Diigo is a place where you store all the articles that you have read online. Why would you want to do this? Well lets say you have a class that you need to write a paper on. You have tagged all the articles with words that correspond with the content like "Reading". You click on the "Reading" tag and you have all your resources for your paper. But that's not all! You can know follow people that have tagged articles on "Reading" and you now have more resources than you can every use. The power of collaboration at it's best. Take the time out of research, Find your research with out digging into stacks of paper and start making your professional life a little less crazy. Maybe even un-clutter your house a little.
Sign up for your account today at www.diigo.com
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
RSS Feeds. Have one yet? If not you are behind the times!
RSS = Real Simple Syndication. Why waste time looking for information, when you can ask your computer to bring this information to you. Free yourself from going to your local news web page to read. Love flowers find the latest and greatest in the florist industry. Keep up to date with news from your favorite college or university. Wikipedia defines RSS as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.
So how do you sign up?
Download a free reader at:
http://www.rssowl.org/download
Or get your online Reader at:
http://www.google.com/reader
So how do you sign up?
Download a free reader at:
http://www.rssowl.org/download
Or get your online Reader at:
http://www.google.com/reader
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Student Blogs. It's time that every school has a system!
Why should I write when nobody is reading? Knowing somebody is reading my writing motivates me. Wouldn't it be the same for students? Authentic audiences make sense.
Both Twitter and Blogger have become my favorite writing tools. They have given me an authentic relative audience. I would love to see students have their own blog page, where they can post poems, stories, or just write about the favorite baseball team. Every school should put together a blog system. It just makes sense that every student have a space to write, a digital showcase of thoughts, poems, articles, stories, etc. Showcase what students have done, let people comment, give feed back, and explore topics. If all the poems, stories and papers I wrote been saved, stored digitally for me to review, reuse and update I would love it. If your school has such a program I would love to hear about it.
A year ago I started a ning for my school. If you don't know what a ning is it's like facebook but for a group of people that you invite or a topic that you decide. It started as a computer projects that allowed students to understand the good and bad of social media in a safe environment. What I realized is that students now have their own page where they can place pictures, videos blogs, and journals. Soon students were posting their own poems and stories. They were talking about the books that they read. It's fantastic. Students can comment on the work of others, share their stories and enhance learning through this tool.
I found two unexpected outcomes came out of the assignment. One, students writing improved, because the knew that their stories were getting read. Second, the discussion and comments enhanced learning. By "practicing" writing skills will grow. Students will become better writers and creative thinkers.
So here's the plan:
1) Have your school make a place where students can write and post all there work.
2) Make these blogs open to student and public comment so that the end results will students will become better writers. Student Blogs. It's time. Does your school have a system?
Both Twitter and Blogger have become my favorite writing tools. They have given me an authentic relative audience. I would love to see students have their own blog page, where they can post poems, stories, or just write about the favorite baseball team. Every school should put together a blog system. It just makes sense that every student have a space to write, a digital showcase of thoughts, poems, articles, stories, etc. Showcase what students have done, let people comment, give feed back, and explore topics. If all the poems, stories and papers I wrote been saved, stored digitally for me to review, reuse and update I would love it. If your school has such a program I would love to hear about it.
A year ago I started a ning for my school. If you don't know what a ning is it's like facebook but for a group of people that you invite or a topic that you decide. It started as a computer projects that allowed students to understand the good and bad of social media in a safe environment. What I realized is that students now have their own page where they can place pictures, videos blogs, and journals. Soon students were posting their own poems and stories. They were talking about the books that they read. It's fantastic. Students can comment on the work of others, share their stories and enhance learning through this tool.
I found two unexpected outcomes came out of the assignment. One, students writing improved, because the knew that their stories were getting read. Second, the discussion and comments enhanced learning. By "practicing" writing skills will grow. Students will become better writers and creative thinkers.
So here's the plan:
1) Have your school make a place where students can write and post all there work.
2) Make these blogs open to student and public comment so that the end results will students will become better writers. Student Blogs. It's time. Does your school have a system?
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Twitter: A Little R & W (Read & Writing)
English teachers love to improve writing. Every day they teach techniques and find best practices, finding those methods that engage the students has been their passion. I recall my 8th grade English teacher using prompts to promote writing. "Who it your favorite teacher, write a paragraph why?" "Write 2 paragraphs about President Reagan." While I wrote, I hated writing. I didn't appreciated the topics and and it made this time "hellish". The only people that ever read my writing was my teacher, and I'm not sure she looked at all of them either.
Recently I read this tweet from @tomwhitby re-tweeting @cwebtech.
Micro Blog = Prompt. Hmmm! I paused and reflected. Yes, I have done more writing and commenting in the last year that ever before in my life. Why? I am prompted to do so by others with the same interest that I do. I even started to blog, putting my thoughts and visions into words in an electronic web log format (blog).
Do you want to get your students to write more? Have them sign up for a twitter account. Search keywords and have them follow people with the same passion. Soon they will be prompted to write. They will be doing a lot of R and W (Reading and Writing) Then have them expand those thoughts as they create there own personal blogs in blogger or edublogs. How about partnering with another school, maybe outside your state and country. Students can read the partner schools blogs and have them share their thoughts? Let the conversation begin. Let the writing expand!
Yes, twitter and blogs are powerful collaboration tools that can engage a student in learning. It makes writing relevant and also creates an audience for students to write to. Go on get those students writing by having them enter in the conversation.
Recently I read this tweet from @tomwhitby re-tweeting @cwebtech.
Micro Blog = Prompt. Hmmm! I paused and reflected. Yes, I have done more writing and commenting in the last year that ever before in my life. Why? I am prompted to do so by others with the same interest that I do. I even started to blog, putting my thoughts and visions into words in an electronic web log format (blog).
Do you want to get your students to write more? Have them sign up for a twitter account. Search keywords and have them follow people with the same passion. Soon they will be prompted to write. They will be doing a lot of R and W (Reading and Writing) Then have them expand those thoughts as they create there own personal blogs in blogger or edublogs. How about partnering with another school, maybe outside your state and country. Students can read the partner schools blogs and have them share their thoughts? Let the conversation begin. Let the writing expand!
Yes, twitter and blogs are powerful collaboration tools that can engage a student in learning. It makes writing relevant and also creates an audience for students to write to. Go on get those students writing by having them enter in the conversation.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thank You Twitter, I'm Writing Better.
I wouldn't consider myself a great writer. Matter of fact, as a business, recreation and physical education major, writing didn't come easy. I avoided writing at all cost. I procrastinated on research papers in High School. In college I choose presentations over term papers. I hated writing a journal during my student teaching. Fast forward 20 years.
But then it happened. I signed up for twitter, and really didn't know what to expect. Writing my first post, I was nervous. Will people like what I have to say? Will people follow me? Yes, I was scared to make people my "friends." My mind was filled with "what if" questions. What if I am stalked? What if people said mean things? What if my password is breached? Cyberbullies?
Over 1600 post later, twitter has changed my life. My PLN is fantastic as we share concepts, articles and best practices in education. I love to find new trends and best practices as we strive to become better educators.
While I'm currently consumed in the process of writing, yes twittering, I didn't realize condensing text down to words fitting the 140 character limited has made me a better writer. Most likely it's the result of just writing more, but I feel better about expressing my thoughts and ideas. Here is what I have found:
1) My concepts are clearer. 140 characters makes you think about what you really want to say.
2) I'm using fewer words. Not as much fluff.
3) A thesaurus is my friend. Online thesauruses help me explore using different words.
4) I'm aware on verb tenses, Yes, I know I still need additional help with verbs.
5) I'm not worrying about making a mistake or three. It's the process that counts.
Studies are supporting my finding. Recently techdirt.com posted an article with the title: Even More Research: Technology Is Making Kids Better Writers, Not Worse. In the article it states,
But then it happened. I signed up for twitter, and really didn't know what to expect. Writing my first post, I was nervous. Will people like what I have to say? Will people follow me? Yes, I was scared to make people my "friends." My mind was filled with "what if" questions. What if I am stalked? What if people said mean things? What if my password is breached? Cyberbullies?
Over 1600 post later, twitter has changed my life. My PLN is fantastic as we share concepts, articles and best practices in education. I love to find new trends and best practices as we strive to become better educators.
While I'm currently consumed in the process of writing, yes twittering, I didn't realize condensing text down to words fitting the 140 character limited has made me a better writer. Most likely it's the result of just writing more, but I feel better about expressing my thoughts and ideas. Here is what I have found:
1) My concepts are clearer. 140 characters makes you think about what you really want to say.
2) I'm using fewer words. Not as much fluff.
3) A thesaurus is my friend. Online thesauruses help me explore using different words.
4) I'm aware on verb tenses, Yes, I know I still need additional help with verbs.
5) I'm not worrying about making a mistake or three. It's the process that counts.
Studies are supporting my finding. Recently techdirt.com posted an article with the title: Even More Research: Technology Is Making Kids Better Writers, Not Worse. In the article it states,
"Every few months or so, we read about some freaked out reporter/columnist/pundit/politician complaining about how the internet and texting are destroying kids' ability to write. Yet, pretty much every study on the subject has found the opposite to be true. Study after study after study after study after study have all found that kids today are better writers than in the past."So, the fact that twitter has helped me to become a better writer is enough to say, "Thank you twitter for helping me."
Monday, January 25, 2010
The Best Professional Development day(s) ever? The Power of Technology
"I didn't learn a thing!" "That was so boring!" "What a waste of another day!" Sick and tired of hearing comments like these after teacher development days. There's another option. It's time to use technology and technology power to enhance staff development. It's time to move past the speaker, one topic model of PD day to a day of sharing, growing learning, being engaged, relevant and inspiring. Time to see unlimited development full of collaboration, sharing best practices, and learning through the power of social media and learning networks. During your professional development day, give teachers the time to join in and be inspired to learn from each other and from educators around the world.
Let's get things started. Of course, dough-nuts and coffee first. These are the main-stays to professional development. Then how about modeling how to use these social media learning communities. A technology coach would show how to join a group, how to write your blog for others to comment on, how to embed a video and how to link articles for others to read. After the initial meeting, lets break out to classrooms and labs and start the conversation and sharing.
Afraid that staff won't accomplish anything and waste the day. The hope is that teachers will be engaged, boredom isn't an issue. Still worried. Assign tasks for teachers to do. For example, teachers will join 2 learning groups and make 5 comments and suggestions to these groups. Teachers will start a blog and then comment on 5 colleges blogs. Teachers will research 2 best practice articles to share with others using links. Social learning communities will allow teachers to share ideas, but more importantly find new ideas, practices, and tools that will enhance there teaching. We can easily check what they did by looking at there page. Are they engaged? What did they learn? Do they have the skills to learn, share and grow through technology.?
After hours learning, sharing, and collaborating, lets come back for a time of celebration and praise. Let's see who is the model citizens in the learning community and at the same time see the information and ideas that they have learned about, explored and shared.
So how do we set up this technology based day. Let's start by creating a community in a free web 2.0 tool Ning. With initial set up by a technology coach, teachers can easily be invited and the learning begin. Your network can be a private network or how about inviting your neighbor schools district to join in the sharing.
I would also suggest using twitter. Sign up for an account and follow others and be followed. Share best practices, learn about new trends and in general make yourself a better teacher. For information on how to create an account view my presentation and twitter empowered teachers.
What's cool is development will begin within your schools walls during professional development day, but soon it will spread to sofas at home and in the coffee shop down the street. It will be used during weekends, summer vacations or whenever teachers have time to learn something new. You will harness a world of knowledge through local teachers and educators worldwide. And it has been logged so that you can find post that interest you whenever, and wherever.
What do teachers want to learn about during professional development? Things that are vital to there lessons plans tomorrow. Things like, how can we improve reading? What tools do you use? How are you going to teach students the countries of Europe or the States of the USA? A technology based PD (professional development) or PLN (professional learning networks) will bring teachers knowledge about topics, and new ideas to use and share. No more wasted time. Let's give them what they want. relative topics that they can use.
PS: Maybe by being involved in an learning community, teachers will see the power and develop ways to get students involved in these communities. Wow, how cool is that?
Some good examples:
http://edupln.ning.com/
West Texas Digital Storytelling Collaborative
http://wtdstc.ning.com/
Video on the power of Personal Learning Networks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDxK0OSvKEU
Comment by Rhonda Roysden
Powerful! "Professional learning and collaboration can happen anytime, anywhere...even on the couch at home, while watching TV in your pajamas!" This hits home with me! Learning and collaborating in the comfort of my own home!
Source: http://edupln.ning.com/video/the-creation-of-aprofessional
Does your school have a ning set up for professional development? Do your teachers join groups to learn from each other? Do teachers blog about what is working in there class? Do they share video tutorials about which teaching skills work the best. The cool thing is that this can be done. Ning allows you to create and join new social networks for your interests and passions, with the intent on learning.
Example of an initial ning setup. http://hpsstaff.ning.com/
Let's get things started. Of course, dough-nuts and coffee first. These are the main-stays to professional development. Then how about modeling how to use these social media learning communities. A technology coach would show how to join a group, how to write your blog for others to comment on, how to embed a video and how to link articles for others to read. After the initial meeting, lets break out to classrooms and labs and start the conversation and sharing.
Afraid that staff won't accomplish anything and waste the day. The hope is that teachers will be engaged, boredom isn't an issue. Still worried. Assign tasks for teachers to do. For example, teachers will join 2 learning groups and make 5 comments and suggestions to these groups. Teachers will start a blog and then comment on 5 colleges blogs. Teachers will research 2 best practice articles to share with others using links. Social learning communities will allow teachers to share ideas, but more importantly find new ideas, practices, and tools that will enhance there teaching. We can easily check what they did by looking at there page. Are they engaged? What did they learn? Do they have the skills to learn, share and grow through technology.?
After hours learning, sharing, and collaborating, lets come back for a time of celebration and praise. Let's see who is the model citizens in the learning community and at the same time see the information and ideas that they have learned about, explored and shared.
So how do we set up this technology based day. Let's start by creating a community in a free web 2.0 tool Ning. With initial set up by a technology coach, teachers can easily be invited and the learning begin. Your network can be a private network or how about inviting your neighbor schools district to join in the sharing.
I would also suggest using twitter. Sign up for an account and follow others and be followed. Share best practices, learn about new trends and in general make yourself a better teacher. For information on how to create an account view my presentation and twitter empowered teachers.
What's cool is development will begin within your schools walls during professional development day, but soon it will spread to sofas at home and in the coffee shop down the street. It will be used during weekends, summer vacations or whenever teachers have time to learn something new. You will harness a world of knowledge through local teachers and educators worldwide. And it has been logged so that you can find post that interest you whenever, and wherever.
What do teachers want to learn about during professional development? Things that are vital to there lessons plans tomorrow. Things like, how can we improve reading? What tools do you use? How are you going to teach students the countries of Europe or the States of the USA? A technology based PD (professional development) or PLN (professional learning networks) will bring teachers knowledge about topics, and new ideas to use and share. No more wasted time. Let's give them what they want. relative topics that they can use.
PS: Maybe by being involved in an learning community, teachers will see the power and develop ways to get students involved in these communities. Wow, how cool is that?
Some good examples:
The personal learning network for educators
West Texas Digital Storytelling Collaborative
http://wtdstc.ning.com/
Video on the power of Personal Learning Networks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDxK0OSvKEU
Comment by Rhonda Roysden
Powerful! "Professional learning and collaboration can happen anytime, anywhere...even on the couch at home, while watching TV in your pajamas!" This hits home with me! Learning and collaborating in the comfort of my own home!
Source: http://edupln.ning.com/video/the-creation-of-aprofessional
Does your school have a ning set up for professional development? Do your teachers join groups to learn from each other? Do teachers blog about what is working in there class? Do they share video tutorials about which teaching skills work the best. The cool thing is that this can be done. Ning allows you to create and join new social networks for your interests and passions, with the intent on learning.
Example of an initial ning setup. http://hpsstaff.ning.com/
Friday, January 22, 2010
Blender 3d Animation: Math Applied.
Ok class, today we make 3d models using Blender. Open the program and see a square, no maybe it's a cube. Let's see, can we view it from the top, how about the front or the right. Let's see if we can orbit around the cube. Let's add a circle. No, we need a sphere. Which axes can we rotate the object around. How about the Z axes. If we scale the sphere do we need to double it?
At first glance Blender an open source 3d modeling and animation program seemed complicated and beyond my grasp. But with help from youtube and Blender tutorials, I began to understand the basics of the interface and the power Blender has for teaching many skills including artistic concepts, 3d visualization, animation and math. With a brief introducation students began beginner 3d modeling. You can view student Beginner Blender examples at my teachers web site.
Soon after my first lessons in Blender, I found 8th grade students needed to understand math concepts or they had trouble creating objects. For example when you scale on object, how big should you scale it? Double, triple the size. When you rotate objects, which axes to you rotate it on x,y or z? How about dividing the object into parts. What surface or face should we move? Should we keep the object on this plane or move it to a parallel plane. Dimensions can be a real key when you are drawing objects.
Students naturally picked up these concepts the more they created. I loved that they applied math concepts. I wonder if math lesson plans using blender have been created? Teach the concept and then apply it using blender. I couldn't find any as I searched on google. By having students model in 3d we were applying and reinforcing basic concepts making math relevant, authentic and engaging. I would love to see more students modeling, but also applying many math concepts as they create. Did I mention, that Blender is an open source program, which means free to use and run on both mac and pc.
So if anybody knows any Blender math lesson plans let me know. Or better yet, maybe someday I will have time to create. In the mean time, the students and I keep on learning. Can't wait to learn about physics with I learn about rigging and making things move. Any physics teachers use Blender?
At first glance Blender an open source 3d modeling and animation program seemed complicated and beyond my grasp. But with help from youtube and Blender tutorials, I began to understand the basics of the interface and the power Blender has for teaching many skills including artistic concepts, 3d visualization, animation and math. With a brief introducation students began beginner 3d modeling. You can view student Beginner Blender examples at my teachers web site.
Soon after my first lessons in Blender, I found 8th grade students needed to understand math concepts or they had trouble creating objects. For example when you scale on object, how big should you scale it? Double, triple the size. When you rotate objects, which axes to you rotate it on x,y or z? How about dividing the object into parts. What surface or face should we move? Should we keep the object on this plane or move it to a parallel plane. Dimensions can be a real key when you are drawing objects.
Students naturally picked up these concepts the more they created. I loved that they applied math concepts. I wonder if math lesson plans using blender have been created? Teach the concept and then apply it using blender. I couldn't find any as I searched on google. By having students model in 3d we were applying and reinforcing basic concepts making math relevant, authentic and engaging. I would love to see more students modeling, but also applying many math concepts as they create. Did I mention, that Blender is an open source program, which means free to use and run on both mac and pc.
So if anybody knows any Blender math lesson plans let me know. Or better yet, maybe someday I will have time to create. In the mean time, the students and I keep on learning. Can't wait to learn about physics with I learn about rigging and making things move. Any physics teachers use Blender?
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