Podcast Reflection #8 EdTechWeekly #187

 http://edtechtalk.com/EdTechWeekly187
This podcast shared several interesting things, yet, two new ideas really stood out to me. Electronic portfolios was one thing that was new to me that I thought was really cool. With your own electronic portfolio, you can showcase what you are doing and what your all about. For instance, you can post your blog, links, images, and projects. These online portfolios can help students who want to feel that their work is important because it is seen by anyone who comes across the web.
A link that I shared below is something to look into as well. This is another place where you can share your work. This is a site where you post slide shows that you created and want to share to other educators, friends, employers, or to anyone looking for inspiration.
http://www.slideshare.net/coarsesalt/managing-to-know-a-tale-of-cave-painting-eportfolio-the-printing-press-and-ples

Podcast Reflection #9: Salman Khan: Let’s use video to reinvent education.

http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html

This link will take you to a video, where Salman Khan explains his creation of the Khan Academy. His talk on how he created a sort of virtual classroom was really fascinating. Having students learn at their own pace in a comfortable environment and then getting help at school with the teacher, is a great idea! I was just really impressed how this all started with a simple Youtube video and now he explains how there are 100,000 viewers around the world that use his videos for help. I think these videos are really great for the students who learn at a slow pace. With these videos, slow pace learners can really get the help they need and not have the pressure of learning at a fast pace in the classroom. I also really liked how teachers can view what problems their students have done and which ones they need help on. Growing up, I would have loved to had the access to his videos. I especially like the fact that he has videos for nearly every subject in science, math, history, etc. This video really makes me wonder what school is going to be like in the future. Are students going to spend all their time at home learning? Will students ever have to face their teachers if everything is online? I think as long as students have computers at home and have a parent or guardian watching them at home, students will have great success learning from these videos from the Khan Academy.

Podcast, Website & Blog M-term Critiques

Part 1: Podcast #1
The first pod cast I listened to, by two of my classmates, was very enriching with all the cool resources that were shared. One site gave information on global issues that teachers can incorporate in the classroom. Another site shared, was about where students can type in math problems and a step by step process is give to how to solve the problem. Other sites were for finding teacher jobs and having kids create their own animation.

Part 2: Website/Blog
I really like the first site I critiqued. It was fun and girly with sparkles and had a great picture. Most of the appropriate links were available on the homepage but I felt like they should be displayed more professionally then they are right now.  In viewing her blog, it also looked fun and girly and I noticed that she put some thought in her reflections. I suggested though that the title be more specific to what it’s going to be about and to include hyper link text.

Part 1: Podcast
The second pod cast was also filled with interesting resources. The first source discussed  was a about a site where you can learn all about the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and lots more about our United States of America. Another great source I learned about, was a site that takes you to great lesson plans, worksheets,  literature, and ways to decorate your classroom! Delicious was mentioned too! Delicious is a great tool that allows web surfers to keep track of all the great sites they come across and want to use in the future! I also learned about two different music sites. One of the sites is found at the Kansas State site. From this site, students can see other student’s music projects!

Part 2: Website/Blog
The second website that I critiqued was very well put together with a nice sleek, black background with animal print on the top of the page. It seemed easy to get to know her by viewing her Animoto! Most of all the important links were displayed nicely on the homepage. I was very impressed with her having everything completed but a few of her links were not live!

Part 3: My Own Website!
After viewing my two critique forms online, I felt good about only having to include a few links. However, after viewing other sites, I realized I needed to include my wild self image that I created. I feel up to par with my website and I feel confident that it is well on its way to being viewed by other teachers and even future employers!

Comic Strip Reflection

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/
http://technologykeys.wikispaces.com/Comics

 Comic strips are fun ways to get students learning in your classroom. By creating a comic strip about a topic such as WW1 or addition problems in math, I think students will easily learn the material because the lesson is presented as a story with fun pictures with creative characters. I could definitely see myself printing off copies of comics that I make and handing one to each of my students to read. Having the students read the comic could be part of the introduction to a lesson. Not only will the students enjoy reading the comic, making the comic is a lot of fun too. For my comic, I was able to pick out my characters, choose a background, and use my own words to fill out a word cloud. During the first few weeks of school, students could also go to the website above and create their own comic strip about their family or an event in their life to share with the class.

EduTeacher Reflection

       EduTeacher is a great website to go to when needing some help with putting technology in your classroom. It informs about sites that are for students. For instance, http://abcya.com/ is a site for younger students to have fun and play educational games. If you have a subject area in mind and the grade level, you can select them and then you are instantly shown helpful links. For instance, I selected language arts and out of the many options, I found a great source http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/ that offers lesson plans about the different events that are happening.

Twitter Reflection

       After having Twitter for several weeks now, I feel that I don't use it as often as I should. So far, I am following 5 and have accumulated 1 follower (this has probably been that best part so far)! I think twitter is a great way for educators to collaborate and share ideas, stories, resources, and much more! My favorite tweet so far that I have shared is a fun and creative website for kids! Check it out at http://www.brucevanpatter.com/funstuff.htmlhttp://www.brucevanpatter.com/funstuff.html! I hope that I can stay close to twitter because I'm sure some of the best ideas that I will get will come from the people I follow!

Classroom 2.0 Reflection

       The Classroom 2.0 website is a site for educators who are seeking collaboration with other educators throughout the country. There is a Forum page, where educators share their resources and can ask questions. Other educators can reply to entries that educators have posted and everyone can learn from each other. For instance, one person had a problem with "Wall Wisher," other people posted comments about their problems with it and others have gave them other resources to try that are similar to "Wall Wisher." There are a ton of videos and blogs, about different resources that people share. For instance, there is a video that would be beneficial for me, since I don't know how to subscribe to itunesU class20Live. There are groups that you can join where group members collaborate together to discuss about a certain topic. For instance, I would be interested in joining the group, "Elementary School 2.0." Educators in this group, share what they are doing in their classroom. For instance, one person shared about a humanities project that other teachers and classrooms can join. There are also webinars where educators share interesting and thought provoking topics to share with others. For example, I found an educator who's topic is "Teaching and Learning in a Network World." I think this is an excellent site for educators to get together and get support from the many other educators who are all wanting to learn about the same things and share topics that every educator can benefit from.

Kan-ed Reflection

       The Kan-ed website is filled with resources for teachers and kids. Educators who need lesson plans can go to this website for real lesson plans with the appropriate standards, benchmarks and indicators. If teachers are looking for ways to gain educational training, this website offers outlets for this purpose. Right on the homepage, you can read a daily history fact that teachers can share with their students. For instance, as I look at the homepage today, it shares who created the famous David statue. Like educators, kids can learn a lot from visiting this website. For example, there is a link called "Kids InfoBits" where kids can pick an area of their choice, such as, animals, plants, people, geography, and learn some cool stuff! There is another link, called Financial Foundations for Kids, where kids can learn about goods and services, making good choices about money, and tons more. There is also a link to search for magazine and newspaper articles. In a nutshell, you can learn a ton and gain so many useful resources by exploring this website.