What I have learned

I am still overwhelmed with the amount of information presented in this class. I hope to keep MRod's Classroom going with the other teachers at AHS that took this class. I think delicious is a great tool because I can easily access their blogs all at the same time. I would also like to get Mr. Spencer started on a blog for the Computer Applications 1 class this year. I have some great ideas on how to get the students on line to meet the 20 hour requirement. I would like to have the resources from this class available to me in the form of the class so I can go back and review the areas as I start to incorporate web 2.0 in my lesson plans. I found that, like every professional development, there was too much information presented too quickly. I would like to go back and access the information as I need it so I can master it. I have three preps so it is difficult to rewrite every lesson for each class at the same time. I have the technology available in my classroom and I hope to use it more effectively this coming year.

Professional Development

I would probably use LearnPort for professional development. There were several classes that would fit into teaching computers. Several other classes would reinforce many of the things we learned in this class. The big advantage of online PD is that you can access it at home and work on it when you have time. I found with this class that I put off working on it at the beginning until it became a priority during August. There are many things going on during the summer that take you away from home so it is not as easy as it sounds. You have to be motivated and fit the time into your schedule no matter when you decide to take an online class. I don't have any suggestions for PD right now. The one thing I found with this class was that there are an abundance of resources and I did not always have time to explore each of them thoroughly. I am wondering about accessing all of the websites that were used throughout the 23 things after the class ends. Will these be available for us during the school year?

On Line videos

I think it would be great to use on line videos in the classroom. It takes awhile to find what you want. I spent about 45 minutes looking at the sights in thing 21 and finally went to YouTube and found something appropriate. It is easy to copy into your blog from YouTube but the warning from the first time we copied a video makes me apprehensive about giving students access to YouTube on their own. There would probably be many videos available to use in the business classroom. I would show an appropriate video in class without a problem. I might then ask students to comment on the video on a wiki. I'm not sure if YouTube is blocked at my school because I have never asked students to go on the website. I would assume that it is blocked.

YouTube video

Classroom podcasts

I think the students would like listening to podcasts. It would be a change from the typical lecture to get content to the students. I don't have any specific podcasts now but there were many websites to look at included in this class. I would like to look more closely at those resources during the school year when I am rewriting lesson plans. My students did create a podcast last year. They were somewhat apprehensive at first. They were self conscious about talking into a microphone in the classroom and thought other people were listening to them. They also did not want anyone but me to listen to the podcasts. I think they will become more comfortable the more they use podcasting. I think they would definitely like to use their cell phone to create a podcast. I thought it was quick, easy and very conveniently. The only problem I can see is the long distance phone number. I have unlimited long distance anywhere in the US so its not a problem for me. I think a podcast is a great way to do a follow-up paper on a project. I have not listened to many podcasts before taking this class so I don't have any to recommend at this time.

Podcasts

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Podcasts

I listened to a portion of each of these podcasts:
Mr. Longhorst's Web Classroom
Grammar Girls
The Midas Touch
Internet Safety
The Tech Pod Zone 64 Christmas List
Each podcast was unique. The classroom podcast was specific to the teacher and would be a great way for students to review for a test. Depending on the content, it might be more difficult to make a video but it could be more engaging for the students. It would depend on the quality of speech of the teacher. Mr Longhorst seemed to be a good speaker on the audio.
Grammar Girls was very good to help reinforce the rules of grammar and could be used as a lesson in itself.
The Midas Touch was a story for elementary age students and the speaker had an accent which would probably engage young listeners. This would be an excellent tool for dyslexic students who had trouble decoding more difficult books. They could interact with the content and vocabulary and possibly make their own podcast report on the story.
Internet Safety was ok but some of the comments by the speakers were inappropriate for students.
The Tech Pod Zone was ok also but a little too much fooling around for me, the students would probably love it. The nice thing about this one was they listed all of the webpages they spoke about on the podcast.
It would be easy for me to make podcasts part of my teaching since I'm in a computer lab. I would give the specific podcast in the lesson since some of the lists contained inappropriate content for the classroom. It might not be as convenient for other teachers unless they had a LCD projector in their classroom and could view the vodcasts on the screen. They could always play the podcasts on their computer for students to hear. Sometimes it is difficult to hear the audio on the teachers computer throughout the classroom.

Wiki

A wiki is different than a blog because you can change the information that someone put on the wiki. You cannot change what is posted to a blog, you can only comment on it. If someone chooses to read your comment than you can make your point about the information. If no one reads your post than the original blog stands. On a wiki you can write your comment on the wiki page and everyone will see it when the wiki is opened. If someone doesn't like your comment they can change it. A wiki would be good for group projects where several members of the group can add information for everyone to see. Two problems I see with that are: someone in the group could change what another person added and the new information may be incorrect. Another problem might be one or two people in the group doing all of the work. You might want to have each person sign what they add. A blog would be better for individual projects or assignments that are ongoing in nature. One problem with that is if it is a research project that everyone is working on, people may wait and read someone's blog and copy the information to their own blog. The nice thing about the blog is everyone in class can read it and comment on it. You could use it like a brainstorming activity also. Some students might be more likely to add their input on the computer rather than out loud in class.

Using Picknic

Picknic is a great way to edit photos. I will consider using it with some projects in Business class this fall. Also, I could have my students take pictures of merchandise in the school store and edit the pictures on Picknic before posting them on our school district website. It is a great tool for personal or professional use. Again, 23 things brings us something very useful and inexpensive for the classroom.

Picnic

Flickr

I think Flickr is a fantastic tool for people who love to take pictures. My daughter just graduated from Washtenaw Community College with a degree in Photography. Flickr will be a great venue for her work. I think I will be able to use it in the classroom as a resource for my students when they are creating powerpoint presentations. I also can use Flickr to help store pictures for my blogspot. This will also be helpful in promoting the school store. The only problem I see for myself is the fact that I am camera challenged so I need to get my own digital camera and take more pictures!

www.flickr.com Go to Mary Rodriguez2009's photostream

Slide Share

Slide Share is a great tool for the classroom. The state requires all Business and Accounting students to create and publish a powerpoint presentation. My students know how to use powerpoint but I never knew how to publish them. This again will be an easy and inexpensive way for all students to present their work for both a grade and peer editing. I will be exploring this website more as I redesign my lesson plans this year.

The Value Of Reading

View more presentations from George Sciberras.

Google Docs

Google Docs seems to be an easy and inexpensive way to bring online instruction into the classroom. I will be teaching Computer Apps 1 this year and Google Docs should work into the online portion of the class. I will also be able to use Google Docs with my other classes to help incorporate the writing process into my content area. Google Docs may also be helpful in collaborating with other teachers. We will be able to share content instruction ideas as well as student work. I am going to start using Google Docs for student assignments early on in the Career Unit in Business Management. Students will then have access to their portfolios and resumes on line. This will help them with the college application process.

Delicious

I think that delicious is the way to go. All of this information about Web2.0 is starting to make more sense. Delicious will be a great tool to use for communicating with other AHS teachers.

Web 2.0 in the classroom

The information in this section describes the idea classroom. The one hour presentation brought up some interesting points on the need for change and ways to go about making those changes. However the same questions came up at the end. How do you get your district to stop blocking the necessary sites and trust that students will take a proactive approach to using blogs. I would like to operate my business class and computer classes in the same fashion as described in the last article but I am somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of collaboration needed and don't know where to start.

How teaching has changed

I found the information in this section interesting. I have seen some of the slide shows and videos before. They certainly describe the classrooms I grew up in during the 50's and 60's accurately. However they also emphasized the need for basic skills as a prerequisite for 21st century learning. It is a great challenge for teachers today to keep all learners engaged while teaching the fundamentals required along with the global skills necessary for students to be productive 21st century workers. Collaboration among teachers in all disciplines is vitally important along with moving toward depth instead of breath in the curriculum. I believe a movement toward power standards is essential along with mastery teaching to better prepare our students to become lifelong learners.

My initial thoughts on blogging

• It seems like a good way to communicate with students about assignments.
• It seems like a good way for students to communicate with each other about subject content and projects they are working on.
• Ground rules need to be set before internet communication takes place between students.

I will be interested in seeing how other teachers are using blogging in their classrooms, it should work very well in the business class and may be a good tool for accounting students to gain a better understanding of how accounting works in the real world. This could also be a good way to manage the 20 hour online experience requirement for the Computer Applications I class.

Hi fellow MISD teachers,

I am looking forward to learning some new things to use in my classroom next year.

Mary