Classroom 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/the10101/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

A blog-- a wiki--- a ning? I joined Classroom 2.0 this week and became part of a coterie of 42,000 educators, 600+ of us new to this group. And the first thing I notice is a ning? Actually, I was overwhelmed at the plethora of information and educators willing to share it. What a hotbed of technological know how. And the teaching/sharing formats available!
This is a group I hope to become much more acquainted with as time goes on. This is a matter that will take time. There is no rushing into technology.
You should be so pleased. The educational group I work with at school is led by a highly-paid consulant, previously an English teacher and a high school principal. She is very knowledgeable and I have shared my ideas with her. She loved the blog project. Yesterday we met and she knew absolutely nothing of Classroom 2.0. This leads me to the ultimate issue with this class: it has taken me out to the cutting edge of classroom technology, a place where tech guys and consultants have yet to tread, and I am thrilled to be making this journey. A journey which will never end.
Thanks so much. I am a better teacher and a wiser student of technology for having taken this class.

MIke

Loading a podcast

Here is my link for my podcast http://www.box.net/shared/2c6aeqxx3d

I did it! I am really not sure how but I think the enclosure link direction from the tutorial is somehow misleading. I gave this a title and then added text; highlighted and linked as normal and there it was.
Now how do I link this to Google reader or is it linked and will play there?

Teachers, Teaching, and Lifelong Learning

As this class closes down, I find myself in a new academic arena. I Cor. 5:17 speaks of anyone being in Christ being a new creation. Well, any teacher who is in technology is a new instructor. During this workshop, two events have been concurrent: one is a 21st century ongoing workshop on rigor and relevance I have been in at East Canton; the second is the early development of an AP learning class.
Both of these have moved in this direction of the evolving role of the teacher and the tools needed to perform that role. Our workshop director suggested that in place of books we access web sources. ( I saw a summer workshop that will guide you through your curriculum and locate a web site for each item, in essence an entire course of work online.) A colleague at Canton South last week introduced me to the editing tool on Word that assesses the quality of a document, and a new day dawned in my classroom.
The modern teacher needs to be comfortable not only with technology but the advances in technology to maximize student learning. Teachers have work to do and this will enhance their teaching. They are going to get a new comprehension of lifelong learner.
I guess this represents peotic justice: being in the business of teaching they must again become learners. In my own case, Jay Moody has two additional hours for me this spring. That will give me the hours to renew my liscense.
My next step is going to be taking the tech classes Malone is offering.I plan to see you in person in one of them, probably podcasting! But I see utube, spreadsheets, powerpoints, and other offerings. My plan is to become the most tech savvy teacher at East Canton. In fact, our tech guy could not help me link the podcasts nor could Jay Moody. This to me shows how easy it is to slip behind the learning curve.
To end teachers must become students and lifelong learners to remain effective teachers. And technology is at the heart of all this.

Podcasting

http://www.flickr.com/photos/redcarpet/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Have you ever opened a door to a room and discovered an unbelievable store of valuables behind it? That is the experience I had this week when I discovered the world of podcasts, and yes, once again, I found out that not many others are familiar with them
Like me, they had heard of podcasts but the idea that iTunes has 150,000 of them or the concept of iTunesU was foreign to all.
So what to do? In terms of creating them, I am in shock, although we did a skit this week in class to bring a piece of Caesar to life that went incredibly well and my wheels began to turn. Why not video tape these things and if they go well, podcast them?
More pertinently, I need to start the search to find podcasts to enrich classroom lessons. Evidently, the material available is endless and increasing. This is amazing that at the age of 59, I am being re-created as a classroom teacher. The tools I have accessed in this class are creating an entirely new learning environment for me and my students. I have enclosed my Podcast.
Thanks Jo!

Picnik

What a charming expression: make pictures look better than they really are. And yet, that is exactly what Picnik was all about. I was delighted to see mundane photos take on striking qualities with a few clicks. Novice that I am, I never realized getting rid of red eye was so easy. As with everything in this course, I am so pleased to add this personal learning.

Delicious and Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonhua/ / CC BY 2.0

• Delicious will become an important tool. We need to acquire resources to teach faster and more effectively: we need to move faster and this is one way to do it. We need to share information faster as well and Delicious will be an aid to this. The web is all about information and speed and this is the essence of Delicious.
• Flickr is a great way to add color, which is a great teaching tool,and add it in a way where credit is being given. This is an important concept for students to gain and one there are all too negligent with. I used Flickr again for this blog and I was amazed at how quickly I did so.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hisgett/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hisgett/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gusilu/ / CC BY 2.0

sample for link

I want to create a link to Mr. B-G's English teaching. This website has an excellent listing of teacher resources. A second site I found useful with lots of teacher input was Weblogged.

Progress

This week we are expanding blogs and wikis and learning more about using citations. It was a delight to find out that my knowledge in some small area was exceeding those around me. I find it increasingly more comfortable to navigate. When I first tried to follow Jo's directions for Flickr, I got lost and then discovered I was not navigating accurately. I am becoming more comfortable with my different web addresses as well. In a way, I find it almost scary that I can be comfortable doing these things because I thought only those much more adept in technology could handle such chores.

Aggregator Part I

So today I started with the aggregator. It took a while to work it out and I found it interesting that my biggest hurdle was just being more perceptive of the page in front of me. When I went to add blogs, I missed a step. The bottom line: As I learn, I need to be aware of my need to notice what is in front of me. In so many cases, the page in front of me is user-friendly if I am a friendly user.

aggregators

Oh my goodness. I suspected this course would take me places I did not know existed but I am still delighted to see this happen. The blog I had some awareness. Not much, and certainly no ability to use one.

The wiki I had heard overtures about. I was anxious to get mine started and now I have met the aggregator concept. I am fascinated by the connectivity of all that I see. Amazed is an understatement; shocked is more like it. It is like discovering a new world, or at least a continent, or at the very least a rather large unknown island.

I can't wait to see how this is going to work.

Progress

• So now I have a blog and have started a Wiki. I am aware of the world of blogs for the first time. I have no idea how to use my Wiki but I can see that knowledge coming in the very near future.

Adventures with Wikis

Today I tackled the Wiki and struggled to get an image loaded by following the directions. Jo's directions would have made it too easy in retrospect. My wife helped me and it was different from what she knew but together we got it done.
I love this stuff. I get really intimidated by anything I don't know how to do and I think it goes back to my youth and needless insecurities. In truth, I am fairly adept at solving problems but I have a fear that I cannot. Thus these daily confrontations with the unknown are a needed part of my personal growth.

Beginning to blog

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hisgett/ / CC BY 2.0

Beginning to blog is totally foreign and cool. My wife has a blog for her newspaper and I often feel out of the loop because of my lack of blogging knowledge. She is kind enough to not chide me about this.
I am really curious to see where all this leads. I hear about Facebook, Twitter, Wikis and more and have no idea about what these are all about. Communicating with a larger audience seems to be a common and neat experience.
So here it is: My first blog. Funny to think I am writing to myself but in a form that can extend beyond a first person audience.