2nd Life

I watched the video Orientation in Second Life and am not really sure there was a good "take away" for me. It was a monotoned video so it made it hard to follow for me. I am sure that if I had an avatar then it would have made more since to me. I know that they are looking for ways to make using second life more user friendly for students.




As I said earlier I am not familiar with second life or using avatars. I have learned a bunch already about benefits of using a avatar for students but I have not created one. It looks cool but it seems like a lot of work. Unless I needed to use second life for school then I probably wouldn't.

This video opens my eyes to technology that is available and how much it has grown even in just the last few years. I want to be familiar with the technology that my future students are interested in and hopefully find ways to integrate it with my lessons.

My Favorite Survey

I did a survey over people's favorite color. The three questions that I asked were:

What is your favorite color in the crayon box?
How do you incorporate your favorite color in your life?
What is your least favorite color in the crayon box?

Three people took my survey. All three had the favorite color of blue. All three of them also incorporate their favorite color in their clothing. One of the surveyors is a Dallas Cowboy fan and wears their gear a lot. The Dallas Cowboys' colors include blue. One of them also incorporates it when they buy their school supplies. The least favorite colors were white from two and black from the other.

Sam I Am Digitally Savvy

The video Digital Youth Portrait: Sam was amazing. I say it is amazing because she has so many technological opportunities available to her and she utilizes them. I wish that I had some of the same opportunities when I was 13. I am glad that we have them now for students to use the make learning easier or more interesting. I love how Sam used the digital piano to learn new songs and better her piano skills.





I can't imagine my life today without some of the technology that wasn't available to me when I was a kid. With online social networking I am able to keep up with my friends that live very far away or people that I graduated with that I wouldn't necessarily pick up the phone and call. I am able to use my cell phone to text and talk to people almost at anytime or anywhere. But no texting while driving. :O) I can use an avatar instead of a real picture of myself for online sites that I use. I am also able to collaborate on projects with peers using Google Docs.

I want the students in my future classes to know what is available to them and how it can make learning interesting and at times easier. I want them to see technology as a tool that they should be familiar with because the sky is the limit. I want to make sure that they also know safety procedures when using the Internet.

Commenting On Classmates Blogs

I commented on Jenlmen's blog on the Power of Sharing Apps. She wrote a great post and I loved her comments on integrating apps into her own classroom.

I also commented on Sammy Speaks' blog on Collaboration. There were some great points made it this blog.

Collaboration using Wiki

Paula White's video "Parallel Play or Collaboration--Leveraging the Wiki Platform for High Quality Work" was very informational. It describes the process of using Wiki in classrooms and how it benefits collaboration between students. It talks about many students' use of wiki and how it helps them.





Before watching this video I was very unclear as to what a wiki was. I am a little more enlightened but still somewhat confused. The examples given by Paula White helped. I also researched it a little more on the Internet. I think it would be great for planning extended family vacations. It is hard to get all the schedules and ideas back from all family members in a timely fashion. This would make it a ton less hectic.

As Paula showed in the video this is a great way for students to collaborate with each other not just in the school setting but at home as well. Often some students are shy about giving input and this could help them voice their ideas. The more information I learn the more significance I see it has in a classroom setting.

K-12 Comments

I commented on Kayla's blog on Publishing and Rejecting comments.

I also commented on Nick's cool blog on International Blogging Challenge! Challenge #2.

Both comments are waiting approval.

The Use of Apps

The video "The Wizard of Apps" is extremely informational. My biggest "takeaway" from it is that there are so many tools online that are free to help you be safe, research, be creative, and collaborate. This video although extremely long shows you many websites to use. Research is difficult to me using the Internet because you never know which websites to use. This video gave plenty of helpful hints when doing research.

Like I was saying about doing research on a certain topic I am shy about using many websites. I want to make sure that they are providing the right information that I am looking for. Also, safety is important to me. I use online social networking and need to be careful. I should always be aware of what I am sharing and who I am sharing it with.

I know it is important to teach technology to students, but when we do this I also know that teaching them about safety when using technology is just as important. We need to show them the proper skills to utilize. If I were taught some of these things a long time ago it would have made some things much easier.

I used pipl.com to search my name. I wasn't able to find out anything using my merried name but I found my old address and current address and picture of where I am currently living under my maiden name. None of my online social networking sites were listed or my email address. I also didn't find any pictures of me. Other information that was provided wasn't correct. They did have my zodiac sign correct but that was about all. I must be doing okay at keeping my information somewhat private.

My Voicethread about a caterpillar

This is my voicethread on The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

Thoughtful Comments to Classmates

I left a comment on Jenlmen's voice thread blog on fire safety. I thought that it was very information. It was a good topic to do for a voice thread. I enjoyed it.
http://jenlmenblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/keep-lid-on-it.html#comment-form

I also left a comment on Kayleighdawn16's voice thread blog over Dear John. I am reading that book now. I think she did a really good job at picking a topic. So far the book is great! It was a good idea to do a voice thread over her favorite book.
http://kayleighdawn16.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-favorite-book-dear-john.html#comment-form

DigiTeens

What I took away from the video Digiteens: Digital Citizenship by Digital Teenagers is that students can learn a lot from each other about new age social networks and using the Internet. They see how they can relate to the subject through each other. I liked the first one about Texting While Driving.



I can see the importance in the messages that the students wanted to get across. When you use the Internet you need to be extremely careful when sharing any information. I use social networking as well as shopping online. I make sure that my information is set to private and make sure that sites are secure. I also know about the problems concerning texting while driving. You can't possibly give driving your undivided attention if you are texting. I know that now it is a law that professional drivers such as city bus driver and school bus drivers are not to use cell phones while working. This is one step in the right direction.

I want to utilize technology in my classroom as much as I can. Having students share useful information on popular technology used is a great tool to get other students to listen. I liked the use of technology for students teaching other students.

Classroom or No Classroom?

My most significant "takeaway" from the video Project Learning: An Overview was how much students of all ages love hands on experiences. I have always been a better hands on learner and I was fortunate to go to schools that made hands on experiences readily available to their students. I know there are a lot of students out there that don't get all of those opportunities. Sometimes college is the first time students get to work in labs or are encouraged to go outside of the classroom to do an assignment that needs hands on experience. Project learning is a great tool to use to help students better understand a concept.









My elementary school was a science and arts magnet school and my middle and high school as well. I have always enjoyed the arts and science. These schools gave me opportunities to find what I really enjoyed. For science I didn't just read out of a book and do a worksheet. I was able to go to a science classroom and get hands on experiences and do project learning. As I got older I really appreciated the opportunities that I had being able to go to these schools.

I would love to be able to incorporate project learning into my classroom. I liked how students in elementary school were able to use laptops and research their own topics in class. I understand that doing project learning in your classroom can make it hard when grading students. I think that we should think out of the box as teachers and give our students as many opportunities as possible. I think that sometimes teachers tend to shy away from lessons that includes project learning or hands on because it includes more planning and preparation and is harder to grade.

A Story in 5 Photos

Here is my story of getting a pair of new shoes.













The End.