Thing 23

Wahooo!! I finished. Now all I have to do is update my log and turn in the assignment. What a ride!! I thought I was keeping up with all the new things out there .... now there is that old adage: The more you know the more you need to know. I used to think I was smart and then I learned a few things and oh my there is way more out there then I could have imagined. I hope when there is a new development of some "things" we can have another online course to learn them ..... there is so much out there this type of collaboration is the only way we can utilize and find things.

My PLAN: I was inspired by the 23 Things Course to put together a technology proposal for my district for a 3M Infinity Projection System. My proposal was approved. I now need to develop a library of tools to use with my students to better engage and inspire them. I need to assimilate and incorporate all these things into my daily teaching ..... sounds like a lot of work but I think it falls in the category of "work smarter not harder".

I had several episodes of why won't this work right so I feel that prepares me to work with my students using these tools as I was able to search, ask colleagues, beg, and let it go for another day in order to get things to work. I also found other tools and discoveries when certain things would not work.

In addition, I had an immediate practical application. My sister works for a uniform delivery service and needed to develop a method for answering and documenting call logs. These documents needed to be fluid so they could be updated by those responding to customer service requests, complaints or other issues. Drivers would pile notes of various types and quality on her desk at the end of the day which would take too many man hours to sort and log the old fashioned way. Customers would call again before updates would be made and communication was shared through the departments. I told her about GoogleDocs. She could create the same spread sheet she was tracking on her computer that drivers, service personnel and managers could access with their Blackberries while on the road. Drivers are learning to upload their own comments so that customers are handled more efficiently. It is too early to tell but her boss currently thinks she is a genius. She says thanks Feb23things!!

Thing 22

Finally,there might be some PD that is actually teacher specific. Not everyone learns at the same rate or in the same way, that is what the teacher is for, so why do we provide learning for teachers that is lecture based, not specific to a learning style or need, and not something the teacher needs to know in a given year. I think teacher specific PD done online with the Learning Port would be awesome. We could work individually or is small groups on particular issues we have in our actual classroom. I have been to a lot of PD that is a sales pitch for a particular method, hardware, or software that the district has no intention of buying into. The learning methods and ideas may be valid and awesome but they may be impractical in the for the situation. I would love to have music therapy for special needs or extra hands for a multi-stepped project, but these things are not always available. Through the Michigan Learning Port teachers can choose what they are interested in, what they need help with, a particular special needs focus, and more. These PD plans could even be reviewed and approved by Admin if necessary. I would love to do PD in my PJ's, but I would be even more excited about PD that was relevant to my situation in the given time period. Hooray!!

Thing 21

I as a proud mom had to share this one. I am the proud mom of the young man that does the front flip in the first part of the video, he then does an awesome tumbling pass, he is on the left side for most of the dancing, and finally he is the brute that presses one of the girls over his head in the center. And yes he had way to much fun his Senior year of HS being on the Wolverine All Star Senior Cheer Squad. The "That's me bubble" is not my son, but this is his video on YouTube.



This is one of many Frostbite Theatre Broadcast from teacher tube. I found a lot of cool stuff from Frostbite Theatre.



This is Math: Factivation. This would be another technique to add to the arsenal to get kids to learn their multiplication facts. I must admit I learned a few new tricks.

Thing 20

Podcast: I normally do not have trouble speaking in front of people. This was a little more difficult as I could not explain with pictures, props, body language, etc. I think Vodcast would be extremely useful and similar to other tech we use through United Streaming: however podcasts could be interactive where students could create as well. I am however glad I did not have to do a Vodcast for this thing as this is Spring Break and I am still in my jammies:

Thing 19

I tend to agree with some of the blogs I have read. I think the Vodcast would be more beneficial at the elementary age in order to hold their attention. Here is one I was quiet interested in: The Science Friday podcast that has a new Science Investigation/Experiment for students to view. I think this would hit a wide variety of topics that I would not get to cover in my classroom and intrigue some students into further investigation.
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510221
This is update each Friday afternoon.

Using podcasts in class would be a great asset to view things we cannot get to or investigate things we could not afford to get the supplies for. Teach smarter not harder .... podcasts would definitely fit into this category as why create something that someone else has already done well. Tweek, adapt, redirect, reconfigure, the true art of quality teaching as who has time to do it all oneself?

Thing 18

Here is my ClustrMap .... and my Widget of Michigan Pictures .....

Thing 17

I think the Wikki is different from a blog because actual changes and additions can be made to the page where as a blog can only be commented on. This has both good and bad results as the info is only as good as the poster. This is what has lead to the creation of sites like snopes.com to check out info. Students tend to believe any info that is posted, we need to teach them to be more discerning readers as with the newspaper, everything can be slanted with a bias of some sort. Wikki's would be great for collaborative projects that need a final presentation. The teacher can go through the history info to track what students participated and to what extent. Information could be verified by various methods, students in the project and the teacher. Blogs could be useful to develop a dialogue on a given topic where opinions are encouraged. This could be another form of debate with older students . At the elementary level I could see issues with this due to keyboarding skills, spelling, and vocabulary. I think the research topics on a Wikki would better suit our current curriculum topics. The issue with Wikki at the elementary level is going to be screening, filtering information that is appropriate for students. When students research their topics, unfortunately, there are always in appropriate materials, photos, and links attached to otherwise quality materials. There is also the oops factor which happens due to their lack of keyboarding skills. Filters, site permissions, capability of the hardware and software at the elementary level is also going to be an issue. Students have limited storage capacity, external flash drives have not been permissible, and access to advanced software available at the MS and HS has not yet been made available. I have reviewed the Tech GLCE's for Upper Elem. students and there are some of these that can only be met through use of the teacher log in and the "teacher's computer" in the gen. ed classroom and not in the lab as these computers have more limited capabilities. I am planning to get around some of these issues with the acquisition of the 3M Infinity System for my classroom as the students can then work on my log in and permissions in a way that I can readily monitor through the projection system.