Thursday, July 23, 2009
Mimicry
There are so many wonderful things to be found on the www, and just this morning I came across this site from National Geographic. Using eleven photographs the photographer demonstrates the ability of different insects or vertebrates to hide in plain sight. Enjoy discovering where each is hidden and where they are loated in the world.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Earth Changes
CNN spoke on the earthquake swarms that hit Yellowstone National park earlier this year. It sounds as if it is still safe to visit, and the spokesperson said that there would be plenty of seismic activity to warn us ahead of any major activity. One of my goals is to get there before that activity takes place!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Summary
Thanks For the Memories! No, the journey isn't over; it has just begun. Asking us to pick among our favorite discoveries is almost like asking us which one is our favorite student or our favorite child. I will say that there are definitely some that I enjoyed more than others, but I don't know that they were the ones that I learned the most from.
There were times that things we did almost gave us a preview of what was to come. That was good because when we came to the actual "Thing" we had enough of an inoculation that we weren't killed off by the new adventure (hopefully that made a bit of sense). This course has given me enough confidence to at least investigate new learning that might be uncomfortable at that particular time. There are many things that I will be taking-a-way! I've kept a notebook so that I'll have it to return to when I have muddied the waters. Should a continuation of this or a different discovery program be offered I would be willing to give it my best.
This experience has given me resources to learn from and implement as a librarian and as an individual. There are so many things that I want to share with our teachers, many of whom I found were already on Facebook. I definitely want our school to try out blogging in some format, but I'll check that out with our technology facilitator, who also completed this staff development.
Our classes are self-contained, but I can definitely see how the sites we visited and subscribed to would really empower us to be better informed and connected to resources that would benefit our school community as a whole. Thank you for your leadership, and also even more thanks for the patience in helping us along the way.
There were times that things we did almost gave us a preview of what was to come. That was good because when we came to the actual "Thing" we had enough of an inoculation that we weren't killed off by the new adventure (hopefully that made a bit of sense). This course has given me enough confidence to at least investigate new learning that might be uncomfortable at that particular time. There are many things that I will be taking-a-way! I've kept a notebook so that I'll have it to return to when I have muddied the waters. Should a continuation of this or a different discovery program be offered I would be willing to give it my best.
This experience has given me resources to learn from and implement as a librarian and as an individual. There are so many things that I want to share with our teachers, many of whom I found were already on Facebook. I definitely want our school to try out blogging in some format, but I'll check that out with our technology facilitator, who also completed this staff development.
Our classes are self-contained, but I can definitely see how the sites we visited and subscribed to would really empower us to be better informed and connected to resources that would benefit our school community as a whole. Thank you for your leadership, and also even more thanks for the patience in helping us along the way.
Thing #23
It was very interesting to see that Classroom 2.0 and Teacher-Librarian Ning were sites that I had wandered into during explorations of the previous 22 things we've visited. I can definitely say that without the help of others and the step by step process that we went through I wouldn't have been able to complete these activities. While it was frustrating a time or two I did learn new things in the process of trial and error.
The resources that we visited during this journey have been very enlightening and reassuring at the same time. I discovered that there are actually others out there in the same boat that I am. I feel very fortunate to have been walked through this process with my hand held. Then to think that this is just the first step in this journey can be intimidating.
In Part I of this thing I had to wander around and find Groups under More, and Videos under Media. There are many places I want to revisit and take time to read more closely. It was refreshing to know there are teachers who want to start blogging this fall, and that I won't be the last person in our district to begin. I do want to participate in the Teacher-Librarian Ning to better prepare myself for this new territory I'm exploring.
The resources that we visited during this journey have been very enlightening and reassuring at the same time. I discovered that there are actually others out there in the same boat that I am. I feel very fortunate to have been walked through this process with my hand held. Then to think that this is just the first step in this journey can be intimidating.
In Part I of this thing I had to wander around and find Groups under More, and Videos under Media. There are many places I want to revisit and take time to read more closely. It was refreshing to know there are teachers who want to start blogging this fall, and that I won't be the last person in our district to begin. I do want to participate in the Teacher-Librarian Ning to better prepare myself for this new territory I'm exploring.
Thing # 22
Now that is an experience for someone that is an immigrant to technology! I'm sure that I've only touched the very tip of the iceberg while starting this. It will be quite interesting to see how this develops.
Since our students, for the greater majority, seem quite comfortable with these social networks it behooves the rest of us to at least have some semblance of knowledge on what goes on there. Because many of the people I work with use Facebook that is the tool I decided to use. While setting up the list of who I wanted to invite to be friends I found one of my favorite students from last year who is moving on to middle school. Since she is an avid reader I am interested in seeing how she evolves as a successful citizen within our community.
It was quite intriguing to see how linking with one person connected you with others that over the years had drifted away to other schools, other districts, or away from education. It was interesting to see the responses after being away from the page just a short time. Before I join a group I want to know a bit more. I wandered through some sites that had to do with libraries. To really get a feel for them I need time to spend studying what each one has to offer. Goodness knows I have trouble enough keeping up with what I'm supposed to be doing.
In a world that seems to pull people in all directions this tool seems to be a way to stay in touch without calling for tons of time. Then when you see a need or crisis arise in your friend's world it would seem to offer an opportunity to respond without being intrusive on the demands of their time and energy.
Since our students, for the greater majority, seem quite comfortable with these social networks it behooves the rest of us to at least have some semblance of knowledge on what goes on there. Because many of the people I work with use Facebook that is the tool I decided to use. While setting up the list of who I wanted to invite to be friends I found one of my favorite students from last year who is moving on to middle school. Since she is an avid reader I am interested in seeing how she evolves as a successful citizen within our community.
It was quite intriguing to see how linking with one person connected you with others that over the years had drifted away to other schools, other districts, or away from education. It was interesting to see the responses after being away from the page just a short time. Before I join a group I want to know a bit more. I wandered through some sites that had to do with libraries. To really get a feel for them I need time to spend studying what each one has to offer. Goodness knows I have trouble enough keeping up with what I'm supposed to be doing.
In a world that seems to pull people in all directions this tool seems to be a way to stay in touch without calling for tons of time. Then when you see a need or crisis arise in your friend's world it would seem to offer an opportunity to respond without being intrusive on the demands of their time and energy.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Thing #7B
In Thing #21 I signed up for alerts on earthquakes and volcanoes (that was yesterday) and when I went to read my RSS feeds I found 60 listings for the earthquake alerts. While wandering through there I stumbled upon a YouTube video that was actually an earthquake forecast/prediction (?). I didn't know that the science had evolved that far and does demonstrate that anyone can post to the www. Who knows what will happen after the quakes in the Gulf of California and Panama? While checking out one article (which happened to be on a soccer team named the Earthquakes) I did run into some pictures in an ad that probably shouldn't have been shown on Sunday or any other day of the week. One way to get around that is to provide a link to the articles you want students to review and/or study.
In a science blog David Ferguson spoke of monitoring gas emissions as a possible way to detect the formation of new volcanoes or magma getting nearer the surface of Earth. In so doing he decided to go to Africa and be there to see what would happen. What a neat resource to have when introducing a unit of earth science dealing with volcanoes and/or earthquakes! A very interesting article on tsunamis and their history was among the 28 articles I found on the reader about volcanoes.
Sometime last week I mentioned podcasts from Just One More Book, but I want to mention an article from Cool Cat Teacher that dealt with picture taking policies for school handbooks. That is definitely something that we should all be aware of. This could go on and on, but you can see these tools can solve many problems for the 21st Century learner.
In a science blog David Ferguson spoke of monitoring gas emissions as a possible way to detect the formation of new volcanoes or magma getting nearer the surface of Earth. In so doing he decided to go to Africa and be there to see what would happen. What a neat resource to have when introducing a unit of earth science dealing with volcanoes and/or earthquakes! A very interesting article on tsunamis and their history was among the 28 articles I found on the reader about volcanoes.
Sometime last week I mentioned podcasts from Just One More Book, but I want to mention an article from Cool Cat Teacher that dealt with picture taking policies for school handbooks. That is definitely something that we should all be aware of. This could go on and on, but you can see these tools can solve many problems for the 21st Century learner.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Thing # 21
It was a good thing that this came with a warning about using a timer. Maybe it needs to be in neon lights if the next class has any abstract random participants! While I did visit all the sites and played around I found that Google Notebook is no longer accepting new participants. One of my professors from the Spring semester mentioned that Google was always updating and that some of their applications would still function for previous members but would not accept new members for that particular application.
Since so much of our work has been in and around Google I switched from 30 Boxes in an earlier thing and went with Google Calendar. I noticed when I entered a destination for a trip I'm making on Thursday that it automatically brought up a map of my destination. That sure does make Disney's song It's a Small World After All just that much more true. The calendar certainly will make it easier to keep track of items to be done, and it is extremely easy to add items or edit. If this will improve my own organizational skills, then that will be even better for the students using our library.
The other Google application that I stuck with was iGoogle. For now I have an Audubon Society backyard bird theme, but that could change at any given time. I'm afraid that I may have to hide some of the gadgets, but I really became infatuated with the turtles. They look just like the baby one we added to the library in May. The students would head to check on him and the Monarch butterfly nursery we had at that particular time.
Having access to the different gadgets offered by Google can be great for writing up the news for the daily morning show and announcements. I can even see it being used by teachers when it comes to current events. Because I am fascinated by earth science, particularly earthquakes and volcanoes, those were two alerts that I signed up for. The different news sources that can be tapped could be used with many different subjects and age levels.
Since so much of our work has been in and around Google I switched from 30 Boxes in an earlier thing and went with Google Calendar. I noticed when I entered a destination for a trip I'm making on Thursday that it automatically brought up a map of my destination. That sure does make Disney's song It's a Small World After All just that much more true. The calendar certainly will make it easier to keep track of items to be done, and it is extremely easy to add items or edit. If this will improve my own organizational skills, then that will be even better for the students using our library.
The other Google application that I stuck with was iGoogle. For now I have an Audubon Society backyard bird theme, but that could change at any given time. I'm afraid that I may have to hide some of the gadgets, but I really became infatuated with the turtles. They look just like the baby one we added to the library in May. The students would head to check on him and the Monarch butterfly nursery we had at that particular time.
Having access to the different gadgets offered by Google can be great for writing up the news for the daily morning show and announcements. I can even see it being used by teachers when it comes to current events. Because I am fascinated by earth science, particularly earthquakes and volcanoes, those were two alerts that I signed up for. The different news sources that can be tapped could be used with many different subjects and age levels.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Thing #20
No more e-mailing something from home to school or vice versa! Anything I have on Google Docs I can access from my brother's home or any one of my son's homes. I am thinking of how convenient this would have been when another librarian and I were working together on a recent project. Also it would have been great while I was taking classes last year. This will save trips between various offices, or classrooms and the library, not to mention cutting down on interruptions on both ends.
This reminds me somewhat of the wiki activities. There were some things that I couldn't find as I created the spreadsheet I worked on. The spreadsheet will be quite convenient for generating a weekly library and computer schedule. I'm wondering if forms can be created in Google Docs and then uploaded to a wiki.
When a system is easy enough for me to work I consider it to be user friendly. Other than reading through the material in this assignment and following those directions the process seemed to work quite smoothly. The spreadsheet would make an efficient tool to keep track of information on library helpers (telephone #s, homeroom, birthdays, grade level, etc.). It would even work for creating a student generated listing of those "scary" books that students from everywhere come in and ask for, or any other particular segment of a genre.
This reminds me somewhat of the wiki activities. There were some things that I couldn't find as I created the spreadsheet I worked on. The spreadsheet will be quite convenient for generating a weekly library and computer schedule. I'm wondering if forms can be created in Google Docs and then uploaded to a wiki.
When a system is easy enough for me to work I consider it to be user friendly. Other than reading through the material in this assignment and following those directions the process seemed to work quite smoothly. The spreadsheet would make an efficient tool to keep track of information on library helpers (telephone #s, homeroom, birthdays, grade level, etc.). It would even work for creating a student generated listing of those "scary" books that students from everywhere come in and ask for, or any other particular segment of a genre.
Thing # 19
What is Bellwork? My principal will be so glad to see this. The work shown on the Voicethread was meaningful and thought provoking. I can it used as a writing prompt or even an assessment tool. While I was listening to this link I did hear the question of copyright raised when using such pictures. In Going and Coming I was intrigued with the use if inference and generalizations. With What is Voce Thread Anyway? I started thinking of ways family history could be recorded with those that we want to keep their memories around even after they have gone before (or after) the rest of us. Some of these voicethreads were definitely for higher grades than elementary.
Having just completed some online classwork I was impressed with Measurement and Uncertainty. This teacher had a well planned lesson and it was easy to follow her directions. I was really happy with Measuring Volume of Weird Objects because our students have so little real world experience with this. While Web 2.0 Promises and Potentials was long it was an excellent review of what we're working with. The first graders did a fine job with their presentation in Library from A to Z.
The use of VoiceThread would be a efficient tool in checking for understanding, but even more beneficial in creating great PR by showing students in a 'Win Win' setting where they could voice their understanding of a particular concept. It would be great to use the picture prompt and then have students read what they write. This would be another method of editing papers, and would also allow students to listen to what they have written to see if it makes sense to them. The different ways of responding are accomodating to different levels of technology.
Having just completed some online classwork I was impressed with Measurement and Uncertainty. This teacher had a well planned lesson and it was easy to follow her directions. I was really happy with Measuring Volume of Weird Objects because our students have so little real world experience with this. While Web 2.0 Promises and Potentials was long it was an excellent review of what we're working with. The first graders did a fine job with their presentation in Library from A to Z.
The use of VoiceThread would be a efficient tool in checking for understanding, but even more beneficial in creating great PR by showing students in a 'Win Win' setting where they could voice their understanding of a particular concept. It would be great to use the picture prompt and then have students read what they write. This would be another method of editing papers, and would also allow students to listen to what they have written to see if it makes sense to them. The different ways of responding are accomodating to different levels of technology.
Thing # 18
What a journey this thing has been, and we only get to share one video? I came across Teacher Tube several years ago but hadn't subscribed to it until this last March after seeing the creators once more at a conference I was lucky enough to attend. To be truthful the only time I had ever explored YouTube before this was when I was searching for Il Divo videos. Since I'm not uploading that one I'll just provide a link for those of you who haven't seen them perform. They're better than any pill you can take for stress relief.
The first thing I spent time with on YouTube was their 'how to' videos. Some of the people commenting on the amateur ones can be vicious, and that's when I found the ones provided by YouTube. Next I played around with looking for something I could use in presenting library lessons this coming year. There were a few interesting sites and I've saved those. One was prepared with animation, and another with sock monkeys (this one was on TeacherTube). The one with animation was in two parts.
After more hours than I care to admit I started searching for material that could be used in research projects at the elementary level. When I entered a search for the Alamo I got a trip down memory lane. They used a song by Marty Robbins as the background for this video. It was quite well done and with the combination of music would even hold the attention of secondary students as well. Also on Teacher Tube I came across one titled the Challenges of Our Changing World that would be appropriate for upper elementary and secondary students.
In closing I'm going to leave you with one my favorite Il Divo songs.
The first thing I spent time with on YouTube was their 'how to' videos. Some of the people commenting on the amateur ones can be vicious, and that's when I found the ones provided by YouTube. Next I played around with looking for something I could use in presenting library lessons this coming year. There were a few interesting sites and I've saved those. One was prepared with animation, and another with sock monkeys (this one was on TeacherTube). The one with animation was in two parts.
After more hours than I care to admit I started searching for material that could be used in research projects at the elementary level. When I entered a search for the Alamo I got a trip down memory lane. They used a song by Marty Robbins as the background for this video. It was quite well done and with the combination of music would even hold the attention of secondary students as well. Also on Teacher Tube I came across one titled the Challenges of Our Changing World that would be appropriate for upper elementary and secondary students.
In closing I'm going to leave you with one my favorite Il Divo songs.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Thing #17
The first neat thing about this activity is that I got to revisit some of the sites I had stumbles onto during earlier activities in our wanderings throughout the Web. I had already signed up for Just One More Book and have been enjoying their book reviews. I especially enjoyed the one they did for today (7/1) because it dealt with the foster care of animals. I did notice that on Learn Out Loud they had free audio books to download. At the Education Potcast Network my attention was caught by Voices on Antisemitism. While I wandered through the Skip the Tuition: 100 Free Podcasts from the Best Colleges in the World I got sucked into Earthquakes in Your Backyard because of the small quakes that have happened recently just a short distance from our own town.
Since I visited every single one of these sites I noticed that on some you didn't even need to download to iTunes but could listen directly from the site. That meant less steps and, for me, an easier process in listening to the podcasts. At Geek!Ed! I was intrigued by the teachers and staff discussing the differences in their classes and their use of the available technology in two separate years. The "personalities" of each class made it difficult for them to evaluate their program where each student had a computer to work from. Anything to do with books immediately catches my attention and so I had to check out Authors on Tour Live. That is where I discovered a new series (new to me) of books that I know will interest my mother. That means I will be looking for books in the Elm Creek Quilts series before I go next week to see Mom. The math sites that I visited offered higher order thinking skills, and even branched out into social studies when I visited mathgrad podcast. Check our their archives for Mathematics of Maps and see if you can use it for a lesson in reading maps.
The science sites looked like they would be perfect for teasers to get the attention of the class. In 60 Second Science I even thought that some of those spots could be used to introduce experiments. Since we have animals in my school environment I was interested in the podcast on animal behavior. As you can tell I didn't have any trouble in finding podcasts that could be used in the classroom and the library. I may even have to break down and get an iPod or MP3 player to have a more portable means of all of these wonderful sources that I've just skimmed over the surfaces. After hearing podcasts by students of all ages I can see that it would certainly be within the realm of possibility to create them within our school as well.
Since I visited every single one of these sites I noticed that on some you didn't even need to download to iTunes but could listen directly from the site. That meant less steps and, for me, an easier process in listening to the podcasts. At Geek!Ed! I was intrigued by the teachers and staff discussing the differences in their classes and their use of the available technology in two separate years. The "personalities" of each class made it difficult for them to evaluate their program where each student had a computer to work from. Anything to do with books immediately catches my attention and so I had to check out Authors on Tour Live. That is where I discovered a new series (new to me) of books that I know will interest my mother. That means I will be looking for books in the Elm Creek Quilts series before I go next week to see Mom. The math sites that I visited offered higher order thinking skills, and even branched out into social studies when I visited mathgrad podcast. Check our their archives for Mathematics of Maps and see if you can use it for a lesson in reading maps.
The science sites looked like they would be perfect for teasers to get the attention of the class. In 60 Second Science I even thought that some of those spots could be used to introduce experiments. Since we have animals in my school environment I was interested in the podcast on animal behavior. As you can tell I didn't have any trouble in finding podcasts that could be used in the classroom and the library. I may even have to break down and get an iPod or MP3 player to have a more portable means of all of these wonderful sources that I've just skimmed over the surfaces. After hearing podcasts by students of all ages I can see that it would certainly be within the realm of possibility to create them within our school as well.
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