Web pages

Sometimes technology can be so frustrating!! Last year I created a project with my reading classes where they read a historical fiction novel and then used the Big 6 research process (a great way to create plagerism proof assignments) to have them research the historical time period and then create a web page to share that information. Well...last year we created our web pages in word and then saved them as a web page and we found that when we did that the different elements of the web pages were moved around and some of the information was missing. So to avoid such troubles this year we created our webpages in publisher. The students loved the assignment and had a great time creating their web pages...however we have been unable to save them as web pages to be viewed on the internet through my school web page. I don't have the kmowledge to do this on my own so I have been working with our technology guru and we're still struggling...ugh! I enjoy trying new things with my students and they love the projects but I sometimes feel like it's more trouble than it's worth...and yet I will be collaborating with Jeanne to work on creating cartoons for our graphic novels. Wish me luck!

Thing 4 online tools

Most of the time I feel like I can barely keep my head above water, especially when it comes to technology. Just recently I set my home page to i-google and set up my reader and I love it! When I say I love it I mean, wow, this is fantastic and I can use it easily and I dont have to log in somewhere and remember my password and take that extra step. When I turn on my computer it's right there waiting for me with all of the stuff that I want to look at and check on. When I was going out to look at the tools that were on the wiki it appeared that some of them would be helpful but if I was going to use one of them I would need to attach them to my i-google page to eliminate that dreaded log in thing again. I am old school and still carry around my calendar with a pencil in my purse. I want to get into the new age on keeping my calendar on line but need to find a way to keep it handy and user friendly. I've tried using my phone too but always get one or two things input before I give it up. I'll keep plugging away at this see if I can establish a routine and make it easier for myself. Google calendar on my i-google page is one possibility...but what if I'm not logged in for a day or two...then what?

Thing 2 blogging and Rss feeds

In year two of this MILI journey I finally have my RSS reader up and running. I still only use it for MILI and one other feed but look forward to adding to it now that I am more comfortable using it. I guess I'm one who is better at trying this tech stuff in baby steps, a little here and a little there. I even had big plans of having my 6th graders blog once a week this year so they would have a running record of the year. I am now comfortble using blogger and thought it would be fun to have the students set up accounts...oh the drama...not all students have e-mail accounts and as a district we can't be responsible for setting up e-mails here at school...so...we were invited to use moodle as a mode for our blogs. It is a good system with opportunities to have forums where students can work together and respond to questions that I post and they can comment on what others have written. I sometimes feel like we learn about all of these great tools that we can use and then the district dictates which tools fit within the "laws" of school use...it can be very frusterating. My blogs are not what I had envisioned, however, I learned about a new tool that I can use with my students. The glass half full or half empty, I guess it's all in how you look at it.

When going deeper and looking at the videos they had on youtube (I made it around that nasty filter, yippee) I think there were a couple that would work well to show students about why blogging is something they will want to get proficient at. I liked the term hyper reading in reference to starting in one place and hyperlinking to new and better information. This is something I do all the time as a means of finding exactly the information that I am looking for bt never thought about it in terms of an actual research process. I think this is something that should be addressed with students as many of them do this already but they are not careful about noting the specific site that the information they took came from. I could see this being a problem when they go to cite their sources.

Changing times

Welocme to the information age where we are creating a culture of information junkies. I do not say this in a bad way, it can just be overwhelming at times. I was talking with some of my volleyball friends about how different our tv watching habits are today vs. the 1980's. This came about as we were watching a replay of an 80's Packers/Bears game. Can you believe that you had to wait forever for the score to pop up and the announcers had to tell you what down it was and how many yards were needed for a first down, and forget about the scores of the other games...Now you can see everything you need to know right up on the screen all at once and you wouldn't even need to have the sound on. If you're a junkie like me you're also watching on the couch with your laptop tuned into nfl.com so you can see all the other scores and highlights as they are happening...almost. Can you remember back to the days when there was no infomation tag sliding across the bottom of your screen giving you all the days news highlights while the anchor man is talking about other things. It was interesting to reflect on the way this one "normal" aspect of most people's day has changed over time.

trying something new

I have jumped into the pool rather than dipping my toe in to check the temperature. My mystery genre book project has become an opportunity for students to create a podcast or video promoting their book. My goal is to have them create a script including effects that can be posted to our school web page. I alone do not have the expertise to do this, however, I am collaborating with many colleagues to make this a successful venture.

Blogging on Moodle

I was very excited to start blogging with my students during advisory this year. My original intention was to have them all create blogger accounts but I was directed by our "techie" guy that I should use Moodle...so he set me up and we started moodling last week. I think in the past I would have been nervous about trying something that was totally unfamiliar to me but
Mili has taught me that I dont have to be afraid just give it a try and learn from the mistake that will undoubtedly come with technology trials! We are moodling on Wednesday mornings and last Wednesday we couldn't because of the late start date and my students were very disappointed and I took that as a good sign. As we get further into this I hope to find differing uses for Moodle...not poodle...nope, not noodle...it's MOODLE~

Library Visits

It was a scheduling nightmare but I have finally scheduled 4 days worth of walking fieldtrips to our local library. The wonderful thing is the library is only a mile from the school and we can just walk! Let's hope the weather holds. I am lucky that I work with a team who is willing to adjust their schedules for four days so I can introduce so mny of our kids to the library. I handed out applications for library cards to my students and was able to drop off 30+ last week so my students can check out while we are there.