Testing Embedding

Flickr Lover

I've been using flickr for a few years. It rocks! I have uploaded over 2000 pictures and have a lot more to upload - I had to go pro! I love being able to share my photos with family and friends; it saves a lot of time when they want "a copy"! Also, I have made many of my photos public and granted CC licensing. One person contacted me to use one of my pictures in a book. How cool is that?!

Using behold.cc or Flickr Storm to search for images makes it easy to find *free* pictures to use in movies, SMART Board lessons, handouts, etc. All I have to do is remember to give credit where credit is due!

Using Blogs

I am currently facilitating an Intel Essentials course and am using blogs with my adult learners. They are responding positively, and I've been really impressed by their input. They are using the blog to process their learning and activate their metacognition.

As for using a blog with students, I have no real concerns. I think it would go fairly smoothly. Like the teacher who commented that stressing to students and parents that what they put on the net, stays on the net ... I think students have a decent idea of what is appropriate for their school environment blog. In the beginning, there may be a few glitches and kids testing the waters, but they do that with whatever we do.

If I were in a classroom again, I most likely would use my blog as a website with discussion board. A place to post assignments with links (instead of putting a word doc on each computer); a place to remind them of upcoming dates and events. A place to post rubrics and the like to cut down on paper use. I also particularly liked the blog we looked at the embedded the Voice Thread. What a great way to cut down on the kids going hither and yon to find things we want them to find ... just link or embed.

Testing google forms

I tried to use Google forms last week and it didn't work like I thought it would, so I must've done something wrong. Please try this link to see if it will take you to my test form:

If it doesn't work, please comment on this blog and tell me what you saw. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Thanks!

Thing 2

Blogging and writing online so that anyone can read and respond causes me to pause before saying something to determine and decide if I should say it 'just so' or change it. Will my opinion be too out there for some people - especially those I work with who might happen across my blog? Am I going to anger someone or push them farther than they are prepared to go? I'm not sure. I like honesty from others, and I don't like hiding my thoughts or feelings. It's in my nature to say what I think, but I'm learning to try to do so in a way that appeals to others instead of setting them up for defensive responses. I think, if we are conscientious people who are ethical and caring individuals, we will give our writing more thought. If we aren't, we won't.

Thing 1

In Thing 1 we read an article by David Warlick about a school in which technology is used seamlessly throughout the day for a variety of purposes. It really got me excited ... where is this school David? Are they hiring? JK.

Seriously, though. It gave us a picture of what could be and really got me thinking about moving forward. The drawback is that I want to move forward eagerly, and so many of the people I work with aren't ready for it and are afraid of it. I really think some people even don't see the value - they see using technology as a toy for teachers or pandering to the students' likes and dislikes. I don't ... it's cool, it makes learning fun, it's engaging, it meets them where they are ... it teaches to the WHOLE CHILD to appeal to them. When we ask them to disconnect at the door, we're not only putting them in an emotional funk, we aren't getting them ready for reality.

Yes there are concerns about using technology - including phones, ipods, laptops, etc. Two of the biggest concerns I hear are equity and ethical use of the tools, but we can find solutions. I believe we can. A few teachers have suggested that students will cheat with access to phones - they should be banned. I submit that students cheated before cell phones and will continue to cheat until they learn better ethics. They cheated by writing on little slips of paper, and we didn't ban paper. They cheated by writing on their hands, and we didn't cut off their hands. It's about the desire to cheat and their felt need to cheat ... maybe it's really about changing our expectations. In our world, can't we "phone a friend" in most cases? Isn't life and work really about finding the information or knowing who to contact to get the information more than knowing everything at the drop of a no. 2 pencil?

Just my thoughts ...

23 Things Class

Lucky me! I'm still connected to my old Regional Education Service Agency in Wayne County, Michigan even though I've been in Arizona for 6 years. They're holding a great online class called 23 Things Every Teacher Should Know about Web 2.0, and I'm signed up! Yahoo!

I'll be posting thoughts and reflections at this blog, so if you want to follow along with me, you're welcome!