Colleague Presentations of Web 2.0 Tools

The final class of our Web 2.0 was enlightening. Seven of us presented ways that we were planning to or implementing several of the Web 2.0 tools that we learned in class. It was so interesting to see how different teachers used similar tools in different ways. Most of the presenters used wikispace.com to create a class website for posting important information, powerpoints, documents, images, etc., for their students and parents. I really liked Greg's interactive sites that he posted on his wikispace for his 8th grade social studies students. He spent a great deal of time searching for very interesting Civil War images interactive maps. Students will love this wikispace. I also thought that the teacher who used the wiki as a way to promote her swim team was innovative, especially the live clips of the swim meets. Overall, It was a great way to share ideas and see how far we had all come in the class.

On a personal note, I am very excited to put all of the tools to great use in my classroom. I just need to find a way to keep students from abusing the gmail feature during class. I got so excited that my students created google pages with all of the helpful tools, such as Blogger and Reader, but then I was disappointed when I walked around the classroom and found student GMail full of messages. Well, I will work on ways to slow that down next week.

How Web 2.0 Changed My Novel Unit Plan

Web 2.0 Technology Implementation in Novel Units
English 9/Honors 9

Technology Objectives

• Students will learn how to centralize their technology tools for their tablets by using gmail accounts, IGoogle, Google Reader, and Blogger for all school and personal work on tablets.

• Students will create a blog site through Blogger to write personal journal responses as assigned for the novel unit. A common theme will run through the blog journals, and that theme is the importance of family traditions and family relationship for teens today.

• The academic students will write blog journals related to Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns, and the honors students will write blog journals related to Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston. Both novels are “coming-of-age” stories about teen and young adult protagonists.

• Students will also implement some additional tools in their blog projects, including a podcast and a Picasa slide show related to one of their journals about family and friends.

• Lastly, students will comment on fellow students’ blog journals in a constructive way to build community in the classes.

Implementation of the Technology Plan

As we begin our novel unit in both the academic 9 classes and the honors 9 classes, we will spend the first lesson setting up a gmail account for each student and creating an IGoogle homepage. If we have time, we will add the Google Reader to homepage. Each student will create the gmail account with their John Carroll username and password. Also, students will only identify themselves with a first name and last initial. Also, students will set up permissions to only allow invited viewers to their Blogger site.

After the students have set up their accounts, they will then create a Blogger site to create a themed portfolio of blogs (journals) that they are required to write throughout the novel unit. Both novels present the theme of the importance of family traditions and ties to each other. The journals will not only react to certain aspects of the novel, but the blog journals may also be stories that the students share about their family life. In past years, students have created Family Scrapbooks with these journals and pictures. Now with Blogger, podcasting, and Picasa image sharing, students can create virtual Family Scrapbooks.

Once students have personalized their blog sites, then they will create at least one podcast using GCAST and Audacity. They will share a story orally. Also, students will create a slide show related to one of their journals or for their homepage of the blog site by using Picasa Image Sharing.

We have the luxury of every student having a laptop in class, but the beauty of these programs is that they can access them on any computer, so their projects will be readily available to them, and I believe that they will be proud of their creative work and their Web 2.0 expertise.

Picasa and Delicious - More Great Creative Web Tools

We had another great class last week in Web 2.0 in which we learned to use two more useful and interesting web tools -Picasa Web Images and Delicious Social Bookmarking. The class directions were clear, and before the night was through, we had created an online web album and a "Cloud" of categorized favorite bookmarks. I always leave the class anxious to try everything personally and with my students. This weekend, I actually used Picasa to upload many photos that I just took from a weekend getaway to Las Vegas (Baby)! I came right home on Sunday night, plugged in my digital camera to my laptop, opened Picasa and directly uploaded the digital images to Picasa, instead of adding them to my hard drive (which takes up so much memory). I then played around with captions and sent email invites to friends and family. It was easy, quick, and fun.

As for using Delicious, I still need to block out a good bit of time and categorize all of my favorite websites that I added to Delicious. I may need to do that over Easter break. I do see the benefit for tagging the bookmarks, but it takes time. I will spend some of my vacation evenings doing just that for future ease.

This week, I am allotting tech time with my ninth grade students to set up their gmail accounts, IGoogle page, Audacity, GCAST, and Blogger in order to create Blog Journal Portfolios for our current novel unit. I plan to share my initial lessons with our class this Wednesday.

Signing out.

Social Bookmarking - Fun for Everyone!

Tonight, I just dowloaded Del.cio.us.com and looked up sites on Zora Neale Hurston. Wow, what an awesome internet tool. Del.cio.us also organized my existing bookmarked sites. What a great tool. I am always bookmarking sites, and then I can't remember what I have, so this will be the perfect solution. Also, I find it interesting that you can then "socialize" with your common marked sites. I also find this social aspect interesting on the uploaded photo tools, such as Flickr. I am not quite sure that I want to communicate with strangers out their who happen to see my photos or bookmarks, but I will think about it.

Setting up a podcast

Today, I added a podcast about Zora Neale Hurston's life and literary works to a new blog project that I am starting with my honors classes this week on the Harlem Renaissance and the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. The students are creating powerpoints this weekend on different people of the Harlem Renaissance. They will present to the class early this week. I would like to have each of them write a script of a brief overview of their person's life and works. Then, I would like the students to create their own podcast on their important figure. I will have to get the students to start their Harlem Renaissance blog and set up the first blog as an introduction of the unit. Lastly, I will have students comment on another student's podcast blog. I am very excited to add this web 2.0 dimension to my current literature unit.

Class on Creating Wikis

What another awesome Web 2.0 class! In a three-hour period, we learned how to create our on wikispace by actually creating one for our class use. The directions were easy to follow, and it's cool how all of these google tools fit together under one gmail account. I used to hear people talk about the benefits of a gmail account, but I never understood that blogger, wikispace, IGoogle, and IReader all came under one major account. I am really excited to use my wikispace for all of my classes. I hope to post powerpoint projects on our upcoming unit on the Harlem Renaissance and the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston. My hope is that the students will do research on important musicians, writers, artists, political figures, etc., from the Harlem Renaissance and create powerpoints to post on our class wiki so that all students can view the information on their own time as needed. Also, I hope to have students find some helpful videos on Teachertube.com and embed them on our class wiki. Finally, I then plan to have students set up blogger accounts to write and share family stories and recent experiences that relate to the novel. The wiki will be open to students who will add their creative ideas about a creative time in recent history.

How I Plan to Use Blogging and RSS Feeds in Class

In our first Web 2.0 class, we set up blog sites and RSS feed lists on our new IGoogle Reader account. Although I have used with my classes before, I was still a bit rusty. If you don't use these tools regularly, you forget the little idiosyncrasies of each tool. By reviewing the blog site set-up and uses, I am re-invigorated to start a new blog site with my students as we prepare to read a novel over the next month. The novel blog site will be a great avenue for students to share family connections and personal reading journals as they read either Cold Sassy Tree (Academics) or Their Eyes Were Watching God (Honors). In both novels, the theme of the importance of the extended family provides excellent discussion questions for blogs about students' family ties and traditions. I hope to set up a blog assignment similar to our Web 2.0 class assignment in which students are required to post two new blogs a week and then respond to at least two other blogs on specific topics. I just need to come up with an easier way to manage the grading of all of those student blog posts. Any ideas?

As for the RSS feed subscription list, I am finding it useful to get the updates on my Google reading page. Wow, some sites update a lot (i.e. "Teaching Paperless"). The amount of information out on the web is daunting. I hope that I can keep up, without getting totally distracted. Now, I sound like one of my students.

First Class on Blogs and RSS Feeds

What a fantastic class! I learned so much in the first three hours, and I can't wait to start a blog project in my English class with the upcoming novel unit. I have used blogs in the past as a way for students to share their family journals, but I still have a lot to learn and I look forward to trying a new one in the next few weeks. Also, I am excited to personalize my igoogle page for English 9. What a cool tool! By actually doing the assignments in class, we understand how to use the digital tools that we are about to ask our students to use in class. I look forward to the next class, and I can't believe how many useful tools I have learned in the first night.

Video Reflection

After watching the six videos on the digital world and how it impacts educators and students, I wrote a lengthy reflection that just won't fit in this blog space. Paul asked the class if any of the videos was scary to us. I can't say that the videos scared me, but I will say that I was more alarmed and stressed to know that technology is changing and growing in such exponential numbers and we as educators need to forge our path on the journey with the students. I actually visualize a vortex when I think of the relationship between today's students and education. I wrote so much that I will have to share my formal reflection at a later date and summarize as best I can. The two movies that I found most interesting were A Vision of Students Today and Digital Students and Analog Schools. Both videos had a similar message that educational environments needs to use the digital tools that students are using in their everyday lives to help students learn, because the students know how to put these great tools to work for their best learning. Also, we need to prepare students for college and jobs that might not even exist at the moment. Time will tell.

First Post for Web 2.0

I took this course for a few reasons. First of all, I too am fulfilling my certification requirement for renewing my teaching certificate in the next year. More importantly though, I work at The John Carroll School, where 9, 10, and 11 grade students carry a personal laptop throughout the day in school. All teachers and students have wireless internet and printing capabilities, so there is great pressure to use the tablets to the students' greatest advantage. I have been piloting the program for three years now, and I have used blogging and wikis for writing and discussion in English classes; however, I have so much more to learn. I look forward to enhancing what I "sort of know" and have learned by the seat of my pants. From what I have seen so far, Web 2.0 will be a great course to improve my use of digital tools in the classroom.