Thing #11 Google Maps

I had the hardest time with this assignment out of all of them. I had never used Google Maps before and I didn't realize what it was capable of. For this assignment I created a tour of the southern island of New Zealand. My class recently became epals with a class from New Zealand and many students did not know where New Zealand was located. The tour I created shows them the city the kids are from, where their school is and a few other areas that looked scenic around their school.

Click here for the tour.



View New Zealand in a larger map

Thing #10

I had to create a netvibes page for my graduate class - which I'm assuming is very similar to the Google Reader. I have subscribed to feeds from several educational sites and podcasts. There are also several blogs that I read regularly that I follow using the netvibes page. It is a real time saver because I don't have to go to all the websites individually. I can see if they have been updated and read the updates directly through the netvibes page.

Thing #9

I had already joined the Ning, so I created a new discussion post on using blogs in our classrooms with our students. It's something that I am curious about and from reading others blogs, some have similar questions.

Thing #8

I have used YouTube in class a few times, although I try to find videos off other sites as well such as National Geographic. A site I found while looking for math games has really good videos that review math concepts - it's called Math Playground. I have used them to review math concepts with select students that are struggling.

The dislikes I have for YouTube are the ads and the comments that can be inappropriate. I have never really looked at TeacherTube or SchoolTube before - they seem like useful sites if I were to create videos with students, since so many of the videos were created by students.

I did find a video on YouTube that I thought was pretty cool - it is a middle school teacher that creates raps for her subject areas. They were pretty entertaining. Not sure I'd have the courage to do that.

Book Talks

Thing #7

After looking at different Wiki pages, I was impressed by how some teachers are using them. We have a Wiki page at Southwood, that we are using to post websites that we are using with the other staff. When it was created, I did not realize that Kentwood had one of their how. I figured though that starting small might be a good idea.

Here's the link to the Southwood Wiki page:

http://southwoodpd.wikispaces.com/

I explored a Wiki page created by a fourth grade student and I was impressed by what her and her students were doing there. The page was being used as their class webpage and there were examples of student projects, podcasts, and discussions. Here's the link:


http://soar2newheights.wikispaces.com/

This wiki space was shared with me by a friend today. It is an amazing list of Web 2.0 sites for all different subjects. It is amazing.


http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/

I think wiki's are very well organized and easy to navigate, which make them a good resource to use with students.

Thing #6

While taking a recent graduate class there was a lot of discussion about Prezi. I didn't have time to look into then, but decided because of this post to try it out. I created the presentation last week for my science heredity students and used it in class. I found it a little complicated to use just because of how different it is. My students thought it was pretty cool, especially when I showed them how I made it. I think it could look better than it does, but hopefully when I use it again it will get better.

Here is the presentation.
http://https://prezi.com/secure/?lock=6d5e23d3df186912c823f40988fb671bb77759fc





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Thing #5

I have used Google Documents for collaborative work with others in graduate classes. I have never used it with students due to the fact that my students do not have email addresses to login into the google applications. In order for to use this in the classroom, I would need to create email addresses for my students to use for class assignments. I see the documents feature being the most useful, so they can work on projects together. Right now when I want students to work together or a project, they sit together at one computer and share the work (sometimes arguing over who gets to do what.

I have included the link to a document that I created for my graduate class.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AdbzBh1N_HxxZGRydDhuNjVfMWN3Z2Z6OGYz&hl=en

Thing #4

I really enjoyed listening to Nancy Keane's podcast which were book talks. I think I would like students to do their own book talk and could use this as example of what my expectations are.

I also liked the podcasts on storynory.com. It would be great to have a ipods are mp3 players for students to listen to the stories. It might work with students using laptops as well.

I am going to try having my students do a voicethread doing a book talk. I just have to locate a microphone and then I'll get started. I'll post the link when I get it done.

Thing #3

I don't use photo sharing software very often. I use it to edit photos and print for my own personal use. When using the software, I need to be able to crop out unwanted items in my photos - I don't take the best pictures. I really don't share photos often. I usually use facebook to share photos with friends and family members. I have created my class website using Weebly and I am happy with that, so I don't think I would use the website option. I might consider it if I become unhappy with what I am using.

Thing #2

I actually just created my delicious account last week, when I started having trouble keeping track of sites that I use regularly. I was using google bookmarks, but there wasn't any way to organize the sites. A fellow fifth grade teacher showed Delicious to me at the beginning of the school year, and at first glance I didn't really think there was any way to organize the links. I noticed the tag feature when I set up my account, which will help organize links into categories.

This site will help if you want to share sites you use to teach a certain concept. You can send them to your delicious page.

Here is the link to my page:

www.delicious.com/walbecklis

Thing #1

My name is Lisa Walbeck and I teach fifth grade at Southwood Elementary. I have been using a blog for a graduate class I am currently taking and our staff has a blog that we use to discuss our professional development further. I am interested to see how I can use a blog either as a communication tool with parents or with students. I have some ideas on what I could use the blogs for: book discussions, sharing their learning, etc. I am concerned with the privacy issues regarding blogs and with students posting inappropriate comments.