Week 9, Thing 23

The final thing! I have discovered so many cool and helpful sites through this program. Among my favorites are flickr, del.icio.us, and technorati. I am glad to know about mashups, librarything, rollyo, and the RSS google has. My gosh, just listen to me! At the beginning of these "things" I didn't know half of this vocabulary!

An unexpected outcome is more confidence in my computer skills. I was a little afraid that I would be getting in over my head and not understand how to use some of this new information I've received. But, classroom 2.0 was very user-friendly, and I am happy for that.

If classroom 2.0 were to have a second installment, I would gladly sign up for it. I feel so much more savvy for completing these "things," each of which was rewarding in its own way. Yay for classroom 2.0!

Week 9, Thing 22

I had heard of Project Gutenberg before doing this "thing," but i was not aware of the vast amount of free download sites for books. I investigated several, including manybooks.net where I found I could download Joyce's Ulysses in several formats, including PDF and audio! I also looked at bookcrossing .com and found that there is a lot of book sharing going on in my own fair city of Camarillo, including out of a motel just a mile or so away!

I had no idea that I could go on the internet and find all of these free sites and places to share books. I am in heaven! I use the library, but I still end up spending tons of money on books that I now know I could be downloading for free! I love this "thing"!

Week 9, Thing 21

Podcast.net didn't really have anything for junior high history, but I did see several podcasts on book reviews that I will go back and listen to. At podcastalley I found a history clip of the week podcast which I added to my RSS reader. I found gabcast through yahoo's podcast search engine, and it had many podcasts on topics I teach-- something new to try with the students. I think a short podcast could help with their listening skills in addition to adding to their knowledge of history.

I noticed that a lot of podcasts were weekly. The ones I listened to were pretty well done; after years of listening to NPR, I really enjoy a good audio broadcast.

It would be interesting to have the students do oral histories as podcasts. So often they tell me things that older relatives have said about topic areas. I would love to collect their recollections and put them beside what the students have learned from their text and other resources.

Week 9, Thing 20

I have been familiar with YouTube for about a year now and have used it in my teaching on many occasions, most recently to show my students an example of the Khoisan or "click" language of Africa.

I had not viewed Web 2.o before now, nor had I viewed Introducing the Book, which I found very funny and not too far from the truth. Many are as intimidated by the new technology as that poor monk was by the book! I know I am very lucky to have been willing to try new things-- 23 to be exact.

Week 8, Thing 19

I posted five books on LibraryThing, then checked how many other people had listed those books. As I expected, popular fiction like Wicked had a lot more than obscure science fiction like The Mind Parasites. I checked out the Robert Jordan groups, and as I expected, most of the conversation was about the final book (when and if it will be published due to Jordan's life-threatening illness). LibraryThing would be a great way to recommend readings to my students since parents often ask me to recommend books about other cultures. I could also see what other educators are saying about these books. Nice website and a great tool!

Week 8, Thing 18

Week 8, Thing 18

Using online productivity tools is a real eye-opener. I like the idea of being able to save as HTML of pdf and being able to work on and offline. It is also pretty amazing that I can post from here to my blog, as I hope to be doing

at the end of this document after I try out a few of its bells and whistles.

Well, I tried out some of those bells and whistles and was able to post this to my blog-- yay! I really like how easy it was to use Zoho Writer. I can see using it as a tool to edit group work (either my own or my students'), and I can also use it with my yearbook girls over vacations, since half of us are PC and the other half Apple and our word processing programs can't always talk to each other. I wish I'd known about this productivity tool sooner!

Week 7, Thing 17

Like the term "wiki" I didn't know what a "sandbox" was-- neat concept. I probably should have completed this thing before my last post, since what I would've said here I already said there. Yet, I do like the idea presented about the "kid-o-pedia"-- kind of like what I was trying to get at in my previous post. And, the idea of assigning login names or numbers to the students makes a lot of sense as far as keeping posts appropriate.

Week 7, Thing 16

I have to admit I had no idea what a wiki was before reading this thing. In fact, I had scrolled ahead through the things months ago and wanted to cheat and look ahead but was afraid without the previous weeks' instruction I would be lost. Then tonight I finally got to this thing, and there it was-- wiki, as in wikipedia, the website I've been trained to tell my students to avoid at all costs due to the potential for inaccuracy of added information.

After reviewing the varios wiki samples, I must say that I can see very positive uses for wikis in my teaching (although I still would steer clear of wikipedia). I like the idea of setting up a wiki for my class for a project such as their next current events assignment. They could find information about countries in SE Asia and post the facts they find along with the website they found it at. Then, after the class had posted (maybe give them a two week deadline to do so), they could write an essay about what they learned about SE Asia using the class' facts. This idea came to mind really quickly, and I bet as I continue to think of applications, more and better ones will arise.

I would love to find a wiki for the class I teach, one in which fellow seventh grade history teachers share knowledge about the different topics we teach. For example, the students often ask lots of questions about the Taj Mahal when I teach the Mughal Empire. It wuld be great to have a wiki of facts that other teachers have found interesting, educational, and documented.

I like the idea of wikis, and I think this thing has many applications to teaching!

Week 6, Thing 15

The perspectives on Library 2.o were interesting. As an instructor in a small private school, I realize that my school's library is very different from larger schools', universities' and public libraries. Yet, we are still faced with some of the same questions, such as meeting the needs of students in an ever-increasing digital age. I think it will become the librarian's role at least to some degree to ensure that the students know how to use the new technology and how to have that technology enhance the use of the library's print resources. I also believe it can be a role shared by the librarian and the classroom teacher. Teaching seventh graders recently how to use search engines to find current event articles on Africa reminded me of teaching seventh graders YEARS ago how to find articles on topics in our classroom set of encyclopedias. I do think that classroom teachers who assign research have to be willing to do at least part of the job of showing students how to use the research tools available, whether print, digital, or both. It's for this reason, among others, that I am glad I am taking this course. My job, like any other educators, has to evolve with the trends in technology and learning.

Week 6, Thing 14

Several weeks have gone by since I've been able to work on the "things," so I was really looking forward to working on a new "thing." Technorati was interesting. I can see how I might use it so help find information on some topics. I typed in "fishing children of Ghana" and was rewarded with a blog that included a youtube video I'd like to use in class. I also checked out the 100 most popular blogs and felt a lack of interest in the first few pages' worth I scrolled through. Seems a lot of them were turbo-techie or 20-something sarcasm/sex sites. I don't know if I want my blog to get picked up by technorati, so I'm leaving that alone for now. I already have had people want to be my "friends" because of the classroom 2.0 badge. Right now, I don't feel like I have time for my realtime friends, much less cyberfriends.

Week 6, Thing 13

I liked Librarything.com a lot because I can connect with people who have read the same books I have and get their take on them. It is also helpful because there are so many books out their on my field of study, and I don't want to read the ones other teachers found lacking.

Del.icio.us is another great site. I went to the tag history and came up with a huge list, ofcourse, but the first two sites I went to were amazing. One, hyperhistory.com, has maps, timelines. bios, and primary sources for ancient history. It would be a helpful site to send students to who are writinf reports. The other, behindthename.com, gives historical background for people's first names! I've done this with my students to research last names in the past, but this looks like a great lesson in the making!

I've been on a real roll today with these "Things"!

Week 5, Thing 12

I've added Rollyo to my blog. What a great way to set up search engines for current events or for projects. So often the students don't understand which sites to use, which sites are better than others for certain topics. This application will certainly help the 7th graders out a lot!

Week 5, Thing 11

I've been exploring NING and have added a classroom 2.0 badge to my blog! I really like the social network on NING and how diverse it is. I can join discussions on teaching history, teaching English, teaching in general, and my other passion: running!

The award winning sites are amazing! I spent quite a bit of time at wetpaint looking at the doggy halloween dress-up-- maybe I'll post Tonka in his panda mask later. More importantly, The eductor sites for group project management, posting hw, peer review, and FAQ's for my class could really come in handy. I think I'll be spending a lot of time over the coming days/weeks/months checking these sites out.

Week 5, Thing 10

Look what I learned to do at imagechef.com!! I also really like the captioner and billboard at bighugelabs.com! These sites are totally user-friendly and fun. I think that they have lots of potential as applications for the classroom. I also like the trading cards at bighugelabs.com-- I'm planning on making them for flashcards to help the girls study for their final.

Week 4, Thing 9

I can see myself using the conversation tracker to see what other teachers are doing in their history classes. I also like it because I can contact other runners and discuss the merits of particular races before I decide to run them.

Feedster is really easy to use, and syndic8 may be useful. I do like syndic8's cool charts and pie graphs. Topix looked intimidating; the icons of who was discussing what threw me. For some reason, my reaction was "uh-oh, this isn't for a beginner." Technorati looked a little too pop culture oriented for me, but maybe when I have more time I'll give it a second look.

It's cool to use blog spot on google and see who is into what topics. I have to tell my husband about this so that he can see what other contractors are up to. This toll makes it so easy to share info and learn from others.

Week 4, Thing 8

I love the RSS aggregator function at Google Reader. I was able to subscribe to several newsfeeds and to several history sites like the History Channel and Discovery. This "thing" is great because I will save soooo much time having the aggregator find info for me! And, this tool is so simple to use. I love it! It was pretty easy adding it to my blog, too!

Week 3, Thing 7

I'm glad to blog about technology for this thing because I have the perfect story. This weekend my musband and I went to Long Beach for my marathon, and neither of us remembered a digital camera. We ended up spending $13- for a cruddy little 27 exposure throw away at a quickie mart near our hotel.

When Chris went to take photos of me later, he forgot to hold the camera up to his face to see through the viewer-- he seemed very confused at first! Then, as he took photos, he kept muttering about all the throw away lacked: a view of the scene before one snaps, zoom, liht settings, and so on.

After a $10- processing fee, I got the photos back. Most were lousy. Too dark, too far away, off center, blurry.

This experience made me realize how dependent I am upon my digital for quality photos. I was hesitant about switching from my 35mm to the digital two years ago, but now I am hooked on the new technology and hardly ever pull out the old camera.

I guess that's it in a nutshell for me and tech: hesitant to try new things, then so glad when I finally do.

Week 3, thing 6

My creation
Originally uploaded by robin.fontana

I made this inspirational poster for my class! Isn't it cute? The dog is Tonka, my berlab. I think mashups are cool and can't wait to try more, especially the trading cards. I bet they could be used for flashcards, even.

These posters would also work really well in a non-inspirational way, maybe to help the students learn different difficult vocab words or concepts for a lesson.

Once the technology is mastered, the possibilities are endless!

I Like Pinecones

I Like Pinecones
Originally uploaded by robin.fontana

Here's the photo for week 3, thing 5!

Week 3, Thing 5

I explored Flickr and know what tags and groups are. I set up an account and added two photos two it from the 2006 Italy trip. I was going to put in shots of the library, but all of the ones I have on file include minors (as do most of my photos since I take them for the school's yearbook). But, the Italy photos are nice; I really like the pinecone one.

Navigating around on Flickr is pretty easy; the site is user-friendly. I was able to master it fairly quickly. It would be great if, after next year's spring trip, we all placed out photos on such a site to view.

Week 2, Thing 4, Registering Blog

That "Thing" was the easiest yet. I'm excited about the blog and already thinking of creating one for my class.

Week 2, Thing 3, Creating a Blog

This was easier than I thought it would be! I still have to create an avatar, but I think I understand what I'm doing here. On to the avatar....

Creating the avatar was fun. I didn't know whether to choose a teacher or a runner, but since I've called the "Runner's Blog" I chose the runner. It was a little hectic getting the avatar to the blog, but I did it after one false start. I forgot what my user name was, so I had trouble getting back into the blog at first. There are only so many options, though, so I got it on the second try!

So, my blog is set up, kind of. I'll work more on it later in the week, or week three!

Week 1, Thing 2, 7 1/2 Lifelong Learning Habits

Most of the 7 1/2 Lifelong Learning Habits seem pretty easy to me. The easiest of all is beginning with an end in mind. I am very goal -oriented, so I understand setting goals and visualizing their completion.

The hardest of them is viewing problems as challenges. I tend to look at problems as personal affronts sometimes. I forget that I can grow by mastering my difficulties, not just successes.

Week 1, Thing 1, Intro

Reading the info for classroom learning 2.0 made me pretty excited. I had turned in to the principal my goals for the year, which included learning more about blogs, wikis, etc. This program looks like it's going to be perfect!