Cooking with Cronin

The 23rd Thing has been checked off!! The K12 learning web 2.0 course completed! Wahoo!!! This course has been a fantastic technology ride.  It’s been a whirl wind of ideas and websites to stimulate and get me excited about some new ways to teach my students. I can honestly say I was once again on the fast track to a whole new learning adventure. The challenge for me comes with personally and professionally  implementing many of the techniques and tools I have learned the last 10 weeks. Is the journey over or will it continue? For me the answer is simple, it will continue. At times I was overwhelmed with having to complete  many different assignments  each week. My learning style is such that I need to repeatedly use a task before I can establish a comfort zone.  Although I have my notes and tutorials to refer to, I am planning to make a list of the various web 2.0 tools. When I have a project I can refer to the list and select the technology tool from my toolbox that would best enhance my project. This visual reminder will allow me to “think technology” and continue implementing what I have learned.  Thank you, Shelley  for offering such a comprehensive course. Thanks also to my coach and colleagues for fellowship, encouragement, and inspiration along the way.

OOps! I did the time just forgot to post the reflection. Just when I thought I was finished. Oh well. I enjoyed reading the posts on Blogboard. One that peaked my interest was on collaboration being the key to student success. In a survey conducted by Metlife it suggests a direct corraltion between teacher collaboration and student success. Teamwork is the key to success both in and out of the classroom. How true, even in todays society.

I guess when I hear the term social networking I immediately think of Facebook and My Space. Although I have a Facebook account , there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to spend time checking in on other peoples activities. However, when I  have time to visit  other sites I enjoy catching up and even chatting with friends online.  I did enjoy exploring the uses of Social Networking in Education. Having glossed over this topic before, I now realize that it’s an easy way to network and share ideas with people all over the world. Why reinvent the wheel when someone somewhere has probably figured out a solution to your problem/question. I  will consider using this site, in the future, to enhance personal and professional growth.

Once I felt comfortable using Google Docs I know I am going to love it.  This will make collaborating with friends and colleagues so much easier.  I usually work in Microsoft Word and Excel when doing assignments but now Google Docs might become my new best friend.  Initially, I found the experience of navigating the spreadsheet  frustrating. I was not familiar with where to find the commands needed to format the information.  For my collaborative project I did a grade level spreadsheet for our upcoming Tech Connect weekly planning units. Other uses would be to collaborate with grade level colleagues, especially over the summer, on  ideas for the upcoming school year, planning events with friends, sharing ideas from conferences attended.

 Some Balance and harmony  in my life  is what I feel I needed after doing the course work today. I am interested in decorating and have enjoyed following Mary’s blog. She offers many practical tips on how to decorate your home with simple, cost cutting ideas. A little Feng Shui might be just what the doctor ordered with spring fevor in the air and the school year rapidly coming to a close.

Silent talking. That’s what I decided to name Wiki’s. I first got acquainted with the Wiki experience last year.  The teachers in our  school were coordinating a global studies project. Each grade level was asked to spotlight a country in South America.  I enjoyed using this group teaching tool to coordinate project ideas. It sure saved time and effort. Everyone was able to work at their own leisure. I enjoyed reading Vicki Davis’ post  Wiki Wiki Teaching. Since I previously taught kindergarten I visited this site first Kindergarten Counting Book . It offered some basic, yet creative ways to display each number 1-100. The second wiki entitled Greetings from the World offered some original and insightful glimpses into places a person might consider visiting. This would be a nice project to have the students in each grade level contribute to when we do our school global studies unit. I like the visual presentation in  Go West  The format was different, just a little bit of  introductory text and the rest in a web design. It was organized,  easy to read and remember  factual information. I could see my students using this idea to teach other students a concept.

My first thought after exploring Pageflakes was that it was very similar in appearance to an i-google page. The big advantage is that it can be shared with others. A tremendous advantage when networking. Although this is another organizational tool, I am beginning to feel like I need an organizational tool for an organizational tool.  So many choices out there it is becoming a little overwhelming to decide on the one that best serves my purpose. I like the name pageflakes to describe each pagecast. Again, the “how to” videos were very helpful and informative. I enjoyed spending time customizing and editing my page.

Doing this activity was like being sucked into a black hole. So much to look at and discover. I got lost in time. I should have set a time like Shelley suggested! Anyway, the Teacher Tube videos I found related to plants and reading.  We are studying plants and I might use this video activity to enhance the unit. I found the Olive Garden  preview advertisement  on each I selected video annoying. Once was enough!  I enjoyed the golf and wine making how to selections I previewed. Where I really lost time was watching the nostalgic I Love Lucy videos.  Funny, funny, funny. Oh well,  I needed a good laugh today.

Having used Audacity several times before, this assignment was like revisiting an old friend. I needed to get reconnected with the ” how to” again. I decided to create an audio (book  preview) podcast to be placed on my  school blog,  for an end of the year Mixbook project my class is currently working on.  Since I recorded each child’s voice,  it took some time to cut and paste each sound track together to make a final project. Thank goodness for my coach and colleagues,  always willing to lend a helping hand or two. I can see that using podcasting is a fun, creative way to spice up a project or recap information from a unit of study, I just need to remember to use it.

P.S. I was so excited to have completed a stretch task!  Yea!

Podcasting is lots of fun! There is a wealth of information just waiting to be explored.  Week 8′s  lesson helped me understand it better.  I was familiar with i tunes, but never understood all the possibilities.  I was thrilled to learn that now I can listen to some of my podcasts on my Google Reader, if I choose,  without downloading them to an ipod (I’m still working through that process).  I currently listen to music on my ipod when I walk or travel. I even let my husband listen to the “How to video” so he could learn how to get podcasts on his new Iphone. I can see how using podcasts can enhance classroom lessons and I will enjoy selecting ones that will compliment the remaining units of study.