Thing #23 IT IS FINISHED!

In the past few months I’ve googled and voicethreaded and wikied and tagged and podcast and blogged and 10 other things that I didn’t even know existed before. I’ve been stretched and I learned a lot, but I must admit, I’m looking forward to an evening with a good book and some old-fashioned low-tech conversation!

Add comment January 30, 2010 sherryboyd

Thing #22

Using Ning I found a very cool program started by National Geographic. My students could potentially become penpals with students all over the world. I plan to check into this some more to see if it would be “safe” and worthwhile. I like that there are places like Ning and Classroom 2.0 that cater to teachers specifically. What a great resource.

Add comment January 30, 2010 sherryboyd

Thing #21

Pageflakes: I played around with this, but don’t think I will use it. I couldn’t figure out a way to get rid of the sponsor/advertising (probably why it is free to use!) so I wouldn’t feel comfortable sending my students or parents here. I could use other tools that might accomplish what I need to do without the questionable advertisements.

Add comment January 30, 2010 sherryboyd

Thing #20

I experimented a little bit with googledocs, uploading and then editing and adding a link to a document that I use with my eighth grade history students. I have used googledocs for other things- for instance planning a family reunion and running a booster club.
I could possibly use google docs for my classroom to organize the parent help and contributions for the 7th grade Victorian Tea, or similarly to create a spreadsheet that parents could use to sign up for things for International Day. Also, I’m wondering if it would be a good place for all the history teachers at CPA to share tests etc. so I could know what students have done previously at CPA and will be expected to do in the future. I’m not sure if any of this would really work though, because I thought all our communications with parents and students needed to be through cornerstoneprep.org and not through gmail. Is there something I am missing?

Add comment January 30, 2010 sherryboyd

Thing #19

watch?v=b4TeJJmQJqU I love using youtube clips in my classroom!  This is one that I have used with the seventh graders after our unit on the Reformation.  Some of them found it hilarious and were very proud of themselves when they had to explain some of the terms to their older siblings or parents.  I would love to have my students create their own youtube video for a project but I’m not sure exactly how to go about it.  I wish I could find lesson plans, instructions, a rubric etc.  from someone who has already done it and done it well.   There are all kinds of  “dangers” in this kind of an assignment, but I would love to find a way to do it successfully because I think the students would love it.  I just want to know how to make sure it isn’t just fun, but has real educational value.

I was excited to read in our web2.0 directions about limiting our searches on youtube to material appropriate for children.  But I never could actually find a way to do that on youtube.  In the past I have spent way too much time wading through trash to get to anything decent, so if anyone can show me how to find the “search settings” and “filter” button on the youtube site, let me know!91301-podcasting-in-history-class

Add comment January 16, 2010 sherryboyd

Thing # 17

I am glad to understand a little bit more about podcasting since everyone in my family uses it except me. I can see that it would be a great tool to use with my students, since they all live on their mp3players and itouches anyway. But I wasn’t able to find any podcasts that I was crazy about recommending to them. I found some history podcasts and some have broadcasts that are specifically about subjects we study, but I’m not sure that any of them would engage my students. In my spare time (HA!) I should keep looking.

1 comment January 16, 2010 sherryboyd

Thing # 16

I DO love books – but browsing through the stacks at the library is much more rewarding to me than browsing through LibraryThing! I rarely buy books (I’m too cheap) so it is more practical for me to search through the library website for books by authors I’ve enjoyed or subjects I want to explore. I can’t think of ways I would use LibraryThing to benefit my students.

Add comment January 16, 2010 sherryboyd

Thing # 15

I was able to find a couple of sites that I plan on using in my classes. will be great for my 7th grade history students. I think that the tags helped me find them more efficiently than if I had just been google searching. But I’m not sure that I will really use the bookmarking and tagging capabilities to organize my bookmarks. I think if I just copy and paste the address of the sites I like onto the appropriate lesson plans I will be much more likely to be able to find/use it again. I’m afraid that if I start a list on delicious, I will never get around to going back and looking at the list!
Yes, I know that this post doesn’t have the link – it is because I always have trouble with inserting a link. HELP! Garrett tried it with me for 20 minutes and even HE couldn’t figure out why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

1 comment January 16, 2010 sherryboyd

Thing #7B

I looked at Emily’s blog (yes, Emily you are in my reader!) and loved the post about Culture Shock. I never thought about Rick being a TCK. Your post reminded me to be praying for the other TCKs in my life! Emily’s post can be found at http://everswick.edublogs.org/2010/01/08/thing-13-culture-shock-its-personal/ and I think I figured out how to do a link again!

Add comment January 14, 2010 sherryboyd