Good Gravy...

Seriously?! School hasn't even started and I've already forgotten about my promise to post weekly! :( Sorry friends!

I haven't worked in my classroom nearly as much as I should have by now, but I've done a little. Today I went in and arranged the desks and my desk, but I'm not satisfied. I spent the afternoon at the elementary making behavior charts. Tonight I worked on my nametags and such. Tomorrow I will go back to the Elementary to laminate them and some posters I have purchased over the summer. I'm excited about my class and can't wait to meet the students!

This post was lame, but I promised myself I'd post every week. :)

Here it comes...can you feel it?

Another school year is heading our way friends! I greet this school year with mixed emotions. I'm ready to get back into the swing of things, but I'll miss the face-paced environment of camp. I'm ready to meet a new group, but I'll miss last year's group. I'm ready to face the challenges of teaching in a new building, but will miss the old (but really new) one. Excited for new faces, but will certainly miss the familiar faces...I wouldn't dare call them old. ;)

My plan, as of today, is to blog at least once a week with the goings on in the classroom. That's not to say it is a promise, because we all get busy. I'm just going to try...that's all. :)

Here it is...the finale...#13

Well friends, I find myself at the end of an exciting adventure. As Rachel said, this is the official end, but I hope to continue on my journey into the Web 2.0 world.

Though the journey has been long, it has definitely been worthwhile. I've been introduced and re-connected with many tools that I would love to incorporate into my daily curriculum. I love all the different tools, but I would have to say my favorites would be the fun stuff we encountered and especially the blogging. I've even started a student blog on Kidblog! The students love posting their journal entries and can't wait to get the lab once a week to do so. If you want to look at our journals, let me know and I'll send you the link and guest password. I love this site because it is safe for the students to use. No one can see our entries without a login name and password.

I think this program has helped me to continue with my goal of integrating and continuing use of technology in the classroom. Learning about all the tools and how to incorporate them really helps make this goal happen.

13 things the Pretzel way has encouraged me to delve further into the world of Web 2.0.

#12...getting closer....

Well friends, interesting options this time around. I admit, I played with more than one of the websites listed for this week. Even the non-educational ones.

I did find one that will come in handy for years to come! I believe it is called .DocStoc (pronounced dot-doc-stock). This site has many documents submitted by thousands of people. These documents are downloadable by anyone and everyone. They are free and easy to use. I'm sure I'll be browsing this site for future ideas and documents.

Several of the top three winners for each category on the website I looked at, are ones that I've seen or used several times in the past.

Number 11

I just can't contain myself! I LOVE these websites! Wordle is by far, one of the greatest inventions of all time. I can think of so many different uses for this one. You could use it for spelling words, vocabulary, synonyms, adjectives, antonyms, the list goes on and on. I've seen Wordle used in my hallway since this tool was introduced. Nancy and Addie used it with their students. Students described themselves with different adjectives. They put their names in and then all the words that describe them. LOVED this idea!

Flash Card Exchange: I didn't really look into this one much, I just briefly glanced at the page, but I was talking to Sue about it at school. She told me about this being an app on the iTouch or iPhones. It got me thinking...what if I had 25 iTouches for classroom use? How cool would that be?! We could use it for SO many different activities. iTouches have several different educational applications available. I would be able to upload flash card exchange, utilize math applications, utilize the calculator feature, foreign language introductions, access to news articles and videos. The possibilities are endless.

Animoto is a neat website. I threw together a few pictures from an activity where my 6th graders helped out the 1st graders into a video. The outcome was different. I think we might be able to use this for a recap of the 6th grade's PBIS video project. It will be fun to take some pictures as we work on the project and then have the slide presentation to look back on.

Last but not least, Comiqs. Again, this would be a fun site to show the kids for personal use more than educational use. I could potentially see using this for creating a visual representation of a story or book. It could be fun to have students recreate a storyline from a book they've read.

Of all these tools, I would say Wordle is my favorite. :)

I guess 10 would be next...

Well friends, here I sit pondering what I've just watched and explored. Creative Commons, I like the idea behind it all. I think it would beneficial if I had the time and energy to sift through some of the ideas on the website. For now though I'm satisfied only knowing about the website. Possibly this Summer I'll have some "downtime" to sift through these tools again and really develop some knowledge on how to integrate them into the classroom.

Numba 9

Shelfari is the page of choice for me! :) I really like this type of website. I love reading, but often find myself asking others what books they recommend. When I run out of people, I stop reading for a while...with this website I can browse therecommendations of the my friends and others. My user name on there is mwainman if you'd like to see the books I've added. It seems as though I can't remember all the books I've read....

It is difficult to imagine using this type of tool in the classroom because I don't have a student computer in my classroom. I'm not complaining, because I didn't ask for one. I simply didn't have the need for one when the requests went out and I didn't want to be selfish. If I had a classroom computer or had access to the lab more than once a month, I could see using this as a means to keep track of books students have read. For example, when they do the Rebecca Caudill books, they could keep track on this program instead of or in addition to in the library. Just a thought...

This site is similar to one I use. I have an account on Swaptree.com On Swaptree, you enter the ISBN number of books you own. Then you browse through the millions of books and other items that other people own. If I remember right you can list books, movies, music, and games. I've only used the book trading on this site. Once you have selected books you'd like to read, the site automatically connects you with people that own that book and want one of your books. When you initiate a trade or if someone initiates one with you, you can accept or deny the trade. If you accept the two people in the trade mail the books to each other. Once you get that book, it is yours to keep. You can either swap it again or keep it for your library. I love this site and have made several trades on it. I haven't used it recently, but am thinking about using it again.

Actually, I think I'll go inventory my books now...:)

thgiE rebmuN gnihT

Podcasts...where to even begin. I love 'em. I've used a Spanish Podcast in my classroom a few times. My students have been interested in learning some Spanish, so I found one on iTunes. (By the way, I was able to download iTunes onto my computer at school without needing administrative passwords.) My students thought it was pretty fun to learn from someone other than me...(still not sure how I feel about that...) I've also used a Promethean Planet podcast myself. There is one on iTunes that has every video on the PP website. I've used it to assist me in making different flipcharts. Very good information can be found on these videos. I've used several different ones. I have them on my computer in my classroom if anyone is interested in looking at them.

As far as using podcasts in the classroom, that is a 100% YES! I think they are great tools for both teachers and students. This summer I am hoping to have the time to find some great informational podcasts to use with my Social Studies curriculum next year.

Audacity seems like a wonderful tool to incorporate into the classroom, once students are familiar with podcasts and how they work. It is obviously not something I would start the year out using. It could be a tool we work towards using during second semester.

VoiceThread also seems like a fun too to incorporate, but again, once the students find some familiarity with it. This all stems on the computer lab situation. If I'm not able to get my students into the lab multiple times a week or at least weekly, these tools won't become second nature to my students. Hopefully, by working with these tools on my own now and over the summer, I'll be better equipped to use them with my students.

Thing Numero 7

Wikis....how fun! :) I loved the video first of all. That guy has a way of explaining things that makes it all seem very clear! I love it.

I can envision using Wikis in the future for planning things like Red Ribbon Week or Jump Rope for Heart/Hoops for Heart. Teachers can make a list of the things we'll need for snacks or drinks on a Wiki and as parents decide what they want to bring in, they can edit the Wiki and move things from one column to the next and so on. Somewhat like the video showed...well, exactly like the video showed. ;)

I can also envision student groups using it to coordinate projects. For example, my students are writing up a dramatization for a Social Studies skit. To organize who is bringing what props, costumes, etc., they can use a Wiki.

I'm not so sure I see much difference between Googledocs and Wikis except that you can create extra pages/links attached. I'm sure I'll see more differences as I become more in tune with each of them.

I'm really digging the whole Wiki idea...any other suggestions?

Thing #6

To be quite honest with you...I'm not a huge fan of the diigo site. I like the idea behind it and feel as though it could potentially be quite useful. What I dislike is that one some pages...like Facebook for example...people will stick public post-it notes. I don't like this...I haven't quite figured out how to turn them off.

I can see using it for my master's course work. I also will use it when I'm reading online articles or things of that nature. I am a "finger reader". I like to follow along with my finger when reading an article or magazine. When I read things on the computer, I often highlight using the mouse to read something, so using the highlighting feature with diigo will be more useful for me. Another thing is that I don't like reading black text...it hurts my eyes...I'm sensitive. :) So, if I were to highlight it with a different color, that takes away from the black text.

I also like that I can "tag" articles and such so I can find them based on words I've remembered from the article. It never fails that I find something of interest, but never find it again because I've forgotten what I typed in the first time to come up with that article.

Overall, Diigo will be a useful tool. It may take some time to adapt, but I'll get there. :)

Thing #5

OK...here goes nothing. I'm trying out the custom search. I've been thinking all week, "What can I use?" I'll be the first to admit that I'm not as prepared as I'd like to be for the next chapter in SS, so I can't exactly create a custom search for that...if only I had grabbed that SS book on Friday...too bad the building is locked tomorrow. :(

I decided to try out a "Classroom Ideas" search. My search has websites I often use when trying to find ideas to enhance a lesson or videos to use or something along those lines. I use Pro-teacher, Scholastic, Learn360 and Promethean Planet mainly. I incorporated those into my search. I hope it works the way I want it to work...

Thing #4

Hello Googledocs...you are my new best friend! :) I can't tell you how many times I've created something at home and either e-mailed it to myself only to get to school and find out that I didn't wait for it to attach or forgot to attach it altogether, put it on a jump drive and forgot it at home, or the file was too big to attach to the e-mail or fit on the jump drive. Googledocs has solved my problems! I will definitely be taking advantage of this free service. Now, not only will I have access to something both at home and at school, but if I change it once I get to school, I'll have the new file at home too! Googledocs has opened up a whole new world for me! :) Thank you Mrs. Yoder! You are the best!

Thing #3

On the 13 Things blog there is a link to another blogspot called Speaking of History. This is a blog written by an 8th grade history teacher in Missouri. On this blog, I found a slideshow entitled "A Dozen Ways to Incorporate Technology Into the History Classroom." In this slideshow I found the idea of taking the kids on a "Virtual" field trip! This sounds like such a fun idea! I can't wait to explore this idea. The next chapeter in Social Studies has the students taking a tour around my classroom using pictures. I think I'm going to explore the internet and see what I can find. I might be able to use the idea of a "virtual" field trip for this chapter! :) I can't wait!



Here is the Link to Dozens of Ways to Integrate Technology into the History Classroom. Just click on the word "dozens". Enjoy! I know I did!

Getting closer...

I need your help followers! :) Here is what I'm thinking. This chapter my students will be going on a "tour" of four different sites in Egypt. They are going to write postcards to "friends" describing the things they saw, why those things are important to the Egpytians, etc. What if I had them make a blog entry of their postcards? Then asked them to respond to someone elses blog postcard. What do you think? Any other ideas? I'm just bouncing ideas around, I'd love to hear your ideas!

Still thinking....

I am still unsure as to how I want to use this blog with my students. My thoughts are this...have the students create an entry (maybe in pairs or trios) from the viewpoint of someone that lived in Ancient Egypt or something along those lines. Like I said though...this is all still in the planning process inside my head. I usually need to write things out a few times before I start to incorporate them into my lessons. :) I'm a visual kind of person! If you have any ideas or thoughts...please share! I'm all about cooperation! ;)

Welcome!

Welcome to Miss Wainman's Budding Bloggers page! My hope is to encorporate this blog into my classroom curriculum by asking my students to create posts that relate to the current topic in our Social Studies curriculum.

Who knows what the blogging world has in store for the future of my 6th graders...