Thing #18--You Tube

I found two videos from 20/20 about discrimination entitled What Would You Do ?. The first related to muslims (see video) and the second with non-English speaking hispanics being refused service in different stores. I think both of these are relevant to students today and could be used to generate discussion about the causes of discrimination and each individual's personal responsibility--not only to stand against it, but to avoid adding to the negative stereotypes of others through our own actions. At the end of last year, my classes read THE OUTSIDERS which is a novel with the theme of discrimination based on class/income. I could easily see using these two videos to connect the novel's theme to real world experiences and to discuss how we can better understand our world (society, people, etc.) through books. I also found the movie, broken into short segments (less than 10 minutes), so that we could compare the book vs. the movie and still remain district & copyright compliant. I could not find a way to embed the video and wasn't sure about copyright violations, so I linked it instead. On Teacher tube, I found several reviews for THE OUTSIDERS, a song and a link for an entire set of resources (puzzles, worksheets) on edhelper.com.

I also found a really cool "How to Make Eclairs" video. If they turn out well when I go back to try it, I am going to be in heaven. Unfortunately, I will probably also gain another few pounds. I also found a bunch of really neat videos on dog agility training. This is something I've wanted to do with one of my dogs for quite some time. Now all I have to do is find a location nearby.

Thing #17--Podcasting in the Classroom

I added several podcasts from both PBS (personal interest primarily, nature & science podcasts). I thought this was the best site I looked at--there was no "guesswork" about the subject area or the source. I also added quite a few from the Education Podcast Network, but I actually had to go through the second time and really look for them. Although they were organized by general category, only the name & author of the podcasts were given which left the specific content unknown in many cases. Many of those chosen here related to vocabulary and poetry, but there was also one about myths and Literacy on the Go. The Learn Out Loud site, which is primarily a classic literature site, had too many possibilities to subscribe so I'm going to bookmark the entire site for later. I listened to a few when I reviewed it the first time, but didn't find those I sampled very engaging.

I may have students listen to a "word for the day" podcast as part of their warm-up routine and several of the topics listed from the PBS sites match those in my Voyager class (hurricanes/tornadoes). These podcasts could be utilized by those students who wish to know more or as a research source for other classwork. I think the best use of podcasting for my students may be to create our own. I could use it to model fluent, expressive reading of our current novel (would this be OK or would this be a copyright issue ?) and they could create their own to encourage practice & improvement (before "publishing").

Thing #16--Library Thing

I may need some input from my classmates on this one as to what I am missing or failed to do. I entered several popular books and authors (Harry Potter, Twilight books, Eragon books), but never really got anywhere other than a really long list of the same books apparently in several languages. I clicked on several of those listed, but nothing much really seemed to change. I was really excited about the link that gives you a list of similar books to one you really enjoy, but when I tried the Suggester link, all I got was the other books in that series/by that author. Suggestions ?

I SERIOUSLY wish I'd had this available when my kids were younger and I was buying so many books for them to read at home that I often couldn't remember whether we had a particular one or not. My kid's teachers and the librarian loved me--more than likely, Scholastic did too ! I love the feature where you can check your inventory from your cell phone if you're at a bookstore--no more duplications ! It'll be interesting to see how long it takes to put them all in and get them categorized & organized by tags, etc.

Thing #15--Sandbox Wiki

This Thing was somewhat frustrating. Although I figured out the set up, formatting & editing fairly quickly, I COULD NOT get my images transferred to the wiki--the external loading link kept telling me that the image could not be found. I read and re-read the steps and tried accessing the images from my blog, as well as directly from the original source. I was having so much trouble with access at school, I decided to commandeer my son's computer at home. While I was able to finish & fix almost all previous missing parts, I did leave my flashdrive at school. I guess I'll try and see if I can up load the picture from that. I am wondering though--Is it not possible to get the actual images from Flickr embedded ? The links to the Flickr images work fine and I was able to get the video from Animato embedded. This just seems strange. I 'm assuming that I've met the requirements for my sandbox, but I would still be thrilled if anyone can help with the picture "issue". It's the principal of the thing.

Thing #14--Wiki's in the Classroom

I can see using classroom wikis for easy access to work in progress--regardless of time or location--which will help students who have been absent and to help collaborating students work together despite schedules & transportation issues. It would also be a great tool to monitor individual student's participation & contribution and widen the pool of collaborators. Since my classes tend to be small, it would be helpful for students to "work" with others from other class periods. Most importantly, the use of technology (and the tools available) will definitely serve to increase interest, motivation & support to increase both the quality and the quantity of learning.

Parents would also be able to see what their students are working on and provide (hopefully not too much) assistance. This might be a great way to encourage more parent interest & support as well. Their child's work samples would be organized and easily accessible for review at any time.

The first site I visited (Code Blue) was well organized--primarily by category & related sub-topics, clean & uncluttered with an attractive layout and graphics that called attention to the various topics & links. I think that the link to Online Safety is a great idea and should be required on all school generated wikis. I enjoyed playing a couple of the brain games--we probably all need to be reminded that fun/positive learning = more productive enthusiastic learning.

The second site (Discovery Utopias) had an incredible design/information/question template for a Utopian Society--extremely thorough & thought provoking. The side bar listed several links to real life failed utopias and the main section linked to the discussions about the novels studied that related to this topic. I sent an e-mail to the teacher asking for additional information/clarification on this unit.

The only site where I could see an obvious, although minor, improvement was the Thousands Project. I love this site and will probably encourage students to use SSR time to read some of the entries (should be high-interest). The site was organized chronologically by month with the questions serving as the link to those responses. I think the year should probably be added as well.

I looked at several other sites and was almost universally impressed with both content and organization. The thought process & organization/prioritization skills required to accomplish this are impressive. The Math 12V could easily be used as a STRONG argument for technology vs. textbooks.

I'm starting to feel really bad about all the things in my head that my former students will not benefit from. I guess this is a good testament for my students as to the results & advantages of continued life-long learning !

Thing #13--Social Bookmarking & Tagging w/ Delicious

http://delicious.com/kperez523

At school, I ran into another large space where a video was supposed to be, but I was able to access it at home. The link to the In Plain English video website required an override, but then I needed to download Adobe Flash 10 which I was blocked from doing.

My first thought after reading over this section is that it will probably take me awhile to remember how to appropriately put a tag on a URL address. Then it occurred to me that this would probably be done automatically ? I can definitely see the benefit from an organization standpoint. I guess if I had to explain it to someone else, tags (in the URL's) are like subheadings except they not only label the location, they "speed dial" you to the specific place so you don't have to flip through all the pages. In this day and age, nobody has the time to "flip". Although some of the tags sent me to some unexpected places, in most cases tagging seems to help avoiding this. Then using the tags should help narrow the selection when searching for a specific site. I can definitely see how the shared tag could be helpful for a classroom teacher, but I'm not sure how to go about setting this up. Can it be for a website, a blog or a wiki ?

When trying to join delicious at school, I was unable to see the letters that I was supposed to type in the box (to finish the process). I sent a request to support, but rather than wait 24 hours for a response, I did it at home. I'm curious if anyone else has done the majority of this class at school and had similar issues. If so, this is certainly something that should be corrected, if possible. Our family computer is having problems and my son's is not normally available (college kid).

Thing #7A--Another Interesting RSS Item

Very light topic, but . . . . With all the recent Michael Jackson focus, I guess it's not surprising that an article about him made it into the NYT Week in Review. The article was not a recap of his life, but more a speculation as to the probability that there may never be another entertainer with the same world wide popularity & influence (not to mention sales).

The reason ? The radical changes & advancements in technology that limit the size of any one potential audience (for discovery of new artists such as The Ed Sullivan Show for the Beatles). Now there are simply too many choices available to reach such a majority of the population at one time. In addition, the likelihood of similar influence & monetary gain is more limited as a result of this increased competition, as well as the current ease of pirating.

I think they may be right, but I don't think they've considered You Tube's potential for being a modern world wide Ed Sullivan Show.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/weekinreview/28segal.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss