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It’s been a long and winding road. But it’s done. I must admit that I was a reluctant participant. I was fully cognizant of my technological shortcomings. I have tended to fall back on the comfortable way of doing things with a few sprinklings of technology to make my administrators happy. But I also knew that change was inevitable. I want to be the very best teacher that I can be, and I couldn’t ignore a whole range of virtual innovation out there. Who wants to be known as a digital dinosaur?

So I immersed myself in this course. I jumped in the deep end of the pool without my swimmies. There were weeks where I was so frustrated that I could virtually spit. There were even weeks where I found no time to spare and I fell perilously behind. But each assignment stretched me. Each assignment threw me into the unfamiliar. And I figured it out. With Super Shelley’s assistance, of course. I have gained enough confidence to keep me exploring. While I’m not Star Trek material yet (no boldly going where no one has gone before), I might be more Buzz Lightyear (to infinity and beyond…sort of). I can navigate my way through the virtual world without constantly relying on my GPS. I have my touchstones and guideposts and, like toddlers learning to explore their universe, I’m off on a lifelong adventure, too.

So how will I use this new-found knowledge? Just wait. My students next year will create a Wiki, use Google docs for collaborating on projects and presentations, try Glogster to make a poster for a famous mathematician, work on podcasts to teach new concepts and upload them to our blog…..I’ve got big plans for the future. And I am positive that I’ll be a better teacher and a more knowledgeable teacher and a much more flexible teacher. I am hoping to incorporate so much of what I learned here in my classroom and in my own professional journey as a collaborative, creative and reflective member of the educational community. Look out Ning! It’s forum time…

This course has tossed more technology tools at me than I ever thought possible. Some I’ll use; some I won’t; and some will be a “one of these days” idea. My initial introduction to Ning was not positive. I thought it was just another way to while away the hours online. I am a reluctant social networking user. I’m more of a social networking observer. And I imagined that Ning would be more of the same.

I ventured onto the 2.0 Ning. I listened to Steve Hargadon’s explanation of the site. (It was long.) I read the welcome. I explored the groups and the forums. And I was singularly unimpressed. Round 2. I tried again. I followed a few threads to see if the discussions were useful or just a bunch of vocal whiners wanting to get their words and thoughts, however inane,  published. Of course there are a few of the latter, but I followed a whiteboard discussion. And I linked to a few interactive tool sites and then a blog reviewing interactive tools and I bookmarked it on delicious and I saw the light.

This was a group of like-minded individuals joining together in an online community to collaborate. Where Google docs was collaboration on a limited and local level, this was a global discussion of ideas. It’s one big coffee klatch hashing out the problems of the day -  expressing opinions and just plain chatting. And the idea of belonging to a community, even though it’s online and virtual, is appealing, too. In a small school like mine, this could be my lifeline.

Thanks, Ning. And thanks, Shelley, for opening my eyes to the possibilities out there.

Our more techy minded people have sung the praises of Google docs for a few years now. I have resisted their siren song until now. After using it and seeing its advantages as a tool for collaboration with peers, I am hooked.

This past week was our curriculum open house where we lay out the year for our upcoming fifth graders and their parents. It’s usually a mundane song and dance with questions and answers afterward. This time, I decided to use Google docs to spice things up. I created a powerpoint presentation for our grade level to show. The exciting part was the collaboration. My teaching partner made some additions and edits and several of our students did the same. We even took pictures and uploaded those. The result was wonderfully effective.

I can see this tool offering a multitude of possible uses. We can collaborate on cross-curricular lesson plans for our upcoming global studies unit. We would all be on the same page and know what was going on in the others’ classrooms so we could build on it in ours. We have the opportunity to participate in a long-distance science experiment, and our lab reports we share with the professor conducting the research could be a two-way street from now on. Students could do group projects using this tool. It would enable better communication and organization and provide a way to build a presentation together on their own time schedules. Collecting data from multiple sources, researching, coordinating meeting agendas….This is a tool for easy collaboration, and I love it.

The prognosis is very good for this doc.

My Google Reader habit is more of a sporadic checking several times a week rather than the daily scanning I ought to be doing. If I look too closely at the number of feeds aggregated in my reader, I start feeling absolutely overwhelmed. I know, I know….learn to scan and star what I want to look at more closely later. Baby steps…

My latest discovery from Free Technology for Teachers is ProPofs Quiz School. It’s one step beyond Quizlet. I can make flash cards, just like Quizlet, but I can also create online quizzes of all types – short answer, multiple choice, discussion. I can even embed pictures and video clips within the quiz. Plus, best of all, I can automatically grade it and track my students. Wow!

I know that there is a cost for some of the options but most are free. I will definitely be investigating the specifics. I’m excited about having the option to give quizzes online that I have created. Perfect. Next year’s students will be just as excited, too, right?

After writing that title, I seriously want a biscuit right out of the oven. And then I’d slather it with all sorts of add-ons like butter and blueberry preserves. Mmm…delicious.

This is sort of like Pageflakes – lots of add-ons in one nice, yummy package. I’m sure that a Google homepage that I made eons ago is a pageflake progenitor, but this version is incredible. It’s like one click shopping for every online need. Google Reader is the library, but this is my bedside table with the books I’m reading now.

I had no difficulty with editing and moving flakes around. I was extremely frustrated using the search tool, as warned, and fairly frustrated at my clumsy upload abilities. I know the procedure. It’s just me, but i am getting better. I love the editing capabilities and the ability to prioritize depending on my whim by flinging flakes around the page.

Classroom applications are pretty easy to conjure up. How about classroom procedures, project descriptions and rubrics, field trip preparation and reminders, study groups, research, summer reviews….all in one place, accessible and able to be edited freely? My absolute favorite pageflake was the China/US project. Clever, engaging and clear. I’m building on that idea. The math flake for review and enrichment across the grade bands was definitely a potential model for our summer math program.

Pageflakes – the cure for the online munchies.

I’ve visited YouTube. I’ve even shown a few videos in my classroom as a fun conclusion to a lesson. But I must admit that I have rarely incorporated YouTube offerings in the body of a lesson. Sure, there was the odd how-to for using a protractor and the short tutorial on angle measures. After wandering through the countless videos for a bit, I realize that I could do better.

I’ve noticed, as have most other teachers, that technology has the potential to engage students. As riveting as I think I am, my students respond to a mixture of modalities. I could use a video as a jumping-off point for discussion or as an introduction to a concept. I could reinforce what they know in a different way. I was particularly drawn to the “actors” portraying historical figures and the raw footage of historical events. Both YouTube and Teacher Tube have examples of the serious and the hilarious approach to material, and they both have their place in the classroom. But you must use any of these cool tools in a deliberate and thoughtful manner.

Here’s one of my favorites:

My sister is coming to visit, so instead of worrying about all of the pitfalls possible with podcasting, I jumped right in. I pulled on my headphones, took a few minutes to structure the material in my head, tabbed the help page that Super Shelley provided, and pushed record. I was not satisfied with the first attempt (who really likes the sound of their own voice?) and made a second that was adequate (apparently holding the microphone another inch from my face helped make my voice a bit less annoying).

I saved to my desktop and tabbed another help page for uploading to Podbean. When I imported to iTunes, it automatically made it into an AAV file which is (now I know) an MP3. Much worry ensued because I couldn’t find the converter. I finally decided to just upload to Podbean and see what happened. It worked! I felt like a tech genius because it worked! And I listened to other podcasts (loved the hints for buying carpet), too.

This is far easier than I anticipated and is something that I could incorporate in my classes. My students and I can make informative how-to podcasts for new concepts that could be accessed by the curious and confused. Fantastic!

Polygons

I have never made a podcast. I have watched others make a podcast. I think I will be making a podcast soon (hello, Thing 18). But what I am most excited about and, let’s face it, most comfortable with, is listening to podcasts. It’s the same thrill that I used to get thumbing through my college catalogue. I could take philosophy or astronomy or film appreciation or the history of jazz…..What potential there was for learning new things! And here that opportunity is again!

I successfully subscribed to Grammar Girl and promptly learned the difference between using “compared to” and “compared with”. Then I clicked to iTunes and found Math Dude. I subscribed to that, too. I resisted the temptation to review my French or try Chinese. I even held back from the podcasts of Greek history and Shakspeare from iTunes u. I might never leave my couch if I gave in to too many of these amazing offerings.

There are several, though, that will definitely make their way into my classroom. Math Dude and Math Video Tutor will be links from my school website as a resource for review and study. One from Apple Education is on tap for Monday’s lesson on geometry. And my summer dance card is already filled with a few of the Smart Board tutorial series. Those podcasts will help me learn how to use the technology that (I hope to) have.

Podcasts are like having your own personal tutor that you can listen to whenever it’s most convenient. Consider me a fan. We all ought to be pod people now.

Don’t let everybody in on the secret – Library Thing is way better than those monthly book clubs. Despite the absence of delicious cake, Library Thing makes the grade as a superior tool for organizing my book collection, reading reviews of thousands of titles, and sharing literary interests with like-minded groups.

Personally, I found several groups that I’d love to join. Professionally, I could see my students making their own group around the Sunshine State books. Our sixth graders already create a voice thread reviewing many of these, but an online group of cheerleaders to encourage everyone to reach the goal would be a terrific addition to the project.

The young adult readers group would be ideal for our upper grades. It’s an excellent forum for finding and giving suggestions for new books. Teachers would have to oversee comments to ensure that all parties are “playing nice”, but the ones I skimmed were appropriate and on point.

Thanks, Library Thing! Another addition to my digital toolbox!

The yummiest things about Delicious are the portability, the tagging, the sorting, the sharing and, did I mention the portability? And so easy! I imported all of my existing bookmarks in a flash. The hard part will be editing them all and adding tags, but that only takes time, right?

After viewing the Commoncraft video and exploring a bit and joining and adding some bookmarks, I spoke with two of my daughters who had lost all of their extensive collection of bookmarks when their respective computers decided to fry themselves into oblivion. I described delicious, especially the portability aspect, and I now have new converts.

I love the idea of sharing among a group of similarly minded educators. I love the idea of creating a collective resource for new and relevant material for the classroom. I just love delicious.

Check out my links: http://delicious.com/lesl236

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