Out of the Loop

This week I am out of the loop. I have had no PD training; it's not part of "my" experience. I don't feel like an expert ready to teach teachers, but I am not afraid to share what I know. We will see where it goes.
I have more than usual on my plate. We have water in the basement again...I have an event to attend for one of my students on Thursday, my daughter AJ has her senior show on Friday and Saturday (I will be helping her set up Thursday night and Friday--we need to hang paintings, arrange space, buy food and wine...) Sunday is Easter! I have not yet set up our eating arrangements. AJ has to work until 5 on Easter...I think I am oversharing...Sorry.

Module 2

Wow, module two was quite an exporation! What I would most like to get more familiar with is creating wikis. A wiki offers students and teachers a truly on-going collaborative experience. I feel like the design of this course is something like a wiki.
Utube and teachertube are great sites with tons of videos and podcasts for classroom use. And of course, everyone knows how I feel about creating Animotos. Now that I can upload the music component, there's no stopping me!
RSS feeds and delicious are also fabulous additions to my internet library!
Here is to future explorations.

No ipad For Me

I never did get a chance to touch an e-reader. I went to the Apple store to learn that the ipad won't be available until April 3. I am intrigued by these readers. Although I couldn't see myself nestled on the couch or in bed with one, I think they would be great to have on a plane. I am going shopping with my daughter today. Maybe, she won't mind taking a detour to see an e-reader.

The Outsiders--an animoto

The Outsiders

When creating this assignment,I was able to download Elvis's "Jailhouse Rock," thanks to Dylan. What is important about this assignment is that students can put a face on a character and appreciate music from another generation. It enriches their reading experience.

Ponyboy's Facebook Woes

It seems Ponyboy and I share a problem with Facebook. We cannot upload photos even though the Facebook plug-in has been installed. Oh well, maybe we can get some help from Dylan, the music wiz or AJ who has 700+ photos on her Facebook!

West Side Story--revisited

West Side Story
Today I continued working on technology that students might use in an English class unit on The Outsiders. Of course, I returned to one of my favorite sites to play with Animoto. It took quite some time to put together an array of photos I will use in an animoto of "the Greasers," but while in the process, I learned how to convert the itune music into MP3 form! AJ was here with an emergency visit to the dentist and we put in a phone call to her boyfriend (a musician) who taught us how to convert it. I had already bought the overture to West Side Story and now I could convert it. I went back to that animoto and plugged in the correct music. I will buy some Elvis music for the Outsiders animoto.

Getting Going

I have been feeling a bit uncertain about my assignment this week, and I had not felt like I could begin. Finally, I plunged and decided to use The Outsiders, a book I have read with students, as a unit topic. Using one of the prereading activities, I created a survey on Survey Monkey. I am not sure how to move it around yet...I can at least copy it, it seems. I feel a little better having done something.

Facebook--the place for making friends

Did I say I was friendless on facebook? When was that? I am now afraid to open my e-mail account for yet another invitation. I have mothers of my daughters' friends, college aquaintances I cannot remember, nieces and their husbands and distant cousins who want to be friends. Facebooking probably won't last for me...I don't want to slight these folks but I just don't have the time or the inclination to keep up with them (except for my relatives whom I will e-mail). I have enough friends in my neighborhood to catch up with. After the one picture I uploaded, I had trouble uploading others and I am now glad I didn't pursue it. The wall is coming down.
8-)

A Quick Look at World of Warcraft and Ragnarok

I can see how kids are attracted to playing games like World of Warcraft and Ragnarok. The graphics are so well done and inviting. I want to step into a mythological world and meet charming characters in fanciful settings. Just looking at some of the descriptions, it is obvious that the games encourage collaboration and require skill.

The Short Life of Babayaya

Babayaya was born on GaiaOnline. She chose a new race, a new look and some unique clothing. Babayaya went to the Durum Depot and spent too much $$ on yet more clothing and accessories. Alas, Babayaya is no more.

A Few Friends

It looks like I have friended a couple of people. One wants me to join an Island Game she plays and is sending me things like coconuts and llamas. Where on earth I would find the time for this is beyond me. This week I have more social commitments in the real world than I can handle, and I don't know how I can make time for the cyberworld.

Friendless on Facebook

This week has started off somewhat disastrously for me. I have spent nearly every free moment trying to cope with a flooding and, finally, flooded basement. This included a trip to Home Depot last night for a wetvac when my surface pump burned out. But enough of my whining...
Last night I started a facebook acoount but didn't get too far with it. It reported having a contact import error so I remained friendless. When I returned to it just a short while ago, I still could not view any gmail contacts beyond the letter, F. I am going to move on for it is getting late and I want to spend some time on other sites.

West Side Story-a few scenes

West Side Story-a few scenes

This is another one of my animoto creations.( I have a couple more but I don't want to overkill) As backround music, I had hoped to use the overture of West Side Story so I purchased it from the Apple store, only to learn that Animoto would only accept music from an MP3 source. I charged Chloe's ipod, found the music but then learned that to use her ipod with my computer I would need to reconfigure it to Windows. It's time to move on...my basement is getting water, my refrigerator is empty, dirty laundry is calling...
This week I am going to make an Animoto of some of my students.

More Cool Sites

Vimeo, Pandora and Europa Film Treasures are just another three great sites to add to my ever-growing collection. Vimeo seems like a nice alternative to YouTube. The layout is appealing/user friendly, the quality of the videos is much better than those on utube, and there seems to be a lot less advertisement, if any. I guess the one drawback would be that videos on Vimeo probably get less exposure than those on utube. It all depends on what one is looking for--quality vs. quantity. I love the fact that when I returned to Pandora after several days, the site began playing one of my favorite Sting songs. That you can just plug in a genre of music is another great feature. Something I remembered when I first opened up the site is that my friend Elizabeth has Pandora on her iphone (lucky woman). Finally, browsing through the vintage films on Europa was pretty awesome. I was surprised by the high quality of some of those old films and enjoyed watching a few snippets of foreign films.

Voiceless VoiceThread

I did some minor fiddling around with VoiceThread which seems like a really cool site that I want to get back to. I did not add any voice; I haven't any way to add voice on this computer. I might try to use Ed's computer if I can make the time.

Mental Math Challenge

I was unable to post this podcast in my discussion but wanted someone to have easy access to it. As I mentioned in my post, a math teacher, Nancy Foothigley, has children solve a math puzzle of the day using podcasts. Here is one




See more Audio at TeacherTube.com.

TeacherTube.com

See more Audio at TeacherTube.com.
I should have spent more time on Teachertube and less on Podcast Alley where I had no luck getting podcasts. I tried to upload two different aggregator software applications but I couldn't figure out how to use them...I wonder if I even loaded them correctly. Fortunately, I found my way back to Teachertube where it is so easy to listen to podcasts.
P.S. This Mr. Duey sure gets around. I used his fraction rap video for my assignment this week.

Elizabeth's iPhone

I just looked at my friend, Elizabeth’s iphone and I am blown away by all it does. It is not just a phone, but an ipod, a GPS, and a portable computer as well. She can take notes on it, set timers, alarms and stopwatches, use a calculator, make voice memos, tell you the time in Venice, and when the next bus leaves Marblehead for Haymarket Square. She has added iBookshelf which not only keeps track of what she has read but which connects to Amazon where she can purchase books. She has Moonphase so she knows when the moon is waxing which is when one should plant a garden (I just learned this interesting little tidbit). Elizabeth also stays in touch with her family on Facebook, another site she has downloaded. There seems to be no end to what one could do with this little attractive phone. You could take a text and using school software, scan and convert it to an audio file for iphone, ipod or an MP3 player. Amazing!

AJ and Mom edited

AJ and Mom edited

Yesterday morning, I revisited the Animoto website. I hadn't created an account because I did not want to reveal the personal information required to use the site, but I decided to throw caution to the wind. These are photos AJ and I took when we went to New York last summer and a couple when we were in Venice.

It's a Wrap

I just wrapped up my week with an attempt to use Rollyo(I had missed it on the list.) Every time I tried to search a topic, I got an apology, something about a temporary error. I finally looked at a couple of other people's rolls but did not find the layout of information appealing--it popped up in a tiny box.
Although I spent many hours on line this week,I need more exploration on sites like Zoho which is so comprehensive, one could take a course on it. Sites like Doodle, Bubblus, and Animoto were easier for me to explore in a bit more depth.
I had a couple of funny experiences. Yesterday I "stumbled upon" the site AllTops which sells women's blouses and Bubbuls which sells bath and body products.....so I did a little shopping :) just to break up my day. (jk)

Bleary Eyed

It's 5:37 pm and I have just spent the last 4+ hours doing the second half of my exploration this week. Whew! Earlier in the week, reading Debra and Brian's comments helped me to better understand Zamzar; I hope a student will need me to open a Windows 7 document, so I can see how it works...actually I can try using the document I created for this week's assignment.
I enjoy exploring on the Internet although I sometimes find it frustrating. I downloaded Jing and spent a considerable amount of time trying to use it, but I could not seem to get out of instruction and into creation. I finally tossed in the towel. In fact, it's time for me to quit for now.

Wiki Surprises

I knew my friend Robin had added a "Cheaters' Chocolate Cake" recipe (and here I am trying to lose a few pounds!), but I was surprised to find first a southwestern salad and then a sweet and sour entree on the wiki. Robin says she only put the cake on, so I guess others are finding their way onto the wiki...and here I thought I might need to start a little guilt tripping :). Since my brother has not stepped up to the "plate" with my mom's homemade ravioli recipe, I might have to either search for it or contact him. He has retired and cooks all the time.
Feeling inspired, I added my banana bread, and now Chloe wants her peanut butter bread pudding on the wiki. Cheers!

I wasn't able to rearrange the Flickr photos on the home page, but I did rearrange them in a "set".

Flickr Fun

Before I began my Flickr exploration, I had this notion that I needed to download a CD that came with my camera. I looked in my husband's office, called my daughter in Boston, and worried needlessly. So I figured I would use photos that I had in an e-mail link. That worked and then (duh!) I plugged my camera in and downloaded my own photos to my new computer. I am learning how to navigate tecnology!
I am now enjoying the Flikr site. I have uploaded the photos from my camera and some photos that were sent to me in a link. The only problem with the photos from the link is that they are tiny and distort when I use the photo album feature. The woman who shared the photos uses Smugmug. I am going to have a little more flickr fun (I also want to rearrange the order of the photos, if I can) before I move on!