Week 10 Done!

Hello everyone!
Well the rainy days have helped to get moving on these 18 credits I'm taking!! All done but two classes! WOW!
Anyway...
This class has been very informative of things that I either never thought of such as flick'r and RSS feeds and new ideas such as delicious. I have already used delicious many times in the past few weeks. I go back and forth from my Mac, school laptop, and the computer lab at school. This is a fantastic way for me to access those great sites from anywhere. I have also been able to add my new knowledge to lesson plans and my class website. Some of the new ideas I learned about will be great for older students so I will share them with my friends who teach middle/high school. At times there were some frustrations like when I was creating my voki or that my final lesson was erased when my browser closed. I loved the blog and think I may keep it up but write about my life and things going on. I found out that many of my friends have blogs.
Great class!

Week 9 continued

Okay, so I have been going crazy researching the Whole Brain Teaching concepts and I am including them into my teaching this year! I'm going to use my expectations/rules but use movements and the same method to teach them. I wish we could get this guy to come to Beverly!

Podcasting was so fun! I've actually never really understood them. I signed up to a few but I want more! I am obsessed with some HBO/Showtime shows so I signed up to those. I also found a children's story one but I don't know if the stories are too wordy. I think that might become a new obsession!

The online libraries are interesting... but my mind drew blanks when asked to search for books. I checked out top 100s and downloaded a few classics. I have an iphone so I have an app called ibooks which I can download free and paid books to read on my phone. They give you Winnie-the-Pooh for free! Soo cute! There are colored pictures and it's like a smaller ipad, which I can magnify the text.

Week 9 My favorite!!

Okay I haven't finished the all the tasks but I just wanted to share these awesome videos on whole brain teaching... I do some repeating and hand movements but this is fantastic!! I have a few to show you! I will be looking through the websites I found for this program! LOVE IT! WHAT DO YOU THINK?

This is a fourth grade sample!!

Week 8

This weeks assignments were very interesting! I really liked the sites for books. I've been getting into more personal reading since I've been taking so many classes. I really want to find a new series to read. I like books where I get connected to the characters. I created a Shelfari account and have been playing on it for a while! It's hard to think of all the books I've read to build a shelf. I love that it has the most popular, genre, subject and author sorts. I have so many books I would like to read now! When I was in the book store a few weeks ago, I started to read the one with the words, 'girl" and "tattoo" in the title. I just couldn't get into it but everyone's reviews are saying to stick with it!

Google Docs is a great idea to lessen the copies of documents and to communicate more effectively with others. I think this is great for a business but I don't know how I would use it in my classroom. I think for older students they could have their papers/homework on there and give the teacher access to them to grade. The teacher could edit and send it back for the student to fix. There would also be no excuse for not having a copy or for forgetting it at home if this way was used. As with sharing with other teachers I guess this could work where we don't have a lot of time to chat with each other. Then again, the other teachers need to feel comfortable with technology and that goes back to one of our first weeks of this class. I have some first day of school forms which could be helpful to other teachers. It is an interesting way to share files.

Week Seven

Hello! I'm a little mad because this is the second time I am writing this since my browser shutdown...grr! Anyway! I was wondering what RSS feeds were and the related orange symbol. I checked it out briefly a few months ago and had no interest. After watching the videos, I understand how someone who is connected to many blogs and sites which feed new information would find this to be useful but I just don't need this. I have a small number of sites which I check multiple times a day because I like to. It's what I use the Internet for... to waist time! HA! I know for some they need to get information quickly and so do I. That is why I have a personalized google home page where my twitter (stalking famous people/entertainment info.) and Facebook feeds are quickly accessible. I also have my frequently visited sites on my browser and on the new delicious account. I think that I am updated enough when I need to be.
Yes, I think that teachers can find this to be helpful when connecting to students blogs and current events related to subjects taught. Great for them and if someone can find a reason I would really need it, then I would love to hear all about it. I just don't think right now it is good for me. I am happy I know what it is all about though.
P.S. I love the delicious account! I was on a different computer the other day and got to access it! Fantastic!

Limboinlife: My class website is ready!!

Limboinlife: My class website is ready!!

http://teachersites.schoolworld.com//webpages/JSimpson2/Index.cfm