Thing Twelve

Exploring widgets was interesting and entertaining. There seems to be a widget for any topic. I was able to find many educational widgets that could support learners and their parents. There were quite a few fun widgets, which got me thinking…maybe I will need a classroom blog and a personal blog. My classroom blog could be the one that guides and supports learning. My personal blog could be the area where I could have more license to exercise a sense of humor and pursue my personal interests outside of education.

Reading Tip of the Day

Thing Eleven

What do you like / dislike about leaving comments? How did you feel when you received your first comment? Why do you think commenting is so important in online communities? What might this mean for students who share their writing online?

I enjoy leaving comments on blogs because it gives me a sense of connection to a larger group of people.  It also gives me a chance to leave positive comments when I really agree with the blogger.  It is an affirming experience for me because I get to hear from other educators who agree with my philosophy or help me to see things from a different perspective.  Sometimes it can be difficult to compose a comment because of the limits of printed text.  I find myself really analyzing my word choices and the tone that I am using.  I try to review my comments from the bloggers point of view.  It can be difficult to discern whether comments will be taken in the way that I have intended.  This process could be very powerful for students.  It is a “real world” way of publishing work and receiving feedback.  It could cast the work or assignment in a more meaningful light and increase the quality of the work that is presented by students.   

Thing Ten

This video is called "Mahna Mahna" from the Muppet Show.  I chose this video because...well...it just makes me smile.  It is just silly fun.  We all need a little silly fun in our teaching days.  I was also able to download it to my computer using "KeepVid."  It was very easy to do.  I am able to access YouTube at my school, so I wouldn't necessarily have to download video.  But I am glad that I have tried it and know how to do it.

Thing Nine

What do you like or dislike about YouTube? Did you find videos that would be useful for teaching and learning? Is YouTube restricted in your building?

I really enjoy YouTube!  I have been using YouTube for quite some time already, both for fun and  for my classroom.  YouTube has many videos that are useful for reinforcing or extending classroom learning.  My students especially enjoy “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom,” an alphabet song from “Have Fun Teaching,” and full episodes of “Sid the Science Kid.”  I have also used YouTube for fun.  I have shown my own children theme songs for my favorite childhood shows, original “Looney Tunes” shows, and “Schoolhouse Rocks.”  We have had a great deal of fun watching the video called “The Ten Funniest Babies.”  Last week I used it for more serious purposes.  I watched videos pertaining to the tornadoes that went through Dexter.  I live in Chelsea, which is ten minutes from Dexter, so I was very concerned for the inhabitants of the town.  I was able to see first hand the destruction that was caused by the tornado.  

YouTube is not restricted to teachers in my district, but I’m not sure if students can access it on their own.  I will be asking the technology supervisor about this when I see him next.

Thing Eight

In the same post in which you placed your creation, briefly describe your experience completing Thing 8. Which of these tools intrigues you and why? Was it easy, frustrating, time-consuming, fun? Share some of your ideas for using the images you can create.

Completing “Thing 8” was, in a word, fun!  This was definitely an area that easily applies to my young fives classroom.  “Spell with Flicker” supports our classroom learning objective of exploring and learning letters, especially in different fonts.  While playing with this tool I typed in the names of my students.  It was fun to see their names come up with different styles and fonts.  I know my students would enjoy seeing their names this way too.  I could also type in the alphabet letters that we are learning  and we could see the different ways that a letter could appear.  “Flickr Color Pickr” could easily reinforce our classroom learning and exploration of color.  “ImageGenerator.org” has endless possibilities.  I spent some time in the “captioner” tool that I found on this site.  I could have a lot of fun with my students and adding captions to pictures I have taken of them in the classroom.  Students could help me add thought bubbles that summarized their learning on a particular topic.  I could also tie the captioner into our current Dr. Seuss unit of study.  My students could help me add captions to the clip art of Dr. Seuss characters.  Students would be asked to think about what this character might say.  I am looking forward to continuing exploration in these areas.  

Thing Eight Photo

http://bighugelabs.com/captioner.php