Final Blog/ Reflection

This course has taught me a lot of different things. First I have learned that I am a "keep it simple" person. The sites that had so much stuff to filter through before I could get to what I wanted will never be used by me.

Second, I have learned that I am not nearly as "in touch" as I thought I was.

Third, I have a lot to learn.

I really have enjoyed learning about flickr, twitter, google docs. etc, I am not sure how much I will use them in the classroom yet but I am using them at home and I am teaching my children how to use them.

I took a leap of faith and had my first graders create a power point page. They did a great job! We will do that again and publish it on the web for parents to see. I know how to do that now!

Week 10

I have added a link to a fun site. Figure out what your Elf name is. That was fun. I'm not sure of any educational value but sometimes fun is important too.

The book site was easy to use. I saw the titles of some Magic Tree house books that I didn't know was available. I will probably check back to see what else is new.

I couldn't get rollyo to open on my computer at home. I will try again later. I tried rollyo at school. It was so slow. I couldn't tell if it made my roll or not. It just kept sitting there waiting. Very frustrating.

week 9

Twitter

I had fun working on my twitter page. Couldn't get a photo to upload but that's ok. I invited a few people to join me. Maybe they will respond. I doubt that I will follow the teacher page. Not that I'm not interested but I just don't think I will.

Twitter in education:
I think it is a useful tool for parent involvement. I think the kids would enjoy tracking someone from a different school and i think that it can be used with the smallest of children.

As for professional development, I like the idea of being able to talk with others but I don't like the idea that anyone can see it and I don't have control of who is invited in from the other end. I wouldn't be open and honest for fear that my opinions would be shared with those in charge.

Week 8

I kind of liked delicious. I put several sites that I use to teach the Christmas around the world unit on my list. I'm not sure that I really will go back and use it but you never know. With a student teacher in January it may be helpful to both of us.

As for Technorati, I don't really think I would use it. I am not huge on blogging and I don't think I would trust strangers opinions. I saw how misguided people can be when I read the blogs about our school after the news article. I want facts not some crazy person's opinion stated as fact.

Week 7 Wikis

Well,

Wikis are interesting. I think I will attemp to have my children respond to our Christmas Around the World unit through wikis. I know that my children are able to type at least one sentence about a given subject. My concern is keeping the children safe and protecting the content. I don't want them to read inappropriate things.

* I tried to set up a wiki account. It was very frustrating. Hopefully, I can spend some more time and get it together.

I enjoyed playing in the sandbox. I got to see comments from teachers that I worked with at WCE. Nice to see what they are thinking. We are sitting here at 7:00am with news cameras in our faces. It is hard to concentrate when all you are worrying about is crows feet and fat.

Week 6

I was not impressed with YouTube as a classroom resource only because of how many inappropriate choices that are out there. I noticed that some looked very innocent or appeared to be similar to others however when you open them they were trash. I would be very scared to use it with young children. As an adult I couldn't help but get a big laugh from some of the videos. I watched the Lava Burns White Shelterpod In Kilauea video and it was interesting but very s-l-o-w. I am not sure things like that would hold a small child's interest. It would work for older children (middle school).

I liked the National Parks Traveler podcast. I am not sure how this would work with young children. I will have to play more and see what is available. I enjoyed looking at some of the podcasts. I think this is another site that would work best for older children. They could get interested in a particular subject and follow a site.


I spent some time looking at the ebooks and I like the site for the most part. I have seen some better sites than this one for ebooks but I do like the fact that it is free. I would use an interactive website for first grade more than I would use this site. If I taught older children I think this site would be beneficial. My favorite this to do in my spare time is not reading. I would not use this site for personal enjoyment.

Week 5

I love the Google docs. I am going to share this with my husband. He writes policies for the sheriff's department and he is always having to have them reviewed. This will make his job much easier. I like the way I can communicate with other teachers on a project and never have to try to catch up with him/her. This would also work great on SIT plans, etc. We could work together without having to meet all the time.

Web 2.0
I liked the google maps site. I can enter in locations from around the world, pull up a map and also get pictures of the area. That would be great for my Christmas Around the World project.