Come to the Polar Express...

My school is putting on the Polar Express on Thursday.  I am helping gather food for the Whitehorse Foodbank.  Here is the note home I just made for the event.  No Web 2.0.  I made it using Apple's Pages and some Google image searching.

Of course if you can not make it to the concert then the Whitehorse Food Bank is here.

Reflections on "My Inquiry Progress"

Below are the four projects I took on through my Masters Class.  Today, I have added "Results".

1. Web 2.0 tool:  kidblog.org 

Rationale:  

To create a location for class projects in all subjects.  Initially, the blogs will be used for written assignments which students have already completed.  Eventually, new written work and other subjects will be added to each child’s content area.

Indication of learning: 

Students will write and respond to each other using the class blog and their posted content will meet curricular outcomes.  I will adapt various class projects and display them on the class blog.    

Results:

This is still a work in progress.  Students have a content area on our class bog. They have added content.  They are learning to make comments.  I am learning to monitor their comments.  I have come to realize that blog writing is not different than writing in previous years.  Students still need to write drafts and have lessons on composition and proper grammar.  Professionally, I had to teach students about how to upload sound to the blog.  None of them had done this.  

2.Web 2.0 tool:  SurveyMonkey 

Rationale:  

To find out the opinions of my school staff about an upcoming school recycling pilot project.  My school is piloting a school wide recycling and composting program.  I am heading up this program.  I need to find out where the staff stands on aspects of this program and how we will approach this program.  It is a practical use of powerful tool.

Indication of learning: 

Teachers from my school will complete the survey and I will have an indication of how teachers can be supported in implementing this pilot project.  

Results:

This went very well.  I had many compliments on how the information was organized and presented.  In the same way, I too found it easy to present the results.  The elegant program was simple to use.  It has a lot of potential for all kinds of surveys at school.  I could see it used to survey teachers, parents and student on playground use or in developing school goals.  

3. Web 2.0 tool:  audio podcasting (with iTunes and Audacity) 

Rationale:  

To give students an opportunity to take a simple written response and present it in a new and more expressive and powerful way.  This podcasts can become content for the class blog.    

Indication of learning: Students will complete a reflection on what they have learned about homelessness using an audio podcast.  

Results:

We did not use Audacity to reflect on our learning about homelessness.  Instead, the audio podcasting idea worked better with our creature stories.  Audacity was a good program for reading and recording our stories.  I will revisit this program.  I would like to have students try to use the programs other features in which they can change their voices.  From this project i have learned how to upload mp3 files and how to use a USB microphone headset.  In my opinion, there are so many podcasts because it is easy and inexpensive to use.  At this point we did not need iTunes to complete our mp3 creations.    

4. Web 2.0: Wikispaces

Rationale: 

To have students develop content for a science unit based on the Grade 5 and 6 curriculum of Earth and Space Sciences.  Again the content from the wiki can also be used in the class blog.    

Indication of learning: 

Students will collaborate and produce content from their science unit which shows an understanding of the material studied and the collaborative nature of the wiki.    

Results:  

This is still a work in progress.  The students are working on adding content to a science wiki on how scientists classify living things.  Professionally, I have enjoyed this challenge from the troubleshooting point of view.  In the last couple of days student work developed on the wiki has gone missing.  The challenge of finding the pages and linking and redirecting the pages to the correct place has been enjoyable.  In introducing wikispaces to my students I also used JIng to create some customized help videos.  Jing was easier to use that I thought it would be.  

Technology and Books... It Works!!!

Wow!  I love this article it says it all.  Technology and books work because libraries have always evolved.    I think every school library should have e-books to lend.  It might happen some day.  Anyway, this is a great article from the HUFFingPOST CANADA.

"Library Usage On The Rise Across Canada As Libraries Adapt To New Technology"

Reading What YOU Want with Google Reader

One of the first technologies I signed up for is the last technology I have chosen to comment on.  Google reader  is a web based aggregator.  This means Google Reader aggregates or collects information from online sources that are of interest to you such as other blogs.  I have to admit I had not thought of using Google Reader.  The closet thing that I used was Google News which collects news headlines but the collecting is were the comparison ends.  Google Reader gives you more choice in what you collect.  Look for the RSS feed symbol (below) on a blog or website you would like to follow.  The only other thing you need is a Google reader account which you can add through your Google account.    

  

  

RSS feed symbol

I wish I had started using it sooner as it gives the information you want to know more efficiently.  This video explains it best!









Is Google Reader useful at School? 
Since trying this out I have been considering how to use this with students at school.  We could use it for current events.  Will Richardson (2010) suggests using it with students for special projects so the information they are researching is current.  I really like this idea.  I usually do a project on a country in January so this really something I should consider.  




So to recap, Google Reader is useful for saving time when you want to read about the things that matter  to you.  The best part to me is that all your reading is done in one window and you do not have to go to the actual blog unless it really captures your attention.



Reference:
LeFever, L. (2007.). Video: RSS in Plain English - YouTube . YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . Retrieved from http://youtu.be/0klgLsSxGsU


Richardson, W. (2010). RSS The New Killer App for Educators. Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful Web tools for classrooms a multimedia kit for professional development. (pp. 71-84). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin