BP15_2009103_ResponceToTrisha

Trisha said: "Story Something is a mobile and web platform for personalized and customized children's stories providing busy, time deprived parents with impressionable, relevant, and enjoyable ways to connect with their children through storytelling. If I were an elementary school teacher I would encourage all of my parents to sign up for this tool. Not only would it provide active involvemnt in their childs learning, but it will reinforce the reading strategies that are taught in my class. Again I have to reflect back on my National Board experiance and say that this tool is exactly what the board is looking for when envolving the parents and or the community of parents with what you are doing as an individual in the classroom creating a learning team that reinforces eachother in and outside of the classroom."

Trisha, I am really glad that you were able to find out more about this site. Last week I tried to look in to it and all it would allow me to do was send them my e-mail. I never did get any information about it though. I personally believe that parent involvement, especially at a young age is imperative in a child's life. You said it perfect what you mentioned time deprived parents needing fun ways to connect to their kids. I am not a mom yet, but with as busy as my schedule is now, I can understand how parents with children struggle to find time to search out good information for their children. It is great to know that someone out there is lending parents a hand, and suppling them with an easy was to connect with their children. I can't wait to learn more about this site for myself!

BP14_2009103_Web2.0_TadaList

The last tool that I chose to write about this week doesn’t really have any educational value, it is just one of those things that makes a teachers busy, busy lives a little easier. Tadalist.com is a very simple website with a very simple tool that generates lists for both interactive computer usage, or simply to print out as a handout. This site is nothing fancy, but I know I will be using it from now. Registration to the site is free and takes less than a minute. Once you register and log in you can begin making lists and saving them to the website. Once your list is complete you have a few options to choose from. The first thing you can choose to do is print the list just as it is. If you would prefer to have it saved somewhere other than on the site you can have it emailed to yourself. Or you can allow the site to save it and access it through logging in. If you decide on the last option, tadalist.com will categorize you things in to things that are done, and things that are not done. To change from what list or another simply check that an item on your list has been completed. This is a great tool for teachers and students. Teachers can generate lists for themselves or for students to keep for assignments. I would love to use this with students in an electronic form for assignments. I think it would be great if each student could have his or her own account. Each account would have a list of assignments for a grading period. Once a student has submitted their assignment they can log on and click that it has been completed, much like we do on FSO. I think this would be a great way to help students and teachers stay organized.

My Lists. (2009). Retrieved on October 18, 2009 from http://tadalist.com.

BP13_2009103_ReflectiveMedia2

Nutcracker Suite. (2009). Creative commons music. Retrieved on October 18, 2009 from http://search.creativecommons.org/.

Pictures courtesy of Morgue File and Loggel.

Loggel. (2009). Retrieved on October 18, 2009 from http://loggel.com.

Morgue File. (2009). Retrieved on October 18, 2009 from http://morguefile.com.

BP12_2009103_Web2.0_Loggel

When I found the site Loggel, my mind started racing at the amazing class activity opportunities that this website offers. Loggel takes blogging and journaling to the next level. The website is free to join, and is actually built to be a travel log type of journal. The first thing I imagined doing with this website is a class website, journaling classroom adventures. This would be a great way to chart and journal a specific unit. For example, say your class is studying a unit called “Christmas Around the World.” To begin the project, each student would be assigned a different country. Then they would be responsible for researching the holiday traditions of that country. Within that research that would need to find 20 photographs or pictures that they could site and use on their portion of the website. After completing their website, each member of the class would be responsible for drafting a minimum of three entries for the Loggel site. Each class, students could take turns writing and uploading their information to the website. They would be required to use the pictures they found in the entries. Each Loggel entry has the ability to contain a picture slideshow to accompany the text. Because the site is intended to be used a travel log, it has a great additional feature that could be used in a project of this nature. For each entry you have the option of including a geotag option. A geotag allows you to take on a map the location that your entry is referring to. Once each student has completed their section, you could take it a step further and have students explore the website comparing cultures and holiday traditions. This is a great way to involve parents as well, since the website is accessible anytime, anywhere!

Loggel. (2009). Retrieved on October 18, 2009 from http://www.loggel.com.

BP11_2009103_Web2.0_SlideBoom

The first web 2.0 tool that I found this week is called SlideBoom. This site has the potential to be a great tool to use in the classroom if you just use a little creativity. While the website seems to be directed a business professionals, I do believe that this site can be used in the education world as well. The site allows you to upload PowerPoint presentations to the web and share them with people around the world. There are a few options you can follow when using this site. You can upload a PowerPoint with no registration. However, your ability to modify or personalize your upload is limited. You can still decide who can view, download and embed your document. But the biggest limitation is that the presentation will only be available on the site for a week once it is uploaded. To leave your presentation on the site permanently and be able to make alterations to it, you can register for a reasonable fee. This could be a great site for increasing parent involvement in the classroom. Students can make PowerPoint presentations and upload them to the website and which allows parents to see what their students are studying and the quality of their work. Another great way to use the site would be to do a class submission. If you have an assignment where all of your students are submitting PowerPoint’s, you can require that they all submit their presentation to the site. This would allow you to manage the format in which you are receiving all their work. This site is not something that is very involved or that your students are going to be jumping to use. But this site is a great tool for teachers to share and manage student’s work.

SlideBoom. (2009). Retrieved on October 17, 2009 at http://www.slideboom.com/presentations.

BP10_2009103_ReflectiveMedia

All videos and pictures courtesy of Kideos Videos For Kids

Kideos. (2009). Retrieved on October 14, 2009 from http://www.kideos.com/.

BP9_2009103_FlickrLesson

Many of the lesson plans that I found on the Internet using Flickr were centered on using words and pictures. Before I began researching, I had an idea in my head of how I would use Flickr in the classroom. The results of my search supported my general idea. We all can remember the same old vocabulary lessons. The teacher would say, “write the word five times, then write a sentence using the word.” And that homework would be assigned every week with a new set of words. I believe that using Flickr in association with vocabulary would be a great new twist, on a classic, but important, subject. There are a couple of different ways I could see incorporating Flickr in to a vocabulary lesson. The first way may only work if you have the availability of cameras. You could allow them to go around the school and find things to take pictures of, or take pictures of each other putting their vocabulary words in to action. You could include bonus points if students can find ways to “tag” pictures accurately with more than one vocabulary word. If you do not have cameras available, an alternate method would be to allow students search for pictures on the Internet that show examples of the vocabulary word. The catch to this method would be that students would not be allowed to use the actual vocabulary word in the search engine. By not allowing students to use the vocabulary word to search, it forces them to make sure they have a good understanding of what the word means. If they can’t find the right words to search, then they will not be able to find a picture to tag with the vocabulary word. By allowing the students to find pictures and additional words to associate with their vocabulary word, it will allow them to demonstrate understanding of the vocabulary word, without being forced in to the same old routine of sentence writing.