Thing 15 - Revisiting RSS

I had only gone back to Bloglines two times since I set up my account, but I did need to move some of my feeds around to other folders. I think I will be looking at it more, now that I have added the Delicious feed on "Children's Literature".

I think it becomes a lot easier to add items to RSS and Delicious by using the icons or buttons. I haven't had to copy a URL and paste it. Once the holidays are over, I will start using these more and checking them more often.

Thing 14 - Posting on Delicious

I began by looking for sites that I could share with both my students and teachers such as homework help sites and curriculum sites targeting middle school. Then I started searching for sites that I could direct my students to on my Media Center webpage, ebooks, booklists, reviews, etc. My address is: delicious.com/cwadhams.

I am even thinking of holding an after school session for those interested in learning about using Delicious as a tool their departments can use. This could be a very time saving shortcut to access sites you have bookmarked at home. I usually send them to myself in an email to bookmark at school.. Now, however, I can access them on Delicious.

Thing 13 - Delicious - Social bookmarking

I can see myself using this tool as a way to find websites and post them for the school staff. This could be done for each subject area. On my Media Center web page on our site, I could place links for the students to homework help sites, literature sites, or fun sites.

The only problem I can foresee is getting the teachers to use this as a resource. Once they see the advantage to using something like this, they could add their own sites for their departments.

Thing 12 - Embedding Widgets

Happy Holidays!



I really enjoyed finding a Lookybook on someone else's blog, so I thought I would try the same thing. I looked for something seasonal. This book has beautiful illustrations along with whimsical feline Christmas wishes.

This is such a wonderful way to arouse curiosity in students. By posting these, it may prompt a student to seek out a particular book and read it.

Thing 11 - Courtesy in comments

Any time someone makes a comment, I think a good rule of thumb would be to ask oneself, "If I received this comment, how would it make me feel?"

As educators, we owe it to our students to set a good example of how to use constructive criticism, or, compliments. By allowing students to post comments on a blog, I believe you are allowing another method of communication which may be preferable to some who might otherwise feel uncomfortable. However, it is important to be perfectly clear on what is an appropriate comment and what is not.

This could be a great teaching tool, and may serve as a means to better understand what goes on in your students' heads. It allows them to express themselves, within acceptable parameters. It can also act as a way to evaluate your own course content and methods of teaching by listening to their comments.

West Wing - Thanksgiving Turkey Pardon

This is a clip from a former show where C. J. Cregg has to choose between two turkeys for the Presidential pardon. She is reluctant because the unpardoned turkey will become someone's dinner.
The following video is when C.J. asks President Bartlett to pardon both turkeys as her conscience won't allow her to send one of them off to become a meal.

I obviously chose these two segments because they are about Thanksgiving and are comical, given this is all happening in the White House.

Having done this, I have found out how to do something I wondered about in Thing 9. This would be great to use with lessons on a teacher website, or, in my case, the Media Center.

Thing 9 - YouTubin' : a slippery slope for school use

After finally having success at downloading Media Player, I started to look at some of the clips listed on 23 Things. As I have been a choral singer with UMS, my favorite was Luciano Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma, and that was what I posted my comment on.

I then started looking for clips from The West Wing and specifically the show on the Thanksgiving Turkey Pardon, seeing as the holiday is almost here. I found several of these and watched them. I also sent them to my daughter who enjoys that particular show.

I did notice some really foul language in some of the comments, along with what looked like some inappropriate clips that I was not interested in venturing into. I can see where this would be a huge problem for schools to allow into their network, but if some of the really good clips can be downloaded, I think certains clips from this site would not only provide some humor to enjoy with classes (animals are always a big hit), but a way to share interesting videos for educational purposes.

Thing 8 - Fun with imagery

I had a lot of fun looking at all the different sites offered with Thing 8. The montage was fun and I spent a lot of time curiously plugging in different words to see what generated. The Speller was also interesting even though limited.

As you can see, I chose the comic strip generator for my uploaded image. I really like to play around with graphics and color, so I really experienced no problems with this, other than not quite fitting all the dialog inside the balloon.

I will have to play around some more.................

Thing 7: Flikr-ing

I could not open the tutorials for some reason, but did use the "Newbies" guide to do this.

I will be able to use this to upload photos of our students to the school website, which is a great way to show the community what goes on at school. The students enjoy seeing who attended various school events (dances, sports games, competitions, etc.), and it is a nice way to keep a record of the year in pictures.

If I am using my own photos, I don't see any problems posting pictures on Flikr, but I wonder how you can protect your authorship. I will have to look into that in the future.

Thing 6 - Interestingness

I found looking at all these wonderful images amazing, and I spent a lot of time doing so. I even emailed some links to my daughter who teaches environmental education.

I found a group entitled "Too Cute" with pictures of pets and children on Flikr. I liked doing a search to bring up specific topics. Since I am managing our school website and our mascot is a dragon, my search was for photos of dragons. Surprisingly, there were many, from sculptures, to cloud formations, to sea and reptile life.

I can see this as being a wonderful tool one could use to teach in an aesthetic way. In one demo, the person typed the word "geometry" in the search bar, and came up with all types of photos with geometric shapes hidden in the picture. What a great way to teach Math!

I will certainly use this as a source for my school website.

Thing 5 - Subscribing to blogs - Time consuming!

This definitely took a lot more time to become masterful at. At first, when I went to do a bookmarket, my pop-up blocker prevented it from showing on my links bar???? What the heck? It took me awhile to figure out I had done nothing wrong...it was Comcast's fault!

I also found some blogs under a media and web tools search that discussed how digital libraries are the thing of the future with a caveat: students may not use them to actually read, but to interact with the technology! That's pretty frightening. Are hardcovers and pbacks becoming extinct? Will Media Specialists lose their jobs as a result? I still think small children especially, like to actually hold a book and read..I know I do. I just cannot fathom the idea of logging on to a website and reading a novel on a computer screen. Are we encouraging bedtime stories to be a thing of the past?

In addition, I subscribed to some blogs for Media Specialists and some for booklists which I can use in my job.

Thing 4 - RSS - Saving Time, Keeping Updated

I think this will be a great timesaver. I like to do research. However, if you have time constraints, this is a easy way to find what you need that is current. Our school tapes and broadcasts a weekly student News report, which must be scripted. This would be an easy way to access what has occurred during the week, to include in each broadcast. I can also use it to get the latest updates on what school libraries are using as successful programs to reach their students.

Blogs in education - Exciting!

There are so many ways blogs can be used to engage students. Not only can you share important and interesting information with your students, but you are offering them a way to participate in a very different way than they have traditionally been used to. I think this is a great idea for those students who need a new approach to learning. In allowing them to use technology, they may even think it's fun! Using blogs to post assignments, websites, and allowing feedback/concerns is also a great way to give both students and parents a ready reference to what is expected and offered in the curriculum.

A Common Goal

Having worked in the field of education initially, then the private sector, and back to education, I have seen where education lags behind in the utilization of different kinds of technology to teach for different reasons.

In the private sector, updating technology and its many uses, are essential in maintaining competitiveness in the global market. Marketing by using websites to disseminate information about your company and its employees is a means to attract clients. Podcasts, video conferences, etc. are ways to stay in touch with your clients and promote your business. One is not given the choice whether or not to become technologically savvy. You will not be hired or keep your job, if you do not constantly "upgrade" yourself.

In education, there are teachers who understand the message given in this wonderful presentation, and who would love to jump at the chance to teach using all these fabulous tools. Then there are those teachers who are not comfortable with learning new technologies for their own sake, let alone wanting to teach with them, or even taking a moderate interest in how this could be done. You would think they would want to know what their students know already.

Younger teachers are those who are anxious to implement those things addressed in the video, because they have grown up using all these new technologies. They face a different problem. They are prohibited from using Ipods, cellphones, etc. because these are not allowed in school. The Information Age with all its capabilities, has also enabled some young adults to misuse these tools. One local district recently had to take criminal action against a student for using her cell phone to take inappropriate pictures and then email them to other students. School administrators have to answer to parents and the Board of Ed. on such matters.

Some school districts' budgets have been so drastically cut, they can't even repair the equipment they have. Buying into new technologies for classroom use, and implementing them in every classroom would be an ideal way to engage today's students. But, it would take a lot of effort on the part of administration to support it by seeing the advantages it can have to enhance learning and commit to funding it. Teachers need to get on the same technological wave length so that all classes are working together to make such programs work. Parents need to understand the positive effect this could on their child's learning potential, and still be willing to accept responsibility for any abuse of the technology and its consequences.

Isn't it an enigma that although we are supposed to be educating children to learn the skills that will lead them to successful employment in the 21st century, we are faced with professional, social and economic factors that prevent us from attaining that goal?