retired teachers think tank

Well, podcasting was fun and interesting.  No one said that this would not be a challenge.

When I first began the K12 Learning 2.0 online course from Kennesaw State University I had a heap of doubts.  My friend Heather recommended it to me and I had to make a quick decision as I had just started a long-term substitution job.  I was quite frightened about the thought, yet it sounded so interesting.  Well, I think I’ve finished all of my tasks and it remains to be seen if I’ve passed but all the hours that I’ve put in were worth it.  I learned so much.  I could not have done this without the patience and support of my instructor, Jerrie Cheek.  I also felt supported by my class especially when they left comments for me on my blogs.  So important!

Finally, I want to say that this course should be required for all teachers, both young and seasoned.  It will definitely make their classroom lives easier.

Last week I started to read for Week 10 of my K12 Learning 2.0 online course.  First I explored Classroom 2.0 and actually joined as a member.  I truly wish that I had started instead with Ning in Education because I found the Classroom 2.0 web site a bit disheartening.  As I scrolled through the Forum discussion area I was surprised and, though I did not click on these topics,  rather disturbed to find 3 decidedly inappropriate  ads within the discussion topics list for the same product.   Let me just point out that MOST of the discussion topics for that day seemed to have  some valuable sounding classroom help.  I did search math and reading but was still a bit gun-shy about exploring more.  I did not return to the classroom20 site until today and I only did this so I could write my blog to include some person/professional explorations.  I noticed 2 things under the discussion forum to note-(1) several ads for meds and (2) someone thanking Steve from Ning for doing something about spam.  My guess is that those topics  referred to above are bothering others.

Bottom line-not really thrilled at this point with classroom20 but hats off to Ning for their eductional networking.  I found one that I enjoyed reading and listening to called From the Flat Classroom to the Flat World.  Thomas Friedman was on telecommunication to this site and he made some VERY cool  points:  whatever can be done, will be done; what you imagine, act on it (don’t wait ’cause in a sec someone else will); how you do things really does matter.  Check it out if you have time.

Thanks to my instructor, I am and will be busy deleting  feeds from my reader.  It’s a perfect time to do this as I have 1000+.  I did find an interesting blog right away titled CSI Twitter-Crime Scene Investigation by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano.  I love CSI so immediately my attention was grabbed.  At first I thought, “Oh, no! Twitter”.  (why do I shy away from tech that I know nothing about?)  Once I recovered from “Twitter” AND from “iPhone” I got it.  Duh! This is, as a principal once told me, the way it’s supposed to work.  What a very cool blog.  These people had so much fun with this “teaching moment”.  It was beautiful-a community of learners learning together.  Please take some time to click above and see if you don’t agree with me.

At the present time I am using Pageflake for personal reasons.  I like this tool because I can put much of what I look at daily on one page instead retyping sites into my browser each time or using my saved bookmarks list.  I love the news, weather, and RSS feeds.  I also like having access to the latest podcasts as I still am struggling a bit to understand how best to use a podcast of my own.  As to the teaching potential I know that,  especially for some of my responsible students, they would have loved to be able to hop on their own web page or mine to view and add content that they would like to share with me and others.    The global potential  goes without saying.

I love Google Docs!  Everything about it is pretty simple.  I have already shared a How to….doc with my instructor and my  poor daughter (as if she doesn’t have enough to do) and my husband.  I created a calendar to allow our children to know what their parents are doing and where and,  now, I already know that the next time we come to our condo I’ll be able to share a list of what I’m bring that can be added to by other family members.  I wish that I’d had this tool in Sept. when I was long-term subbing.  I could have collaborated with the Oakhurst Community Garden folks to coordinate what each of us was planning to do and when instead of  using email back and worth.  WOW!  I honestly NEVER knew what I was missing out on until I signed up for this class.

Education is the key.  I say that because so much of this course has educated me.  Example, I always avoided youTube because I thought it was just another social site for conversation.  Well, was I surprised when I followed the task directions for my k12 learning class and ended up on hearing and seeing Yanni sing a song that he wrote called Nostalgia.  Beautiful!  On TeacherTube I found a noteworthy video about The First Thanksgiving.  This video does have some problems with automatic buffering pauses and, unforuntately, starts with an ad by Google but it is worth the wait.

Sounds silly but I think I’ve fallen in love again.  This time it’s with podcasting.  It remains to be seen what my product in podcasting will be, but I’m excited.  I used the Grazr widget to visit student examples of podcasting.  I found lots of ideas for end of  year projects and I found a variety of ways to use podcasting and Smartboard.  If I am subbing in a long-term position I will definitely consider podcasting as a means to introduce or add to a new lesson.

I visited an education podcast and clicked on Jim Leaher’s News Hour podcast  U.S. Soldiers, Families Brace for More Deployment. I was interested in this because my son, who is serving in the Navy, will be returning to Iraq.  It was comforting to me to hear the stories and opinions of others who are/will be going through this as I will.

Though I have no experience with podcasting, iTunes, or ipods yet, I am grateful for the how-to knowledge and the confidence I feel to try.

I love books so I relished the thought of checking out Library Thing.  I was not disappointed.  This site allow the user(me) to plug in a favorite author, genre, title, etc and find other books by the same author or genre.  It allows me to keep my own reading lists and lets me contact others who like the same kinds of books I do.  It helps me to locate a store in my vicinity to purchase a book of interest.  I can join a book club and not leave my house.  I can click on a button to view recommended books and reviews.  I can post a comment or blog on the site in response to another reader’s blog.

The only drawback that I can see so far is that unless/until a book/author is catalogued by a  reader no information is given on the book or author.

Plans seem to be in the offing for “posting” used books, too.

Delicious is, well, delicious!  Once I joined,  started my Light task and began bookmarking, I found I wanted to keep going.  I wanted to share my bookmarks.  I wanted to shout for joy!  It was so easy to use that I felt like playing.

When I think about the years of wadding through searches, bookmarking searches with so many of my other bookmarks on my list then NOT being able to find, for example,  that special math lesson that I knew I bookmarked but could never remember where……

I notice that I can refine my bookmarks now so I plan to do that in the future after I delete all those bookmarks that I rarely ever use-some that I can’t remember why I bookmarked.  HATS OFF TO DELICIOUS!