Wednesday, August 5, 2009

thing 21

I forgot to add this blog to my list. I have been podcasting for about a year and love it. I use info in my classes and now creating a vairety of lessons.
My wiki spaces have many podcast lessons that you can view. One wiki space i use is for my outdoor ed. class. To view, go to right side where navigator is located. I have about 10 more podcasts to add, but have not had a chance to get those up on the site yet.
http://outdooredwais.pbworks.com/

Saturday, August 1, 2009

finished

I enjoyed the lessons offered to me in 23 things. There is so much information and I will be going back to lessons to become more proficient. I needed to get through this and did not have a lot of time this summer to really spend quality time reading and playing with each lesson . I have made notes where I want to go back and learn more as well as reference things that I want to use.
This is a great opportunity to become more aware of tools that are out there for us to use and I would recommend this to anyone who wants to become more proficient in this area.
I have used some of the lessons this summer with summer school and found that the kids enjoyed making trading cards, finding out about flicker and other sites.

Friday, July 10, 2009

thing 22-nings

Not a fan of this. I have no desire to connect socially on the Internet. My children facebook, I don't. I have no desire to communicate w/ them on facebook. I know many parents get on w/ their kids to see what they are doing, etc, but I respect my kids privacy on this matter. I don't need to check up on them in college, they earned our trust years ago and that is why they get to go away for college instead of doing Uof H or some other local school. When they are home for the holidays, they let me see their facebook pages so I can see pics they load there.
I will never-I know, never say never- facebook w/ my students or athletes. I don't think this is appropriate and can't believe we are encouraged to do so- especially with the things that have been reported in the news about inappropriate things between students and teachers. I don't have the time to spend on the computer during the day and after my hours after school, I need to do "personal time" with my friends and family. I do network with others in my field but not this way.
My students will be connecting with other students around the world in my aerobics classes and I am looking at ways we will set this up for them.

thing 20-you tube,zamzar

LOVE this. I can't get to you tube on district server although I have been told for a year we will soon be able to. What I did for my Outdoor classes is download you tube lessons on my home computer, transfer them through zamzar and then upload them on my wikis and server for use. It has been great as I think there are experts that can teach a quick demonstration of a skill more accuratly than I can. I wish that I could embed one of my you tube clips, but my laptop does not work at home-already been reimaged and still does not work on internet, etc. I will try to remember to embed a video when I get back to school this fall and can use my laptop.
My students have loved the clips and I ;have downloaded some funny ones about fishing, etc.
I am taking this a step futher w/ my studnets and their tech. skills by having them watch a mini lesson, then they film themselves doing the skill, and download it to wiki for future instruction. I have been doing this with the rope knots and the kids love to see themseves and then become the teacher.
Teacher tube is good as well, but have not downloaded from there.

thing 19-web 2.0 awards list

I will mark this one for use. There are some good things for my health fitness classes to use for motivation, etc. I was interested in food as I grew up with a professional culinary chef(mom). I actually like my sites better, but I will use some of these for my students in my aerobics class where we will study nutrition and healthy eating, recipes to try, etc.
I like comiquez as I will have my students use this for presentations, responses, etc.. One sentence is funny, and if I ever get time to play around on the computer, I will return to this site. When I taught English, I used descriptive phrases to decorate the ceiling of my classroom. Students loved to look up and comment about them and I think it helped their writing scores. I would do this in the gym ceiling to put up sporty phrases, but...
The Health section will be good to use with my aerobics class as they reserach and read off the internet.
Wikis- already using PB and LOVE it !!!
Mobil tech- not for me. I still can't believe people twitter. I text instead.
Sprotes- district has similar sites we use
I will mark this thing and come back later when my classes start and gets the studnets to let me know what they find useful.

thing 18- on line tools

The templets are similar to the ones I already use, but I don't want to have to go online to use these. The fact that you can download ware to use is fine, but I don't have a need for this one. I will make notes for the future in case I ever do. The disadvantages for me are I would have to learn a new program, screen is a little different. Advantages: everyone can access and use download.

thing 17-rollyo

As I began things 23 several weeks ago, I decided to first go through everything and play around with each thing. I made notes on the ones I needed time to spend more time with, ones I could immediately use, etc. For this one, I had a big X on it as I didn't think it would be useful to me very much bc there are other tools for research I can use.
I can see how others would use this for student research as students would be directed to the sites the teacher wanted them to go go and could build up a specific search engine for research.

thing 16- wiki

Can I tell you how much I love using my wiki sites. This is by far the best tool for me. I have several sites and each site is for a specific area of HF that I teach. I am able to share these sites w/ teachers across the district and state and they can see what new things we are doing in the gym as well as coaching. My students love these as I post animotos, photos, lessons, etc on them. I also keep my teaching tools on there. For me , it is so much easier to use a wiki to upload information on so I don't have to carry around a memory stick to put in another computer that I am using when demonstrating to others. For instance, I am teaching an Outdoor Ed class that is now state mandated and other teachers around the state are contacting me on how to teach this class. I can give them my wiki site and they can look at videos that I use as teaching aids. I have taken videos from you tube, gone through zamzar to change file and then can upload onto my wiki. I also add links to my wiki to another wiki since it only holds a certain amount of space. I like pb as it is simple, concise, and each to read.
I will be adding to my wiki sites as I gather more information about each subject during the year. I love it for athletics as parents love to see what their kids are doing and I will also be posting instructional videos for athletes to view for a specific skill. I am still building on a few sites and am very excited about the information that I can share.
Here are a few of my wiki sites:
http://outdooredwais.pbworks.com/
http://coachingsfms.pbworks.com/
http://cardioaerobics.pbworks.com/

thing 15- library 2.0

I grew up in the days where we had to write on notes cards for research, search through many books, and then carry those heavy books around with us just for a small piece of information that we needed. Thank goodness times are changing. I do have my classes reaserach information about fitness issues and think that the use of the internet is a very important tool to use. Students are able to get the latest updates and can cross check imformation and opinons of authors that they use. The only problem that I see is the avaliability of computer access. I am fortunate that with my tech grant, I will now have i-touches and new laptops for students to use in the gym so we can get access. I can send them to the library for additional help if needed. The thing about using technology with my classes is that I am able to turn to my studnets and ask them how to do something and several will be able to help me. I have watched students work together and share their knowldege of technology and they become an instructor. I will be the first to admit that I am not always able to answer their questions, but they can always answer mine. I know that this technology will be benefit sutdents and myself in this ever changing technology world.

thing 14

Technorati will be good to for finding educational blogs. I am not a blog lover, as I want more information than comments when reading. Blogging is used by so many people and they would be able to tag blogs to return to them quicker. I was amazed at the number of people who tag blogs and what people are interested in.
Technorati will hep me if I want to search for blogs for experts in my field who may have ideas about a particular skill. I will be able to narrow down my search, saving me time, and perhaps interest me in this area.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

thing 13

I can really use this tagging bc I need to have my bookmarks when I am on another computer. I am on several computers during the day as I change schools to coach. I share computers and can't favorite all that I do on my lpatop so this will be so helpful for me.

thing 11

Ok. so first of all the name library brings back memories of me in the library in college- not my favorite place. The first quote got me.
What a great thing to be able to catalog my books and write remarks beside them. Happy happy joy joy. I can talk to people able the books I read, get it on my phone, I'm sure my phone will ring to remind me about an exciting book just as I am coaching a game. I can ask the ref. to time out while I take this important phone call.
I do have signed cook books by known chefs, but I will not catalog these. Coaching books, well, I don't need to catalog them either, but the idea that I could if I wanted to just excites me to no end.
I can see how teachers who have collections of books would use this to catalog and organize their collection. Particulary in elementary school where teachers keep a personal collection of books or even a grade level keeps sets of books, I could see how they would use this tool.
Customized Football Jersey - ImageChef.com

thing 10


Pretty cool and fun. The kids will enjoy image chef and the templets will be great for them. I can use this on my bulletin board of LSU and Baylor in the gym where I highlight athletics and current sports. Kids can share on facebook and I can use it on my blogs. A great way to motivate students. I also learned how to delete it so I can change it when I feel lead. I think this is the best tool I learned about as there several areas that I think my hs students will love and use.

thing9

I would love to have time to search and play around on the computer, but w/ my limited time, this is just not something I am interested in at this time.
I enjoyed the tutorials, I am glad to know of its existence, but I am a beginner w/ blogs and working to become more profecient. Some of this is pretty tedious and not sure I would even use them.
It is amazing how much information is out there and for those who are avid bloggers, this would be a tool they would use.

thing 8- RSS

This does not interest me in the least at this point. As a coach, DC, and curriculum writer, I have so much coming in already and rarely have time to get to it. I hate extra reading, funny clips and such sent to me as this muddles me down and I have no personal time as it is. However, I will look at this later as my interest in technology grows, I will look for sites that fit my needs.

thing 7-google

Great info here. I am interested in several tools here. Google Earth can be used in my coaching as I have to mark courses for Outdoor Ed classes. For instance, we just finished a canoe trip on the Colorado River and will go again. I now have the tools to use Google Earth to locate the trip and relate it to the school location. The other tool is Google Advanced search. This is great for my Outdoor Ed class as students can find campsites and plan their own trips. They can add attractions in the area as well. The detailed search is great as they won't waste time on large searches.

thing 6-mashups


I think the trading cards is fab !! I will be able to use this in my PE classes as we can make cards about a particular skill and have students write info as opposed to tradiitional testing.

There are many tools that I will be able to use with my high school students


Thursday, July 2, 2009

thing 5

Love this !!!! The only problem with completing thing 5 is getting the pic posted. My SBISD laptop does not respond and my programs freeze causing me to lose my work. However, I do see great possibilites for this in my class as we make personal fitness programs and can make photos of activities and then use later. Also, I will make a flickr account so only students with address can go and see the pics taken in class.

thing 4

I will email you later with my blog site, but still trying to get the avatar up. I have already registered on PDLC

thing 3

seriously..... this avatar is ridiculous !!!!! I have made my avatar, saved it to jpg, tried many times to post, yet on my SBISD laptop, it freezes and can't make the connection. I will now have to try to do this on my home computer. I do have the code and will try this later.

thing 2

I got the technology grant and as part of my grant I am required to blog. So I am doing the 23 things to learn about blogging and the web 2.0 so that I am more proficient in my technology skills.
In my 23 thing lesson, thing 2 covers the 7.5 habits. Out of these, I can identify with creating your own learning toolbox. I get what I need out of a lesson and then make applications to my teaching or needs. For instance, a lesson on health nutrition, I take the information and make it so that my students can relate to their personal needs. Too much information for students often muddies the water and they stop listening.
The hardest of these habits is Begin with the end in mind. I fly by the seat of my pants, yet manage to always get there- and in record time!!!!