Wiki

I find the wikis very interesting. I think that it is very easy to use, user friendly. I love using Wikipedia, I use it all the time. It was pretty exciting to see my name in a form like they use. I would like to use this in my classroom. I do a unit every year on animals where all the students have a different animal. I would love to set up a wiki where kids can put their work and we can link them all together. I think kids would love this. Parents would love to see their child’s work as well. I don’t know how to set up an initial wiki, but once I figure that out I think I can do the rest. Some of my students will be great at this. Many kids are very technologically savvy. Some kids would be lost, they don’t even know how to turn on a computer. It would take a while to get this sorted out and we would need to spend a lot of time working on it. After they get used to it I think that they will take off and not need my help anymore. The only problem is that we do not have enough computers in one room in my school for all of my students. I don’t want or don’t like to have students in another room where there is no adult, especially if we are doing a harder project. I really liked this though and I want to use it in my classroom.

Podcasting

I think I could like this whole podcasting thing. I’ve been listening to podcasts for some time now. I would love to be able to use them in my classroom. You could do so many things with them. I would love to leave class announcement/news on my class website. This could be very beneficial to parents. I think kids would love to record their own podcasts as well. We could use it for book reviews, interviewing famous North Carolinians, or recording books for younger students. I am already thinking of many different activities I would like to use this for. Podcasting is relativelyeasy once you get the hang of it.  After I practice it for the rest of the summer I should be comfortable enough with it to use it with my students.  I think if I use my microphone recorder it might actually be easier.  I think that I might know how to do it.  If I actually figure this out I will be super excited.  It could change my classroom forever.  If it works in my classroom, we will use this during class frequently.  Who knows, maybe I’ll try to get my podcast on iTunes.  I’m glad that I got to try this in class.  I’ve learned many new things that could be useful if used appropriately.  Maybe donorschoose will donate ipods to my class so all students will be able to listen to the podcasts.  It’s worth a try.

My Podcast

Classroom Webpages

I have a class webpage but it’s not that great.  It was just set up at the end of last school year and I never had training for it.  I’ve played with it some.  I added a class schedule last school year that needs to be updated as soon as I figure out this year’s schedule.  Hopefully there will be some kind of training at my school at the beginning of the year.  My problem comes from workshops always being offered on days that I have class so I can’t attend most of them.  I think if I just explore it I will figure it out.  I usually pick up on these kinds of things fairly quickly.  I want to be able to add my homework weekly to my website.  This will help with kids who lose their homework.  Even if only five kids in my class have computers, it would be helping five.  I think most parents would find a way to get on a computer long enough to print it out.  A class website is a great way to keep updated information available to parents.  I know students go in and look at it.  Before the school year starts students go in and look at their new class.  I would have loved to do this when I was a child.  I want to make it a website that my students visit frequently.  It could really be a great tool to use.  Teachers need to take advantage of this and use it in their classroom.

Vacation!

Here are pictures from my vacation to the Pacific Northwest.

http://www.badongo.com/vid/1195151

Amos Goes Swimming

http://www.badongo.com/vid/1194133

CaptionTube

I have to be honest, I did not like CaptionTube.  I don’t think I will use it in my classroom.  The program itself was not hard to figure out.  I actually had a pretty easy time using it and adding my captions.  I have gone to YouTube hundreds of times before.  The hardest part of this project was trying to decide on a video to use.  I went with a Ninja Turtles video about not doing drugs.  I thought this was a good topic that is appropriate for all ages.  I started being a little sarcastic in my captions.  I hope I don’t offend anyone, I have a weird personality.  CaptionTube could be really fun to use.  To me, it would be more difficult to use in the classroom.  My students would have a hard time.  The hardest part for me was trying to upload it to my blog.  I could never figure out how to make the video show up, only the link.  I don’t think it looks as good on my blog.  It takes a lot of work just to make that work.  I had to Jing it and then put it on Badongo.  It took forever to  get it up to Badongo.  It was very frustrating considering it didn’t work the way I wanted it to.  I just don’t have this kind of time in my classroom.  My students could not sit still this long and honestly, I’m not sure if I can either.  Maybe in the future there will be an easier way to upload it to a website.  For now, I think that I’ll just skip this program.

PhotoStory

I found that PhotoStory is very user friendly.  I had never used it before yesterday.  I went to a workshop a couple years ago on PhotoStory but we didn’t actually use it there.  I think that computer programs need to be used in order to fully understand them.  I can’t just listen to someone talk about a program and fully understand it, I am one of those people that needs to just practice.  I think many people are like this.  I think that I could use PhotoStory in my classroom.  My computer is hooked up to the TV in my classroom, so I can show anything through my computer.  This program could be used for many activities in the classroom.  You could really do it for many subjects as well.  I want to play around and find some activities for my students.  The only problem is that I don’t have enough computers in my classroom so it would take while.  We have a computer lab but there are not enough computers in there for my students either.  We only get so much time a week.  I really do want to try it this year in my class.  I think students and parents will like it.  I’m not sure yet how to upload to the internet.  I tried to put my PhotoStory onto my blog but I couldn’t get it to work.  I saved in to my desktop to make it easier, but everytime that I upload from my computer every other file shows up but the one I need.  I just need to keep working on it, maybe Jing it.  If I figure it out, I would love to put my students’ creations on our class website.  This would be great for parents and I think the students would love to see each others work as well.  My school loves doing all sorts of technology activities, so I’m sure that they would love this.  Schools love technology, the only problem is that we are not really trained so it becomes difficult to use.  I don’t have much free time, I don’t have any at school.  It’s hard to just sit down at school and try the programs.  With PhotoStory, it just walks you through.  It’s pretty common sense.  I didn’t add music because I wasn’t sure about the whole copyright thing and I didn’t want to get in trouble.  I couldn’t find the music that was preloaded, I’m not sure if isn’t installed in my version or if I just wasn’t looking at the right place.  I need to make another one and I’ll look around more.  I want to make more with pictures of my nieces and nephew.  I think my family would really like it.  I do like PhotoStory and I plan on using it the future.  I’m glad that we had to make one for class because I do think it will be useful.

iGoogle

I am super excited about my iGoogle.  I have had a gmail account for years but I had never explored the iGoogle option.  I added so much stuff to my homepage and it makes me really happy.  My background itself is pretty exciting.  Who knew that polka dots would make me so happy?  I added the calendar and weather which is very important.  Apparently my husband had set up an iGoogle account under my name years ago when we were living in Mooresville.  I never even knew about it.  I went in and changed the locations to Claremont to make it a little more accurate.  I added the places to see box and the first picture to show up was of Rome.  I’m planning on visiting Italy next summer as a graduation present for my husband and I so we can see some family friends.  I love the fish that swim around as well.  I added several games just in case I ever get free time.  This probably won’t happen until next summer, but who knows?  The translator and the money convertor boxes may come in handy too.  I could have used them when I went to Costa Rica.  Several people tried to rip me off, luckily I can do math fairly quickly.  Hopefully the word of the day will improve my vocabulary.  I added news boxes so I will be informed of what’s going on.  I really like history, so of course I added the Today in History feature.  I know, I’m a dork.  Being a teacher, I had to add the box that counts down the days of the school year.  Overall, I think I will use iGoogle.  I don’t know if I’ll use it in my classroom, I need to keep exploring and see how many of the features I can use.  I think it could be very benifcial in my classroom.  I’m going to keep playing and seeing all of the features that are available.  I went through 27 pages and I got tired of looking.  I need to see what else is available.

Don’t Do Drugs

drugs3.swf – don’t do drugs – BADONGO

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