Thing Ten

This video I selected because, first of all, I thought it was a very captivating video to watch. It gives us information about how our world’s population is changing every second, whether we think about it or not.

I also chose this one because I could actually use it in my classroom as we talk about population during our class curriculum. I had previously pulled up the population clock from the internet, which showed the students numerical data, and they were captivated, but this would give them a much more visually impressive portrayal of what the population changes really mean.

Also able to download a video?

Thing Nine

YouTube seems to be one of those never ending fountains of resources. There is information about nearly every topic you might want or need – and then there is information about just about every topic you might not.  That could be considered a like and a dislike. There, again, are so many options that you could be looking for quite some time before you notice how long you’ve been there. A downside I found was wading through the inappropriate material.

There is much that could be useful for school. In fact, our entire building is showing the same YouTube video about bullying tomorrow. Our district does have restrictions on YouTube, so things like this have to be “reconfigured” in order to be used.

Thing Eight

In completing Thing Eight, I was very interested to see some of the options available when I began to explore them. I spent some time with Flickr Color Pickr and Flickr montage, as well as played a little Flickr Memry.  I was totally psyched to find a link that would get me to all things purple ~ and then it wouldn’t cooperate to allow me to do anything with it beyond clicking on the colors. I thought the mantage would be fun to use for family photos, for the dogs pictures, and even for pictures of concepts we are using in class, tying those together in one place for the students. Again, no success. I thought the Memry game would be great for the grandkids; they would get a kick out of playing a game like this with pictures of themselves in it. 

So, I played with these and played with them and…. I was excited about what I had found. This was at the first. I spent several hours, over two days (because I put it away and went to bed, thinking that would help) and was still left frustrated because I couldn’t accomplish what I set out to do. Even admitting that is difficult because I always finish what I begin. This will be an exception. It is one of those times in which I say that I need to move on.

Thing Seven

I think one of the biggest ways I might use Flikr in the classroom is to upload pictures of student work or students during classroom activities. These could then be placed into newsletters, blogs, websites, etc. for parents, communities, or any interested parties to view.

I think it could also be a good way of my posting pictures for students to view and respond for assignments, whether written or blogs. The possibilities are almost endless.

Issues I might face? I could find it difficult to come across photos in the area I want to use that are not copyrighted. That is partly what I ran up against with the time element in Thing Six; I was looking for something specific, and most of what I wanted was under the head of "Rights Reserved." Time is certainly not an element of which I have an overabundance.

Thing Six

I think it is an exceptionally easy thing to sit looking through pictures, or any information, on an internet site for hours if we let ourselves do this. The topic I chose, puppy dogs, I could look at for hours as I have this incredible weakness for animals. I would save every one of them if I could.

This is one of the many photos I found that resemble our dog in many ways. She is an unusual breed around here; I usually get one of those double-takes when I tell people what kind of dog she is.

Thing Three

I think that blogs could help support the work of my classroom in many ways. It could be an avenue of connection between myself and parents, both as a simple communication tool and as a message board. 

Blogging could also support our work in the classroom as students use this resource in accessing academics electronically, rather than using paper and pencil methods for everything they do. They could respond to a comment of the day or comment to something that is happening in current events. They could respond to a prompt, which would be the assignment's end, rather than a list of endless questions they needed to answer and I needed to read, then I could respond - or not. There is an endless realm of possibilities for this.

Concerns I have about educational blogging? There is always the possibility of someone misinterpreting what you are trying to accomplish in an electronic format. Face-to-face always  seems to be an easier way to read people. Another concern is in student responsibility; how will I know for sure who has truly completed the required work? These are just a few of those concerns.

Thing 2

I am participating in 23 Things for a variety of reasons. Some reasons are presonsal, and some are professional. There are a lot of things I must ask my own children to help me with when it comes to technological issues because I don't know how to solve the problems myself and I become frustrated.  My students are so much more advanced than I am and are able to follow through on tasks or problem-solve issues far beyond my reach.

I am hoping that by participating in 23 Things I will be able to be on a more even playing field with my students. If I am, we will be able to communicate in more ways than ever before, certainly we will be able to complete assignments and assessments in different avenues that are more interactive.  This is also a field in which others, such as parents, might be able to view how students are responding to the work at hand since it is open on the internet. That is one aspect that makes you stop and think about the ideas that you are posting in terms of appropriateness when there are many viewing your words.

I hope to learn the things that will allow me to do this. I also hope to learn how to get there without being frustrated along the way with not understanding how things work or don't work.