1. Get Taylor Mali to come to Klein and present to the ELA teachers. Sigh. If I wasn't already seen as a pariah in the district, this would certainly cement my status. :)
2. Go to more conferences. Lots and lots of conferences. I love conferences. I just wish there was more money for *teachers* to go to conferences. I have an ethical issue with non-teachers attending "teacher conferences" and then never sharing material with the teachers who actually wanted to go in the first place.
3. Put more effort into TAAE. I really enjoy being a part of this organization and I have really gotten great information from them as a whole, especially Scherry Scarborough and the Reese Education Center. If she wasn't so far away, I'd *love* to work on her campus.
Questions to Ask Myself:
What was your high school mascot?
How much do you think you can bench press?
What was your greatest high school experience?
What education did you get?
Would you ever move to Scotland?
Sunday, August 2, 2009
And the summer winds down...
I've been presenting the new ELAR curriculum projects to the secondary teachers in my district this week, and I have a few more sessions to go before I'm done. The first two sessions seemed to have gone over well. I'm basically going over a project-based lesson plan which can be adapted for their classroom use. Then I show them a few assignments that I have created and/or done in my classroom. I end it all with a few technology tips. Of course, I've promoted the Klein's Web 2.0 class - I even saw a few people write it down, so hopefully A.R. will get some new learners soon.
I'm going to Austin tomorrow for the Texas Educator Exchange conference. I have no idea what it's about (it's free) because even though the agenda is up on the TEA webpage, there is no additional information. No break out sessions. No mission. Nothing. I hope it will be worth the drive and a hotel room.
I get my school laptop (new!) on Wednesday. I can't wait. I haven't had one all summer, and it's really been impeding my progress. Hooray for productivity!
I'm going to Austin tomorrow for the Texas Educator Exchange conference. I have no idea what it's about (it's free) because even though the agenda is up on the TEA webpage, there is no additional information. No break out sessions. No mission. Nothing. I hope it will be worth the drive and a hotel room.
I get my school laptop (new!) on Wednesday. I can't wait. I haven't had one all summer, and it's really been impeding my progress. Hooray for productivity!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
(RT) 46 Stages of Twitter
Shamelessly copied and pasted from shanenickerson
46 stages of Twitter
1. Hear the word Twitter. Scoff.
2. Hear it again from someone else. Scoff again.
3. Hear about famous celebrity who is apparently "On Twitter." Scoff, but make mental note to check it out.
4. Log into Facebook to comfort self.
5. Sign up for Twitter.
6. Give up because it seems dumb.
7. Loudly criticize others on Twitter.
8. Follow @johncmayer, @aplusk, @rainnwilson, @wilw, @mrskutcher, @oprah, and one other person you actually know.
9. Post tweet that is a variant of: "Trying out this Twitter thing."10. Attempt to dig a little deeper into Twitter.
11. Notice rampant usage of words: "Tweet," "Twitter," "Twitterverse," "Tweetie," "Tweetdeck," and something called "RT."
12. Scoff again, this time in confusion.
13. Tell friends you "tried that Twitter thing, but didn't get it and it's stupid anyway."
14. Log into Facebook because that site at least makes sense.
15. Read story about Twitter somewhere.
16. Log back into Twitter.
17. Try to avoid saying Tweet, Twitter, Twitterverse, Tweetie, Tweetdeck, and ReTweet.
18. Respond to @rainnwilson.
19. Curse self for fanning out.
20. Log off for 4 months.
21. Come back, just to see.
22. Post something relatively funny.
23. Get RT'd.
24. Discover that RT means ReTweet.
25. Make it your life mission to get RT'd.
26. Install Twitter app on your phone.
27. No longer ashamed to say "I've gotta Twitter that."
28. Attend events with the sole intention of "Tweeting" them.
29. Pray to get RT'd.
30. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh.
31. Close computer.
32. Open computer. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh.
33. Think in 140 character sentences.
34. Compulsively check phone all day every day.
35. Tweet that you compulsively check phone all day every day.
36. Alienate actual people in your life in an attempt to impress ones you don't know.
37. Lose weight because you forget to eat.
38. Place phone by bed so you can check first thing in the morning.
39. Defend Twitter to the death from detractors.
40. Hear self, and vaguely recognize that you have become "That Guy."
41. Feel like, and start to behave like River Tam.
42. Vow to quit Twitter to preserve sanity.
43. Read this and change mind.
44. Think to self, "I should twitter that."
45. Recognize irony.
46. Twitter it.
Did I miss any?
46 stages of Twitter
1. Hear the word Twitter. Scoff.
2. Hear it again from someone else. Scoff again.
3. Hear about famous celebrity who is apparently "On Twitter." Scoff, but make mental note to check it out.
4. Log into Facebook to comfort self.
5. Sign up for Twitter.
6. Give up because it seems dumb.
7. Loudly criticize others on Twitter.
8. Follow @johncmayer, @aplusk, @rainnwilson, @wilw, @mrskutcher, @oprah, and one other person you actually know.
9. Post tweet that is a variant of: "Trying out this Twitter thing."10. Attempt to dig a little deeper into Twitter.
11. Notice rampant usage of words: "Tweet," "Twitter," "Twitterverse," "Tweetie," "Tweetdeck," and something called "RT."
12. Scoff again, this time in confusion.
13. Tell friends you "tried that Twitter thing, but didn't get it and it's stupid anyway."
14. Log into Facebook because that site at least makes sense.
15. Read story about Twitter somewhere.
16. Log back into Twitter.
17. Try to avoid saying Tweet, Twitter, Twitterverse, Tweetie, Tweetdeck, and ReTweet.
18. Respond to @rainnwilson.
19. Curse self for fanning out.
20. Log off for 4 months.
21. Come back, just to see.
22. Post something relatively funny.
23. Get RT'd.
24. Discover that RT means ReTweet.
25. Make it your life mission to get RT'd.
26. Install Twitter app on your phone.
27. No longer ashamed to say "I've gotta Twitter that."
28. Attend events with the sole intention of "Tweeting" them.
29. Pray to get RT'd.
30. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh.
31. Close computer.
32. Open computer. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh.
33. Think in 140 character sentences.
34. Compulsively check phone all day every day.
35. Tweet that you compulsively check phone all day every day.
36. Alienate actual people in your life in an attempt to impress ones you don't know.
37. Lose weight because you forget to eat.
38. Place phone by bed so you can check first thing in the morning.
39. Defend Twitter to the death from detractors.
40. Hear self, and vaguely recognize that you have become "That Guy."
41. Feel like, and start to behave like River Tam.
42. Vow to quit Twitter to preserve sanity.
43. Read this and change mind.
44. Think to self, "I should twitter that."
45. Recognize irony.
46. Twitter it.
Did I miss any?
Checking in.
After a brief hiatus from this blog, I was excited to see one other person is still using hers! (You really are a g33k!)
So, I'm supposed to be cleaning the house (you'd be surprised at how messy a house can get when two cats have the run of it for a month!) and instead I'm skimming the current group of professionals who are taking the Web 2.0 class. I like active web pages and I like seeing other people's ideas. I also think I found the blog of our Library Media Specialist today. If I'm right, you should join Ning! It's incredible!
I find that I'm having to skim down on my technology. Places that I visited frequently four years ago when I started 1:1 are obsolete for me these days. I don't go to Teachers.net anymore; I go to Ning.
I came on here to post about my mailing list - You can set up a free mailin glist from Bravenet and have parents subscribe to it. You only get 500 subscribers for a free account, but you *could* pay if you wanted to. I'm just going to cull the herd each year. 500 is a LOT of people.
You also only get to send one e-mail a day, but really, do you need to send any more? I think a mass e-mail once a week is plenty. Do parents really want a daily e-mail of the class agenda each day?
I think there is also a limit to the number of characters that you can send, but really, this is perfect for me.
If you want to see what mine looks like, check out my web page. I'm warning you though, it all looks pretty rough. I'm in the revising process right now.
So, I'm supposed to be cleaning the house (you'd be surprised at how messy a house can get when two cats have the run of it for a month!) and instead I'm skimming the current group of professionals who are taking the Web 2.0 class. I like active web pages and I like seeing other people's ideas. I also think I found the blog of our Library Media Specialist today. If I'm right, you should join Ning! It's incredible!
I find that I'm having to skim down on my technology. Places that I visited frequently four years ago when I started 1:1 are obsolete for me these days. I don't go to Teachers.net anymore; I go to Ning.
I came on here to post about my mailing list - You can set up a free mailin glist from Bravenet and have parents subscribe to it. You only get 500 subscribers for a free account, but you *could* pay if you wanted to. I'm just going to cull the herd each year. 500 is a LOT of people.
You also only get to send one e-mail a day, but really, do you need to send any more? I think a mass e-mail once a week is plenty. Do parents really want a daily e-mail of the class agenda each day?
I think there is also a limit to the number of characters that you can send, but really, this is perfect for me.
If you want to see what mine looks like, check out my web page. I'm warning you though, it all looks pretty rough. I'm in the revising process right now.
New things I am adding this year!
This year, I am adding a classroom Twitter account, a mailing list for parents for Bravenet, and I am going to use my blog more frequently. I am editing my webpage so that can integrate it more easily with Angel LMS, the portal that the 1:1 schools are using.
I was thinking of creating a Facebook page for my class, but then that would mean my students would be able to see my profile and request to add me. I don't want to have to create another "professional" profile on Facebook. Not that I post anything that is really bad - there is just a line there that I am not going to cross. I don't want my friends and students mingling.
I've been using Ning, and I have to say, I *love* it! Come find me on there!
I've also been looking into diigo instead of Delicious, becuase it has really cool highlighting and sticky note features, but I don't think we'll be able to use it because first of all, we'd have to download a program onto the computers, and secondly, I think it would be too easy for the students to create a chatroom.
Whoops! Gotta go put the trash can out! Post more later!
I was thinking of creating a Facebook page for my class, but then that would mean my students would be able to see my profile and request to add me. I don't want to have to create another "professional" profile on Facebook. Not that I post anything that is really bad - there is just a line there that I am not going to cross. I don't want my friends and students mingling.
I've been using Ning, and I have to say, I *love* it! Come find me on there!
I've also been looking into diigo instead of Delicious, becuase it has really cool highlighting and sticky note features, but I don't think we'll be able to use it because first of all, we'd have to download a program onto the computers, and secondly, I think it would be too easy for the students to create a chatroom.
Whoops! Gotta go put the trash can out! Post more later!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
My $0.02
I know that people use Wikispaces professionally, but this would not be a good choice to use with students because there is no way to control what they are doing - unless you want to have a paid account. For instance, with wikispaces, if I had created student accounts, they would then have the ability to create their OWN wikis and say whatever they wanted on it. I did not want that. That's how I found PBwiki.
I created a wiki for ELA teachers to share material.
I also created a wiki that my students managed that was about our school. They created pages for teachers, for our policies, and other aspects that are specific to our school. At this point, PBWiki is only open to Vistas Only, even for teachers.
I use podcasting right now, but it is a slow process. We are working with an audio-visual element, and right now audio-visual is blocked during the day.
Right now, my students are trying to vodcast. We worked on creating TAKS tutorial videos for students. I took my class and gave each student an era. However, my students ended up not being able to use videos because there was no way to convert MOV files to WMV files. We ended up just using still photos. It still worked, but we were saddened that we spent a lot of time harvesting videos. Some students were even considering videotaping themselves a la Bill Nye the Science Guy. I kept trying to girl who was researching the Cold War to start out with a video of her in a heavy coat being cold. Cold... get it? We had to scrap it, but I'm hopeful that we'll get a solution soon.
I have loved this class. As I said in my last post, I'd love to have a web 2.1 class next year to continue this learning. Things that we could do:
* iGoogle page (could have this set up with students)
* Jott
* Ning
* Flock - integrates social networking sites
* Net vibes
* Pandora!
* Vuvox
* Vyew/Yugma
* Nuvvo
* http://learnhub.com/
* http://www.digication.com/
In fact, I found this web page - All Things Web 2.0.
I created a wiki for ELA teachers to share material.
I also created a wiki that my students managed that was about our school. They created pages for teachers, for our policies, and other aspects that are specific to our school. At this point, PBWiki is only open to Vistas Only, even for teachers.
I use podcasting right now, but it is a slow process. We are working with an audio-visual element, and right now audio-visual is blocked during the day.
Right now, my students are trying to vodcast. We worked on creating TAKS tutorial videos for students. I took my class and gave each student an era. However, my students ended up not being able to use videos because there was no way to convert MOV files to WMV files. We ended up just using still photos. It still worked, but we were saddened that we spent a lot of time harvesting videos. Some students were even considering videotaping themselves a la Bill Nye the Science Guy. I kept trying to girl who was researching the Cold War to start out with a video of her in a heavy coat being cold. Cold... get it? We had to scrap it, but I'm hopeful that we'll get a solution soon.
I have loved this class. As I said in my last post, I'd love to have a web 2.1 class next year to continue this learning. Things that we could do:
* iGoogle page (could have this set up with students)
* Jott
* Ning
* Flock - integrates social networking sites
* Net vibes
* Pandora!
* Vuvox
* Vyew/Yugma
* Nuvvo
* http://learnhub.com/
* http://www.digication.com/
In fact, I found this web page - All Things Web 2.0.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Facebook revisited and other random things...
I blame this class and my lunch buddies for getting me sucked in to Facebook. I have had a MySpace account for years, and had always assumed that the same people would be on Facebook. I can admit I was wrong.
I'm kind of sad that this class is ending next week. I think that there are a few of us in the class who are already familiar with many of the products that are being highlighted, but it's a great time to share and get ideas.I wonder if there is anyway that we can get a web 2.1 class for year. I know that I'd take it if it was available. Just think of what will be around at this time next year!
For those of you who are bilingual, do you have a good translation site? I'm looking for an accurate webpage that can take my English text and translate it into Spanish. I found this one, but my Spanish isn't good enough to judge it. I also know that Gaggle has a translator as well. Any ideas?
I'm kind of sad that this class is ending next week. I think that there are a few of us in the class who are already familiar with many of the products that are being highlighted, but it's a great time to share and get ideas.I wonder if there is anyway that we can get a web 2.1 class for year. I know that I'd take it if it was available. Just think of what will be around at this time next year!
For those of you who are bilingual, do you have a good translation site? I'm looking for an accurate webpage that can take my English text and translate it into Spanish. I found this one, but my Spanish isn't good enough to judge it. I also know that Gaggle has a translator as well. Any ideas?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Speaking of wikis...
This is a wiki that I am currently working on: http://1to1english.pbwiki.com/
I don't have much up there right now, but if you want to see an idea of what I'm trying to do, click on English I and then Choose Your Own Adventure under Romeo and Juliet.
I don't have much up there right now, but if you want to see an idea of what I'm trying to do, click on English I and then Choose Your Own Adventure under Romeo and Juliet.
Wild, wild, wiki!
I created a wiki that my students worked on this year, but by the time that web sites were unblocked and my students created accounts, we really didn't have the time to finish it. That drives me nuts. I hate leaving projects unfinished, but in the classroom, the clock drives instruction, right?
I also have a personal wiki that Gregg and I use for our wedding. Since we are organizing an overseas wedding, it is really helpful in organizing our plans with all people involved.
You can easily use wikis in the classroom - it's pretty good for editing purposes. In fact, I created a page in the wiki tonight where we can brainstorm and generate ideas.
I love working with Google Documents - I just wish that it was unblocked at school. I find that most of my lesson planning that involves technology is done at home. I just have more technology (and freedom) at my disposal at home. When I work on something at home, I have to figure out how to get it to school. Now, I normally have Blue, my trusty external hardrive, but he's not failproof. I have left my harddrive at school before. I have had hardrives crash before (now THAT'S a tear-inducing experience). This just seems to be a an easy and free resource that the schools can utilize. I can't see how this can be a security issue since students can already share files.
For wikis, I like PB Wiki the best. In Wikispaces, if you want to monitor your student accounts, you'll have to spend money. In PB Wikis, I can create accounts that can edit only. The district won't allow a student to create his/her own wikis - I am the one who creates accounts. This really works well for me.
I also have a personal wiki that Gregg and I use for our wedding. Since we are organizing an overseas wedding, it is really helpful in organizing our plans with all people involved.
You can easily use wikis in the classroom - it's pretty good for editing purposes. In fact, I created a page in the wiki tonight where we can brainstorm and generate ideas.
I love working with Google Documents - I just wish that it was unblocked at school. I find that most of my lesson planning that involves technology is done at home. I just have more technology (and freedom) at my disposal at home. When I work on something at home, I have to figure out how to get it to school. Now, I normally have Blue, my trusty external hardrive, but he's not failproof. I have left my harddrive at school before. I have had hardrives crash before (now THAT'S a tear-inducing experience). This just seems to be a an easy and free resource that the schools can utilize. I can't see how this can be a security issue since students can already share files.
For wikis, I like PB Wiki the best. In Wikispaces, if you want to monitor your student accounts, you'll have to spend money. In PB Wikis, I can create accounts that can edit only. The district won't allow a student to create his/her own wikis - I am the one who creates accounts. This really works well for me.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
I'm cheap
I take lots of random pictures of random things. Because of this, I used to have a paid account, but then I switched over to Picasa.
I would use these sites a lot more, but I can't access any of them at school. I just keep everything on the external hardrive I had to buy.
One problem that I forsee is that as we make the move to more technology (especially with the 1:1 schools!), teachers are going to need more space to store things, or at least be allowed to access them on the internet, like Google Documents or Flickr.
I would use these sites a lot more, but I can't access any of them at school. I just keep everything on the external hardrive I had to buy.
One problem that I forsee is that as we make the move to more technology (especially with the 1:1 schools!), teachers are going to need more space to store things, or at least be allowed to access them on the internet, like Google Documents or Flickr.
Some of my pics from Flickr
Since I made so many bad decisions in my 20's, I decided to blow them all out of the water when I turned 30: I jumped out of a plane.
I am originally from St. Louis, so I still root for the Cardinals. w00t!!111
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
RSS Feeds
I have been having a grand ol' time with Delicious. I have multiple computers at the house (5 at this point) and having all of my bookmarks in one page is great. I have gotten over my "folder" complaint from last week.
RSS feeds are dangerous for me. I have to really be interested in what I link to or else I'll end up just ignoring all them. (That's what I do with my e-mail.) Listservs are also pretty bad for me. I just don't have the time to go through them all. I found that most of the time, I only want a RSS feed when it is someone that I know personally.
I have been trying to get a RSS feed for my classroom material - especially my video reviews, blog updates, and podcasts, so Google reader seems pretty easy to use.
Update!
RSS feeds are dangerous for me. I have to really be interested in what I link to or else I'll end up just ignoring all them. (That's what I do with my e-mail.) Listservs are also pretty bad for me. I just don't have the time to go through them all. I found that most of the time, I only want a RSS feed when it is someone that I know personally.
I have been trying to get a RSS feed for my classroom material - especially my video reviews, blog updates, and podcasts, so Google reader seems pretty easy to use.
Update!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Argh!
My IE just crashed and I lost all of my work (with this blog and my EduBlog)!
I have had a delicious account, but I've never really used it, because I don't visually appealing. I like to use folders, and the tags drive me nuts. I think this would be really great for someone just starting out, but when I imported all of my bookmarks, I was overwhelmed and cranky when I realized that I'd have to add tags to all of those links. I had almost 200. No way Jose'!
Eh. I'll give it the ol' college try. It really would help with my school computer when I have to reimage. Here I go!
My delicious user name is lochnessa78 if anyone wants to go browse my bookmarks. These are just the bookmarks from my house, so expect more school and technology links to show up once I purge my laptop.
Honestly, I'm glad I gave Delicious another try - this really can help out with a lot of things. I always get frustrated because I want an easy way to share links with my students, and I think that this might be it. Granted, I think I'll start a teacher account so that it's ONLY educations stuff (I have two of everything to protect myself). This will be easier than posting links over and over again each year for Beowulf.
I have had a delicious account, but I've never really used it, because I don't visually appealing. I like to use folders, and the tags drive me nuts. I think this would be really great for someone just starting out, but when I imported all of my bookmarks, I was overwhelmed and cranky when I realized that I'd have to add tags to all of those links. I had almost 200. No way Jose'!
Eh. I'll give it the ol' college try. It really would help with my school computer when I have to reimage. Here I go!
My delicious user name is lochnessa78 if anyone wants to go browse my bookmarks. These are just the bookmarks from my house, so expect more school and technology links to show up once I purge my laptop.
Honestly, I'm glad I gave Delicious another try - this really can help out with a lot of things. I always get frustrated because I want an easy way to share links with my students, and I think that this might be it. Granted, I think I'll start a teacher account so that it's ONLY educations stuff (I have two of everything to protect myself). This will be easier than posting links over and over again each year for Beowulf.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Audio not supported?
Just tried to upload some audio files of my students' podcasts, but it looks like they are not supported in Blogger.
Can you upload audio?
Can you upload audio?
Some Neat Stuff
This is all of the cool equipment that I won with my grant. It intimidates me.
This was a video that I created in a VERY short time with Photostory when I was out of the classroom. Please ignore my rough audio. This was one of the first ones that did last year.
My Goals
My goals for this course are to learn and share information about technology in the classroom. I have been teaching at a 1:1 campus for three years now, and am currently blogging, using wikis, podcasting, and creating videos in my class. I want to learn Flash animation to help create instructional videos for my classes, but I plan on using AL for that. :)
Podcasting
My podcast blog is www.kleinpod.edublogs.org.
Check it out! I update as much as I can, which isn't too often since I am about to start my internship.
Check it out! I update as much as I can, which isn't too often since I am about to start my internship.
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