TASK 10- SO MANY TOOLS, SO LITTLE TIME

1 point for exploring:
The last task to explore and I keep find more new things that I must have missed or forgot about from last year's adventure.  Google Reader is a fantastic idea and when it comes to saving time and this teacher is all for it.  I use the RSS for my class blog to connect the students to the latest psychology news so why not use this feature to keep me connected the the information via blog and sites to keep me up to date.  Go Figure!
This year I really have enjoyed the Commoncraft tool as a visual way to explain a new technology.  Lee Lafever's voice is so soothing as he walks me through the information and it is in plain English too!  I appreciate his warning about the addictive quality that Google Reader can create, but I am all about fast and easy!   Will Richardson's explanation of the PLN or Personal Learning Network caused me to reflect about our BPS students.  I am pleased with the way that our administration, technology teams and teachers are incorporating PLNs into student life.  We all are guiding students to be ethical, responsible and to use  this as a platform for personal learning experiences.  As a school, I think we deserve recognition for our efforts.  Earlier this week I visited the teacher store to buy bulletin board paper and other small items to freshen up my room for the beginning of school.  I walked by a display of timers and stopwatches and almost bought one but then I remembered that you introduced the Online StopWatch site and did not need to buy one.  Thanks Sandy, you saved me money!  I revisited the Discovery Education site and found that they had some great clip art categories, a puzzle maker and lesson plans that I missed last year.  The plans for grades 9-12 are helpful for a new idea.  I played with some of the World History plans and was very impressed.  I want to tell Dr. P that he needs to look at these for his class.




1 point for a blog entry that you make:
"You've come a long way baby" is how I feel about my progress!  It is enjoyable working at my own pace, playing with some old and some cool new sites, and finding that I really am growing in 21st century skills. Well, this adventure in technology weaved in and around three family visits, many loads of laundry, and those hot days when I could not get out and work in the yard.  I am pleased with the end product.  Your lessons are so useful, practical, and inspirational.  Thanks so much for guiding us and exposing us to opportunities that I would not experience otherwise.  It was hard on some days to get my mind focused on the lesson, yet with each lesson I had a chance to think about future lesson plans and activities.  I am a work in progress and the best part is that my students will benefit from this experience.  It will be a good 2010-2011!



1 point for emailing me your thoughts and opinions. How can I do this better next time? What would make it easier for you as an online course? What was good? All that sort of stuff--I won't take it personally but want to improve. Thanks for sticking with it!
I will be sending it to you soon.

TASK 9 - YOUR TOOLBELT

1 point for exploration:
I really enjoyed this opportunity to revisit Slideshare.  For some reason, I am more proficient the second time around.  I used this opportunity to convert and upload a newer power point into slideshare and was totally successful!  Using the embed code is so easy to add to the blog!  I loved Brain Flips for the flashcard experience.  I played with a created deck on the U.S. Presidents and thought that the concept could be very useful in class for those students who prefer to study in that manner.  I must say that I am a little overwhelmed with the Podcast experience.  I listened to several within the history curriculum.  I noticed that EPN is a David Warlick production.  I had a chance to attend one of his seminars in Boston several years ago.  As he is a former teacher, his methods of instruction are so simple.  If I choose to try this, I will return to his site for instructions.  I did explore the Assessment Resources section and was excited to see Kathy Schrock's Teacher Helpers site.  I have used her rubrics before and it provided a nice reminder for me that I need to visit it more often.  The Web 2.0 Survival Guide was another helpful and interesting site for further usage.



1 point for creating a podcast or making a list of podcasts that you could use in your class. Or you can set up a Slideshare account and upload something to it. Let us know about that by linking your blog to it or by listing the pod casts you want kids to listen to:
I uploaded a new power point to Slideshare and it is posted.


1 point for reflections in your blog about these kinds of tools and their uses for you:
It seems that no matter how I try to move ahead in the Web2.0 world, I am always on the back side of that learning curve.  So much to learn and not enough time to get it into place.  I feel somewhat overwhelmed but I know that these 21st century students are marching into my class and I have to keep up with them.  I will incorporate some of these tools, and use some from my last year's experience with more confidence.  I appreciate the opportunity to try out and play with them.  Just the exposure it good for me!  I am an old dog but learning some new tricks thanks to you.  I have two tools that I do plan to use; one for me and one for the students.  The one tool that I will  use is Slideshare for my class blog.  In the busyness of last year, I did not use it and I really see its value.  The other tool is just for me.  It will guide me throughout the year  with the information about rubric construction and purpose.  I added those sites to my blog list as a reminder to use them often.

TASK 8 - 2G's -Glogster and Google

1 point for exploring:

Lots of exploring for me on this task.  I seem to have gotten lost in time but did fine new uses for Glogster.  I viewed tutorials for basic Glog understanding at Glogster.edu  This tutorial by Traci Blazosky was one that I found most useful.  Brenda's Blog for Educational World  was filled with good, solid examples of making a glog useful and not just for decoration.  I was very impressed at the complexity of information found on a couple of those glogs.  Now I understand the concept of  "cloud" !!!!!!  I know that recent in-service tech presentation there was a push on using it and somewhere I decided that it is going to come our way soon.  I will anticipate the future tech training about this in the coming year.  I viewed Tammy Worcester's Basic How-To site and viewed the Common Craft presentation for Share Point.  So, doesn't a Wiki have the capability for group projects too?  Actually I wanted to join Monique on her island getaway!   I viewed How to use Google Docs in a classroom  and it clarified classroom usage for me.  My brain is very full right now of ideas to use!

1 point for creating a Glogster or getting acquainted with Google Docs:
I am so excited that I could log on and was able complete the task after my earlier disaster with VT. 
You can see what I posted on the page about my Advisory group. 



1 point for your blog telling whether you think any of these will be useful in your classroom:
Where could I use these technologies? 
I was so excited to be able to embed the glog and that is what I plan to get my students to do!  I want them to create a Public Service poster/announcement about a mental health disorder.  I foresee them being able to iincorporate pictures, YouTube videos, a personal narration all on a glog, and them embed it on the class blog.  How cool is that!  I am so anxious to try this out.  I know the students (who are so tech savvy) can jump right in and produce some awesome results. 

TASK-7 COLLABORATION

1 point for exploring (remember, you don't have to do everything--just look at what might interest you)
I spend some more time playing around with just a couple of sites that I found interesting.  Sue Water's tips on blog was informative and I viewed Mr. Gerins Government class in Social Studies and American Studies from New Trier HS.  Each person's blog is different and I like to "borrow" ideas and concepts that could make my class blog more interesting.  The American Studies blog had reading lists, a music play list and even a salsa recipe...how cool is that!  Mixbook occupied me for quite some time as I created a book of family pictures.  I would consider it as a potential project for my Honors Psychology class.  As long as the sites are free, it's for me.  Unfortunately, Tikatok costs money and that ended that.   Wallwisher was a great rediscovery for me.   I did not view the Skype site because I Skype at home with family and did not feel the need to review the material. Skype is such a great way to stay connected. I was prepared to use it this past fall when I had a student who had H1N1. Jose helped me get ready to set up a Skype session but my student recovered and it did not happen. However, I was prepared.  I ventured into Googledocs and viewed the webinar you posted.  I am not certain that I will attempt this one just yet.....closing in on mental overload.



1 point for contributing something to the collaborations I set up for you
I enjoyed revisiting this site.  I forgot about how much fun it is to use.  I particularly like the fact that I can add a video and images to my note.  I think students will enjoy this.


1 point for your blog
This past year I experienced how exciting web 2.0 technology can be as I established a class blog for my Honors Psychology class and it worked beautifully. This fall I am expanding the use of a class blog to include my AP Psychology students  with  an RSS feed to the American Psychological Association site.  I want to use the blog as a tool not only to further our connection beyond the textbook’s material but to get students to interact, to think and to communicate their ideas in hopes that we can spur further discussion on a topic. In addition I will post YouTube videos that are appropriate to the content material.  I want students  to analyze, apply and think critically about what they read. I am excited that I can actively use 21st century skills and that simple blogging is a way to do it.  This whole social networking phenomenon has become part of our culture and we need to be part of it.

TASK 6 - DIGITAL STORYTELLING

1 point for documenting resources you explore
The resources for digital storytelling were awesome.  As I visited some of the suggested sites,  I was a little overwhelmed with the extensive information available to use as resources and will have to revisit them as I get ready to use digital storytelling as an activity.  Digital Storytelling in Plain English was most helpful and I would share this with my class to start the activity.  Jennifer Dorman's Wiki offered great ideas to employ scaffolding and the traditional steps to create a storyboard.  I particularly thought her framing suggestions "Rule of Thirds" was useful for us non-movie minds.  She included some free sites for images and music which will be helpful as students start to work on their individual assignment.  I played with Animoto and watched the video.  I created a video " A trip of My Life" using their images and music but unable to embed it on this blog.  Flixtime site was down for maintenance.  I will borrow Jason Ohler's phrase "portals into their minds" as a guide to refer to the process of storyboards.  I found Bernajean Porter's Digitals site (Remember her from our in-service?) and somewhere I ended up reading a list of evaluation traits and basic assessment traits to use to grade the activity.  The University of Houston's site was a great source for National Educational Technology Standards.


1 point making a digital story in your subject/grade level area or making an assignment to allow students to make one.
The above video example was created using Common Craft for storytelling.  It was created in Meghan Weddell's video technology seminar in June. I experienced  a quick and easy way to have students create this form of a storyboard and it was fun too!
1 point for reflections in your blog about digital storytelling
This seems to be the future for  projects for my classes this next year because it expands the basic power point into a podcast, a slide show, an animation, and a video allowing my students to explore and expand their knowledge and moves me into the role of a facilitator.  I decided to use storyboards for the chapter on the brain in order to get them to explain the brain's functions.  Students could use their own art, clip art, or photographs as visuals and I can't wait to hear the music they select as background.  Storyboard expands the use of cooperative learning and communication which I believe is so important for their future.  The brain storyboard functions as a group activity but it also helps to subtly reinforce the information as a review for an upcoming quiz or test.  Do you think they will notice that they are learning and not just having fun?

TASK 5- ONLINE WRITING

 One point for documented exploration:
I visited the following sites: Tap into the World of Comics, Wikispaces, Go!Animate, Garfield, and Museum Box.  I really enjoyed the cartoon related sites.  I think that Go! Animate is a good one and hopefully I can assign a student a key term and have them create a cartoon about the term.  The site allows the work to be embedded into a blog and that is just another way of using online writing but with a creative twist to eliminate dull assignments.  Tap into the World of Comics offers an opportunity to use decision-making and problem-solving strategies in a unique way.  I can't say that I would use this particular one often but I will keep it in my bag of tricks for the future.  Museum Box is clever and I really liked the site.  I appreciated your friend Marilyn's gallery and saw lots of animal and science examples but I could foresee it as a potential way to adapt it for psychology.


One point for creating something with a tool that you think might be useful in your classroom:

I created this cartoon to become part of my class syllabus.  It is eye-catching way to get some important information to a student in a "sugar-coated" manner. 


One point for your blog entry telling how you might use online writing or why you think it will not be useful to you:
Who would think that a cartoon would count as online writing? 
As you can see from my cartoon featured above I think I can find several quick ways to put cartoons to use in class.  I frequently use humor as a teaching method and now I can visually create my point.  I plan to explore further the Museum Box.  I found this to be a very clever and unique way to present information and I see possibilities to use this activity to replace a written report, to present research information, and take factual concepts beyond the ordinary presentation format.
My class used a  blog for psychology last year. It was designed to get students to read, analyze, and report on scientific journal articles from the American Psychological Association.  I plan to expand this blog further and get students to post related video information that they find from other sources on the blog.  Even if the information is visual, I will have them blog about that post and that creates an online writing assignment.  Many thanks for the blogging rubric.  I am always looking to improve the one I created and I added it as a Diigo bookmark.
I looked at the Wikispaces and may try to use it as a collaborative and/or summative class project perhaps as an end of year activity.  Another potential use of a Wiki would be a student portfolio of work from a semester or even for the year.  I attended Susan Alexander's Wikispaces seminar in June and she peaked my interest in testing it out in the future.

Task 4

1 5 points Spend some time exploring Flickr and Flickr tools. Document this by telling what tools you tried in your blog.
This is my favorite of all the assignments!
I feel like a kid in a candy store and I want to taste everything I see.  I am a visual learner who loves color and images but I can end up with  a case of "sensory overload".   I spent my time exploring some sites I had not visited before: Compfight; PictureSandbox, Smart history, and Spell with Flickr (it's an inspiration for a future syllabus that I must distribute in class and even to the class blog).  I  played with the poster feature for Bighugelabs and you will see my creation in the next question's response.  I viewed the U Tech Tip to remind me how to join Flickr and I did join.  Some of these sites hold promise for a future in-class assignment.  I do have concerns about Flickr's suitablity for some of its photos and I will not post my personal pictures there.  PictureSandbox will be very useful as I need photos to illustrate  emotions and mental situations.  I tried several key terms and was successful each time...hurrah!  SmartHistory sounded promising but I did not get the results I wanted.  Spell with Flickr is a blast!

I have an amusing anecdote to share.  As I viewed your screencast for Compfight, my cat, Sam,  heard your voice and had to come see what I was doing.  Apparently she loves the sound of your voice and kept wanting to sit on my keyboard to get closer to you.  She would not move until your screencast was completed.  You maybe another Pied Piper!

1.5 points--Talk about ways you might use some of the tools in your classroom on your blog or post some of the things you created using the Snip tool. Here's how to add photos to your blog.
My moment of inspiration came while using Bighugelab.  In  Honors Psychology we cover an historical overview psychology's origins along with the  people who were instrumental in its development.  It can be a little tedious and dry material.  So here is where I want to put the poster idea to work.  Using some psychological websites for background information, I will have students created a poster of their assigned psychologist and include something that is unique to each man.   This activity will be a less formal way of introducing the material as students create their own poster.  Each one in turn will provide a quick  informational presentation about their psychologist. The class will comment to the presenter by adding connections to their psychologist through the various psychological perspectives, contributions and the impact on the field of psychology.  It is an interactive, informational and simple to do assignment that I think thee kids will enjoy.

TASK 3- VOICE THREADS

1 point for reading about VoiceThread and exploring some of the many examples you found out there. Pay particular attention to ones on your age level or in your subject area
Today I focused on the Voice Thread areas for Social Studies.  This is an enormous resource and I  enjoyed the 11th grade Reconstruction project by Molly Lynde.  I discovered that VT can reinforce the concept for students to learn a new technology and to find ways to discuss  a topic outside a classroom setting making the assignment more time and user friendly.  What I thought was the most important portion was that voice thread uses speech communication as a "scaffold" to learning.  The famed Russian educator Lev Vygotsky conceived the idea in the early 1920s to use social communication as a scaffold for the process of learning.  The New York Public library has a digital library of 700,000 historical images that is free and a teacher could use any of those to be a prompt for critical thinking questions or to open a new line of discussion.
I played with Fotobabble and discovered that it would be a great way to introduce a new topic to catch the class interest.  I posted one just for fun!

1 point for logging into my example voicethread and leaving a comment. * See instructions below.
I will try to get this completed in early August when I can work with you to figure out the log in issue.

1 point for blogging about this on your blog. Is there any assignment or topic you will use in your class that would work well as a VoiceThread, either for a whole class who comments on one presentation such as the 100 days, or ones where your class would each have their own VT to create.
I am looking for ways to introduce more cooperation and collaboration in the lessons and VT looks like a good one to use. It meets my criteria: simple to do, fun to listen to the other voices, and a quick and easy way to grade an activity (no papers to bring with me).  That being said here is what I want to do this year.  I envisioned a Voice Thread project and the movie "A Beautiful Mind".  The class views the movie and completes research on schizophrenia and how it impacts the life of Noble Prize winner John Nash.  I intend to ask the students to discuss the four symptoms of schizophrenia and have them indicate the one that they feel was the most significant in his life. Voice Thread ,as a tool, allows for great conversation with the class. I hope that a shyer student would feel empowered to make a comment knowing that it can be recorded with confidence and that they have the “do-over” option until they feel the answer is what they wanted to say.  Other potential aspects for me to try would be to summarize a storyline, to include personal reflection about a particular event or character (something about the inflection and tone of the human voice makes it interesting), and to open an opportunity for a debate over a specific topic.  I am very optimistic and will give it a try to change the assignment so that it is more fun for them and fun for me too!


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TASK 2- Visual Learning Tools

1 point for documented play and exploration. Do you think of Mind Mapping as a valuable tool for some learners?

I played and explored with vocabgrabber and really liked the visual effect as it is similar to Wordle.  I spent most of the time playing with Imagination Cubed.  I wanted to post my mind map but could not find the embed tab and gave up. 

What another wonderful tool for students who have trouble taking linear style notes!  The visual and kinesthetic learner have new choices for taking notes in class that make sense to them.  I have used Mind Mapping many times but we used to call it "Graphic Organizers" in the past. History teachers frequently use this format to visually compress events like the Hundred Years War as a shorter method to explain the factors that caused it, influenced it and ended it.


1 point for creating a Wordle or MindMap. See if you can save it as a Diigo bookmark and share it with the group.  Posted it on my blog.

1 point for blogging about it some of the ways you think it might be useful to you and your students. If you are daring, you can try to embed it in your blog
The value of this tool is that it expands the opportunities for a student to make an association using an image or word and to process it one more time for retention. I find that many students like to organize their notes using color and a mind map is a great way to do this as they problem solve. I really like to use mind maps in a  review situation for concepts as it visually organizes words and ideas.

TASK 1 EXPLORING 2010

1.What are three important things you found out about the brain and the learners we are teaching? How do you think Web 2.0 fits in?
I am so lucky to teach all about the brain in AP Psychology and after reading The enGauge 21st Century Skills article....I learned so much more.  If I had to choose three things that I found important I think the following spoke to me.

• Every brain is wired differently....I think I knew this before but experienced it first hand during the past year in class.  I had to find ways to introduce information to more kinesthetic learners that I have ever had before.  It was a creative challenge!  I am the visual and auditory learner and tend to teach that way so to think about a topic differently was one of my greatest challenges.  Can't say that I was totally successful but I am more sensitive in my approach these days.
• Daniel Pink's A Whole New Brain  was inspiring to read.  He simplified some concepts that we as teachers and educators (of a certain age) don't even consider in our lesson plans. 
• Simply, our world is linear and our students are not. 
• We teach and favor left-brain concepts and often skip over the right-brain contributions. 
• In order to survive in the 21st century we need to become whole brain thinkers and include analysis, problem-solving skills, big picture thinking and creatiivity in the lesson plans for tomorrow.
• The discussion of digital bombardment was eye-opening!  As a digital immigrant I tend to be sequential in thought and planning.  However, my student's experience is parallel and simutaneous each day.  How can I use that experience in my lessons? This past spring in class, the topic was anti-social personality disorder and the topic of serial killers came up.  The class tuned me out and began online searching via laptops and internet on cell phones for people and events related to this.  It was a seamless event that flowed from my room into quick information beyond the text available online.  The original lesson direction was limited but by the end of their research we had new information that was meaningful and will be remembered longer than my words. 

2.What are some 21st Century skills that are relevant to your teaching? Which ones do you think are most important to equip your students for tomorrow using today's tools?
I discovered that as an effective 21st Century citizen (to include access to abundant information and rapid changes in tools) some older concepts were emphasized that I feel are complimentary to some of the newer skills.  The skills that I think are both relevant to my teaching and to equip students for tomorrow are:

• Thinking creatively- there is not just one way to do it
• Critical thinking and problem-solving- this is more important that just knowing the facts
• Communication and collaboration- so important in a global community of tomorrow
• Technology skills to collaborate collectively but to include individual contributions too
• Being flexible and adaptable- this is part of the problem-solving process
• Accountability to set goals, prioritize, plan and manager- this facilitates communication needs
• Leadership and responsibility to others - a much needed and  worthy skill

3.Spend some time exploring educational bloggers. Find at least three to add as a blog roll gadget on your blog.  Found three cool sites and added them to the list.  Master the Web One Site at a Time; Speaking of History: and Remember Anything (do I ever need this one)