Thursday, December 31, 2009
Week 5 Thing 13: Google Docs
Google Docs makes it super easy to share documents with other people. Instead of having to send out an e-mail to share a document you can use Google Docs as an online location for all the documents you want to share. Instead of e-mailing and creating multiple copies of one documents you can invite people to view and edit documents in one location. I found this YouTube video to be most helpful.
I've actually worked with Google Docs during a collaboration project at my school. The nice thing about Google Docs was that it allowed multiple people to work on planning the same project and it kept all our ideas in one place.
Today I created a document of my own and I shared my document with a couple of people I invited through e-mail. As I was pondering how this application could be used at my school it dawned on me that the group that creates our school's morning news show could benefit from the easy access and organization Google Docs provides. Students would type their daily scripts just like usual and save them on Google Docs. This would make it super easy for the teacher to view progress and to locate the script if one of the students on the shows is absent. How convenient!
Registar for a free Google Account if you don't have one.
I've actually worked with Google Docs during a collaboration project at my school. The nice thing about Google Docs was that it allowed multiple people to work on planning the same project and it kept all our ideas in one place.
Today I created a document of my own and I shared my document with a couple of people I invited through e-mail. As I was pondering how this application could be used at my school it dawned on me that the group that creates our school's morning news show could benefit from the easy access and organization Google Docs provides. Students would type their daily scripts just like usual and save them on Google Docs. This would make it super easy for the teacher to view progress and to locate the script if one of the students on the shows is absent. How convenient!
Registar for a free Google Account if you don't have one.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Week 5 Thing 12: Wikis
Over the past few months I've learned a bit about Wikis and even started to create my own. While looking at the Wikis created by other educators I was inspired and I found the versatility of Wikis to be quite interesting.
I really appreciated viewing the wikis designed for elementary students. I can see now that the educational possibilities are only limited by the mind of the creator. I think my students would really enjoy using a wiki for collaboration purposes as well as a means to publish their work. It puts a different spin on being able to hold students accountable for their learning.
I really appreciated viewing the wikis designed for elementary students. I can see now that the educational possibilities are only limited by the mind of the creator. I think my students would really enjoy using a wiki for collaboration purposes as well as a means to publish their work. It puts a different spin on being able to hold students accountable for their learning.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Week 4 Thing 11: Clouds of Words
TagCrowd and Wordle allow me to create clouds of words. Just enter some text and watch what happens. Both TagCrowd and Wordle identify the words used most frequently by pulling out those words from the text and varying the size What an interesting idea! People never cease to amaze me.
As I was excercising my creative juices I began to see how Wordle could be used in my classroom. Below is a link to my Wordle on Ferdinand Magellan, one of the world's most famous explorers. I thought students could take a Wordle of this and other explorers to make predictions about the explorers life prior to research or as an aid during research. How do the words Spain, world, voyage, first, and islands relate to Magellan. A student researching this famous explorer might want to find out!
title="Wordle: Ferdinand Magellan">
alt="Wordle: Ferdinand Magellan"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">
As I was excercising my creative juices I began to see how Wordle could be used in my classroom. Below is a link to my Wordle on Ferdinand Magellan, one of the world's most famous explorers. I thought students could take a Wordle of this and other explorers to make predictions about the explorers life prior to research or as an aid during research. How do the words Spain, world, voyage, first, and islands relate to Magellan. A student researching this famous explorer might want to find out!
title="Wordle: Ferdinand Magellan">
alt="Wordle: Ferdinand Magellan"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">
Week 4 Thing 10: Sign-up
I just signed up for my own Del.icio.us account. I figured if I didn't do it now I might not get around to it for a while. Noting the benefits I decided I just couldn't wait. So far I have 3 bookmarks.
Week 4 Thing 10: Simply Delicious!
Del.icio.us: A social bookmarking tool; http://delicious.com/
For years I've used the Favorites star to bookmark sites I planed on revisiting. Now I see that using this method is old fashioned. Del.icio.us allows me to bookmark my favorite sites with the option of sharing them and accessing them anywhere I have Internet access. How convenient!
As I was browsing through the sites bookmarked on the academy2020thing's page I came across some familiar sites and some that are potentially useful. However, in order to maximize the effectiveness of del.icio.us I will have to sign up for my own account. That way I will have my personal sites available for super easy access.
I can see the potential of this tool in the classroom. I imagine marking the sites that I plan on using for my own professional development and even more so to mark the sites I want kids to use.
For years I've used the Favorites star to bookmark sites I planed on revisiting. Now I see that using this method is old fashioned. Del.icio.us allows me to bookmark my favorite sites with the option of sharing them and accessing them anywhere I have Internet access. How convenient!
As I was browsing through the sites bookmarked on the academy2020thing's page I came across some familiar sites and some that are potentially useful. However, in order to maximize the effectiveness of del.icio.us I will have to sign up for my own account. That way I will have my personal sites available for super easy access.
I can see the potential of this tool in the classroom. I imagine marking the sites that I plan on using for my own professional development and even more so to mark the sites I want kids to use.
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