Thing 36: social networking

After much arm-twisting from a friend of mine, I finally took the plunge and entered the world of Facebook. After some initial hesitation, I am SO glad that I did.

I have already connected with several kids that I used to babysit. Two of my brothers also have facebook accounts that I didn't even know about. I am from a very small hometown, so it has been fun to connect with people from Chokio-Alberta High School.

I can easily see why kids get hooked on it. I spent a couple of hours in just setting it up and reading some of my friends profiles.

It makes me think about how communication has changed. The world is so connected now!

Thing 15: Collaboration

I always thought that I did a pretty good job of collaborating with my media specialist. However, when I looked at the rubric that was included in the core with this "thing" I can see where I certainly fall short!

I see myself mostly at a level 1: ask Jeanne for some resources and then use them in my classroom. I can't think of a time when I was functioning at level 4: being an equal partner in the planning, teaching, and evaluating of a unit.

One of the articles I read about collaboration pointed out the biggest obstacle: time! Isn't time always a problem?! I also read that teacher training programs don't necessarily teach people how to collaborate. I would tend to agree with this.

While Jeanne and I certainly collaborate here and there...like on research projects throughout the year and History Day, we have yet to work on a unit together. I want to continue the sporadic collaboration of course (especially with the Medieval Unit coming up) but I would really like to look at a unit from beginning to end.

This gives me a goal for next year! I always think my Ancient Rome unit lacks pizazz. It is a fascinating area to study, but I sometimes feel like I am running short of ideas by this time of the year when I hit my January slump. I know that Jeanne is a very creative person, so I believe the two of us could come up with some great stuff!

thing 21: YouTube and More

This weekend I registered to get a TeacherTube account. I don't like it as much as YouTube.

I really like to use YouTube for the World Religion Unit that I teach. The kids especially enjoy a clip that I show them from "Ripley's Believe It or Not" of a Hindu Rat Temple. They squirm in their seats when they see the hundres of rats running everywhere. Fascinating stuff. I tried to find this clip on TeacherTube and had no luck.

I certainly think that YouTube can have some wonderful academic applications if carefully monitored. I always make sure I have the video cued up and ready to go before I turn on my LCD projector. I don't want my students to catch any of the most popular and currently being viewed videos that show up on the screen while searching for a video.

I also think there is merit in using it as an entertainment tool. I showed one of my classes my favorite clip called "Charlie Bit my Finger Again". It is adorable! My students and I enjoyed a good laugh and experienced a moment of bonding:)

History Day Update

Sorry that I missed the last meeting! I heard that there was a lot of great stuff about Wikis and Google docs. As you sat in the PRFC media center, I was with my students at the Metro West History Day competition. This was the 3rd year that CMSW competed and the first year that we had kids qualify for state! Two of my groups (6 kids total) will be moving on with their documentaries! I am very excited and exhausted all at the same time.

The reason I bring this up in my MILI blog is that technology and information literacy had a lot to do with our success this year. I really focused in on databases like Historical Newspapers. Jeanne and I made sure that the kids had tools like easybib.com to make life easier. We also used UnitedStreaming with one of the groups and that made their documentary look extremely professional. I think we had the right combination of kids this year who were willing to work hard and wonderful collaboration among teachers and media specialist.

I asked the kids to reflect on their experience with History Day. Two things came across loud and clear. They need more tools to help with procrastination (research calculator) and more help locating primary sources.

Thing 22: Ebooks and NetLibrary

I am not sure I will ever be a fan of Ebooks. There is just something about holding a book on my lap and relaxing on the couch. I know a person could do this with a laptop, but it is just not the same to me. I did notice that some of the ebook websites allow a person to print pages every-so-often. But I can't wait to print 25 pages every 10 days. So, this will never be an alternative to the novel for me.

I did notice that they had some resources from Century 21 on buying and selling homes. This seems like a lot better use of this tool: as a reference tool.

This is certainly a tool that I need to play around with more.

Just as I struggle with how to use audiobooks in my history class, I also struggle with how to use Ebooks. Ideas?

Thing 20: Downloadable Audio Books

I had no idea that my public library has so many wonderful tools! I only used their website to put books on hold. I think the downloadable audio books are very cool. It's so interesting to me that you can check them out for 21 days. I downloaded one to my computer and it was so easy to do. I could see downloading them to my MP3 player and using it on long car rides. I would think an elemetary teacher could use it to download some children's books to help with reading. I am not sure where the advantage would be as a secondary teacher would be. I would love to hear about others ideas for using this in the classroom.