Saturday, February 26, 2011

NETS- Reflection Tool Article













Riedel, Chris. (2009). Top 10 web 2.0 tools for young learners. the JOURNAL, Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2009/02/02/Top-10-Web-20-Tools-for-Young-Learners.aspx?Page=1
  
Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools for Young Learners

(NETS-T 1, 2, & 3) 
     In this article Mr. Riedel provides a quick and easy to read synopsis of Gail Lovely’s technology presentation at the FETC 2009 conference. He begins by stating Ms. Lovely’s stance on the use of technology tools should be directed with the students in mind, then the educators, essentially a bottom up rather than top down method of technology introduction. Riedel then provides quick links to Lovely’s top educational technology tools. The sites are Kerpoof, Voki, Create-A-Graph, Yack Pack, Animoto, Skype, Glogster, Voicethread, and Blogs and Wikis as platforms.
     Riedel provides a brief description, and for most tools a link so the reader can personally assess the usefulness of each tool. In reviewing the tools I personally liked Kerpoof, Voki, Animoto, and Glogster. As a parent and future special educator, I love that these tools allow children to not only learn but use Multiple Intelligences to allow personal learning preference in the process. Additionally, the Voki tool is wonderful for individuals with language disabilities. Many times these tools and programs are extremely expensive so it is wonderful to see a useful and practical tool for these individuals. I can see the usefulness for Voicethread in older grades and Create-A-Graph for any age, as creating and understanding graphs can be challenging. I was unable to access Yack Pack as the tool is experiencing technical difficulties and the use of Blogs and Wikis is so commonplace in my opinion, little description of their use is needed. Overall I found the article useful not only for future classes, but for my own children, as I am sure they will love using some of these tools.      

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Journal Entry#3- Valentine's Week

100 Things That Make Me Happy
1.    My amazing husband
2.    My beautiful son and daughter
3.    My children’s health
4.    The deep belly laughs from my kids playing together
5.    My husband relaxed 
6.    Time with old friends
7.    Family
8.    Fishing with my kids
9.    My closest friends
10. Real talks with my husband
11.  My kids joy at their own   discovery
12.  My children’s successes
13.  Pictures of my parents
14.  My kids curiosity
15.  How my daughter reminds me so much of my mom
16.  How my son is so much like my dad
17. My kids smiles
18. Time with my husband
19.  Time with my kids, when I don’t have to do mommy work
20. Being a mom and wife-hopefully a good one
21.  My husband’s smile
22. Talking with my kids
23.  A drink with friends
24. Surprising my husband or kids with an unexpected gift
25. Rainy days
26. A warm fire
27. A good book
28. COFFEE-well it keeps me sane at least
29. A good movie
30. Sunshine breaking through the clouds
31.  The changing of the seasons
32.  Thunder and lightning
33.  Summer vacation
34.  Trips back to New York
35.  The Adirondacks
36.  Summer swims with the family in the lake
37. Road trips
38. Traveling
39.  Hope
40. The smell of the forest in the morning
41.  Wild flowers
42. Spring break trip to Colorado
43.  The smell of the ocean air
44. Walks on the beach
45. Vacations
46. Canoe rides on the lake
47. Flowers everywhere
48. The smell of flowers
49. The smell of honeysuckle and jasmine
50. The smell of fresh laundry hanging outside
51.  The starry night-without city lights blocking the view
52. Playing in the snow
53.  Autumn trips to New Paltz, New York
54. Yosemite
55. Silver Falls State Park in Oregon-where I spent my childhood vacations
56. Memories of my parents-bitter sweet
57. Annual summer birthday trip to Las Vegas
58. Knowing that my in-laws get to retire this year and then visit more often
59. Playing with my nephew who is autistic, he’s come so far… he amazes me
60. Date night
61.  Freedom to make change and live the way I want, with my family
62. Inspiration from an idea or a person…
63.  The idea of retirement
64. Driving a fast car
65. Nachos Taco Shop
66. My new phone
67. A cold cloudy “stay in bed” type of morning
68. A night that I don’t have to share the TV or make sure the kids are ready for bed
69. Girls night
70.My dog-Lily
71. Learning (about things that interest me)
72. Quiet “alone” time
73. Starburst Jellybeans-only available during Easter time
74. Horseback riding
75. Music
76. Shopping
77. A clean house
78. Exercising
79. Writing
80.Helping others
81. Finishing a task, like college, the Army, ect.
82. Cooking
83. Dancing
84. Singing
85. Crafting-I’m just starting to explore the possibilities
86. Playing volleyball
87. Blondie
88. Listening to Anne Murray and John Denver-I’m little again
89. The excitement of Christmas
90. Good BBQ
91.  The possibilities of the future
92. Sleeping in a cold room with a warm, heavy blanket
93.  Engrish.com-always good for a laugh
94. Air-pop popcorn
95. The Steer In restaurant
96. Taking pictures
97. My accomplishments
98. My goals and aspirations
99. Wrestling with my dog
100.      My faith  

And I love Barns...      

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Saturday, February 19, 2011

Article Entries # 2

Ferguson, Hadley. (2011). Join the flock!. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(8), Retrieved from www.iste.org. 

(NETS-T 5)

Join the Flock!


     This article written by Hadley Ferguson is an easy to read upbeat endorsement of Twitter. The author identifies very quickly key information for the reader about the benefits of using Twitter as a professional network rather than merely a social network. She also appeals to educators who have for years worked so hard to create all of their own teaching tools and resources. She identifies that now, with Twitter, she can find resources without the time commitment. While she lets the readers know that Twitter is a tool that can be useful and save time, it does also take time to use it effectively. Additionally, she breaks down the process of becoming a tweeter. She breaks down the process into simple steps such as, set up the account, learn to follow tweets, find lists, watch and listen, and retweeting. Posting your own thoughts and becoming an active member only happens once the individual has decided to participate. Handley very effectively invites a potential Twitter user to start their personal Twitter adventure. Finally, while she stresses you can always be an onlooker in Twitter, merely using it as a resource of information, the true power and advantages of Twitter only take hold once the participant actively engages in communication with their own posts.
Question 1: What type of controls are in place to ensure the quality of the professional posts within Twitter?
Answer: As with any written work it is the task of the reader to find the validity of the source as well as the usefulness. As educators have done for years, determining which information is truly useful is a process of trial by fire and after activity assessment. With this information the educator can then either adapt the activity to be more useful, use it as is, or abandon the idea.
Question 2: How does a PLN (Professional Learning Network) benefit an educator or educational professional?
Answer: For any student of education in the past can attest, the process of compiling information for your portfolio and future classroom was many times the most time consuming process involved in teaching. As a teacher who received my original teaching certificate over ten years ago, I had to create a hand held copy of all my work to present and then keep a huge file of any good ideas I created, executed or planned for my future classes. With all the time that goes into creating lessons and units in this fashion, many teachers stick with what has worked in the past. That’s an unfortunate truth about human nature. Thanks to new technological advances, and PLC’s teachers can work together with a world-wide network of educators to create up to date, relevant and fun classroom activities that serve each individual class rather than serve several classes over a long period of time. With this new advantage students are learning information that will help them be better students, more engaged social participants and more knowledgeable members of society. 
McClintock Miller, Shannon. (2010). Enhance your twitter experience. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(8), Retrieved from www.iste.org

    Enhance Your Twitter Experience

     I found this article extremely refreshing as well as a bit overwhelming at times. I love how Ms. Miller starts out with tangible examples of the use of Twitter in the class, and how using technology can and is fun for her as well as her students. Once I found the value of using Twitter only for myself but as a tool for my students, I was interested. Then Ms. Miller begins with how to manage your Twitter information. Which honestly on one hand, I am greatly relieved there is an easy way or tool because as a new user I am a bit overwhelmed by the amount of information that can come in and the speed it moves at. But, I also found that while she states the tools she knows of and prefers, Hootsuite.com and Tweetdeck.com, all the information became more advanced than my current skill level. The one thing I love that Ms. Miller did was that she provides a list of terms for Twitter. THANK YOU!! I know that many times I don’t say anything in person or online because I don’t want to use the wrong terms and be embarrassed. So, to sum it all up, I love the enthusiasm, the possibilities, the management help tools, the terms and the whole idea Ms. Miller presents, I just think that I need to spend some quality time now figuring out how it can work for me.
Question 1: Did Ms Miller’s article inspire you to investigate Twitter more? And, if so what aspect of the Twitter possibilities appeals to you?
Answer: I think my favorite part about in the article is when Ms Miller lets the future user know there are easier ways to share information with people, and not just random tweeple, but people I think will want to know what I am saying. I like the idea that I can bookmark information I find important and send it out to my friends regardless of what forum I know them through and easily let them know my new information. This beats using email or moving from site to site and reposting. This is a great, time saving, information spreading tool.  
Question 2: What do you think the proper Twitter formula is, or does the one provided work for you?
I actually really like the formula presented at 70%, 20%, 10%. When I reflect on real life, I think this formula actually mirrors our typical career interactions. As educators we spend a large amount of time observing and processing, planning and passing on ideas. We also spend a decent amount of time in professional discussions, working to help others or gain more knowledge in certain areas. I think that using ten percent of our time for personal interaction is about right on target for how much time successful people spend on personal talk at work. Overall, I think what like most about this model is that  it presents Twitter as a professional tool rather than a social gossip site, which is really refreshing.