Thing #21

I was really impressed with Google News Timeline that I found on GoogleLabs. Plug in any topic at all and you get pertinent newspaper headlines from the week. It was pretty cool...I searched the Mavs, price of oil, Hugo Chavez, and TAKS testing and found some interesting articles to scan and/or read. It was interesting and seemed like it could be a great tool for research. Used in conjunction with Google Notebook, we have no excuse for not keeping up with the world around us. I can see great applications for Google Notebook...what a super way to find sources to cite for research and keep them handy until time to use them. All the more reason for a kid to start the school year with a parent-supplied gmail address.

Thing 20

I had fun with Google Docs. At first I was having a bit of a tough time coming up with a need for a document, but I spent the day with family and conversation naturally drifted to books and Destin, so I took my inspiration from there. I made a set of tables for each family to list titles they wouldn't mind traveling with and will invite everyone to collaborate by filling in their tables. Then we'll have a good list of a traveling library...I asked people to indicate which title they'd like to read during our week on the beach by coloring in the cell the title is located in. Easy enough! We'll see if it gets response...I've only shared with my Mom and Dad so far...we'll see how far it goes from there. I LOVED the linking tool...linked my list with this blog so people could use my shelfari to get descriptions of my titles. My book list is far from complete...it's a work in progress! That could be a good way to use Google Docs at work...make a collaborative list of book titles that were read aloud and enjoyed by a class. Or make a book list that students use to post their fave reads of the year. I liked the drawing tool...it could be used as a collaborative 'doodle' where people are invited to add to a drawing. For classroom use...maybe post a math problem and invite online collaboration until a solution is found????

Thing 19

VoiceThread is very cool! I can think of lots of ways I could use it with my family members...they are so funny and we have such a good time with mass-emailing one another. We definitely think we're the funniest family ever, and there are so many of us that I doubt anyone would be willing to argue the point with us. With school, I can see many applications as well, especially in writing or using parts of speech. One good photo can obviously launch a multitude of responses...we could practice using descriptive adjectives, finding words that name nouns, writing good sentences or making sentences better with description. With math, I can see posting a number and having students brainstorm things that the number represents. For instance, I've seen activities where the teacher puts a number on a chart tablet and the students one-by-one come to the tablet and write their thoughts that the number brings to mind. For example, the number could be 24...students could write "2 dozen", or "6 x 4", or "hours in a day"...that kind of thing, but without the chart paper. It would be just a 5-minute computer lab activity...just enough time devoted to get a little set of brains thinking numerically.

Thing 18

I love podcasts! I've enjoyed NPR podcasts for some time now...I download them onto my ipod and listen while I'm on the treadmill. I especially like Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me, which is LOTS of fun to listen to. I love music, but I also really enjoy talk radio. Grammar Girl had some neat podcasts, for people (like me) who like to write and are a bit goofy about grammar. I thought they were pretty clever. I wanted The Math Factor to be cool...but it had too many words. A real turn-off. The math podcasts all seemed a bit too upper-level for my students, but the potential is there for something helpful. I know some students have successfully made their own podcasts, and that would be ideal. I can see it being a neat tool for getting kids to develop their own 'lectures' or lessons to teach via podcast...if they can explain a concept, they'd have to know it pretty well. Good food for thought!

Thing 16

I like this Library Thing. I really like the idea of the 50 Book Club...setting it as a challenge at the beginning of a school year and encouraging kids to post their titles and reviews. I suppose each kid would have to come to school with a workable email address?? I don't know if I like the idea of setting everyone up with a 'ghost' account...would rather parents spearhead getting their children their own email addresses and having them use them for educational purposes only. Goodness knows they'll be using that more and more as we progress through the future technologically, right? The students have enjoyed blogging so much...it might turn out to be great incentive for them to read more independently.

Thing 15

Delicious..I guess it could be cool, like if I had a reason to give a group of students a specific list of websites they could (or were required to) visit for a set purpose. I don't, however, have much of a need to see my bookmarked pages when I'm away from my home computer. It's so easy to do a search and find what it is you're looking for on google. I don't have much opportunity to piddle around on my computer while I'm at school...I pretty much save the "piddling" until I get home, where I can't seem to go more than 30 minutes without 'checking in'! I think I can live with or without Delicious.

7b

In my 'quick-scan' of my G-Reader, I found an interesting article called Time to Read written by a Scottish teacher...lamenting the same things we lament here in the good ol' USofA...'magine that! He talked about 'teaching to the test'...over-assessing every little thing kids do in the classroom...taking a lot of the fun out of the classroom and replacing it with over-emphasis on number grades, essays, examination. He wants to read some novels in the classroom, just for the fun of reading them and not following them up with essays and assignments. He wants to jump into poetry and not ask kids to analyze every one of them...just to show them that they can be simply enjoyed. It was interesting to read the comments, obviously from fellow Scottish-ites using terminology that was pretty foreign to me, but no doubt common educator-lingo in Scotland. It was a good read, and one I think I'll go back and comment on, now that I think of it!