Web 2.0 Summer Fun

I want to start off by thanking Shelley Paul for putting together the K12Learning2.0 23 Things Class this summer.  It has felt like “7000 weeks” since we began this class, but I know that this is just the beginning.  These past 10 weeks have been a continuous learning experience for me as I started on my journey learning  about Web 2.0.   I have been introduced to blogging, wikis, RSS, Creative Commons, Tagging, tools (Blabberize, Quizlet, …), social bookmarking, Library Thing, Podcasting, Google Docs, Google Reader, Pageflakes, Social Networking, Classroom 2.0, Voicethread and more.  I found that as I was in the discovery stage for many of these tools, I would spend hours following interesting hyperlinks within each of the different activities.  I could have easily spent hours upon hours discovering more new things out there.  It was fascinating and exciting.  I am honestly going to go through this class again this year for a second time as I try to gaing a better understanding of the tools available to me.  I want to continue to “lurk” and follow intereseting hyperlinks that will also teach me more about Web 2.0.  The learning will never end.      I plan to share what I have learned in this class with my fellow teachers at school.  I want to share the excitement of Web 2.0 with my colleagues and see if I can help spark an interest in them to want to become a “digital immigrant” and get on board with Web 2.0.  Thank you!

I think the Steve Hargadon’s Classroom 2.0 social networking site for educators is fabulous.   I enjoyed reading through the questions of the teachers new to the site.  Teachers put questions out to the masses and had multiple educators offer tips and advice.  People were sharing ideas, offering suggestions, helpful hints and tips via responses to the questions.  I had my notebook in hand as I was writing down some great ideas shared by fellow educators.  The potential for sharing the ideas of people from around the world is incredible.  Teachers in Israel can ask questions and share ideas with teachers here in Georgia.   I can see dialogues being started as teachers connect and share ideas.  This will take them to another level where they are communicating about more than just one specific topic. This site is a great way to see other peoples ideas, ask questions of fellow educators, follow threads of interest as you navigate the site. This is one site I plan to register for an be part of.  The social networking of teachers will surely benefit the students we teach.

I have had a Twitter account for some time but have not really used it.    I took the time to watch the video How to Harness Twitter for an Extraordinary PLN but had a very difficult time hearing Paul on my speakers.   I did check out some people on Twitter and followed some of the tweets.  I came across one specific tweet that led me to the articel 7 Reasons Not to Send Your Kid to College by James Altucher.   Having two children already in college and two more to go in the next 3 years, I was eager to read this piece.  I never would have found this had I not followed a line of tweets that let me to this great article.  Twitter allowed me to see people IDEAS ( only 140 characters) in short blurbs.  I could follow people who were of interest to me, and more importantly, I can follow the followers!  I loved the statement that “good stuff always comes around again”.  So if you miss something first time around, you will probably have a chance to check it out again.    There is a lot of potential with twitter as you have the opportunity to ask questions, give answers, share ideas, get help from others.  You have to be an active participant on Twitter in order for it to be beneficial.  You can’t just lurk around.  You have to tweet, follow others, have others willing to follow you because of your “good” tweets in order for the communication to be worthy.    I’m not sure Twitter has a place in my classroom yet, but I will continue to learn more about it and see if there is a fit.

I enjoy checking my Google Reader to get an idea of what is going on on sites I have decided to follow.  One of my initial finds was Write Now in Room 204.  Blogger/teacher Annie Campbell has not done much blogging this summer and has instead taken some time off for rest and relaxation.  I was pleasantly surprised to find her as a guest blogger on Two Writing Teachers.  Annie Campbell gives wonderful advice on how to encourage our kids to be better listeners to help them become better writers.  She has some wonderful techniques to help students learn to be better story tellers, which will lead them to become better writers.  Check the blog out if you are a teacher of language arts or just want to get your students excited about the art of storytelling, for it will help them in many other classes as well.

I love the concept behind Pageflakes and the potential it has for classroom use although they need to get rid of the ads!
Pageflakes was similar to iGoogle in that you can create your own webpage in just a few minutes.  Pageflakes allows you to  “customize web content by adding and organizing links, RSS feeds, podcasts, search tools” and other widgets and gadgets. I copied the K12 learning page to take a look at how you set up the page. I also looked at other Pagesflakes to see what other educators are doing with their pages.  I can see this as a way to have a homepage for each of my classes with relevant information on different pages.   I hope they figure out a way to get the ads off for educators so that I can use it in the classroom.

I am interested in sharing what I have learned this summer with my colleagues at school.  I used Google Docs to create a rough draft of topics that we could start off with in getting others hooked into learning about Web 2.0 and the tremendous amount of resources available to us.  I then created a presentation on the Real Number System using the presentation tool in Google Docs.  It was very easy to use (very similar to PowerPoint) and would be a great way for students to collaborate on presentation projects for class.  I already am planning on the kids using this tool to create their own presentation of a concept from class to share with the class.  The kids will be able to work from home and still be able to work together on the project!!  This is going to be a fabulous tool for us to use.  Our students are from all over the metro area and have trouble working on “group” projects.  Google Docs will allow them to work together on projects from the comfort of their own homes, without having to try to figure out when/where/how they are going to get together otherwise.  I can see a lot of potential for this at our school.

I enjoyed looking around YouTube and checking out the wide variety of videos. One of my favorites is the video a math teacher posted on April Fools. I’ve had trouble embedding it in my blog so I am setting this up to link to the video.  I was able to successfully add it to my wiki so I’m not sure what is going on.  I’ll edit this post when I can figure out what I am doing wrong with the embedding in this blog. I have used YouTube videos in my classroom before and tend to only show the video so as not to follow the comment thread in case the content is inappropriate. I am going to work on copying just the video itself by embedding it into another file to view. Teacher Tube is also a wonderful resource and has a wonderful variety of videos for all content areas. Once again, since I am having trouble embedding a video, I’ll have to come back and edit this post with some of my favorites. I am looking to get involved in helping other faculty members learn more about Web 2.0 so this is a task I need to get one ASAP.

Funny YouTube video of Math Teacher:

Above should be the embedded video.

I am having a bit of trouble with this assignment. I’m having trouble successfully recording my voice using the Sound Recorder.
I am planning on creating a podcast that talks about the Real Number System and the sets of numbers that make up the Real Number System. My microphone is working but it is not being recorded by the Sound Recorder (I don’t see the green line moving). I’m going to search out additional help on this one.

I was eager to explore podcasting this week and find out what it was all about.  I couldn’t believe all the free podcasts that were available from Itunes.   I spent one morning just checking out the different categories in the Itunes Store to find out what all was available to us.  I listened to an interesting podcast on What does Web 2.0 mean?  from HowStuffWorks.com. listened to one of my favorite talk show hosts Clark Howard, and finally ended up listening to a podcast on running, Couch to 5K.  I subscribed to the running podcast and hope that it is the stepping stone for me to get back into exercising as it incorporates a lot of useful information as well as motivational music to keep you on track.  I have a lot more exploring to do with podcasting and how to incorporate it into my own teaching and professional development.  Time, I just need more time to spend checking it all out.

This week we had a chance to explore Library Thing.  What a fun way to keep track of your books, old books, new books and everything associated with books!  This would be a great place to start looking for new books to read as you make your way through a network of other “bookies” who blurb about their books.  What a great way to get a “book club” together and share your thoughts about current reads and hear what other people have to say.  As someone who currently has MANY books, it would be quite a task to attempt to catalog my own collection of books online, but I know that the possibility is there, waiting for me to pounce on it.  I could see this as a wonderful way to help students find other authors to read as they have the opportunity to connect with other readers.

I am so thrilled with all the new tools I have learned so far this summer and am amazed at all the information that is available to us on the web.   I have aha moments on a daily basis as I learn new things and try them out.  This week was no different as I learned about social bookmarking using Delicious.  I took the time to search social bookmarking and learned that there actually numerous social bookmarking sites available online, depending on what you are looking for.  I enjoyed playing on the Delicious site, bookmarking and tagging sites of interest.   I searched on keywords web2.0 and technology. I checked out the most popular sites tagged under each of these and even added this tag to my own delicious account.

In checking out delicious and following tag info, I came across this very cool site.  It is

100 Incredible & Educational Virtual Tours You Don’t Want to Miss | Online Universities by By Katheryn Rivas. It introduces you to the many virtual tours  on Google Earth that allow you to explore on your computer.   You can check out cities, famous landmarks and buildings, museums, college campuses, outer space, how things are made, humans and animals, ballparks, theme parks,  and Google Earth virtual tours.  Please take a minute to check this site out.  It is really fascinating.

I definitely will use this to help me better find information on the web by saving/storing sites by tagging them.  The days of forgetting what website you went to that had the great info you wanted is in the past.   I think it will take time to perfect the tagging techniques.  I’m going to check out Diigo as a way to collect and organize my bookmarks and further explore Delicious as time goes by.