Summary!!!!!!!

Wow what a journey. It was just yesterday when I was sitting at my computer at home going "what did I get myself into?" Well here we are and I did something amazing. I learned 23 and then some things to help me become a better teacher and just more technology savvy. My favorite things were the podcast lesson and how it can come right to you. Google docs and how everyone can have a hand in making a document. And my most favorite was the collage maker. I really like that you can take tons of pictures and make them fun and cool.
By taking this class I really put myself out there to make a change and try to learn more, whether is for professional or just personal. I always told people that I know enough to get in trouble. Now, I think that I know enough to make a difference. I can really take a lot of these things and implement them in the classroom and have my students use more technology.
As far as any changes to the format, I liked it. You were there when I needed you, but you were not looking over my shoulder. You gave advice and comments when I needed them. The many things are self explanatory. If you offered another class like this I would definitely take it. I want to know more. Or if there was a part two to see if we implemented the things in classroom.
I plan to do more searching on my own to keep up with the times. I can use these things in my class with the Google docs and picture maker and hopefully my students will enjoy doing the assignments.

We made it!!!

Thing 23

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Well as usually I did not know that this stuff existed. I mean I knew it probably did, but I was not searching for it. I really did like the Classroom 2.0 social network. I think that as educators we are in a ever changing field and we need to help one another with ideas to keep students learning and even having fun while doing it. This is a great way to help one another to do this. I have always been told "why invent the wheel, its already been invented?" Now I know that there are teachers out there that wont share and honestly, I do not understand that at all. I am always flattered when someone wants my advice or wants to use one of my ideas. It would be great even if someone could tweak what I have done to make it better. We are in this together, so we should all get on board to help.

Wow I can not believe that we have made it through all of the things. Thank you to everyone for your comments. I hope that we will take it and use to it to benefit the educational process.

Michelle

Thing 22

Finally something that came really easy to me. I actually have a Facebook page. In the past I have used MySpace and I thought that it was way teenagey. I think as educators we need to know how social networking is done, because the students use it. If we understand it, then we can understand how they are technical and use it in our classrooms.
I love Facebook and how you can share information and catch up with people that you haven't seen in a while. I know that I have made connections with people from high school and even people from college. I personally enjoy reading status updates (because I am nosey!!) and looking at pictures that I would not have seen before Facebook. Sometimes if someone says something and people comment it can be a little like a blog. Also, if you are trying to start a business or gain attention for something, then facebook is a good tool to do that.
I think that Facebook has the easier features to use. It is easy to upload photos and add and delete information. I think as humans we need to remember not to put too much information out there. We also need to teach our students to do the same thing. I don't know if I would ever have a use for Facebook in my classroom, but it is fun!!!!!!

Check out Michelle's Page!!!!

Talk to you soon!!!

7b

In my reader this week, I have been following the oil spill in the gulf. I was reading in my BP reader that BP began this weekend replacing the existing lower marine riser package. What does this mean for the gulf? It is basically the containment part of the oil spill. When all is said and done, the total volume of oil collected or flared by the containment systems is approximately 749,100 barrels. In additional information, As of July 10, almost 105,000 claims have been submitted and more than 52,000 payments have been made, totaling almost $165 million. The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately $3.5 billion, including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs. On June 16, BP announced an agreed package of measures, including the creation of a $20 billion fund to satisfy obligations arising from the oil and gas spill.

With technology being so great, it is hard to believe that they can not completely stop the oil spill. It really just boggles my mind.

There you have it folks!!!

Thing 21

I have always used Google as a search engine. Little did I know it had way more stuff to play with. I really liked the iGoogle. It reminded me of the Yahoo homepage. I liked that I could pick the stuff that I was interested in to put on my page. Even if you are not satisfied, you can go back and change it to what you like. It will even tell me if I have new mail and with one click I can be in my inbox. I also have access to the weather and all of my entertainment news (You know that is my guilty pleasure).

I really like the Google Calendar. It reminds me of the 30boxes website. It is also an online calendar. I like the Google Calendar better, because it seems that everything is tied together. I love how I can use my gmail account to log-in to everything Google. Maybe that could be a new Google thing. LOL!!!

For I side note. I like the Google Lab. It was really cool to see the things that they are trying to come up with. It is crazy how far Google and even the internet has come. You know I loved Google before this lesson, but now I LOVE it even more!!!!!!!!

Have a great one guys!!!!

Thing 20

I have heard of Google Docs, in fact we even had a meeting about them. I did not however grasp the extent of how useful Google Docs can be for me and even my students. There are countless things that you can do with Google Docs. I think that it would benefit my students with typing outlines on Google Docs and then I could grade them on Google Docs. Another thing that I thought about is if I have students working on a group project where they have to type up a script where students have different parts to add, they could collaborate using the docs. I also could monitor their progress in doing this. Another idea that I had, is my students do a mock congress unit. I could have a spreadsheet that the students could look at to see what they need to accomplish. You can do this instead of printing out sheets of paper that the students would lose or misplace. It would almost be like how it worked in this class. Google Docs could help me because I would not be lugging around a ton of papers to and from work. I could just open my computer at home and check my students' work.

And there you have it friends, my take on Google Docs!!!

Michelle

Thing 19

This technology stuff is getting better and better. I found Voicethread really interesting. I even found it amazing that young students were doing things on Voicethread. I loved the voicethread of Library A to Z. I think that was an awesome project that incorporated the students doing research in their school library to learn all of the things that you can do in a library. Then to have the students narrate the book. AMAZING!!!!!!

I think that in my personal life I could use this to post pictures and then hear the comments of family and friends. Fortunately my family all lives close, but if you had relatives that were far away you could hear the expression in their voice about what they thought of the picture.

In my classroom I could put a picture up and have students make comments and actually grade them on their speaking skills. This would be a great tool to help students become more comfortable with speaking. Even if it is not in front of an audience it can still help students with the idea of speaking in front of an audience.

Unitl next time,

Michelle

ps I was going to embed a voicethread in my blog, however when I was doing my assignment, it would not work for me.