stretch tasks little overwhelming. As I created my own document, I enjoyed working on it. It was interesting to insert the table and pictures in the word document. I tried to import one of my PowerPoint presentations into Google Docs, but it did not work, may be because I had created the presentation using internet explorer.
I believe that Google Docs is a great tool and a wonderful invention. The best part I like is its easy access from any computer. Usually I have couple of group projects, like writing story or a song using vocabulary words of a particular unit. I think students can update the information on their assignment sharing Google Docs word document more easily and effectively. They can add any idea that popped in their mind to add to the story or the song from any computer, both from school and home as well. What a neat way to collaborate the ideas!
Similarly, some of my projects and experiments require observations and data entering. That is where I can see the most efficient use of spreadsheet. Individual students of the group can use spreadsheet to enter the data and keep track of their progress.
Exploring PowerPoint using Google Docs allows them to be able to access their work at home and show off their projects to their parents. In addition, they do not have to depend on flash drives anymore.
During this course, I created a very basic and simple spreadsheet to keep track of science homework for complete participation of individual classes. I can share this spreadsheet with other sixth teachers. To expand, we can create spreadsheet for all students to keep track of their homework assignments.
Very soon, Google Docs will have a widespread use in schools and all the professions.

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Thing 19

Aug 15th, 2009 by

You tube is a great tool to use in the class for both auditory and visual learners. I remember I could not display this wonderful video for one of my science class, as it was blocked. That time, I was not aware of the options that are provided to use the youtube videos. I am excited to be able to explore the videos and embed them in my wikipage and display in class as an additional tech tool. The video that I am displaying is from Teacher tube, a great collection of educational videos from all branches of science.

I look forward using this tool to show my students  some wonderful videos and at the same time encourage them to make their own education and knowledge based videos.

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Thing 18

Aug 10th, 2009 by

This was a fun filled, easy and simple activity to learn and use. I enjoyed learning about it and believe that students in my class can utilize this tool in various different forms. My fifth graders can organize information about simple machines by creating their own short podcasts. Last year I had my fourth graders compose, sing and present their volcano songs to the class. I think they can record their songs using podcast and their parents would love to listen to their kids. I can see how this uncomplicated tool can make good quality podcasts in short time and I look forward using it in my class.

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Thing 17

Jul 28th, 2009 by

I reviewed multiple podcasts based on education and specifically on science and some on environment. I was careful in selecting the age and grade appropriate as some of them were excellent source of information but not quite for elementary students. I really like the idea of podcasting especially for auditory students.

I would like to add podcasting as an interesting feature for my students. For this reason I have added few podcasts websites to my Google reader. The first one is made by elementary students as a class podcast by students of Hoover Elementary School. . In the web source Learn out Loud, I found the Friday News and Why? The Science Source to be very interesting podcasts. I would like to use the later two podcasts for my students as weekly science news or weekly science fact. Another fascinating podcast was 60 second science that I might use to ignite students’ interest in class.

Bottom line is podcasts are great tools for reviewing certain science facts and instructions. Personally I enjoyed watching some of the PBS podcasts!!

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Thing 16

Jul 27th, 2009 by

Library Thing is educational and interesting tool. It is a comprehensive tool for cataloging and keeping track of the books that interest you, personally and professionally. I think I can utilize this tool to find a book or books on a specific topic, especially non–fiction and to look for more sources.

How I am going to apply this in my class is the challenging question! I can use this for my class when we do extensive research on a particular topic to write a report for the project. I use both internet search and have them find information from the books as well. May be, that’s where students can review certain books and suggest recommendations.

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Thing 13

Jul 25th, 2009 by

I watched this video by Brian Crosby related to  Video Conferencing and found it quite interesting and comprehensive. 

As you see, he included various aspects of video conferencing. The most touching was his initiative to facilitate and to make arrangements for a child to be a student of his classroom while staying home. (She was unable to attend school due to medical problems.) She would get all the lessons like rest of the class via Skype Conferencing.

Skype Conferencing:Skype conferencing.

Infact, there is a small presentation made by children for using Skype. Another interesting feature of his video was an interview with Grace Corrighan, mother of the famous teacher turned astronaut, Christa McAullife. He has done an amazing job by making this video, Reach for the Star, by paying tribute to this inspiring lady who had lost her life in the mishap. 

Reach for the Star

I like the idea of interviewing a special person through Skype and let all the children participate in the conference. During the year, I usually invite one or two guest speakers to talk with my class, may be I can arrange for video conferencing. Cool ….Isn’t it?!

Video conferencing can become a tool to connect students all over the world. Brian Crosby has definitely used this technology very effectively.

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