Thing #17

I peeked at a number of sites (too much fun not to), but settled on ancestry.com. I've been intrigued by genealogy since my junior year in high school when we had to create our family tree. I went hundreds of years beyond what the assignment required simply because someone in the family had been keeping track, and I simply enjoyed it! I've always wanted to create a more permanent place to keep that information rather than the computer paper I used to write it all down. The site works fairly well. It's easy to get lost within the family tree, but you just have to keep coming back to the home person. It's also frustrating because while the service of compiling all your family history in one spot is nice, anything beyond that does cost money. There are numerous tips connected to my family tree that the website highlighted for me, but I'd need to pay money to look at any of them...a bit disappointing.

Like I mentioned earlier, my first introduction to creating a family tree was a class assignment. This website would be an obvious aid to students with like assignments. There are tabs you can use to add family stories connected with each person, you could download pictures, and so on. Fun for someone who is interested in family history.

Thing #16

This clips are inspiring and scary all at the same time! What's the message? The world has changed and education has not. Education has begun to limit students and their creativity instead of open up a world of possibilities to them. Why? Because many teachers are teaching as they were taught without taking the unknown future into consideration. I understand there's a struggle...the state is handing down requirements and tests are given to ensure students are "learning" the "right" information, but as teachers in the classroom, it's obvious that there are so many intelligent students who may not be book-smart and who will never perform to the state's standards.

It's easy to blame teachers, and while change must start within the classrooms, schools, as well as the state, must rethink the definition of intelligence and begin to encourage creativity rather than conformity!

As a parent, I cringed many times as I watched these 3 videos. How do I protect my kids' creativity as I send them off to school? How do I encourage them to learn from their mistakes rather than be embarrassed by them? I will keep Sir Ken Robinson's definition of intelligence at hand: Intelligence is diverse, dynamic, and distinct.

Thing #15

I enjoyed seeing and hearing how teachers and students are using podcasts for learning. It's always made sense to me to "speak" the language students speak...through technology, culture, and music, etc. Podcasting fits that belief perfectly.

I'm in a little different position than most of the other 23-thingers in that I'm not currently teaching, rather, I'm keeping my certification current while I stay home with my kids. So I hadn't ever thought about using podcasts in the classroom before now, although they certainly have merit. If I were still teaching in the school I was in for six years, I'm positive the administration would have been supportive of using and creating podcasts. Integrating technology was a high priority when I was there and I'd be shocked if that has changed at all.

My husband, however, is currently teaching, and I will definitely pass along these podcast directories to him as I'm sure he'd find them useful!

Thing #14

Podcasts have great potential in education! I loved that students can create their own (what better way to learn than to teach?) , and I thought the teacher who created study guide podcasts was really on to something!

As a language arts teacher, I really appreciated the Grammar Girl podcast. (http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/default.aspx) I didn't decide to become a language arts teacher because grammar came so easily to me...it's still tough! What a fun, quick way to help students understand grammar. I would also use The Princeton Review - Vocabulary Minute (http://feeds.feedburner.com/princetonreview). I always liked to have a Word of the Day, etc. in my class and usually used cartoon vocabulary books to help. Songs, though, really stick with kids, so I liked the presentation of the Vocabulary Minute.

Thing #13

A definite learning experience for me. Not too difficult, though, but I chose to use Zoho because I was able to watch a very helpful guide before even signing up. I like to know what I'm getting into. :)

Tools like these are invaluable in education, as long as teachers are able to guide and direct the students, yet give them the freedom of creativity...a tough balance to obtain. Gone are the days of poster board! The possibilities for research reports, creative storytelling, visual aids for speeches, and group presentations are numerous, although I would love ideas and guidance as a teacher offering this tool to her students.

A side note...my husband (also a teacher) walked in while I was working on this slideshow and was excited to learn that he could upload already-created power point presentations onto a website!

I was able to use this for personal reasons in this example as I chose to give some information about my business. Families and friends could use tools like Zoho to create scrapbook-like projects, sharing pictures and ideas.

Thing #12

I've spent some time investigating these tools, taking any of the "free tours" that were offered to see some of the different possibilities. I chose two to look at more closely: 30 Boxes and LibraryThing.

I could definitely incorporate 30 Boxes into my personal life. My paper calendar is a mess with appointments, meetings, birthdays, and everyday reminders. I've toyed with using a Word document or something of the like to regroup and get a better plan, but I like that I would be able to access this in places other than my home. Just maybe, the dozens of lists I jot down on scrap papers throughout the day (some to replace ones I can't find) could be transferred to this Web 2.0 tool to keep my life and my home more organized.

In a classroom, 30 Boxes would be helpful to display timelines for projects, papers, and homework due dates in addition to classroom and school events. Simple, but efficient.

I also spent some time with LibraryThing. I could spend HOURS with this tool, organizing my library, have-read list, wish-to-read list...it's really a reader's dream site. It was great that after entering a few reading selections, LibraryThing suggested other libraries I should check out, created by people with similar reading interests. Now my personal booklist that currently has over 100 titles could grow exponentially...I may never be heard from again if I could just catch up on all my reading desires!

This would be a nice tool as a language arts teacher. What a simple way for students to keep track of what they've read throughout their school career as opposed to year-by-year. I always encouraged students to recommend titles to each other, but unless a student took a second to write down the suggestion, it went one ear and out the other. I'm not sure how some parents would respond to this idea as access to LibraryThing allows access to a number of chats about books and book-related topics. Parents can be, understandably, worried about allowing their student to interact with strangers online. Of course this wouldn't be a requirement, but students would have access to that feature.