A Whole New World...

Picture it, you are riding on a magic carpet and you get to see and experience all these new "things". Make sure while you are on said carpet you hear "A Whole New World" playing in the background. That is what this experience with the 14 things to tame has been for me. What did I like about it? EVERYTHING. Well, maybe not the part where I recorded a screencast three times only to realize the computer didn't have a microphone built it. Oh, well. What will it change about my teaching? A lot. Being exposed to a wide array of sites, apps, and general information has been phenomenal. I look forward to the summer months running around after my children and then relaxing with my iPad and the new tools in my teaching arsenal. What would I recommend to others? All of it. You never know what is going to work for one person the point of collaboration to get an idea of what works for others, seeing what works for you and merging the two. This experience has been rewarding (who said candy?), and enlightening (the light is on near the microphone!). Thank you for this journey on the magic carpet.

Wallwisher, Wellwisher

As we bid adieu and farewell to the 14 things to tame I would like to look at two of the final sites that I looked at. Wallwisher was introduced at the faculty meeting about Edcamp, two AWESOME ideas. I liked the Wallwisher because it is so easy to use. Following the link and then just making a post it was great. So then I took a look at the other sites and thought picmonkey sounded interesting and I was correct. Sara you have not disappointed with the "things" you have introduced us to. Ok, I was intrigued by the picture of cupcakes but who wouldn't be? I played around with it a little bit and enjoyed what I saw.

Presenting Prezi

At first glance I like the look of Prezi. I definitely want to take a closer look at this and test it out. After I had a good handle of it I would introduce it to my students. I think the students would like an alternative to the PowerPoint, I know I would. One thing I liked about it from the first video I watched was that it is like a map that you set up and can change. It also appeared to be all laid out in front of you at one time which appeals to me rather than going through slides back and forth. I will explore this "thing" more.

Giving credit where credit is due...

In looking at the videos and sites about Creative Commons I found the information extremely enlightening. The fact that there is a plethora of information accessible to everyone now is a great thing, however sharing and using that information can get tricky. Educators have always tried to be careful and teach students how to make citations correctly and to give credit where credit was due. As technology changed and we are started driving on the information super highway the delineation of what was acceptable to use and how to cite it became blurry and something new to figure out. As educators we have to know where information is coming from, if and when we can use it and in what capacity. This will give us a clear indication of how to direct our students on how to navigate the web and all its information correctly. I also like the fact that there are sites that can be accessed with material that is accessible and usable.

Sewing together pieces with VoiceThread

VoiceThread is an interesting tool. I liked how we are all able to add our proverbial two cents on a single item; it's like collaboration without being in the same room. This can easily translate into the classroom because you can post an item for homework and have students add to it in a variety of ways for an assignment. I think it would be fun because I think the novelty would have kids trying to upstage each other because of the creativity it lends itself.

One glog at a time...

This is a glog I started about believing in yourself. Students having confidence in their abilities is something we need to help them develop and maintain. This can be something that is added to on a regular basis as a little pick me up. We all need a pick me up sometimes.

ThingLink 1, ThingLink 2

Here is my ThingLink on the Statue of Liberty. This would be great in many content area classes and for the presentations to students in different subjects. It is also a great tool for students to learn because it forces them to become more involved in the research of a particular place, picture, person, or landmark. I really enjoyed doing this "thing"

Watch me screenr

After many attempts and some tech help from Sara here is my screencast. I think this can be a lot of fun in introducing students to new concepts or even how we want things done in class. It may sound silly but maybe a screencast on how to set up their papers may just do the trick to have them do it the way the teacher wants all the time. Sometimes its the extra thing they see or hear that will stick with them.

Ogling Google

Week 7 has us looking at Google and all the things we did not know about Google. Which not knowing something about technology is not a foreign concept, hence all these things to tame. So I started with the slideshow and videos that were posted and then went to The 7 Google Search Techniques You Didn't Know Existed. Well I was feeling pretty smart because I knew most but I came across one that I I didn't, the safe search. This one I will definitely use both at home and inside the classroom. With small kids who are very tech savvy but like toys and games with grown up versions, thank you Transformers, I would like to make sure they see only the ones that pertain to them; they do not need to know who Megan Fox is just yet. Even with filters on for school what can the extra protection hurt? So let's keep ogling Google for everything we thought we knew but didn't.

Happily Evernote After...

Evernote is great. After playing around with the application I think this can be very useful in the classroom. I think once the teachers see the usefulness and the different features it has they will definitely want to use it in class. I think it will be helpful to students especially those with binders and bags that look like a disaster area.
Who wouldn't love another way to help organize information and your electronic life in general. I am all for making this the organizational happily ever(note) after we have been looking for.

Wiki-tiki-tavi

Here is my wiki edit to the Learning Center wiki site. I think this is an idea that we use and like I said should explore more.

The wiki idea can be useful as a checklist for what we are doing in our classes; like a rewards chart for the teachers. We can use it as a sounding board too. We can ask questions or post what is working for us that might work for someone else. This seems like a useful tool we should explore it more.

iPad in the classroom

Check out this video that CNN presented on Apple Thursday January 19, 2012. Some interesting and exciting things but Forman already knew that.

You can take it with you...

...your bookmarks at least. So, I am back taming another task set forth by our fearless and trusty librarian. This week the task was setting up a Diigo account and start adding bookmarks, easy right? Well, it was and I think very useful. In the educational aspect I can see using this to help students with research and give them ideas on what to bookmark and not when it comes to surfing the web. On a personal side how many times have you been at home and thought, "this site would be perfect for class I'll have to remember it or write it down so I can use it." Well, now with Diigo you can take it all with you wherever you go. Awesome!

Reviewing the RSS

The mission set before us was to create a reader account and add our colleagues blogs and three other feeds to follow, if we chose to accept it. Well, I read the mission and decided it did not seem to be a daunting task and I was correct. Creating the reader was easy and then once I added the first blog it was simple to do the rest. I see the reader as something that I would use in my everyday life. It is a lot easier than bookmarks because I don't have to navigate to many sites to get the information I'm looking for. So far the taming of technology seems to be a mission possible.

Learning in the 21st Century