Thing 9

I haved mixed feelings about Youtube. I do like it because I can always find something in the subject area that I am looking. However, I think there are a lot of inappropriate things on Youtube that are not good for school. We are able to use it in the classroom and it is a great resource, but I never allow my students to go on it by themselves. I also did learn my lesson to NOT search for things in front of the class because you can't be sure what will pop up! I hope that the school continues to allow us to use the website but I do think it needs to be monitored. There are tons and tons of videos that are awesome for teaching!

Thing 8

 

This was a lot of fun and I KNOW the kids would LOVE it!  They are always looking for fun ways to work with words and this would be a great way.  My students really enjoy the game Making Words and this would be a fun culminating project after completing the activity in class.  This was very easy and did not take me long at all.  I really liked many of the things you can do with Flickr.  But most of all, this one was fun and something that the students would be able to finish fairly quickly.

Thing 7

I think that using Flickr is an awesome idea.  We were just planning our Project Based Learning "project" and we were thinking that using Flickr to create a magazine cover would be really fun for the kids to do!  They will be researching a person that has overcome adversity and creating a magazine cover would be a great way to showcase their person's life.  I think some difficulties that we will run into is that some students will require so much guidance.  This program has taken me a little while to figure out so I can imagine how the students will feel.  But with anything new, time is of the essence.  In the end, I think the students would love it!

Thing 6

I chose this photo because I love butterflies.  I love the colors in this picture.  They are so vibrant and beautiful.  When I think about butterflies...I think of freedom to be anything that you want to be.  I hope that my students know that anything is possible if they put their minds to it!!!!

Thing 5

I did not take very much time searching for blogs at this time...but I will.  It seems that the search for well written and informative blogs is very time consuming.  I think that the RSS will help me stay with what is current, rather than old business.  I think that there are many really cool blogs out there that would be really fun and useful to read.  I just have to spend the time searching for good ones.  At this time, I did not really find any really awesome blogs.  But, I definitely need to invest some time in looking.  It will be worth it in the end!

Thing 4

I think that using RSS is a great way to help keep myself organized.  It is interesting to go on all of the blogs about teaching.  This will keep all of the information in one place so that it is easy for me to stay updated.  The method of subscribing that I thought was the easiest was coping and pasting the URL.  It worked the best for the blogs that I wanted to subsribe to.  I tried all of the different ways and they all worked.  I just think using the URL was the easiest.

Thing 3

I think that using a blog in a Language Arts classroom could facilitate great discussion on a story read in class.  It could encourage students to think beyond the facts of the story.  I might use a blog while reading a chapter book aloud with the class.  This is a way that I can encourage them to have conversations with eachother about what they are reading.  But a blog to be completed on their own time could be good because it will alllow them time to think about what they want to say before they respond.  One concern I would have is the studnets taking the blog seriously and putting effort into their responses.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

I am starting 23 Things to gain a better understanding of how to use technology to enhance the learning in my classroom.  I hope to learn many avenues for making this happen in my classroom.  I am hopeful that my students will be interested in what I provide them.  I know that how we educate students is beginning to shift to having a greater emphasis on using technology more often. It makes sense to incorporate how these students live outside of the classroom (lots of technology) with how we are expecting them to live (and learn) in the classroom.

I think that writing on the Internet for everyone to read is a fun way to encourage discussion that may not otherwise take place.