Summarization

Okay, I agree with you that it is easy once you know what you're doing and it can be fun at times and that I have lost some of my fears. BUT, it still takes alot of time! At least it does for me! There have been many favorite discoveries during these lessons. I really like the wikis. I really liked the Google.docs. I also have found lots of neat resources from all of this. Really and truly, even though I've complained about the time, I wanted to take this class to bring me into the 21st century of technology. I am trying to be a role model for the teachers on my campus to improve their technology skills and I feel that this was one way I was able to do that. It is one of my goals to become more technologically savvy so I am proud that I've taken this step. I don't think there is anything you girls need to differently. You have done an amazing job putting this very intricate program together. Although I would have liked more step by step instructions I understand your purpose was for us to discover through trial and error in order to make us more savvy and less fearful and I think the design of this class achieved those results. I am hoping and really need to know that I will be able to return to the 2.0 site anytime I need a review or want to remember something I learned. I've bookmarked the site so I'm planning on returning to it as needed for reminders! As far as committing myself to continue my learning and apply what I've learned I have to be honest. I know how I function. I'll pick one thing that I learned and I'll apply it until I feel comfortable and have used it several times. Then I'll use another and another until I get comfortable enough with all I've learned. I've already got plans on how I will use a couple of these things in this coming school year. I did subscribe to Learning 2.1 and sent it to my GoogleReader. Another principal and I who are taking this class have discussed setting up a Principal's blog that would help us share information and kind of act as a support group. I guess if I have to do a formal resolution it would be that I will continue to check my GoogleReader weekly, use at least two or three new tools that will assist me in my work and try to encourage others to jump on the technology bandwagon. And I will try really hard to set up a blog either with principals or my staff.

Thing 23

Visit 23 Thingsters

As you can see I am now a prominent member of 23 Thingsters! There were tons of social networks to look at. Many of them I couldn't get too far into without joining and I didn't want to join them all. Lots of them were connecting with a specific group of people that would not interest me. I was very impressed by the number of networks out there. I read a couple of discussions that were about issues pertinent to my job. I followed one pretty far making connections through links and it was pretty interesting. I searched for math facts and went through a discussion with one lady who had taught in Africa and now is homeschooling her twins. She had some strong theories on kids learning their math facts even though the current trend in education is not to drill. I could link from there to many of the resources she used. So, that was interesting. I also found some videos on vocabulary that I thought I could maybe use. And, I really like the 23 Thingsters network! Of course, there are lots of implications for education. The one that comes to mind is the teacher networking with her kids or her parents. In the article 7things you should know about Ning, I noticed something about how a group formed like a Christian network so they could kind of set the expectations for that group. Kind of neat!

Thing 22

I've never been a fan of FaceBook or My Space, again, simply because of the time involved. I don't enjoy talking on the phone to friends either so I guess it's not a surprise. But, I did join. (My kids tell me they will not be my friends!) I know I have a couple of friends from high school who use it alot so they will be glad to see me join. My experiences with My Space have not been good. As a school administrator, I am legally obligated to turn kids in who have illegal accounts. I have had two very high maintenance dealings with kids who have posted distasteful comments about other students on My Space that turned into something we had to spend weeks dealing with. It may be a fine place for older kids or adults, but the things I've seen on these kids accounts that I've turned in were way inappropriate. So, it is important for us as educators to at least be familiar with these social networks. I enjoyed the report I read about student use of social networking. The attitude they take on the kids who are nonconformists was interesting and I think they have a good point. They may not be traditional learners, but my goodness they are technologically geniuses in my book! I liked the way Facebook helped me connect with people I knew from High School, College, and my job. I thought that was a good feature. I think what we are going to have to do as educators is use Social Networking in a positive way so we can model appropriate uses. I would love to see my kids facebooking with students across the country or across the world.

Thing7b

I reviewed all the places I subscribe to and read some interesting articles. I added a blog from education week that I thought might be interesting. One of the places I subscribe to is the recent UTube updates. I found one called Validation that I thought was pretty cute. The gist of it is this guy who validates parking tickets, but when you go in he really validates you, so he is very popular. His popularity escalates until he goes in to get his picture taken for his driver's license and he can't get the girl who takes the pictures to smile or let him smile. The story is about 15 minutes long but is really cute and has a good message. Again, most of what I subscribe to is not very impresssive, so when I come across something I might like I've been adding those. I did get a good exercise tip, otherwise not much.

Thing 21

I can't believe I didn't know all this stuff existed. I think it's like everything else. I don't have time to even look at all the buttons on the page, much less be curious about them. That's why this has been good for me. I needed to be introduced to all this stuff so I could at least be aware of the opportunities to use it. I played with several of these applications. I set up an alert to keep me posted about anything in the news that had to do with swine flu. I couldn't really think of anything pertinent at the moment but I can practice by following that for awhile and then change it when I think of something really pertinent. I also set up a calendar. I want to use this with my ARD team this year. We had alot of communication problems last year with ARDS and I think this will help. I can put in the dates that I know I'm unavailable and then they can schedule around me. We will all be able to access the calendar so I will know daily, weekly, monthly, what my ARD schedule looks like. I also played with Picasso photo album. I really don't manage photos online at the present time, but I want to get started. I think later this summer I will try using that program to download our vacation pictures and make an album. That's something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I think if nothing else, this session will make me more aware and help me start looking at buttons I know nothing about and maybe explore them more.

Thing 20

Either things are getting easier or I'm getting smarter. I'm not sure which! Google docs is cool in several ways. I immediately thought of two ways I could use this at school that would actually solve a couple problems I'm having. All year I have struggled with information sharing. I developed a form I really like that has all the data about a student's testing on one form in a manageable and meaningful order. I filled out the history data and handed them to the teachers so they could continue to record data throughout the year (benchmark and milestone scores). This was great but in order for me to have the information on a child the teacher would have to copy the form each time they added information and replace my old form with the new form. This was not very "green." Nor, was it efficient. I think what I will try this year is sending a spreadsheet with the historical informtion in it to the teacher who can then update it online and send it back to me. This will work MUCH better and we can all be in the know at the same time! I also think this might come in handy for our SOP procedures. We spend precious time at the beginning of the year reviewing SOP things for a few new teachers when the majority of the staff already knows this stuff. If I post the SOP on a googledoc and send it to them they can have it on their computers for easy access and when I need to make a change I can update it and resend it and we can save alot of paper that way, too! I was looking at that registration form you did and I can think of lots of ways to use that but I'll have to talk to you about how you were able to get them to submit it back to you with the use of a submit button. Lots of time I am polling them about something and that would be a good way to get that information.

Thing 19

Voicethreads is much like some of the other "things" we've learned. I can see this in the classroom easily from Kinder to sixth. I love the example of the Kindergarten ABC book where the kids drew the pictures AND did the voiceover. I would have loved this when I taught writing in fourth grade. I like the idea of putting a picture on the overhead and letting the kids write their thoughts or descriptions or explanations and then voicing them so everyone could hear their ideas. Some kids think the same way everytime you ask for input and I think it is great when they get to hear the ideas and thoughts of others. It expands their ability to think in different ways. I guess the only challenge would be to locate microphones for everyone. I think the computer lab has mics but it would be good to make sure. I wish I had know alot of this before I planned our back to school workdays. I would love to have the teachers get some training on some of these "things."