Thing # 20 - You TUBE, I TUBE, let's ALL TUBE!

I have played around in both YouTube and TeacherTube for about 2 years now, and I have found many, many, videos that could be used for both student/classroom use and professional development use. I LOVE the ease of using Zamzar to download YouTube videos! Since that site is blocked in our district it is a great way to use these resources!!! What fun!

Below is a video that I found through Stephen's Lighthouse blog by Stephen Abram. It is a great way to give some educators today a "wake up" call where technology and our students are concerned. Hope you think so too!

From YouTube

Remember this site is blocked within our district, so to see it you will have to view it at home!

"A Vision of K-12 Students Today"







A really good video from YouTube about learning to "listen" to what stuiedents are telling us about their world and how they "learn" today!

Thing # 9 - Locating blogs or how to navigate the ever expanding world of blog information!

Okay, I checked out all of the sites for locating blogs of interest to me and the two I liked the best were Google Blog search and Technorati. I liked Google Blog search because it was such a clean easy way to find what I wanted, most of the other sites I visited were so full text and options that it was difficult to navigate and find what I wanted. I like Technorati primarily because I already have a Technorati account and have done some playing around in it. Anyway, all of the tools are helpful in narrowing down the list of blogs out there and finding what specifically suits your needs!

Thing # 7 Lions, Tigers, and Google ..... Oh My!

Okay, I titled this post with an altered quote from one of my family's favorite movies, The Wizard of Oz. I did that for a couple of reasons; first I really LOVE that line from the movie, next I think that this "journey" through Web 2.0 tools is a lot like the movie, we are all experiencing things we have never seen, heard, or even thought of before, and finally I think that many people (I am not one of them) consider Google the "big scary monster" out there! Well, they certainly are big, and at times it can be kind of scary to see all that Google has and can do, but they certainly are the monster that some think of them as! For me Google is kind of like being an extra on Star Trek (another family favorite), I am watching from a far a journey that is taking us all into the unknown! Going through all that Google has to offer is amazing, mind boggling, and at times totally overwhelming ---- but still FUN! I think after exploring some ( I am still not through it all) of the great tools that Google has to offer I found a few new "favorite things" that I am really excited about using. The first we actually get to a little further down in our "playground fun", but I am already using it and have been for the last 2 months, it is Google Reader and truthfully I am not sure how I got along without it!?! Being able to keep up with all of the blogs that I like to read in ONE place is totally AWESOME!!! I visit my Google reader at least twice a day and I'm not really sure how I functioned reading blogs before it.... although I guess my incredibly long list of "bookmarks" tell that story :) in any event, Google reader rocks! The other two things that I am now "Google addicted" to are the Google toolbar, and Google notebook they are both so useful. The Google toolbar has this great "AutoFill" function which fills in your name and address when you have to fill out forms and other great fun things! Google Notebook gives you the ability to copy and paste information from the web and keep it in a file to refer to later, you can have file folders for different things, like recipes, instructions for cleaning granite, information articles, and any other little things you want to have access to without having to find where they are on the web again! What a great tool! Okay, this post has gone on for way too long and I am sure I should be coving other things, but I think I'd better quit now and go "play" with Google some more!
That's all for now folks!

Liz's Bytes

Thing 4

Okay, my blog is registerd, I am on PDLC for district credit and rarin' to go!

I did think about curriculum connections for blogs and as a librarian I think one of the best ideas for using blogging with students is having them express their views about books and reviews of books by using a blog. Two of our elementary schools are already doing this and it has been really fun to watch and successful for both the librarians and the students. Anyway, I would love to see that expanded, especially at the secondary level. I also thought about how you could use blogs in a classroom setting, and I think that the idea of posting and have students respond is a great easy way to use blogging.
How about this --- in a social studies class to study current events you could post a current article from a local or national newspaper and have students respond by posting comments that agree or disagree with the news/issues reported. You would be encouraging writing, analyzing, and forming opinions and expressive writing all in one assignment. I think the best thing about using blogs in an educational setting is that they would allow the student and teacher to address several educational goals with this one awesome tool!

Liz's Library Byte