Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Thing #21

My Animoto Video

Make your own slideshow with music at Animoto.

THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! I am so going to be having my students use this. To go through and produce my own slide show was so easy. Sign up, add images, and then pick a song. Animoto produces all by itself and if you don't like the layout it will remix it for you. How easy is that? I will so be doing that again. Plus my students could do this themselves for any sort of projects. LOVE IT and FREE, awesome!!!!!!!

Thing #20



Mr Lee, All I Do Is Learn,

This has to be my most favorite blog post yet. I was looking for songs to use for my PowerPoint project covering the rock cycle and I had came across Mr. Lee--Rock Cycle. After listening to that song I had to check out all of Mr. Lee rap mixes and this is my new favorite song. My kids and their teachers have adopted this as their new theme songs for LIFE!!! Enjoy
Yes there are many great things about these sites, I love how if you have a problem just go to YouTube.com and you will generally find some sort of video that will walk you step by step on ways to fix it. I have used it myself on many task around the house as well as for homework help. There are some problems, mostly inappropriate material for children. Like with most things on the web, if you take your time and look at all the material you will find videos and sites that are kid friendly and would be great to you within a classroom.

Thing #18

 I have found that when it comes to these blog activities I always try to figure out how I could use this new technology in my classroom, or with my students. Well I am not sure I really like either one of these sites for classroom use, but at the same time I understand that many young people are actively on these sites and it would probably be the easiest way to keep in touch with them. 
Right now for my "class" I am teaching 3rd. I don't know to many 3rd graders that are on facebook or twitter, but their parents are. If I was require to use these two sites I would probably set up class accounts, "MrsT'speeps" this is a link to my facebook account http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo . I would keep updated activities and information about what we are covering in each subject. It would also allow the students to log-on and check their daily folders to make sure they are working on the right material. If a student is out it will help the parents see what was missed and they would be able to contact other students if they are not understanding the material that was missed/reviewed. 
One thing I really disliked is all the drama that goes along with social networking. If you accept a friend and they end up bring negative energy to a page then you are left with that all over your wall, plus you never know what kids may say.The biggest problem is how easy it is to put FALSE information or FAKE PROFILE information out there.  They haven't learned that when something is put onto the internet then it is up there forever, even after you remove it from your page it can still be out there. 
Another negative feedback with twitter is, you are only allowed 140 characters, not much can be said in such a small number. It does allow you to hyperlink to other pages but I would really like to know more about the topic before being moved to another page, but I guess it is enough to try and find keywords. 
Overall I guess both of these sites can be used in a classroom environment but personally I don't really want such young studnets (some without proper supervision) out on the social networking sites. TO MUCH CAN HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Thing #17


 I have never used the Delicious bookmarking before but I have to say I really enjoyed it. I like that it is like a social-share site for people. This will really come in handy when I start teaching. There has been many times while working on my projects, papers, and blogs I have referred back to Diigo.com to use some of the shared/tagged sites for ideas, information and interactive sites. This would be really helpful site to give the parents of students as well. If the child was struggling with a concept you could refer the parents there and tag certain sites for added review. I think I may end up recommending this site to my own childrens teachers.