swarner: General

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Thing 23

Well I have tried 2 or 3 times to leave a voicethread and I will try one more time, but frustration is taking over. This class has really been an eye opener with technology. I have enjoyed learning the new things, but have been very frustrated most of the time too. Honestly, I would have gotten more out of the class if it could have been divided up somehow. This material is really worth the effort, but my brain is on overdrive with so much. Thank you for sharing this with me and I hope to put some of this to use in the near future.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Thing 18

I have tried putting this off as long as I could. I do not like to record myself in any fashion, so I was thinking the worst. I used GarageBand to give this a try. I had a couple quick lessons and was able to record a reading. Now if I just can get it converted and shared! Our coach shared his reading and all of the extras he is adding to create a whoe project and it sounded great. What a tool to have for the classroom. The students would love to have an assignment like this! I have watched our fifth graders give up recess and intervention time to put together a powerpoint for over a week. This would be like handing the keys over to a candy store for some of the kids. I'm sure the students' sound effects would be endless.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Thing 19

Well I decided to double dip here a little bit. I really am not into searching on the web or looking for videos to watch. I picked the smartboard as a topic, because I also need to learn how to use the one in my room! Above is the basic beginner video I found. I tried to find something to work for math in fractions that I could use this year, but honestly was bored watching or ended up confused myself! I'll save that search for a later date.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Thing 22

As I explored Classroom 2.0, I reminded myself of how much is really out there. I felt I did okay with technology, but I now know there is way more going on then I thought! As I listen to my own kids and their friends talk about what is going on, Facebook and MySpace have become a BIG thing. I knew the phones and texting seem to be attached to them, but I didn't realize how much the kids use the social networking above and beyond the phones. I keep talking to my own kids about how important it is to still talk or communicate face to face. I feel this is being lost in the next generation. I found a couple sites I would like to share and felt could benefit others. One site was by Scholastic it had material for teachers, parents, kids, administrators and librarians. The second site I found was Education World. This site seemed to have it all.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Thing 20

Google Docs is something I think my team and I could use to keep track of students, missing work for intervention time, or anything that we would need to share. I used the spreadsheet to list my class for the upcoming field trip. It would be very easy for the rest of the team to add on to this list. I could see many possibilities with students doing this. Just like teachers, students could add and share to their work projects.

Google Docs was not as easy to work in as the word, but just like everything else, I am sure it takes practice!

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