Have your students BLOG

Here is a short video from TeacherTube on Blogging for Beginners. You will learn more about blogging and how you can use blogging this year. Frieda Foxworth created this video on TeacherTube for the purpose of introducing the key concepts of blogging to students.

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Photo Editing fun during the Holidays!

I took the extra-credit challenge to find something holidayish to share. So here it is... A little photo editing with images from the classroom or home can delight anyone. There is so much out in the Web 2.0 world. I just stumbled across DUMPR. The web-based photo editor dumpr adds quick effects to photos like the amazing “goo” or “Christmas ornament” (below). It is addictively fun and simple to use….like a virtual art gallery. Upload photo, create something fun, and share it. It is that easy! Many of the effects are free without registration and, of course, they have Pro effects for $12.00 a year.
http://www.dumpr.net/

50 Useful Blogging Tools for Teachers

I just became aware of this link for useful blogging tools. It is worth a "Look 'n See". Some of the links we have discovered through our Web 2.0 and 2.1 adventure, but there are some other ones that are worth viewing and using. Go to <http://www.teachingtips.com/blog/2008/07/21/50-useful-blogging-tools-for-teachers/>

Can you have too many cutesy things!

I keep discovering new embellishments for my blog. The latest is a City Counter that will keep count of the number of hits from each city that reads my blog. It is from NeoWORX. The URL is http://www.neoworx.net/ . There are just too many things in web 2.0.

Have some fun!

This website is a free online graphic, movie, or animation creation site called KerPoof. You can create your own avatar. Students will enjoy creating their own stories. There is a teacher section for educational usages. Go to http://www.kerpoof.com/

Good Teacher Resources

I recently discovered several on line communities to visit. If you are a teacher interested in integrating technology and using collaborative projects, it may well be worth your while.

http://my-ecoach.com/
My eCoach is your online learning community with collaboration, communication, curriculum, standards, resources, and coaching tools all in one place!

http://elementarytechteachers.ning.com/profile/tmurdach
This is a place for elementary tech teachers to share, discuss, and get ideas about integrating technology and some of the latest web 2.0 that are used.

Something New

I found the website www.clocklink.com for adding a clock to your blog. You just copy and paste the html. The hardest thing is deciding which clock to choose.

Week 6 Thing 13

I can already tell I am going to be a while here. I saw some guest speakers' Del.icio.us accounts at TCEA and have been wanting to do some similiar thing on my blog. Or at least create an account to come back to later.

Week 5 Play Week Thing 12

Yikes! I got hung up on Rollyo and which sites to put in it. This might of been "Play Week" but I got sidetracked with WORK! Now to get back into Web 2.0 so that I can finish with the class.

Blogging to keep in Touch with Friends and Family

Many of you in our Learning Community want to create, in addition to your educational blog, a personal blog for family and friends. I recently learned of a former co-worker's blog and have enjoyed her adventures, tales, pictures, travels and music. The blog makes it appear that she is telling me these things and is not so many miles away. As teachers, we improve by borrowing from others so visit Karen's blog to get some ideas on a personal blog.

http://qatarisafari.blogspot.com/2008/04/over-rainbow.html

Difficulties

I thought that being a cheerleader for Web 2.0 would be easy. Was I mistaken!!! I enjoy reading everyone's blog, but finding the time to comment on all the blogs is something else. And ENCOURAGEMENT is an important part of this endeavor. It is also difficult to read the Word Verification to comment. I have had to start over several time because I typed the wrong letter. Therefore, I am getting behind in my own blog this week and taking the time to comment on others.

Pageflakes

I think I am now a Blogician. I was surfing blogs this morning and found this educational site--Pageflakes. You can put everything imaginable on it. Also, look at the link Blogs on Educational Blogging. It is an endless list to educational blogs.

Week 5 Thing 11

I browsed through the Web 2.0 Awards List and selected several of interest. Of course, when I found zillow.com, I had to type in my address and see what price they valued my home and my neighbors. Then I started searching people on peoplefinder and discovered they listed my whole family and their ages. And then I ended up on travel sites. I'll use some of those.

Week 5 Thing 10

I played with the online image generators. You can waste a whole evening doing this. Some are not appropriate for an edublog. I have to move on to the next 'Thing'.

Week 4 Thing 8 Continued

With a quick trip and chat with our Web 2.0 leader, I was able to get My Feeds on my blog the way I wanted them. Found out it was 'try and error' and then try again. It is now done. Movin' on.

Week 4 Thing 8 and 9

I thought, perhaps, this would be too difficult with my old brain. RSS... feeds... aggregators... all sound like a foreign language to me, but I read and reread the lesson and all the links. I did manage to set up my Bloglines and add several feeds, although I don't know when I will manage to get around to reading the updates.

Fun with your own TRAVEL MAP!

Using TravBuddy you can post a map on your blog that shows all the states and countries you have visited in your lifetime. I have only visited 5% of the world. Although you have to register, it is entirely free. You are provided with cut and paste text for a map to paste in your blog.

There are many uses in the classroom such as having students make a map of where they have been, and then they can blog about what the place has to offer. They can compare with other students and discuss similarities and differences of their travels. You can have a classroom map showing all the places the class has “travelled” to this year in geography or in books they have read. Do you see a use in the classroom?

For family planning, you can make a map of future travels to show places you plan to travel. It is also an online community for meeting travelers and sharing travel reviews, photos and blogs.

What Students Can Do!

I love looking at other teachers' blogs from all over the world and seeing what their students are doing with Web 2.0. My newest discovery is voicthread.com. Every picture can tell a story by students. I have a link to a Global Classroom with a collection of digital stories from many different schools. Visit the voicethread blog under My Favorite Links.

A MUST see for all Elementary teachers!

I have learned a lot by visiting our pbwiki set up for the Web 2.0 class, but just visiting other blogs and clicking on their links has guided me to these great wikis. They are for primary grade students but that is my background.

Using Web 2.0 tools with Primary students. This wiki has links to some blogs you might want to look at. That's the best way to see things that you might want to try in your classroom.
http://primaryweb2.wikispaces.com/

Love this one. A wiki on Traditions and the responses are from all over the world. I now know what “Polenta” is by watching the video submitted. You click edit and your students (or you) can add their own family traditions. I had to add mine.
http://kcassidy.wikispaces.com/traditions


A Wetpaint Wiki to celebrate the 100th day of school and to explore ways of making 100. Click on the links in the left column to explore what other classes are doing. The 100 day posters are similar to those I have seen at ECC.
http://100thday.wetpaint.com/?t=anon


A Primary Math wiki. This wiki has been set up for primary classes to share their math learning with other classes around the world. A must look at for an elementary teacher.
http://primarymath.wetpaint.com/?t=anon

Fun with Flickr and its links

Week # 3, Thing 5, 6, 7

I added pictures to Flickr and put them in sets. Organizing my photos is not one of my strengths. Did I ever have fun with the poster maker!!! I would recommend it to everyone. The curriculum connections ideas were also interesting for a classroom teacher.

Thing 3 and 4

Perhaps one of the most fascinating tools that has emerged from the Internet cloud in recent years is the Blog. Blogger.com is just one of several blogging engines that have been developed for classroom use. I have used another type of classroom blog, but this one was similar to set up. I had never added an avatar before. It was time consuming just trying to decide what to use. Also, deciding a name for my blog was difficult. The value of classroom blogging, both as an avenue for their communications, but also as a tool for giving voice to what students are learning and how they are learning.

THING # 1 and # 2

I conquered my "fear" element about beginning this endeavor. And all I had to do was read. It was easy and intriguing. A start of a new adventure.

I have always felt I was a "Lifelong Learner" since I took workshops and classes for years as I had the opportunity. Even bought a Learn to Crochet book years ago when I wanted to learn how and completed six afghans.

After listening to the 7 1/2 habits, I think the hardest habit is viewing a problem as a challenge while the easiest is using technology to your advantage.