Week 9 Web 2.0 Reflections

When my school librarian forward me the flyer for this training my first reaction was what could I lose. I have time this summer to do these activities and I might learn something.
Well, that is definitely and understatement. I can not believe how much I have learned in the 9 weeks of activities and the fact there is still more available out there. Many times when I would see our librarian I would let him know how much I am learning and enjoying what I am doing.

At first, I felt strange about it since it seemed geared to librarians. However, once I started researching the sites and creating various things I looked at it differently. I teach reading so why shouldn't I be doing Web 2.0. I especially like the Zoho Writer and have been using it since it was introduced, and I LOVE it. It makes life easier when you work with the need for files at work and your jump drive is at home. I will be setting a lot of my files on Zoho Writer throughout this school year as I need them.

Overall, I have enjoyed all the Web 2.0 training and have talked to many of the teachers I work with. Just sharing what I was doing with my colleagues and in the participants blogs made me want to spend more time searching and learning. Several of my colleagues even asked where did you find that sight and what is it's address.

I knew there is a lot of information out there but with this set up I became overwhelmed to the fact that there is even more out there. I searched other Web 2.0 sights and was amazed at how long this program has been out there. I will continue to take more time to research and see what is new to enrich my job as an educator.

I truly appreciate all the setup and work put into this training and I would definitely continue to work with this program and would joyfully participate in it again.

Thanks for allowing me to participate in the WEB 2.0 program it was tiresome at times but well worth it for all the knowledge and information made available, as well as the end product we created-the Blog!

Thanks:)

Week 9 #23 Copyright

The Youtube video on copyright was great. For Elementary students they could relate to the characters, I am not sure if they would all understand the concepts but it might make them think about it.

The links for the online copyright comic book developed by students would definitely be of interest to students, Creative Commons website, “Wanna Work Together?” video about Creative Commons, and Piracy all provided meaningful information and concepts.

After watching the videos and searching the previous list of sites I searched for other sites especially for children. These are a few that I found....

http://www.ctap4.org/cybersafety/ip.htm This site has a lot to offer educators, parents and kids.

http://www.playitcybersafe.com/ This site is also for educators, parents and kids. what I liked about it was the kids section. It provided games and quizzes pertaining to use of the internet. I think this would be a great tool for the students are school.

Basically, I think children understand some of the guidelines about copyright, but find that their friends copy things with no problem so why can't they do the same. Peer pressure is a very hard thing for many students even when they realize they should not do something.

It is the same when Copyright is brought up in training for teachers, we know the guidelines, yet when we start looking for things such as graphics, music, etc. do we always remind ourselves what is right. Especially when it comes to the percentages of what we can copy for fair usage.

Week 9 #22 Ebooks and Audio Books

In working with this objective I could not believe how many sight have ebook items. I did find it interesting that many of them said "free" but there was a catch to come. When browsing the sites provided with the training I found that most of the books available were the classics. Which for me was great but the search for current elementary materials became the challenge. I did enjoy a lot of the Aesop Fables that I found in many sites, which would benefit a class study of fables.

I continued to view various sites and these are a few of the ones I found that could be useful.

Kids Audible has books that support RIF

Ebook88 provides numerous listing of ebook links

Candle Light Stories I especially enjoyed the Simon's Cat series

The following site caught my attention because it used a familiar name for it's site!
Libraryelf- I was impress with this link because it provides links to numerous libraries throughout the United States. When I browsed several of the ones in Texas it amazed me as to how much they would put into their sites. And the fact that several of the sites offered online book clubs which I thought was a great idea.

Overall, I did get a little frustrated with some sites because a lot of them are misleading by saying they free ebooks but they are very limited or older titles which does not help when you teach elementary students. I enjoyed many of the classics and looking at the Project Gutenburg site intrigued me with how the originals actually look like. I have used many audio books over the years provided by the school which really help a lot of our non-readers, so I do realize the need for ebooks and audio books. It just takes TIME to find what you want.

Week 9 # 21 Podcasts

I have never searched for Podcasts and not really sure that I will do so unless it fits an academic need. I did take time to search and listen to several Podcasts and truthfully all I could think of was how they remind me of the radio talk shows. Many of the Podcasts did not make sense to me. I guess they could grow on you but most of the time I just listen to 70-80’s music on the stereo/radio. I am not one to use my cell phone for a lot of texting, picture taking, games or music. It is basically a phone for me so I do not think I will go to the more advanced phones with all the bells and whistles.

I will continue to browse the sites, who knows something may catch my interest and open a new world for me.

I did find a few a podcast on the oceans that I subscribed to and really enjoyed the sounds and factual details presented. Ocean podcasts

And one website called Just One More Book, it provides a variety of children’s books and interviews with the author podcasts. Very pleasing set up.

Week 8 #19 Library thing

This time when I returned to Library Thing I created a book shelf with a few books for display in the blog. I think this would be a way to introduce a book that we would be working on for the six weeks, to provide a list of reguired books to be read during a six weeks, or even to display new books in the library as well as the Texas Bluebonnet titles for each year.

I did find that certain books that I use in my classroom were not listed in the site but I know I can find plenty to work with and add to my file.

Week 9 #20 YouTube

This task has been amazing to me. I have never adventured out to view video clips like this before. I have seen clips that were sent to me by friends and family through emails, but I never took the time to explore.

I was intrigued by how much is out there in video forms for students to see. Of sourse one needs to explore the videos first for inappropriate content and language. Sometimes we so not always catch the picture or language, but if there is anything in the video the kids will catch it and let us know. I will definitely search for videos that I can use in content areas to introduce or further the studies for enrichment to the lessons. It will take time but is well worth it. Over the last few years we have had access to UnitedStreaming which provides academic concepts, but I think YouTube may be enlightening to our students and provide fresh ideas.

I laughed repeatedly at Introducing the Book and thinking can anyone be that dumb! But then it made me wonder how students feel when they are introduced to various books or skills. I think it would be a wonderful way to introduce reading and the use of books in our everyday life. . I would probably show it using the subtitled version first and let them laugh. Then discuss how they feel when learning something new in school and are not sure what to do- do they just sit there or ask for help. This may help students to understand it is not degrading to not understand something- but to ask for help which so many do not like to do.

Teacher Tube is user friendly and has less clutter than others. The video clips are relatively short and structured to the topic. Once you learn how it is set up, you can definitely find items of interest. The channels tab provides you with basic academic topics and educational levels. This helps to target what level or topic you might be looking for and narrow the search. Saving time searching is a plus for this site. I was even impressed with the student developed projects as well.

As I browsed through more videos, I found this one to be interesting because it effects so much with our daily scheduled routines at school
Flexible schedule video

Week 8 #18 Google Site tutorial

I have never explored Google and all that the site offers. The tutorial was inviting and explained the site set up so that anyone could understand. I find that is one reason why many do not try new programs because we fear them due to not knowing what to do. It seems to be very user friendly and would provide a easy set up for students to use and respond to.

Week 8 #18 ZOHO Writer

This program offers alot of positive concepts. It was easy to work with and understand. I especially like the fact that you can retrieve your documents when you need them and do not have to email them to you or carry discs or jump drives to find those files (and hope you brought the correct files with you). My plan is to set up many of my documents, flyers, lesson ideas, quizzes, etc. on Zoho Writer. It will definitely make life easier to have needed forms or files at hand when you need them. This will also help me to clear out the numerous file folders in my filing cabinets......that I search for every year.

ZOHO Writer- Literature Unit

Literature Unit

How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell

Billy who is 10 years old must eat 15 worms in 15 days in order to win a $50 bet. Billy intends to spend his winnings on a minibike. His friends help him by preparing the worms in a variety of ways to make them more appetizing.

Below are various websites to create a unit for the novel- some of the sites are geared more to the 2006 movie.

http://www.mce.k12tn.net/reading/fried_worms_unit.htm

This site has created a complete unit for the novel with vocabulary, guizzes and language skills to accompany the book. Very well done.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Eat_Fried_Worms

http://www.apple.com/trailers/newline/howtoeatfriedworms/index.html

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/literature/printable/6116.html

http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00000570.shtml

Week 7 # 16 Wikis

I have worked with Wikipedia prior to this training but not much. However, I did not have much knowledge about Wikis. As I began searching through the sites listed in the training it really opened my eyes to what the purpose of Wikis are and how creative they can be. Several of the sites seemed a little busy to me but I liked the set up ideas of many of the sites. I will return to many of the sites for ideas because there is so much to see when you browse.

I viewed all of the sites and watched several of the on-line tutorials. I especially enjoyed the Salute to Seuss and the Math Tips . These two Wikis are geared more to my teaching position in school. It has inspired me to research more on the Wikis inorder to create one of my own to assist with skills and topics of interest. I can see a benefit from this format and what it can offer.

Week 6- #15 Future of Libraries

After reading the articles about the perspectives of the future of libraries I felt overwhelmed with what route things are taking.

As it was stated in one article many school librarians just don't have access to the tools needed. They try to keep up, because each year something new is added for them to work with and try to get teachers to use. We also deal with the factors also mentioned- librarians and staff not computer savy, time restraints, curriculum demands, testing and scheduling affect alot of what can be done.

I can see this program opening the means of communication and as a classroom teacher I can see the benefits of what it offers and will continue to explore and use what I have learned. It also surprised me as to how long this Web 2.0/Librarians 2.0 has been around.

Week 6 #13 Del.icio.us

Fantastic site. After viewing the tutorial describing the use of this site I was eager to begin browsing for sites I would like to use in my classroom and for ideas to enrich my teaching.
Setting up my page and selecting sites that would benefit me for what I am looking for, seems easy with this program. This site helps to pin point sites you are specifically looking for by using the keyword/tags. Normally when I would search the internet for various educational sites it would take hours to find one or two sites worth the information. When I searched using the Delicious site I found about 10 sites that I bookmarked in less than an hour. Each site was geared more to the tag information.

I had heard about the site through others in the last few months but never knew what they were talking about. Of course I did not ask either.

With this course it has opened my eyes to the fact that there are plenty of sites out there for us to use and not fear. I am sure I will still be skeptical about things but I am more comfortable about many of the things we have working on in this training.

Week 6 #14 Technorati

My initial thought of this site was it is confusing to me. Very busy. Today, I decided to take another look at this site and found I could use it. One thing that helped me was after I learned how to use tags to weed out the numerous sites that do not really apply to what I am searching for. I will continue to explore this site to feel more comfortable. All of this research has overwhelmed me especially in the amount of WEB 2.0 information that is out there.

Week 6 #13 Library Thing

I was amazed at this site and appreciate all it has to offer. I do not work in the library but as a classroom teacher I am always looking for new books to use in my classroom for individual readers or class novels. I have collected numerous sets of class novels but never thought to search for commentaries about these books. When I was setting up my site using the Library Thing I researched several of my novels and was thrilled to know that all of the books I checked into were highly recommended by others. I will truly use this site for references when searching for new books to use in my classroom and add to my class library. Wonderful tool concerning books!

Week 5- #10 Image Generators

I have spent the last few days exploring the image generators and thoroughly enjoyed trying the various sites. I think the site I liked the most is bighugelabs.com. The site has alot to offer and not much ads or sidebar distractions. Each item was user friendly and easy to understand and create.

The hardest decision was which picture should I use.

In the Generator Blog site I enjoyed creating the Lego Character. I could see how the students would enjoy creating their own.

I am going to bookmark many of these sites so I can continue to create (have fun) items that I could use in my classroom or school website next year.

Week 5- #12 Rollyo #11 Web 2.0

I really enjoyed exploring this site and setting up my own search roll. I actually thing it is a better way of setting up websites one uses for various things such as graphics, educational sites, etc. I think it is almost more user friendly than searching through your list of favorites and remember what folder it could be in. I takes time but I think it would be well worth setting up search rolls for frequently used sites for constant references.

I even researched to find out how many WEB 2.0 search rolls are available and it shocked me.

Week 5 #11 Web 2.0 Award Winners

It is overwhelming how many sites are available pertaining to Web 2.0. You really have to make the time to throughly search the sites to get a better understanding of what it is all about.

When I look at Award Winner sites I look for various organizational setups. I do not like busy web pages with alot of pop ups, vibrating colors and alot of flashiness. As I searched the sites it surprised me on some of the award winning choices, but I guess they met the criteria in order to qualify. I did find it interesting how many categories were out there and alot of the creativeness people put into their sites. It will make me judge my own sites quality.

I did write down numerous sites to explore that they listed. One could be browsing the net for hours to explore what others have suggested and still find more as you search. I am glad I am doing this over the summer where I have more free time!

Week 4- #8 RSS and Newsreader #9 Search tools

I always wondered what the RSS logo meant on various website but never explored it until this training. I was shocked about how much it is used. For a few years I thought it mainly had to do with our gradebooks and district websites. I enjoyed exploring this topic and was overwhelmed by the amount of articles that constantly were appearing on my selected news sites. I was even impressed with the local news which I have a hard time keeping up with in my spare time. Now I can read them and be more selective on what I am looking for in the news.

Search tools are a wonderful set up but some have a lot of busy work on the pages and I have a problem looking for information with a lot of flashing, pop ups, advertisements, etc. on the pages. But I continued to look through the sites. The one I found most frustrating to me was Technorati. I will look over it again and see if I can find usefulness of the site, because I have heard colleagues talk about the site.

One site that shocked me was Topix. I was overwhelmed at the fact is had local news information. I spent quite a bit of time looking through the information and subscribe to a few of them to keep me updated with local information.

Week 2 #4 Twitter

I have been working on trying to use Twitter over the last few weeks and still not comfortable with it. Then today I was reading an article from NEA about Twitter in the classroom and thought I would attach the article for others to read. It also several links for teachers about why and how to use Twitter in the classroom.

NEA and Twitter (link to article)

Week 3-# 7 Technology

My use of technology has been a challenge for years. If it was not for our campus Tech and my husband I would not be using computers. I was always afraid of computers. But with their help I began to find a comfort zone using the computer. About 15 years ago I created my first webpage for my classroom. I enjoyed looking for graphics, creating the pages and watching the counter on the pages to see that it was being used by my parents. Then 10 years ago I was asked to assist on the campus website- I knew very little about the program (Frontpage) we used at school and that the teacher that asked me to help decided not to do the webpages at all after a few months. It was a challenge for me to make sure it appealed to the teachers and administrators.

I also attended 75 hours of training for the laptop incentive that the district offered. The training was interesting and informative. It included creating a thematic unit (webpage, powerpoint, and brochure)
about something we could use in our classroom. We had digital camera training which was fantastic- the instructor was a photographer and was really patient with the level 0 students.

Another training I took three times was Intel to the Future. It was training on creating units using Publisher and PowerPoint to create a complete unit as if you we the student. The first time I took it was a beginning session for me. I learned alot but was not comfortable with the work I did. The second time I took the class I managed to get several friends to attend with me. I was comfortable this time and recalled what I needed to do, the funny thing about the class was I sat between 2 of my colleagues and seemed to get whiplash trying to help them because they were not computer literate. The last session was during my Laptop incentive.

That was my slow start, but from that time frame I have attended numerous training for Clickers, Document Camera, Mimio, Whiteboards, SchoolWires and the district gradebook system. The training would allow me to work with the teachers when they had problems.

So I am enjoying this training, I am just not comfortable with all of it yet.
I am keeping an open mind.

Week 3- #6 Ransomizr

This program can provide one with a unique design for titles in their webpages or blog. It was easy to do and interesting to watch the design appear and how it would change when you resized the pattern. Even when you went back to the previous size it had a different design. I plan on exploring it more but design some with a uniformed design.

As my friends would say it is the Monk side of me.

I have really enjoyed exploring the new things that are available online to enrich our webpages as well. Of course it depends on the things that our district blocks access to. I think that once I get more familiar with the things we are exploring during this session it will take less time to create what we are looking to use. Who knows though it may take longer!

Week 3- #6 Montager

One could spend hours browsing the collages. I found it impressive when you would choose a topic of your own. You had to be specific in your topic choice because they have a different interpretation of what you are looking for: example- I choose monkeys and was surprised to see pictures of a dance group. Yet when I choose parrots- most pictures were parrots of all sorts and people with parrots. I also enjoyed the effect that would occur when you clicked on a specific picture of interest and the color palette would change based on the colors in the picture.

One drawback I saw with this form of display was when you found pictures that would not be appropriate to display for children or school.

Week 3- # 5 Flickr

I am overwhelmed by what there is available on the internet. I have not been one to browse for alot of things on the internet except for graphics for my webpages, but even them I am uneasy about it because alot of the sites are misleading in their topic listings. It is amazing how they name sites and they have nothing to do with the topic at hand.

I enjoyed the Flickr site, especially the Color Fields Pickr-Color Wheel.
It was unique how the color pallet would change the images. I will say that I really enjoyed watching the images change with each color choice and the black and white hues. My favorite color choice were the shades of blue. It shows that color can affect many things in ones presention, rather it is a blog, website, or presentation.

Week 2 #3 Creating an Avatar

The creation of my blog was fun and the directions were very easy. I am not sure if it is exactly what I wanted by it is interesting when you look at your results. I also worked on creating the avatar. It can be really time consuming to browse all the items available for your creation. I do think that students would enjoy learning how to create one as well. It will help protect their true identity when posting things on the web. I just wonder with all the security set up our districts use if it would work- especially when sites are blocked. I did run into a bit of trouble when posting my avatar to the blog but I will continue to try.

Week 2 #3 Creating a Blog

I have been working on setting up the blog layout and found it interesting yet frustrating as well. I was not sure of what to do with the layout-or what I really wished to include in the setup.

This is new to me and I think once I work with it more I will find a comfort zone.