Establishing a Google Reader account to subscribe to blogs was one of the best experiences of this class. It was one of those things that I had no idea existed! This is one of those assignments that has now become a habit of checking out what is new so I plan to continue. I now have found a few other blogs for teaching and personal that I would like to subscribe to when this class is completed.
One negative to this experience has been the lack of time to truly investigate links, apps, materials, etc. that are recommended. With all the other assignments, just reading through the blogs took time. I would love to be able to truly learn more about what I was introduced to by the bloggers that have so much knowledge of technology.
Here is a list of the required blogs I followed....
Cool Cat Teacher Blog
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
Will Richardson
http://willrichardson.com/
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/
Free Technology for Teachers
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
A Media Specialist's Guide to the Internet
http://mediaspecialistsguide.blogspot.com/
These are the additional blogs I subscribed to...
Dr. Jean and Friends
http://drjeanandfriends.blogspot.com/
The Faces of Autism
http://www.autism-blog.net/
Reality 101: CEC's Blog for New Teachers
http://www.cecreality101.org/
Teaching All Students
http://teachingall.blogspot.com/
The Special Educator's Friend
http://www.specialeducationteacher.me/
The Pioneer Woman: Ree Drummond
http://thepioneerwoman.com/
My favorite....
would have to be Cool Cat Teacher's blog. Until I read one of her posts during Thanksgiving, I would not have been sure which blog was my favorite. But after reading the particular one I will share below, my decision was made. As I have read through her posts, she seems real...like the teacher down the hall who happens to really love her family and tries to keep work and home in perspective. The things she shares have been applicable to my classroom.
However, it was really hard not to choose Dr. Jean and Friends! I went to her workshop this past summer and was inspired to have fun while teaching. Her blog gives really simple things I can do through art and music with my students that they need.
Of all the blogs, the ones I "starred" the most are those I really need to go back and apply to my classroom...especially my three new iPads! They are Larry Ferlazzo, Teaching All Students, and Free Technology.
My favorite blog post...
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2011/11/ripped-game-pants-and-school.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CoolCatTeacherBlog+%28Cool+Cat+Teacher+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
This post is titled "Ripped Game Pants and School Improvement Dance." She begins with describing her dilemma with her son's ripped football pants that he doesn't want her to fix before the state championship game. As a mom, she is thinking from the stands as she sees his ripped pants, "What is everyone going to say about his mama, not fixing his pants like that?" That reminded me of my own son's high school football days and just how I think as a mother sometimes...how is it going to make me look? She then related this story of what she sees happening in the education world with us trying to fix things that don't really need fixing. I love one of her quotes: "The classroom isn't abut making copies, it is about making originals."
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Social Bookmarks
This is one of my favorite projects for this class. It is truly one I will use often and share with my co-workers. For years I have kept a list of "favorites" on my computer and would often wonder why I had saved a link in my favorites!! For this assignment I was able to go back through my links I had saved on three different computers between home and school and combine them into Social Bookmarks. What a grand idea! For many, I still wondered why I had saved them while on others I rediscovered some valuable helps for my classroom and my graduate classes.
One thing I learned was about the tagging. As I created the tag cloud, I realized I should have been more exact in my tagging. For example, I used things like "coloring, coloring sheets, color pages." I didn't realize the importance of my categories. Maybe during Christmas break when I get to sit down and actually watch a movie or TV I will go back and change the tags to be more consistent.
In case you are wondering if my tags would be helpful for you, most are related to special education, worksheets or activities that are on preschool to 2nd grade level, early literacy, games, and reading. I like doing lots of hands-on activities and arts/crafts type things but really need some worksheets for documentation. These links provide all those things and more.
Link to my bookmarks:
Donette's Social Bookmarks
One thing I learned was about the tagging. As I created the tag cloud, I realized I should have been more exact in my tagging. For example, I used things like "coloring, coloring sheets, color pages." I didn't realize the importance of my categories. Maybe during Christmas break when I get to sit down and actually watch a movie or TV I will go back and change the tags to be more consistent.
In case you are wondering if my tags would be helpful for you, most are related to special education, worksheets or activities that are on preschool to 2nd grade level, early literacy, games, and reading. I like doing lots of hands-on activities and arts/crafts type things but really need some worksheets for documentation. These links provide all those things and more.
Link to my bookmarks:
Donette's Social Bookmarks
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Digital Citizenship...an eye opening assignment
I thought the research for the Digital Citizenship project was well worth the time and effort. In my opinion, it should be one of the first requirements of every online student. I learned so much I had never known and I have been using a computer for 15+ years. Some of the things I learned or was reminded about....
How do you make a great password?
What does that green bar mean at the URL?
How do copyright laws work for stuff on the Internet?
What is Fair Use?
What in the world is a Trojan horse and worm?
How do I keep my computer safe?
I think the Golden Rule applies to what we do with the Internet materials we have access to....paraphrased it would be something like this...Do with what others have put on the Internet the same as what you want others to do with what you put on the Internet. We have great resources on the Internet available because it is some one's job to put it there in many cases. It is their way to make a living and to make it look like ours is taking what is not ours...it's stealing.
The one thing I do wish about the use of Internet material is that it would be in simple, plain English what you can do with the material. Trying to find out what is OK and not OK can sometimes be confusing and hard to find. Personally, I just need them to say "Use whatever you want" or "Don't use anything here!" Quick and easy. Time saving.
I found a few really good websites as I researched this topic. Several have tutorials or quizzes that could be used in the classroom. I took them and learned.
Cyberbee
Citing Quiz at Monash.edu
Plagiarism Tutorial at Lycoming College
How do you make a great password?
What does that green bar mean at the URL?
How do copyright laws work for stuff on the Internet?
What is Fair Use?
What in the world is a Trojan horse and worm?
How do I keep my computer safe?
I think the Golden Rule applies to what we do with the Internet materials we have access to....paraphrased it would be something like this...Do with what others have put on the Internet the same as what you want others to do with what you put on the Internet. We have great resources on the Internet available because it is some one's job to put it there in many cases. It is their way to make a living and to make it look like ours is taking what is not ours...it's stealing.
The one thing I do wish about the use of Internet material is that it would be in simple, plain English what you can do with the material. Trying to find out what is OK and not OK can sometimes be confusing and hard to find. Personally, I just need them to say "Use whatever you want" or "Don't use anything here!" Quick and easy. Time saving.
I found a few really good websites as I researched this topic. Several have tutorials or quizzes that could be used in the classroom. I took them and learned.
Cyberbee
Citing Quiz at Monash.edu
Plagiarism Tutorial at Lycoming College
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Thinkport Technology...simulations
This assignment instructed me to go to http://www.thinkport.org/Technology/simulations.tp to investigate some of the simulations. This particular link would not connect but noted there was an error. However, when I went to http://www.thinkport.org/ I was able to type "simulations" into the search bar and get results.
This was a frustrating assignment for me due to the particular special education students I teach. I looked at SO many links and finally chose two that I might be able to use.
The first simulation was Low Life Labs at http://www.robotsandus.org/. This is a site of the Science Museum of Minnesota. There are different games to play that show robots and bugs that I think my students might be interested in watching. Although they could not truly play most of the activities, I could use this to help them learn to move the mouse and learn how to click on a specific area of the screen.
The second simulation is Lemonade Stand. This can be found at http://www.4webgames.com/lemonade/. In this activity a student can learn to be an entrepreneur as he tries to make money from selling lemonade. The price, buying of supplies, weather, and other components figure into the profit. I have two 3rd grade students who are learning disabled that could be introduced to this game. Although it might be really difficult for them to understand the whole concept, the aspect of money is one we could work on as they played the game.
This was a frustrating assignment for me due to the particular special education students I teach. I looked at SO many links and finally chose two that I might be able to use.
The first simulation was Low Life Labs at http://www.robotsandus.org/. This is a site of the Science Museum of Minnesota. There are different games to play that show robots and bugs that I think my students might be interested in watching. Although they could not truly play most of the activities, I could use this to help them learn to move the mouse and learn how to click on a specific area of the screen.
The second simulation is Lemonade Stand. This can be found at http://www.4webgames.com/lemonade/. In this activity a student can learn to be an entrepreneur as he tries to make money from selling lemonade. The price, buying of supplies, weather, and other components figure into the profit. I have two 3rd grade students who are learning disabled that could be introduced to this game. Although it might be really difficult for them to understand the whole concept, the aspect of money is one we could work on as they played the game.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Software Reviews Sites
For this assignment in my education and technology class I reviewed the following four sites:
http://www.evalutech.sreb.org/
This address given did not give access but I did reach the EvaluTech page by searching. However, I could not go to any other information other than the general overview of this site. The purpose of this site is to suggest instructional materials recommended by the various state departments of education represented by the Southern Regional Education Board. These materials would include computer software, CD-Roms, videos, and books.
http://www.clrn.org/home/
This site of the California Learning Resource Network gives reviews of software that is correlated to the California educational standards. Specific grade levels are given with the listed electronic learning resources. I found quite a few links to software that will be helpful for teaching my elementary special education students.
http://www.superkids.com
By far this was the "most fun" of the four sites! Although there are reviews for educational software on this site, there are also interactive games that I will introduce to my students tomorrow! There is a math worksheets area to create specific activities for students. In addition to the software and educational tools, there are articles and a marketplace.
http://www.educationworld.com/
Education World covers about every area of teaching imaginable from lesson plans and activities to professional development and templates. There are also links to state standards. The technology section is worth going back to search for information such as the article "Tech Solutions for Special Kids" and the suggestions on using technology in the classroom.
Which sites evaluate the largest number of titles?
The California Learning Resource Network seemed to have the most to me.
Which sites are most recently updated?
The California Learning Resource Network had updates in October 2011. SREB returned an answer to me in an email and said they updated daily, but this is the site that was difficult to access so I did not see that it was updated daily.
Which sites include reviews submitted by site visitors?
Education World and California Learning Resource Network
Which sites would you use to learn about software you were considering for your students?
I would check all sites but especially California Learning Resources Network. For more practical daily uses I would go to SuperKids, and for a variety of educational needs I would use Education World.
http://www.evalutech.sreb.org/
This address given did not give access but I did reach the EvaluTech page by searching. However, I could not go to any other information other than the general overview of this site. The purpose of this site is to suggest instructional materials recommended by the various state departments of education represented by the Southern Regional Education Board. These materials would include computer software, CD-Roms, videos, and books.
http://www.clrn.org/home/
This site of the California Learning Resource Network gives reviews of software that is correlated to the California educational standards. Specific grade levels are given with the listed electronic learning resources. I found quite a few links to software that will be helpful for teaching my elementary special education students.
http://www.superkids.com
By far this was the "most fun" of the four sites! Although there are reviews for educational software on this site, there are also interactive games that I will introduce to my students tomorrow! There is a math worksheets area to create specific activities for students. In addition to the software and educational tools, there are articles and a marketplace.
http://www.educationworld.com/
Education World covers about every area of teaching imaginable from lesson plans and activities to professional development and templates. There are also links to state standards. The technology section is worth going back to search for information such as the article "Tech Solutions for Special Kids" and the suggestions on using technology in the classroom.
Which sites evaluate the largest number of titles?
The California Learning Resource Network seemed to have the most to me.
Which sites are most recently updated?
The California Learning Resource Network had updates in October 2011. SREB returned an answer to me in an email and said they updated daily, but this is the site that was difficult to access so I did not see that it was updated daily.
Which sites include reviews submitted by site visitors?
Education World and California Learning Resource Network
Which sites would you use to learn about software you were considering for your students?
I would check all sites but especially California Learning Resources Network. For more practical daily uses I would go to SuperKids, and for a variety of educational needs I would use Education World.
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