Thing 4

Following in the footsteps of others . . . I too am not feeling overly creative this afternoon. I've been meaning to blog about Thing 4, so here's my chance! Sorry, it's a bit wordy.

Which customizable homepage did you choose? Why did that one appeal to you? Will you make it your permanent home page?
I chose the iGoogle homepage for my project. Part of what appealed to me with this site is the fact that I can make it look (virtually) however I choose. I love being able to change the images/color spectrum when my moods need to be matched, and I love that I can use gadgets of my choosing. I use Yahoo! as my primary email server, so I only visit iGoogle to check my reader for Mili. Maybe someday I'll use it as my primary, permanent home page.

Did you find a tool that has some uses for you at school or home? Which tool(s) would you recommend to others?
My favorite gadget on iGoogle is the daily how-to. I've actually used it in my advisory to teach students how to make animals out of bath towels. It generally has very crafty stuff on it, but I like how random it can be and how varied the projects are. (I'll be you never realized you can make a wallet completely from duct tape!) If I see anything on this gadget that I think has a further application for my classes, I will usually bookmark it and save for my students.

How can the online calendars be useful to you?
The nice thing about online calendars is that they are usable almost anywhere you are--school, home, work, the library, out of town, etc. Normally, I just use the calendar on Outlook for recording significant events and meetings. But I can see the use of the online calendar for places other than work. I don't think I'll actually begin using other online calendar sites. For 1--I have a calendar as it is. For 2--what happens to all the cute calendars I'll inevitably receive as holiday gifts?

What about the To Do Lists -- helpful? too much work?

I almost always work with a To Do list, but I think the computerized version is one more unnecessary step for something already easy to create. I'll take my scratch paper and pen version any day!

How would you compare and contrast the use of paper-based assignments and assignment notebooks to the potential use of online assignment calculators and to do lists for students?

First thing, what do you do for students without computer access outside of school?

Transitioning into all technology will inevitably leave some students/people behind.

I have used online assignments this year so far, and the students seem to have some difficulty in finding my website, the assignment, or the motivation to do it. I had a student comment last night that he chooses to work on the computer because it feels like he's just playing around and not actually working. Education should be fun, but it also should represent what the rest of the world is like. I know we are becoming more technologically advanced daily, but I think, for the sake of history and all other cultures with writing, we need to continue to have students use their handwriting for other than scrawling on bathroom walls.

iPlanitude

A coworker clued me into a neat website today, especially for any geography classes. It's called iPlanitude.com and it's a compilation of videos from around the world that others can add to, and shows examples of daily life activities. Anyone can add videos to it, and use it free of charge. Right now there are a few videos from Latin America and Tibet you can watch. But the neat thing about it is that they are also looking for students to create short videos about daily life in America to post to the site. It might make for a really neat assignment for those students going somewhere for Spring Break (or even just staying home, too!)

Oh yeah, and the two responsible for this site are teachers here at CHS! Heidi Berbee and Allison Hanson created this site, with two others, in response to other requests from teachers about finding short video clips that show life outside of the US in an interesting way.

Delicious

I'm trying to remember, how do I stick the icon for delicious on my browser on my computer? I can't remember how, and didn't see anything on their FAQs about it. I know I would definitely use it more if I had easier access to it!

Thanks!

Thing 3

Looking at the RPC and other research tools, I think they can't do anything but help students to get more organized and make a better end product. I would say for myself, teaching research is very difficult. Maybe it's because of my age, but when I'm looking for an answer to something, I want it now! Not only that, but I am a huge procrastinator when it comes to projects. I feel that whatever I can do to prevent my students from falling into the same procrastination pitfall is great (and they're still young enough to not get stuck in a bad habit like that.)

At this point, I'm not planning to use the RPC in class as I don't really have any big projects on the horizon. However I do plan to use it when assigning larger projects in the spring to help students get a better idea of what to do.

It's easy in my classes to have our own sort of RPC as students don't have homework (Alt. School philosophy) so it's not depended on the student to do all the planning. But I guess for my planning purposes, it would be a good thing!

How to stay sane? Having more than 24 hours in a day! Seriously, more time to do things would be ideal. It's hard to squeeze all planning and worktime into a short time during the day. I do a considerable amount of work outside of school (as does everyone else) and I still use every bit of prep time for coming up with what's new and fun.

Scaredy Cat

With all this new, fabulous technology that we have available I am beginning to feel a little gunshy. I've tried a few (what I felt were easy) assignments in class in Alt. School, and they have bombed with some of the students. It amazes me that in the 21st century there are students who only have computer contact when they are at school--and have little idea how to compose an email, search for a travel destination, or understand how to make a brochure using Publisher (whether or not I've already created a template for them to plug stuff into.) I know I've mentioned before that I sometimes take technology for granted, but it's kind of scary that the seniors for this school year have never had an email address before.

Maybe it's because I'm still (fairly) new to this whole teaching thing, but it would be nice if schools/government could supply computers to those who can't afford them. I would think it could be one of the best ways to enhance learning outside of school and would give students even less of a chance to not get homework done. Especially here in Chaska where there's free wi-fi access around the city! Not to sound too political, but I'm sure some of the $700 billion bailout could be used to fund something like that . . . I don't know if I could find a grant quick enough or with enough cash to help out any senior, but a kindergartner would be more reachable.

Hmmmm, just pondering.