I love Podcasts!  I download them alot, but never really considered creating my own.  I figured it would be much too time consuming (which is why I’ve left this task until the very last day!!!!!).  I actually dreaded going through the process.  BUT…now that the seed has been planted I can think of quite a few uses for creating my own Podcasts.  I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to use Evoca.  I left my headphones at school so I created the Podcast using my telephone–pretty darn cool!  It was surprisingly easy!  This is definitely a good thing.  I’m actually sorry I put it off for so long.  Have a listen…  

Geesh, I feel like Debbie Downer sometimes.  This social networking thing is great in theory but I don’t have any use for it.  It’s effective in getting people from all over networked and that’s great on one hand.  On the other hand I feel that alot of the questions/requests posted can be asked of a colleague down the hall or at a neighboring school, but today so many people find it easier to throw the question into cyberspace than to deal with the person on the other end of the answer.  The other issue for me is that once you post a question you have to check back often and wait until an answer you can use shows up.  Whatever!   We call it social networking, but how social is it if we never have to interact with other people?  I’m beginning to think my resistance to this whole Web 2.0 movement is a result of my learning style.  I’m an auditory learner.  I LOVE lectures and note taking.  I hate all the touchy, feely crap that pedagogy claims is better for kids.  Clearly being a science teacher I believe in lots of hands-on activities–not all the ‘creative’ crap, but getting down to the core of it.  Like today, we’re seeing the practical application of the 3rd Great Truth (I know this means nothing to the non-science, non-Emag folks).  My kids are watching me demonstrate the property on a spring board, then they replicating what I’ve done, completing tables and working application problems.  See, down to the nitty-gritty of it all.  It doesn’t have to be full of color and fluff.  It just has to be interesting and meaningful.  Okay, off soapbox, back to Social Networking…  I get lost in all those words.  The lack of white space on Ning is dizzying.  There are words EVERYWHERE.  I know that we aren’t supposed to process all of it, but where does one begin?  Plus there aren’t alot of forums or groups for science teachers, so maybe I’m not the only one who thinks this stuff is information overload.  Our Discovery exercise said to spend 45- 60 min exploring the page.  That’s alot of time to spend looking for or through something especially when you’re just surveying the information.  Imagine how long it would take me to find an answer… (By the way Shelley, this has nothing to do with the class.  I have found quite a few valuable things–such as Toondoon, Flickr, Podcasting, etc. — that I plan to use next year.  It’s about the movement as a whole.) 

I like the idea of being able to edit a document in real time.  I first learned about Google Docs in Venezuela while watching Nneka Robinson (one of the WAMS resident IT gurus) give a presentation on the topic.  Now I’m not impressed by much of this Web 2.0 stuff.  I get why people think this stuff is the best thing since white bread, but I eat wheat. (I guess it’s getting late because I’m thinking kinda weird.)  Anyway, I think alot of this stuff is overrated.  BUT this Google Doc idea–it’s FANTASTIC!!!  I do alot of Pair-Sharing in my room where I have kids read, edit, grade, etc. each other’s work.  I think it strengthens their social skills (they have to learn how to think critically and be polite) and a little peer pressure can be a good thing in the classroom.  Back to Nneka’s presentation…before she was done I’d decided to use Google Docs for a couple of next year’s assignments.

1.  They will post the methods section for their science process skills projects and be responsible for editing 3 others.  They currently write the methods section and pass it to a neighbor for critiquing. 
2. Instead of doing the ‘Each One Teach One’ group quizzes on large Post-it paper I’ll let them create their quizzes and post them to Google Docs then randomly pull names to decide who will take their quiz.
3. I’m still working on the third idea but I was thinking of some kind of review game during which they find the false statements and edit them to make them true.

I’ve decided to skip around a bit.  I don’t feel like creating a Podcast right now and I certainly don’t wanna post anything in Google Docs so I decided to look for an interesting task.  I found it!  I’ve been  using this idea of pageflakes for years, but I just didn’t know it.  I created a page on My MSN in 2004 and visit it virtually everyday.  I have weather, Slate Magazine, news for Atlanta and Austin and much more on it.  It’s nice to have my interests in one place.  The page was really easy to create and extremely user friendly.  Pageflake? Not so much.  Well, it’s not that the program application isn’t user friendly it’s just plain overwhelming.  There’s soooo much! Thank goodness Shelly gave us a cheat sheet in the form of the template.  I used the cheat sheet and still spent way too long customizing my page.  I can see where Pageflakes could be extremely useful for posting class assignments, HW, notes, messages to parents, etc.  Luckily we have Edline at WAMS which eliminates many of the potential distractors for students–I can see my kids getting ‘lost’ on the page just like I did–but I can see how this would be a great addition to any teacher’s cache of classroom management strategies.  I love the idea that you can share the page (or not).  I know that I won’t use this in for instructional purposes, but I’m considering using it to replace my My MSN page because it has more options (and because I’m a girly, girl) I think it’s prettier.

I really like YouTube.  I browse for entertainment on occasion but I also search for videos to use in class.  I can usually find what I need for my lessons but I never show it without feeling slightly paranoid that something inappropriate will appear even after I’ve carefully previewed the material (it’s a perpetual state of paranoia, I guess).  Thank goodness for TeacherTube!  It seems to be a safer, more reliable option.  I look forward to using some of the videos to introduce and/or clarify concepts (without being afraid).  Last week I used  a great episode of MythBusters (that I grabbed from YouTube) as an activating strategy for introducing Conversion Contraptions (Rube Goldberg Machines).   The kids LOVED it and were immediately excited about building their own Contraptions.  It was exactly what i needed at the time!!! I am so glad that we now have access to these sites because an entertaining video clip goes alot farther with the kids that some educational DVD that drones on for 3o min.  [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/lCYg_gz4fDo" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]  

Who doesn’t love the ability to listen to or watch anything, anywhere, anytime?  I’m a podcasting veteran.  I love NPR–okay, maybe just Car Talk– and have a penchant for The Bobby Bones Show a morning radio show in Austin, TX where I lived for 6 years.  I’ve never used Podcasts in my classroom, but I think that’s going to change.  I can obviously use downloaded Podcasts to present information to my students, but before taking this class I didn’t realize that Podcasts are so easy to create (I’m sooooo excited about the next Thing!).  I can see my students creating these as they review for a test or me using them to explain content when I have a substitute.  That last one is a little ambitious, but in January I spent a week in Venezuela. The kids would’ve loved the opportunity to hear the lectures via Podcasts.  Even though I had the BEST sub in the world they claimed that they couldn’t understand him.  A Podcast would eliminate all that drama!  This is definitely a good thing!  As I was browsing Education Podcast Network, Learn Out Loud and PBS Broadcast I came to the conclusion that I need to explore them a bit more before subscribing to to any of them.

I have my students set academic and personal goals every January the old way–with pen and paper.  By then they know their grade from last semester and realize the consequences (good or bad) of their actions.  I encourage them to share the goals with the entire class if they’d like, but tell them that they should at least share them with a friend.  Sharing encourages accountability.  Every now and then we revisit the goals in an effort to stay on track.  At its best 43 Things works the same way.  As I read through many of the posts I enjoyed the cheers.  Getting one probably feels really good.  Unfortunately I ran across a post about suicide and found it disturbing.  I was immediately reminded of the ethical implications of all new technology.  I don’t like the idea of using this site for classroom purposes, but I understand how sharing goals (and a few cheers) can motivate people to stick to them.

I didn’t have any interest in Library thing, but I can see why others might.  I see that Web 2.0 has a social theme, but I prefer to socialize with real people, not in a virtual world.  What’s social about cataloging/tagging all your books through an online site?  If you have so many books that you have to catalog them online, won’t you still have to organize them at home?  What happened to going to the bookstore and meeting people in your author’s aisle, book clubs and sharing/trading books with friends?  I’ve always been a voracious reader.  I grew up reading and have continued to do so throughout my adult life.  I don’t hang onto every book I buy because I usually pass them on to family or friends.  Because I am loyal to one or two authors at a time I rarely forget what I’ve read.  I guess Library Thing just isn’t the tool for me.  I hope everyone else enjoys it.

Okay, so I first signed up for del.icio.us during pre-planning.  I’ve never used it and I probably never will.  This being said, I’ve clearly opted to do the light task for Thing 14.  I’m not a surfer so when I’m connected I generally visit the same sites over and over.  For me the traditional way of bookmarking is fine.  It doesn’t get too messy.  I know that deli.c.ious has its merits, particularly the social bookmarking aspect, but I find being linked to several other people and/or favorite websites is just overload.  This course is helping me to figure out a few things about myself. I appreciate useful sites that give me the ability to do or learn about things I knew little about before.  I have no use for a site or tool that simply reworks something that I’ve been using for years.  I did bookmark some sites, though.

Fun, fun, fun!!!!  Toondoo is a site on which you (or your students) can create comic strips.  You can choose from tons of backgrounds, characters, text balloons, etc.  The choices are almost unlimited!  Signing up for an account is so easy–just a username, password and email address.  Yippeee!  I created a cartoon with a teacher (who looks kinda like me except she’s really thin-teehee) telling her students that they get to use Toondoos to make a cartoon for Newton’s Laws of Motion in about five minutes.  It’s very user friendly.  I will certainly incorporate this into my lesson plans for next year.  As I wrote in Thing 12, it’s a great replacement for Doodle.  My only complaint is that I initially had a hard time figuring out how to embed the widget into my blog, but as you can see I finally got it.  Happy Cartooning!!! » Continue Reading