Podcasts

This is one sample of a podcast I created on Friday with my seventh grade literature class. We are reading The Westing Game, and we made podcasts about the main characters. The rest can be found on our classroom wiki. We didn't spend a lot of time on these. I just wanted to try it out with them. I used Audacity for the first time, and it was pretty easy - thankfully! The kids loved it! The next time I do it, we will spend more time preparing. I will also give them more specific criteria.

I do want to take the time to listen to some podcasts and see what other teachers are doing. I think it is a great tool that gets the kids excited.

I hadn't really ever explored Ning before, but I spent some time with it today. I created one for my classroom, and I joined several interesting ones I found. I don't know exactly what I am going to do with my classroom Ning, but I think I would like to create some kind of literature discussion site. I am amazed every week by the new things we are learning!

RSS and Photo Sharing

I had a lot of fun playing with Flickr this week and creating the badge on the right. We just celebrated my nephew William's third birthday, and I took a lot of pictures. Here is a link to the birthday photo set!

I thought some of the ideas in the book (for using Flickr in the classroom) were interesting. I liked the idea of creating a story based on a random photo. I was also very interested in the ideas of the math teacher. When I have some extra time (ha ha), I want to explore his blog. I would have never really thought about using photos as inspiration for math problems! I have always taken a lot of photos during the school year, but now I am thinking about different ways to USE those photos rather than just hanging them up on a bulletin board in the classroom.

Since we started this program, I have been reading a few blogs. I had heard about RSS earlier in the program but never really explored it. Now that I had to do it this week (for the assignment), I am glad I did. I think it will save a lot of time! I have also found a few more interesting blogs to add to my list. I set up both Google Reader and Bloglines, but I think I will eventually just end up using Bloglines. I like it better because it seems easier to use, at least right now.

Wikis and Blogs (class #2)

After listening to the assigned podcast about Think.com and social networking, I began the registration process for our school. This sounds like a really safe environment for students to learn how to network with students all around the world. The teacher in the podcast, Cheryl Oakes, had some great ideas for involving parents in the process and teaching them, and their children, about Internet safety. She mentioned that if any cyber-bullying takes place her students know they will be banned from Think.com. I think that would be an effective deterrent, especially if they enjoy the access as much as I think they would.

I am working on re-doing my class wiki. I decided to stick with PBWiki for now. I am trying to get the free upgrade using the Back-To-School Challenge they are offering. I am excited about trying several of the ideas from the chapter in our textbook. I would like to eventually give each of my students their own page on the wiki. We could start by adding their first book reviews. I would also like to include some discussion about the novel we are reading, The Westing Game. I am also working on an idea where they would each research a topic of interest and post some information. Then they could work to revise and edit each others' information - a mini Wikipedia!

Blogs and Wikis (534 - class#1)

Our one, short month of vacation is over, and we are back at it. The end is almost in site now though!

We are back to another more "hands-on" class, it seems. I am all for it! I have really enjoyed all the classes where we learned about new tools that we could immediately incorporate into our classrooms.

One of the movies we watched, "When I Become a Teacher", was very effective. Unfortunately, I have met several teachers like that. I am happy to say that I don't think I teach with anyone like that now. I think, though, if you aren't careful about changing things up and continuing to learn new methods, it would be an easy trap to fall into. It is "easier" to be that kind of teacher. I hope that if I ever became like that, I would realize it and get out of the profession!

I plan to try a form of blogging with my seventh graders this year. We are going to create a "Book Review Blog". They will review books, read each others' reviews, and comment on them. I have also enlisted the help of a couple other teachers and our principal to read some of the posts and comment to them. I am also hoping some of the parents will get into the spirit and make some comments to the posts.

After reading the chapters for this week, I am starting to think about other forms of blogging I could use in my classroom. I do have a wiki currently connected to my classroom website. I only used it with the class a couple times last year, but I think I would like to expand that this year. More to come on that...